SXSW | The Answer Is In The Beat

SXSW 2015

March 29, 2015 at 4:58 pm | Posted in Photos, SXSW | Leave a comment

I didn’t take as many photos this year as I have in previous years, and I definitely saw less music than before (I went to a lot more films this year). However, this year me and my friend went to San Antonio, so that was an exciting diversion.

March 17

cow sculpture outside Schlotzky’s

cow sculpture outside Topfer Theatre at ZACH

filmmakers of animated shorts screening @ Topfer Theatre (Don Hertzfeldt is all the way on the right!)

artwork at Topfer Theatre

horn speaker sculpture outside Topfer Theatre

looking at Austin from a bridge just south of downtown

Eco Light Garden

mural from outside a bar somewhere downtown that looked closed

Vertical Cinema inside Central Presbyterian Church

March 18

Incredible Hulk inside Austin Books & Comics

Silver Surfer inside Austin Books & Comics

members of Landfill Harmonic @ Alamo Ritz, following the screening of their documentary

robot drummer on 6th St.

tacos from Chi’Lantro (best food truck ever)

Danny Fields after the screening of Danny Says

Danny Says

Y/OUR MUSIC (Thai music documentary which unfortunately I didn’t get to see)

808

inside Swan Dive (flashing police lights made an unintentional light/shadow show)

Heathered Pearls @ Ghostly showcase @ Swan Dive

Lord Raja @ Ghostly showcase @ Swan Dive

Michna @ Ghostly showcase @ Swan Dive

Beacon @ Ghostly showcase @ Swan Dive

March 19

robots crossing the highway

Shlohmo @ Fader Fort

mural at Ibiz District

Austin Body Works

Wavves @ Converse Death Match

Dabsmyla

Weyes Blood @ Hotel Vegas

Holy Wave @ Hotel Vegas

Noveller @ Hotel Vegas

Pharmakon @ Hotel Vegas

Octopus Project @ Hotel Vegas

March 20

GTFO

cityscape

Piranha Killer Sushi

O. Henry Museum

rainy cityscape

Songhai Blues after screening of They Will Have To Kill Us First

They Will Have To Kill Us First

Raiders! (documentary about a fanmade re-enactment of Raiders Of The Lost Ark)

March 21

rainy river on 6th St.

disappearing tower

Untold @ Beerland

Songhai Blues @ Empire

Noveller @ convention center

Milton the hedgehog

March 22

Four Brothers (Venezuelan food truck)

creepy cowboy on S. Congress (his sign says “I’m single, call me baby” followed by his phone number and Twitter handle)

vintage arcade mural

cat mural

Switched On

Devo artwork inside Switched On

Pinballz Arcade

bird mural at night

butterfly mural

superheroes on 6th St.

March 23
We went to San Antonio this day, starting off at Natural Bridge Caverns, which was mindblowing.

outside the caverns

Next was the Tower of the Americas, and then the Alamo and the River Walk which I forgot to take pictures of.

inside Tower of the Americas

fountains at Tower of the Americas

monument near the Alamo

horse carriage in San Antonio

SXSW 2014

March 23, 2014 at 6:28 pm | Posted in Photos, SXSW | Leave a comment

I went to Austin with a friend for SXSW. We flew from Detroit to Austin on March 10, switching planes in Charlotte, NC.

Looking out the window at the Charlotte airport

As soon as we got to downtown Austin, we went to the convention center to see a film.

SXSW movie posters at Austin convention center

We saw a documentary about zombie movies called Doc Of The Dead, and there were plenty of zombies wandering around the lobby before the film started.

Zombie in the convention center lobby

Doc Of The Dead movie poster

On Tuesday the 11th, we started by wandering around downtown, getting bus passes, and walking around the state capital building.

Guitar sculpture in downtown Austin

Texas state capital building

Closer look at the statue on top of the capital

Fountain near the capital

Horse statue near capital

Statues near capital

Sculpture outside office building

We saw a documentary about Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

The theaters on Congress from across the street

Rush Line sign (for those who don’t have badges or wristbands)

Poster for The Case Of The Three Sided Dream

Ballot for The Case Of The Three Sided Dream

Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s family, the director of the film, and a SXSW film presenter

We went to Thai Passion for lunch.

Thai Passion

Next to our table at Thai Passion

On the wall at Thai Passion

Thai Passion (I forgot exactly what dish I ordered)

We went to Waterloo Records, and then went down to the river and walked around a bit.

Waterloo Records

Down by the Colorado River

Bridge graffitti

Skyline plus traffic

Opossum Temple and Voodoo Pew

We saw The 78 Project, a film about a traveling machine that records sound directly to 78 RPM discs, and the machine was actually present at the screening and someone recorded a song on it when the film was over.

78 RPM Project poster

78 RPM Project ballot

The 78 RPM recorder

After the film, we saw Ramesh (formerly of Voxtrot), found a food truck that was giving out free burgers and fries, then saw the reunited Coachwhips playing a free outdoor show. They played in the audience with tons of people up on stage.

Ramesh @ The Main Jr.

Free food from Shake Shack vs. a truck selling fried pickles

Coachwhips playing in the crowd in the backyard at Hotel Vegas

Food truck @ Hotel Vegas

We ended the night by seeing a killer set by The Octopus Project, an Austin band I never got around to seeing before.

The Octopus Project @ The North Door

Wednesday was more of a shows downtown sort of day, we saw DJ Spinn + DJ Rashad, Future Islands, Eternal Summers and Mirah, did a bit of walking around downtown, and took the bus back to my friend’s house, thankfully avoiding the tragic accident that occurred right near where we saw Spinn + Rashad earlier in the afternoon.

Cool-looking building downtown

DJ Spinn + DJ Rashad @ Mohawk

Free haircuts

Future Islands @ Flamingo Cantina

Stage banner at Cheer Up Charlie’s

Mirah @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Twinkie The Kid wandering around

Wall art inside Cheer Up Charlie’s

Eternal Summers @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Convention center

SXSW 2014 Film poster

Living statue

Street cacti next to an office building

Capital building at night poking out from an alley

Statue on Congress

On Thursday there was a Pitchfork day show at the French Legation Museum that we stayed at for a while, then we saw SSLEEPERHOLD in the backyard of a bookstore, and then saw Giraffage at a cafe by the river.

Sculpture at French Legation Museum

Skyline from French Legation Museum

Roosevelt @ French Legation Museum

Eagulls @ French Legation Museum

Jerome LOL @ French Legation Museum

Angelina Lucero (singing with Jerome LOL) @ French Legation Museum

Mark McGuire @ French Legation Museum

Future Islands @ French Legation Museum

Classixx @ French Legation Museum

Kelela @ French Legation Museum

Balloons outside Fader Fort (which we never went into)

SSLEEPERHOLD @ Farewell Books

Pi in the sky

starRo @ Ableton Workshop

Giraffage @ Ableton Workshop

Colorado River at sunset

Street musicians

Went to Elysium to see Lee Bannon (who actually did a tag-team set with The Range), and then went to Hotel Vegas again to see Forest Swords, who were incredibly late but did an awesome set. Before their set we saw the last few minutes of Blouse’s set, and then a mindblowing set by Bo Ningen.

Lee Bannon with The Range @ Elysium

Blouse @ Hotel Vegas

Bo Ningen @ Hotel Vegas

Forest Swords @ Hotel Vegas

On Friday, we went to the convention center for Flatstock and saw a few artists (Angelina Lucero [this time without Jerome LOL] and Pure Bathing Culture), ate lunch at Koriente, visited the Museum Of the Weird, attempted to see Basecamp who had tons of tech problems so we just left, and then we went to Red 7 for the Holodeck Showcase, which was awesome.

Angelina Lucero @ Flatstock

Pure Bathing Culture @ Flatstock

Koriente

Violin Monster (from Ann Arbor)

Museum of the Weird

Basecamp (during one of the few moments their gear was actually working)

Dylan C @ Red 7

Boomboxes on the wall @ Red 7

Thousand Foot Whale Claw @ Red 7

SSLEEPERHOLD @ Red 7

Marie Davidson @ Red 7

Troller @ Red 7

On Saturday, we went to WFMU’s showcase at Beerland, then we went to Flatstock to see S U R V I V E (who played last at the Holodeck showcase, but we left before they started), and then went to the Paramount Theatre and saw God Help The Girl, with Stuart Murdoch in attendance! Then we got dinner at an awesome food truck, then saw Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter.

Protomartyr @ Beerland

Obnox @ Beerland

Spray Paint @ Beerland

Bathroom graffiti @ Beerland

Wall art @ Beerland

WFMU banner @ Beerland

Screen printing @ Flatstock

The Melodic @ Flatstock

S U R V I V E @ Flatstock

Guitar sculpture on Congress

Children’s choir singing Stuart Murdoch/Belle & Sebastian songs

Stuart Murdoch and SXSW film presenter

Chi’lantro (best food truck ever)

Kimchi fries from Chi’lantro

Paramount Theatre

Sunday was the day Austin went back to normal after SXSW, so we just wandered around downtown and went to museums. Everything closed at 5, though, so we just took a bus back to our friend’s house.

The infamous Daniel Johnston wall drawing

The restaurant that drawing is now connected to

Across from the drawing

Bullock Texas State History Museum

Student art gallery @ Bullock Texas State History Museum

Bullock Texas State History Museum

Blanton Museum Of Art

Capital building (from the other side)

Mexic-Arte Museum

Monday was our last day in Austin, and we took a bus down to the south side of town and went to End Of An Ear and walked around and visited lots of cool shops, and then ended up back downtown on Congress and our friend picked us up.

End Of An Ear

Secret Oktober

South Austin Gallery

Casa De Los Muertos

These were all around South Austin, anyone know what they mean?

Cantu’s

Coconut fudge donut from Gourdough’s. Yes, this is a gigantic, hot donut.

Gunga Gulunga

Welcome to South Congress

Mi Casa

Bookstore mural

Another cool mural

Yet another cool mural

Colorado River from the bridge

Skyline from the bridge

Wholly Cow

Portobello burger + sweet potato fries @ Wholly Cow

SXSW 2013

March 25, 2013 at 12:41 am | Posted in Photos, SXSW | Leave a comment

This was my 7th trip to Austin for SXSW, but the first one that I actually drove down there instead of flying. It’s also the first one where I brought a camera and tried to take a bunch of photos. I just got a digital camera recently and I’m still sort of learning how to use it, so bear with me here.

Monday, 3/11/2013
We had just arrived in Austin the previous afternoon after driving for a day straight, and none of the SXSW shows really started until Tuesday, so Monday was just a driving around Austin and record-shopping kinda day. Unfortunately a bunch of cool stores have closed since the last time I visited Austin (namely Backspin Records and Cheapo Records), but my favorite store, End Of An Ear, is still there.

End Of An Ear

We walked around South Austin for a bit and looked around at some other buildings.

Shack behind End Of An Ear

Next to End Of An Ear

Turntable Records

Next to Turntable Records

Resistancia bookstore

Welcome To South Austin (with a guest appearance by The Attorney That Rocks)

Food trucks on 6th St. the day before the craziness starts

Torchy’s Damn Good Tacos

Tuesday, 3/12/2013
Not too much happened this day, mostly just wandering around downtown waiting for stuff to start happening. We went to the Texas State History Museum for a bit, went to some steampunk bar and saw ASSACRE, I went to The Hideout and saw Twigs & Yarn (whose album I reviewed for Foxy Digitalis) and then ended up at Barcelona and saw Dark Sky and Jimmy Edgar and Travis Stewart (aka Machinedrum).

Texas State History Museum

6th Street at sunset

Red River at sunset

Gear clocks at Metal & Lace (steampunk bar)

ASSACRE dressed as some sort of spelunking ninja, playing wireless guitar in the middle of the audience @ Metal & Lace

Jung People @ The Hideout

Twigs & Yarn @ The Hideout

Dark Sky @ Barcelona

Jimmy Edgar and Travis Stewart @ Barcelona

Wednesday, 3/13/2013
Lots more wandering around and taking photos of stuff. I got up early so I could see Sun Araw at 1PM (who were 2 guys this time instead of a solo project the first 2 times I saw him and a full band the last time, and had a bit more of a dancey sound this time out), saw Ducktails at the Fader Fort (who have become a full band since last time I saw him, a few years ago at a friend’s house in New Brunswick, NJ), saw Troller twice (awesome band, review of their LP coming soon), was going to see Jandek but he cancelled, so I went to Elysium and saw Andy Stott and John Talabot instead. Andy Stott absolutely killed it, he started out with the slower Luxury Problems type tracks, then accelerated to more breakbeat-heavy stuff, like the stuff he did a few years ago under the name Andrea. I only stayed for half of John Talabot’s set, but it sounded pretty good.

6th Street at noon

Red River at noon

Sun Araw @ Red 7

On 7th Street near the highway

Donut Taco Palace 4

Donut Taco Palace 4 (front view)

Don’t Mess With Texas

Under the highway bridge at 6th Street

Oneman @ Fader Fort

Plant growing out of a Dell @ Fader Fort

Ducktails @ Fader Fort

Troller @ Beerland

Tugger @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Troller again, this time @ Cheer Up Charlie’s

Andy Stott @ Elysium

Huerco S. @ Elysium

John Talabot @ Elysium

Thursday, 3/14/2013
First thing I did this day was see ’70s Detroit proto-punk legends DEATH, who played a free afternoon show at what used to be Emo’s. They have a documentary about them now, which I hadn’t heard anything about up here in Michigan, so maybe it hasn’t been playing anywhere here, or maybe I just haven’t been paying attention. But their incredible album …For The Whole World To See was recorded in 1975 and finally released in 2009, and now they’re doing the whole reunion thing and releasing a new album soon. After that, I saw Disclosure, who played live keyboards and electronic drums, and sang one or two songs themselves, but most of the vocals were by female vocalists who weren’t present, so they were just played as samples. I also saw Destruction Unit at the suggestion of Kristin, and I also went to a juke/footwork party at a small art gallery on Congress Avenue. There seems to be a pretty active juke scene in Austin, and they have legit connections with the Chicago scene, as evidenced by this compilation and the fact that they got DJ Spinn to play at this party. There was a good circle of footwork dancing when I first got to the party, so I took a few pictures of that, but then it sort of faded away and they stopped playing footwork music until DJ Spinn got on the decks towards the end. The Bug was supposed to play two sets that night, and I went to the earlier one so I could catch the last bus back to my friend’s apartment so I wouldn’t have to stay late and catch a taxi, but he never showed up to the early set (he did show up to the later one and I wish I’d made it out for that one because Zac said it was incredible). We were also supposed to interview The Bug the next afternoon but he never showed up to that either.

DEATH @ The Main (f.k.a. Emo’s)

Disclosure @ Mohawk

Destruction Unit @ the front porch of Beerland

Footwork dancing @ Teklife party

Teklife DJs

DJ Spinn @ Teklife party

myself walking back to my friend’s apartment from the bus stop

Friday, 3/15/2013
Well, me and Zac were supposed to interview The Bug, but the promoter and label were having troubles getting in touch with him, so he was a no-show. So I hunted around for some grub and ended up at a day party that JD Twitch (of Optimo), Jackmaster and Rustie were DJ’ing at. JD Twitch and Optimo both played awesome sets, but the sound wasn’t always so great and the crowd wasn’t always into it. I’m not a huge fan of Rustie’s music, but his set sounded really good, and the crowd was really pumped. The main thing I was excited about Friday, however, was the Not Not Fun showcase at the Hideout. NNF has been doing at least one showcase at SXSW for a few years now, and every one I’ve been to has been amazing. In previous years I saw Ducktails, Robedoor, Sun Araw, Barn Owl, Pocahaunted, Dylan Ettinger, Umberto, High Wolf and others. This year the major draw (for me, at least) was Xander Harris, but every set was incredible.

JD Twitch wearing a 1000 Homo DJs shirt & dropping Jeff Mills, Donna Summer and Slayer into a DJ set @ Latitude 30 around 3PM

Jackmaster @ Latitude 30

Rustie @ Latitude 30

some huge line at the Fader Fort that I didn’t even bother with

artwork on the wall at The Hideout

The Hideout

Samantha Glass @ The Hideout

White Poppy @ The Hideout

Rites Wild @ The Hideout

Weyes Blood @ The Hideout

Holy Balm @ The Hideout

Maria Minerva @ The Hideout

Xander Harris @ The Hideout

this is how crazy 6th Street gets at 2AM during SXSW

this is how polluted 6th Street gets during SXSW

Saturday, 3/16/2013
This was the last day of shows at SXSW, the next day we started driving back to Michigan. We saw Jad Fair in the backyard of some bar, there were maybe 20 people there tops, and he didn’t like how soundcheck was going so he just played his unplugged electric guitar right in front of the crowd, and it was awesome. I saw Bernie Worrell (keyboard genius from Parliament/Funkadelic, Talking Heads, etc.) at another outdoor backyard show, and even though there were a lot of sound problems at that one too, his set was also great. He said at one point that George Clinton might show up if he made it through the traffic, but that never happened. After that I saw a bit of a set by Kid Congo Powers (who was in The Cramps, The Gun Club, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and a ton of other bands). I also saw Octant, an artist who programs robots to play instruments for his live show. I have his first album from the late ’90s and I liked it a lot, so it’s cool that he’s still around. The main thing I was excited about this night was the Moog showcase at Elysium. Austin’s synth store Switched On sponsored this, and they had demos of a bunch of newer Moog synths at the show. The first artist I saw at this show was Kontravoid, who was okay, but the second was S U R V I V E, who were mindblowing. And after that was Xeno & Oaklander, who I’ve wanted to see for a long time, and they were awesome as well.