The Answer Is In The Beat

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

Show #235 – 3/22/14

March 22, 2014 at 6:12 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

Mic break music = Rake Wickman: Suur Toll
3:02 AM Pulse Emitter ~ Moonlit Valley ~ Spiritual Vistas ~ Expansive/Cylindrical Habitat Modules
3:11 AM The Space Lady ~ Major Tom ~ The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits ~ Night School
3:16 AM Pairs ~ Vatican Colours ~ Your Feet Touch Ground, A Carousel ~ Metal Postcard
3:24 AM Ssleeperhold ~ Beatsslave ~ Ruleth ~ Holodeck/Light Lodge
3:29 AM S U R V I V E ~ Parousia ~ MF064 ~ Monofonus Press
3:32 AM Future Islands ~ Light House ~ Singles ~ 4AD
3:42 AM Crash Course In Science ~ Factory Forehead ~ Signals From Pier Thirteen ~ Dark Entries
3:44 AM Golden Donna ~ Empty Charm Vessel ~ II ~ 100% Silk
3:50 AM Jon Porras ~ Apeiron ~ Light Divide ~ Thrill Jockey
4:00 AM Black Hat ~ Imaginary Friends ~ Thought Of Two ~ Hausu Mountain
4:10 AM Jon Hopkins ~ Collider (Objekt Remix) ~ Collider (Remixes) ~ Domino
4:16 AM Lee Bannon ~ Break The Line_ ~ wav ~ Soundcloud
4:19 AM K-Rock ~ A2 ~ Part 2 ~ Rephlex/Top Shelf Records
4:22 AM Crazy Wisdom Masters ~ Hedz At Company Z ~ 10″ ~ Black Hoodz
4:25 AM Pinks Quieter ~ Leticia Angel ~ Pinks Quieter ~ Metal Postcard
4:30 AM Andrew Tuttle ~ 4064, Rezoned ~ mp3 ~ Bandcamp
4:53 AM Clawed ~ Damar Liquid Extraction ~ The First Magic Number ~ self-released
5:01 AM Gnome & Spybey ~ Spacelec ~ At Willie’s Place ~ Tourette
5:04 AM Esognomig ~ side B ~ Esognomig ~ Sonig
5:13 AM Death To Ponies ~ Snakes ~ Swine Water ~ Metal Postcard
5:27 AM For A Minor Reflection ~ Kastlios ~ Live At Iceland Airwaves ~ self-released
5:39 AM Rake Wickman ~ Suur Toll ~ Suur Toll ~ Metal Postcard

Crush Collision 3/20/14

March 21, 2014 at 9:35 am | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Crush Collision 3/20/14
10:02 PM DJ 3000 ~ Morning Bird
10:08 PM Audion ~ The Dog
10:11 PM Daso & Pawas ~ Det (Schatrax Remix)
10:15 PM White Rainbow ~ Screen Blind
10:20 PM JTC ~ The Boxx
10:26 PM Blood Vibes ~ Blank Stare
10:30 PM Brian Aneurysm ~ Das Element Des Menschen (James T. Cotton Version)
10:35 PM Addison Groove ~ The Spirit Love
10:38 PM Lewis Fautzi ~ Loudness
10:43 PM Stewart Walker ~ Senza Merda
10:46 PM Jon Hopkins ~ Collider (Karenn Remix)
10:52 PM Pursuit Grooves ~ Miraculous Magnetism
10:55 PM Infiniti ~ Game One

Show #234 – 3/8/14

March 8, 2014 at 1:17 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

3:01 AM Why I Must Be Careful ~ track 2 ~ Honeycomb ~ self-released
3:21 AM Peter Brötzmann/Han Bennink ~ Aufen Nr. 3 ~ Schwartzwaldfahrt ~ Atavistic
3:27 AM Anthony Braxton ~ 489 M 70-2–(TH-B) M ~ Five Pieces 1975 ~ Arista
3:44 AM Arkm Foam ~ What Do You Want On Your Tombstone ~ The Foam Doesn’t Fall Far From The Shore ~ Hot Releases
3:51 AM Chicago Underground Duo ~ Kabuki ~ Locus ~ Northern Spy
3:56 AM The Souljazz Orchestra ~ Kingdom Come ~ Inner Fire ~ Strut
4:03 AM Rhys Chatham ~ Harmonie Du Soir ~ Harmonie Du Soir ~ Northern Spy
4:27 AM Lubomyr Melnyk ~ Cloud Passade No. 3 ~ Three Solo Pieces ~ Unseen Worlds
4:47 AM Pulse Emitter ~ Spaceship ~ Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis ~ Metal Postcard
5:00 AM Ray Sammartano ~ Surfing The Shift ~ Brainwave Cathedral ~ self-released
5:10 AM Mark McGuire ~ The War On Consciousness ~ Along The Way ~ Dead Oceans
5:16 AM John Fahey ~ Requiem For Russell Blaine Cooper ~ The Essential John Fahey ~ Vanguard
5:25 AM Celestino ~ Pearl Bone Gull ~ Kindling ~ A Guide To Saints
5:35 AM Actress ~ Contagious ~ Ghettoville ~ Werkdiscs
5:40 AM Thug Entrancer ~ Death After Life V ~ Death After Life ~ Software
5:47 AM Rich Sudney ~ Everything Is Under Controlled ~ Ionosonde ~ Ionosonde
5:52 AM John Coltrane ~ Syeeda’s Song Flute ~ Giant Steps ~ Atlantic

Crush Collision 3/6/14

March 8, 2014 at 12:46 pm | Posted in Crush Collision | Leave a comment

Crush Collision 3/6/14
10:04 PM Wild Beasts ~ Wanderlust (The Field Remix)
10:10 PM Solar Bears ~ Interzone
10:13 PM BNJMN ~ Stolen Birds
10:20 PM Rich Sudney ~ Dancing With Your Shadow
10:25 PM Teemu T ~ City Night
10:29 PM MKFN ~ Foundry
10:32 PM Jon Hopkins ~ Collider (Pangaea Remix)
10:38 PM Kotekan ~ Dripping Ghost
10:40 PM Lucy ~ The Illusion Of Choice
10:49 PM Robert Hood ~ Untitled 1 (Mark Broom Edit)
10:52 PM Damon Vallero ~ Revolver
10:57 PM Lewis Fautzi ~ Range

Fenster: The Pink Caves (Morr Music, 2014)

March 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Fenster: The Pink Caves

Second album from Morr Music dreampop group Fenster, and a vast improvement on their pretty-but-forgettable debut. Arrangements have minimal elements but (of course) big lush reverb, the songs are well written and pretty, the (slightly surfy) guitar hooks are light but tremolo-filled and catchy, there’s male and female vocal harmonies, and some of the lyrics are haunting, maybe even disturbing, but still gorgeous. “Better Days” starts with busy drum trills, then settles into sleek, slow-midtempo indie-pop. “Sunday Owls” adds a bit of a Lynchian dramatic, mysterious atmosphere, with traces of fuzzy, mutating guitar and/or synth effects. “In The Walls” is more sleek and smooth but somewhat dark and strange indie-pop with trippy effects on the vocals and instruments. “Cat Emperor” introduces the dual male/female vocal harmonies. “True Love” is a dark murder ballad where the singer plans to kill her true love, turning ’50s rock ballads on their twisted heads. “Mirrors” continues taking the album’s sound down a weird slow minimal exotica path, with layers of spooky vocal harmonies and echo-drenched chirping and scraping in the beginning. The rhythm picks up during the second half. “Fireflies” is a brief, quiet, whispery interlude. “On Repeat” is a bit more uptempo, with a more consistent tapping rhythm, and a bit more of a hook, and some nice vocal effects during the second half. “Hit & Run” is another uptempo catchy number, with male and female vocals, a good weepy guitar hook, and more strange vocal sounds in the background. “1982” has another small but sturdy rhythm, floating guitar effects, male vocals which slip into falsetto, and minimally but tastefully used analog synths. “Creatures” is a downbeat closer with a beatless guitar drift-out about a minute into the song before the second verse comes in, and another one to end the song. Really an unexpectedly solid album, I guess maybe for fans of Beach House or The xx, but subtly trippier, and I enjoy it way more than those bands.

Pairs: Your Feet Touch Ground, A Carousel tape (Metal Postcard, 2013)

March 5, 2014 at 12:03 am | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Pairs: Your Feet Touch Ground, A Carousel tape

Surprise electronic/industrial album from Chinese noise-rock duo Pairs. Their usual work is harsh, blistering indie-punk, but this one strips the arrangements down to skeletal electronic pounding and tons of dark atmosphere. I guess it’s somewhat comparable to HTRK’s transformation from a guitar-driven post-punk band to dirgier, depressing (but utterly brilliant) electronic music. The 6 tracks on this tape (3 on each side) mostly run long, from 4:30 to almost 8 minutes, and take their time to explore their dark, sometimes terrifying, moods. The vocals here sort of remind me of B.R. Wallers of Country Teasers/The Rebel, just for how piercing and nasal they are. There’s also plenty of cursing, but it’s hard to tell exactly what he’s saying, with all the echo plus the accent. “Neighbours Trivia Night” and “Take Out This Celestial Body And Hang It Until It Is Dead” feature thumping 4/4 beats plus chilling atmosphere, and the last half of “Take Out…” is beatless, shifting drone. “Ballet Theme Downstream” is nothing more than a pounding thump and echo-drenched paranoid vocals. “Vatican Colours” is the most frightening of the bunch, 8 minutes of truly haunted ghost-like wailing, ticking drum machine, and shrieking vocals which eerily fade in and sound unnerving and possessed. It’s cathartic, but the way it’s mixed, how the elements slowly fade in and out, is almost smooth. “38,000 Feet In The Bathroom Line” is a diversion into confessional lo-fi acoustic folk, with pained vocals and frail strumming, and a few minutes of field recording from some sort of transit center at the end, and near silence for the last minute and a half. “Household Name” is another dirge set to a pounding drum machine, with plenty of layers of delay-enhanced vocals, and some fast-forwarding tape noise. The vocals on this one almost suggest a hollowed-out Skinny Puppy. Pretty surprising release, and it’s available as a free download on Bandcamp as well.

Show #233 – 3/2/14

March 2, 2014 at 6:05 pm | Posted in The Answer Is In The Beat | Leave a comment

The Answer Is In The Beat 3/2/14
5:02 PM Pulse Emitter ~ High Altitude Golden Sunset ~ Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis ~ Metal Postcard
5:10 PM Magics Marker ~ side B ~ untitled tape ~ Raveyard
5:19 PM Cloud Becomes Your Hand ~ Sand Of Sea ~ Rocks Or Cakes ~ Northern Spy
5:22 PM Chicago Underground Duo ~ Blink Out ~ Locus ~ Northern Spy
5:29 PM Rich Sudney ~ Dancing With Your Shadow ~ Ionosonde ~Ionosonde Recordings
5:37 PM Scared To Death ~ live @ Totally Awesome Fest 9 ~ tape ~ Raveyard
5:51 PM Simon James Phillips ~ Ellipsis ~ Chair ~ Room40
5:57 PM Rangefinder ~ Particles For Rebuilding ~ Harmony State ~ A Guide To Saints

Pulse Emitter: Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis 2CD (Metal Postcard, 2014) + Equinox tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2014)

March 1, 2014 at 10:28 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

Pulse Emitter: Planetary Scale Synth Hypnosis

Pulse Emitter is the decade-plus running project of Portland synth artist/builder Daryl Groetsch, who started out releasing harsh noise, but gradually drifted towards more meditative, new age sounds. This 2CD anthology compiles pieces and excerpts from tapes, LPs, CDs and CD-rs dating back to 2007, originally released on labels such as NNA Tapes, Root Strata, Aguirre, Expansive, and Tranquility Tapes. Basically, this is Pulse Emitter’s equivalent of Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Rifts”, which means that it’s utterly essential and you should buy it without a second thought, especially since you probably won’t be able to track down all of the original releases if you don’t have them already. Some of the excerpted works fade out pretty suddenly, they make you want to track down the original tapes and hear them in their entirety. But at least a few 10 minute pieces like “Nebula” are included in their full glory. This is just simply seriously beautiful, emotive synthesizer music, spacey and cosmic but completely in touch with human emotions. Seems basic on some levels (some of it’s slow-moving, there’s no flashy arpeggios or flanger effects) but the pieces are all carefully composed and there’s more intricate elements here than it might seem on the surface. It gets kind of distant (as on pieces like “Spaceship”) but most of it is just really melodic and emotive and beautiful.

Pulse Emitter: Equinox tape

Also out this year is a Pulse Emitter tape on the always reliable Constellation Tatsu label. Obviously this tape doesn’t cut pieces down to fit more on a CD, so most of the tracks here extend past 10 minutes. It definitely feels like a singular work, rather than a compilation, so there’s more of a similar mood to these pieces. It seems a bit more wintry than the compilation, but that could just be reflected by the weather, and the feeling that this winter is never going to end. But there’s a constant twinkling throughout much of the music on this tape, giving a feeling of light snowfall on a dark winter night. Not a blizzard, just a pleasant dusting of snow, it helps if you’re in your warm house looking outside rather than freezing outside in the cold.

Cloud Becomes Your Hand: Rocks Or Cakes (Northern Spy, 2014)

March 1, 2014 at 8:18 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Cloud Becomes Your Hand: Rocks Or Cakes

Fun indie-prog from a Brooklyn band who has played at Far House here in Ann Arbor a couple times. Can be compared to Sun City Girls, Zappa, Fred Frith, RIO, Canterbury, etc., but ultimately has its own sound. Playful and complex, with unpredictable changes, silly voices (but not too many, and not overused), violin, and synths. The vocals on “Sand Of Sea” suggest a straightforward midtempo psych-pop song, but then it goes off onto all sorts of weird tangents, with crunchy distorted drum effects and plenty of detours into backwards effects and flute-like synths. “Theme From Baby Age” starts with a perky violin rhythm, has some squawky chicken-like voices in the background, and ends with a voice stating that America is a flying clam, the cities are pearls, and the people are sand. “Waste Park” is a mellow, feedback-y, beatless instrumental. “Bay Shamps” is the longest cut, and has the most recognizable, stick-in-your-head melody, which takes almost a minute to build up to, but once it’s there, there’s no getting rid of it. “Nuclei Spinoffs” starts out calm enough, but the lyrics are wildly surrealist, and then the melodies get complex and convoluted and there’s all these scary sounds floating over everything. “Peanuts In A Celluloid Bag” ends the album with buzzing, dialtone-like synths and swooping, shrieking animal-like vocals.

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