The songs were jangly Power-Pop stompers, all of which punctuated by Stamey’s airy, somewhat nasally vocals. He told the audience that his 9 year old daughter had started a band called Weird Girls, and that in between every song, they told jokes. I think his set was made up of mostly new songs, I only recognized one of them, aside from his closing cover of Chris Bell’s "I Am the Cosmos"
The Summer Sun (mp3) - Chris Stamey
I Am the Cosmos (mp3) - Chris Bell
Next I went to Emo’s Main to see the the Raveonettes, who despite sounding good on record, just aren’t interesting live. Their too-cool-for-school-detachedness is a real turn off, how can an audience be engaged by your music when you not?
Attack of the Ghostriders (mp3) - The Raveonettes
Bored, I walked over to Emo’s Jr and saw a band I had never heard of called Let’s Go To War. After some embarrassing technical difficulties before their set, the band dropped a massive Funk Bomb on the audience.
Their bass was jaw-rattling and their energy filtered through the room with every pulsating beat. A Moog, Techics, & a white dude with 2 laptops and a purple shirt that said "All I do is Smoke Weed & Sip Syrup," what more could you want?
Life We Live (mp3) - Let’s Go To War
I then stayed in Emo’s Jr, and watched theDeathset. I saw them a few years ago at Flamingo Cantina, and back then they were just 2 guys and some pre-recorded beats. Now they’re like a totally different band, axing one of the 2 guys, replacing him, and then adding a drummer and keyboardist to create a full on Noise-Pop attack.
The crowd was totally insane for this band from the word go, dancing on stage and on the floor. It was without a doubt the best audience of the day, and one of the best shows of the day.
Around the World (mp3) - TheDeathSet
I then went across the street to the Emo’s Annex to await the Wedding Present at 5:15. Before they played, I caught a set by a singer-songwriter named Sean Hayes. Not really my thing, but kind of interesting. His sound was a throwback to the Folk-Country vibe of Jonathan Edwards, but his lyrics were really odd with songs about Alabama chicken, James Brown, Voodoo, & Rattlesnakes on the dance floor.
Alabama Chicken (mp3) - Sean Hayes
Afterward, the Wedding Present played. I was really looking forward to seeing them, and I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to learn that it was literally only half the band performing, vocalist & guitarist David Gedge & a bassist. Bottom line, it’s hard to dance when there’s no beat. On the upside, he said that the Wedding Present has a new album coming out and a North American tour in September or October.
Brassneck (mp3) - Wedding Present
After a 2 hour break, I went over to Habana Calle 6 to see Laura Barnett. Miss Barnett sat in her chair with her bare feet pressed up against various peddles at the foot of the stage. In her hands, she held a Kalimba, or thumb piano, an acoustic box with little metal tabs that when plucked made a xylophone-esque tone.
With her angelic voice, she crafted sweet, bizarro Folk songs about absurd topics like Robot Ponies, all the while performing them with an earnest sincerity.
She sang a song in which she told members of the audience what they were going to be, some people were going to Bears or Crocodiles, but I’m supposed to be a star in a video game. I really enjoyed her set and bought a Cd.
Robot Ponies (mp3) - Laura Barnett
I then went over to Red-Eyed Fly, and watched a couple songs by my favorite Furniture Records Supergroup, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. I got to see them perform a new song (about having a seizure) and "It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity" before heading over to Elysium to see Shellshag.
Let’s All Get Fades (mp3) - When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
Shellshag is a band from Brooklyn who garnered my attention with the song "Gary’s Note" sometime last year. I thought it was a pretty safe bet to see them since they are part of a good scene and don’t really tour this way very often. I liked the duos set-up quite a bit, with their microphone stands entangled, crossbones style, with the guitarist on one side, facing the drummer on the other. Their sound was a combo of Trash Punk & Glam, high energy and fun and kinda dumb too. They did a cover of "the Promise" by When in Rome. If you were to judge a band by their fans, you would think that Shellshag were a couple of assholes, but obnoxious fans aside, I think they’re probably really nice people. They seem like one of those bands that don’t really fit into the scene they’re part of, but are kept around because they’re just good people. I don’t know, maybe that’s assuming a lot. Also, I don’t have any photos from this show, because this was the only show that someone from SXSW actually gave me shit for having a camera.
I then went to see Jeff Lewis at Club DeVille. This was my favorite show of the day. My friend Brit had been going on about Jeff Lewis since we hung out back in September, and I had just recently bought his new Cd, "12 Crass Songs," from Backspin Records a week or so prior to going to the show.
He played whipsmart Folk Rock songs about his many contradictory thoughts about Will Oldham, narrated a "documentary" about the Complete History of Communism in Russia using a book with giant coloring-book-style-drawings in it, and also did several Crass covers from his new album.
He also sold comic books at the foot of the stage. It was great.
End Result (wma) Jeff Lewis (Crass cover)
Lastly, I went to the Mohawk to see the Mae Shi, who had a lot of buzz around them, and they probably played a dozen shows during SXSW.
They were high energy, noisy, & boring. Sadly, it all seemed contrived and gimmicky. I wanted to like you Mae Shi, but when you pulled a white sheet out and held over the audience’s heads, it became pretty apparent that you were overcompensating for something.
Boys in the Attic (mp3) - The Mae Shi
--Popkoff
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