SXSW 2010: Cloud Nothings at Cheer Up Charlie's (3/17/10)

In pure contrast, Cloud Nothings played a new perfect set. Setting up in only 7 minutes, Dylan and Co. blasted through a very tight set, cramming in as much of their great fuzzed out indie rock as humanly possible in a 30 minute set. Despite Dylan being only 18 (still mind blowing for me), the band was a well oiled machine, going through this stuff as if they had already played them 50 times, while really this was only about their 13th show. It was Turning On heavy which was no problem with me. "Can't Stay Awake" and "Hey Cool Kid" worked great live, with everyone playing with tons of energy and they had one of the most frantic drums I have ever seen. The band even snuck some new songs as well into the set. Closer "Turning On" caused the band to go semi-Beach Boys, with all the members hitting perfect harmonies. Definitely on hell of a night closer.

SXSW 2010: Fluffy Lumbers at Cheer Up Charlie's (3/17/10)

Poor Samuel Franklin. In the purest sense of the words, his Fluffy Lumber's set was a complete and utter disaster. They were without a drummer because of cops and without a bassist because he forgot his power supply. With only a second guitarist and a drum machine, the band also got to experience a technical difficulties and a very short set, only getting 4 to 5 songs as well. Still the band, and what they managed to play was some really catchy shoegaze. My hopes that their other SXSW shows went at least a little bit better.

SXSW 2010: Magic Kids at Charlie's (3/17/10)

Magic Kids somehow managed to convert pure childhood wonder and joy into a set. In the incredibly cramped quarters that was Charlie's, the band managed to blast the crowd with some actual fun. I was worried whether it was worth coming this far to see them (the show was about a mile and a half away from all the other shows) for a band whose two songs I've liked but not loved. But from the moment those doe-eye 60's notes hit the room, they had won. It was just so sweet and cute you forgot that jaded cynicism existed and wanted to sing along to every word they sang, even though you knew less than half. Then to top it off, for the finale, the singer Bennett goes soul singer and starts falling into the crowd. I think it was the biggest and best surprise of SXSW.

SXSW 2010: A Sunny Day in Glasgow at Red 7 (3/17/10)

I only wound up at this show because my friend dragged me to see them. But I'm glad she did. After the fluffy bliss of Real Estate this was a nice contrast. Set in a near pitch black room filled with people chatting and beer, the atmosphere worked perfectly with the bands music. It was nice to see a shoegaze band that actually seemed to be having fun making their music. You could tell the band was dying to use some sort of light machine during the set. The two female vocalists added some nice new flare to the sound and even with the sound problems that came from the stage too often, the band still put on a good show. Maybe not the best show of SXSW, but still a good one to be sure.

New Video: Dum Dum Girls-Jail La La

One of the best and most of addictive songs of last/this year has gotten the video treatment. As a reminder, Dum Dum Girls are releasing their debut I Will Be on Sub Pop tomorrow. And HoZac Records already has the first pressing of the LP on sale as well.

(mp3) Dum Dum Girls-Jail La La


Links:


Dum Dum Girls Website
Pre-Order I Will Be from Sub Pop
Buy the album from HoZac Records

Andrew Cedermark-From Memory

In my eyes, Andrew Cedermark can do no wrong. The former Titus Andronicus guitarist has been crafting some of the best slow burning tracks since... whenever he started writing his solo work. Case in point his newest track “From Memory” off his upcoming split cassette with Drunk Tigers off Funny/Not Funny Records. Fuzzy without being noisy, the track constantly soars with just one instrument at a time as the drone-y intros go into an extremely blissful and catchy chorus. Just jumping from a cool faux organ to a sweet little acoustic guitar, this is a very simple song, but does so much that it doesn’t come off like that at all. Someone please get me this cassette.

(mp3) Andrew Cedermark-From Memory

Links:

Andrew Cedermark on Myspace
Pre-Order the split cassette soon from Funny/Not Funny

SXSW 2010: Real Estate at Red 7 (3/17/10)

OK, I will be the first to admit I have not been on "chillwave" bandwagon that practically all my fellow blogs seemed to jump on last year. Something about the genre was always giving me the wrong vibes, and nothing about it came off as or sounded authentic. However, SXSW has always been about experiencing something new and I've enjoyed the few Real Estate tracks I've heard. As I'm sure you can tell where this is going, the show was blissfully great. Something about just getting out of the cold Texas winter and seeing this band just sweep you away with pure reverb that formed some very good songs a well, creating practically the best feel good vibe ever. The funniest part of the set was when the band pulled a Low move and asked the tech to turn down their instruments. I was ready to like the set, but after the band was done, I was ready to buy everything from these guys. Man, have I been missing out.

This Many Boyfrineds-That's What Diaries Are For

The underground indie scene is becoming better and better with each passing week, and such becoming more and more underrated. Sparky Deathcap, Dananananaykroyd, Superman Revenge Squad, Johnny Foreigner are all getting minimal coverage in the USA as great as they are. Add This Many Boyfriends to that ever growing list. Taking their name from a Beat Happening song (already a good sign), the band nails perfectly the sweet spot between being a band that makes insanely great sugar-coated indie pop that isn't too annoying or cutesy in a way that people tend to have problems with this kind of music. It's like Los Campesinos! style guitar parts and energy layered twee-style instrumentation that is both simple and fierce, but just as catchy as those to things combined. Equal parts the entire catalogs of Slumberland and Sarah Records, the band has yet to even have a proper release and already sound like their at the top of their game. One listen and these tunes won't be out of your earphones for weeks. Someone please get a label to listen to them.

(mp3) This Many Boyfriends-That's What Diaries Are For

Links:

This Many Boyfrineds on Myspace
Download the band's 2 song demo here, at Last.fm

Show Me A Word That Rhymes With Pavement

In the wake of the Pavement reunion that is happening right now as you read this, the level at which the blogosphere is excited about it is about at the same level as... well I don't think it has ever been this high. So while everyone is diving back in to their old Pavement records, my friend Jamie from Audio Anti-Hero was kind enough to tell me about Show Me A Word That Rhymes With Pavement. Released by the great Filthy Little Angels Records, a British label that has put out some really great indie pop over the years, has created this 17 track album of Pavement covers by a huge batch of UK artists, including Creative Intersection favorite Benjamin Shaw. And guess what, it is actually a really good cover album! Admittedly a large portion of these artists are very obscure, but that is just another way perk of the album, to introduce you to a possible new favorite artist. The absolute best part though, is Filthy Little Angels has released the whole album for free on their website, so you have absolutely no excuse to not check it out.

Track List:

01 Cats and Cats and Cats - Cut Your Hair
02 Mascot Fight - Carrot Rope
03 The International Karate Plus - Box Elder
04 Vom Vorton - Zurich is Stained
05 Benjamin Shaw - Starlings of the Slipstream
06 Black Heart Generator - Serpentine Pad
07 Postcode - In the Mouth a Desert
08 Ace Bushy Striptease - Secret Knowledge of Backroads
09 Horowitz - I Love Perth
10 Captain Polaroid - Here
11 The Dead Cassettes - Gold Soundz
12 Jack Lewis and the Golden Indies - Stub Your Toe
13 Later - Trigger Cut
14 Rod Jones - Shady Lane
15 Olympic Swimmers - We Dance
16 Billy Ruffian - Stereo
17 Miss Halliwell - Silence Kid

Download Show Me A Word That Rhymes With Pavement

Links:

Filthy Little Angels Website

SXSW 2010: Titus Andronicus at Emo's (3/17/10)

I broke a cardinal rule of SXSW by going to this show: never see a band you've already seen before at South by Southwest. But with a band as great as Titus Andronicus, I had to make an exception. Plus it was a new line up playing brand new songs from this year's beyond stellar The Monitor. And what more needs to be said about Titus that multiple blogs, Pitchfork, and music magazines haven't said already? They're New Jerseyans and they rock just as hard as anyone from that state does. They only managed to play 4 songs that entered into prog-rock time lengths, but still managed to be just as great and entertaining when they are banging out snottier punk tunes. All the songs managed to translate live with the whole band rocking out in unison. Plus they managed to trigger a mini mosh pit when Japandroids couldn't and with a violinist in tow. That's got to get bonus points.

SXSW 2010: Japandroids at Emo's (3/17/10)

Nothing like kick starting one of the best musical festivals in the world with a bang, and Japandroids truly delivered on that end. I caught them playing their first show at SXSW and having only 20 minutes on top of that, but the band still managed to pull off one hell of a show Blasting through "The Boys Are Leaving Town" and "Rockers West Vancouver" the band achieved something close to pure energy with Brian King thrashing on his guitar like a mad man on speed and David Prowse drumming the equivalent of that. Faces reddened and screams and yelps somehow managed to become musical while the band played new jam "Art Czars" and "Wet Hair" for only the second time in the U.S. Then realizing they had only 3 minutes left, they blasted into an incredibly tight and ear pounding 5 minute "Young Hearts Spark Fire". And then just like that they were gone. Who needs coffee when you've got Japandroids?