PHOTOS: FINAL AUSTIN 2009 RND UP - Memorable Photos, Bands, & Trends
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Best Grillz in Austin. (Taken On Red River.)
RCRD LBL posted 63 new artists, rocking a total of 73 tracks of the choicest artists performing in Austin last week. (Peak at the full list here.) In addition, we had a blast in the 80 degree Austin sun. To close up, we've brought you some of more memorable photos, bands, trends, and recommended late night taco finds from SXSW 2009 this year that may prove valuable for next year.
Thanks to all those who made SXSW 2009 a wicked week of music (including our super production team who made it all possible)!
Ubiquitous fashion trend: Fem-Tats
(Photos: Faith-Ann Young)
PHOTOS: The Levi's®/FADER FORT Austin 2009 Highlights: Kanye West, Erykah Badu, Late of the Pier, Tricky, etc.
Tricky @ Levi's®/Fader Fort Thursday March 19th, 2009
Last week, Levi's® and Fader revamped a field by downtown Austin into a musical playground - with stores, washing machines, endless open bars, and large stage, from Wednesday, March 18th to Saturday, March 21st. There we relaxed, sipped lemonade and watched RCRD LBL featured artists Late of the Pier and Lissy Trullie and a horde of other new and established acts. Save too few bathrooms, the fort was pretty heavenly this year. Kanye West memorably closed out the Levi's®/Fader Fort by starting up a dance party with Kid Cudi and his G.O.O.D. crew and bringing in surprise guests Common and Erykah Badu. Click here for more picts and MP3s. Kudos to Levi's® Fader, et al. for good times.
MORE Levi's®/Fader Fort AUSTIN PICTS
Surprise Guest Erykah Badu @Levi's®/Fader Fort with Kanye, Saturday March 21st, 2009
Late of the Pier - Bathroom Gurgle (Tronik Youth Remix)
Late of the Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Metronomy Remix)
Late of the Pier's RCRD LBL Page
Lissy Trullie - Self Taught Learner
DOWNLOAD: Diane Birch - Fire Escape
Indulging our jones for poised and uplifting Southern soul this Friday is Diane Birch, a well-traveled preacher's daughter who's been working on a debut album called Bible Belt with some impressive collaborators. Lenny Kaye, Stanton Moore, The Roots' Adam Blackstone, The Meters' George Portner and Joss Stone's producers all had a hand in putting together the record, which is opened by the robust builder you'll find below. Think The Greatest without all the sad parts. The stars look aligned.
Sounds like: Cat Power, Joss Stone, Jessica Lea Mayfield
Diane Birch's Austin Schedule:
3/21 - French Legation Museum (1:00PM)
DOWNLOAD: Heartless Bastards - Searching For The Ghost (Acoustic)
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We can not stress more that Heartless Bastards may be one of the best live acts to see at SXSW in 2009. Their performance still has not been surpassed in the alt-rock blues category (save Dan Auerbach,perhaps....) and it's already Day 3 of this southern musical Valhalla in Austin. Erika Wennerstrom wails as hard lyrically as she does on guitar--in deep, deliberate stabs. Meanwhile, the band overall is as musically tight as they come - with guitar, bass, drums and the occasional, tactfully-inserted pedal steel guitar. We could go on for days but instead we are just going to bid you to listen to the track below and/or buy a ticket when they come to your town.
Sounds Like: Neil Young And Crazy Horse, Dan Auerbach, Blitzen Trapper
Heartless Bastards - Searching For the Ghost (Acoustic)
Previously:
Heartless Bastards - The Mountain
Heartless Bastards' RCRD LBL Page
Heartless Bastard's Austin Schedule:
3/20 Waterloo Records (3pm)
DOWNLOAD: A Hawk And A Hacksaw - Kersetz
(Photo: Tina Larkin)
A Hawk And A Hacksaw's manic manoeuvring of the Balkanised folk jam is oddly evasive, drawing you in before bolting off on whirling carousels of plucked string and circus bass. Frankly, I have no idea what instruments I'm listening to here, but that's more than half the thrill - peopled by violinist Heather Trost and former Neutral Milk Hotel drummer Julian Barnes, AHAAH weave together a sound that most reading this will have to treat as they do cinema, something to be enjoyed vicariously and for afternoons at a time, lost in daydreams of adventures set in far-off cities. "Kersetz" is taken from the troupe's forthcoming album Delivrance, out later this year through Leaf.
Sounds Like: a lunatic Beirut, Yann Tiersen, trying to shake foreign spies
DOWNLOAD: The Hours - Wall Of Sound
When we introduced The Hours to you back in December, we only had a touchy house remix from Calvin Harris to offer. That's fine and all, but now we've actually been given some legit original material from their new album See The Light, so this is something of a proper introduction. Veteran musicians Martin Slattery and Antony Glenn, two close musical confidants of Joe Strummer in his later years, have got themselves a pretty operatic pet project in The Hours. "Wall Of Sound" walks slowly through rigid pianos and ballad snares, crescendoing into some seriously epic moments that remind us a lot of the non-Ian-Mackeye-affiliated Embrace. The Hours are playing their only scheduled US gig tomorrow at Austin's Dirty Dog bar; we'll hold off on the venue jokes just for now.
Sounds like: Elbow, Embrace (the British one), Spiritualized
Previously:
The Hours - See The Light (Calvin Harris Vocal Remix)
The Hours Austin Schedule:
3/21 - Dirty Dog Bar (11:00PM)
DOWNLOAD: Woven Bones - Janie
(Photo: Lauren Grant)
Austin's Woven Bones know who they sound like, name-checking artists like Link Wray, The Velvet Underground, and their true musical granduncles, The Gun Club, in a short bio quote provided by frontman Andrew Burr. Their stuff is dirty, primitive rock and roll, simple and trashy and unapologetically after its time. Did I mention they sound like the friggin Gun Club? "Janie" comes from a new seven-inch due May 1st through Needless Records. They're playing around their hometown this weekend with bands like Psychedelic Horseshit and Kurt Vile. Go early and get freaky with them.
Sounds like: The Gun Club, Harlem, Crystal Stilts
Woven Bones' Austin Schedule:
3/21 - Victim Of Time Showcase @ The Music Gym (8:00PM)
3/22 - Beerland (7:00PM)
DOWNLOAD: Innercity Pirates - Cockney Sparra + Let's Go (D.I.S.C.O.)
There is nothing simple about creating perfect pop gems, but few make it seem as effortless as Cardiff's Innercity Pirates. Looking for a band with songs you can shout along to? Whistle along with? Dance to? Pogo to? Innercity Pirates have you covered. Creating witty no-brainer music, these deceptively simple, tinny pop songs have charming layers to uncover with every listen. As you can tell from the above video for "Cockney Sparra," the band are cute as buttons and if you could shrink down any band to carry around in your pocket this Spring, Innercity Pirates are the irresistible choice.
Sounds Like: Shout Out Louds, Peter, Bjorn & John, the Concretes, Elvis Costello, the Chalets
Innercity Pirates - Cockney Sparra
Innercity Pirates - Let's Go (D.I.S.C.O)
Innercity Pirates' RCRD LBL Page
Innercity Pirate's Austin Schedule:
3/19 @ The Dirty Dog (12:00am)
3/21 @ Volume Night Club (8:00pm)
DOWNLOAD: Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill + Summer Of Hate
Sam posted Crocodiles' "Neon Jesus" back in August. That dude really knows what he's talking about. In hopes that you might be inspired to check them out in Austin, I'm sharing two outstanding tracks from their forthcoming LP Summer of Hate. Why? Well for starters, you won't hear a better song this year than "I Wanna Kill." You won't. I realize that's some bold/stupid shit to say, that there's a special band named Animal Collective making hits in '09. Ditto that for a young buck running around as Wavves. They're both great and it's only March. But the noisy garage pop of "I Wanna Kill"? Man alive. Get downloading.
Previously:
Crocodiles' Austin Schedule:
3/20 - AAM Party @ Habana Calle 6
3/20 - Ballistic Missile Day Party @ 2706 South 4th Street
3/20 - Panache Party @ Beerland
DOWNLOAD: What's Up? - Harper + Seasoning's Greeting (Cropped and Subdued Mix)
(Photo: Katelyn Reeves)
The most blatant talent of California three-piece What's Up? is their unnerving ability to articulate in sound colours that haven't even been seen yet. "Harper", which wears its guitar strings tight across the neck in a mimic of steel pans, is perhaps the best example of this: its trebly tones flailing wildly like a haywire fruit machine or the plumage of a flamingo flock if, instead of feasting on the brine shrimp that turn their feathers pink, they reverted to a diet of LSD and fireworks. Seriously vivid and in the mood to party, What's Up? will get you kaleidoscopically crunk on their weirdo sunshine jams.
Sounds Like: Ratatat, Abe Vigoda, Growing
What's Up? - Seasoning's Greeting (Cropped and Subdued Mix)
What's Up?'s Austin Schedule:
3/20 - Treasure City Day Party
3/21 - The Moose Lodge
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