Strawberry Jam 4-9-11

by Sophie Block

Hungry for some rock n’ roll? Have some Strawberry Jam! I did, Saturday night at Antone’s, the renowned club that’s boasted legends such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Muddy Waters—Antone’s hosted Austin rock band strawberryJAM’s CD release party. Along with bluesy opening act iMBiBE, they gave a kick-ass show filled with danceable jams, catchy lyrics and covers just as solid as their original songs.

At first glance the guys of iMBiBE may look like your college buddies, but they are anything but ordinary! Their funky blues songs, played by the trio behind burning incense, had all the elements of the music I like to listen to. Lowell Carrico’s vocals were those of a practiced, mature voice, along with flawless and impressive electric guitar. But his expertise was matched by both the bass player and drummer, who had an equally complex but not overbearing technique. Listen to their song “Ashes to Dust” and you’ll know what I’m talking about—the jam is married perfectly with the blues for some darn good listenin’.

strawberryJAM’s Zack Morgan joined iMBiBE onstage to play keys for a couple of songs before his band hit the stage. sJAM brought on the heat. The band is comprised of six musicians covering guitar, bass, keys, sax, violin, drums and mandolin. They opened with “Stone Angel,” a song filled with organ-style keys, singer Andrew Bennet’s falsetto and a soulful style-- “She looks so innocent but looks so threatening.”

Although their name makes them sound like they are a jam band, strawberryJAM is more structured rock with psychedelic and even pop elements. The band began as a jam band with a free-form format in which any one could play before they evolved into the group they are today. Their song “Wasting time” sounds like Phoenix.  The original songs the band played Saturday were diverse and well-written. One of my favorites was their reggae jam “Without a Warrant.” The highlight of the set for me, however, was the remarkable cover of The Allman Brother’s “Jessica”-- a crazy complicated composition that they rocked! Carrico joined them onstage for that one to play acoustic guitar. Local rapper/songwriter Kydd joined them onstage for another song. sJAM also did a cover of the Grateful Dead boogie “Shakedown Street”, much to my enjoyment. Slide on over to their website for music and upcoming shows.

Highlight's of Not-SXSW at Amelia's 2011

by Kimberly Caterino

If you didn’t at least peek into Amelia’s Retrovogue during 3^rd Coast Music’s not-SXSW events-- well, you missed out.  The South Austin backyard venue was a treat in itself—with potted ferns, metal sculptures, mosaic remnants, and a perfectly fitted stage (read: cozy, but not too small).  Some musical highlights, as a former and once-again 3CM FAR (Freeform American Roots) reporter (if you don't know what I mean by FAR reporter, check out an issue of 3rd Coast Music):  

Since I first spun the CD Bar of Gold in 2007, I’ve been waiting for the chance to catch Baltimore’s Arty Hill in person-- where Hank meets honky tonk meets Arty’s delivery and lyrical wit.  With stand-up bass for backup, and despite overcoming a recent cold, Arty delivered.  We heard some gems, like “Nashville Moon” and “Church on a Saturday Night”..    Arty was later in the audience for Austinite Brennen Leigh, who has the perfect vocal intonation and slight drawl for her brand of bluegrass-inflected country.  She sang of drinking, crying, and “sleeping with the devil”, backed by acoustic guitar and electric bass, and closed with the Jimmie Rodgers cover “Mule Skinner”.   A satisfying early-morning discovery one day was Houstonite Matt Harlan, whose lyrics and weathered voice completely exceed his age.  Matt is more of a folkie, with tones of country—his interesting picking pattern shaped unique and pretty melodies, with dusty and wise vocals reflecting on life—bringing me to the weep zone-- check "You're Just Drunk".   ..And radio people aren’t supposed to have favorites, but clearly Nashville’s Amanda Shires is my not-SX pick.  The fiddle is her instrument, which she alternated between picking like a ukulele and bolding stroking with the bow for stormy accents between verses— verses, might I add, that were delivered in flawlessly feminine vocals, with a slight wavering edge, and earthy poetic punch.  She basically stopped time in the growing heat of a sunny afternoon, with the power of raw, demanding emotion in her sweet voice.  Hopefully this gal will soon move back to her native Texas!  

Text of Light, SXSW Interactive 3-14-11

By Kimberly Caterino

The Interactive portion of South by Southwest (SXSW) has gained tremendous popularity, but this being Austin, even Interactive events include live music.  Plutopia Productions, an experiential events and entertainment production company here in Austin, hosted its 4^th annual signature SXSW Interactive event: The Future of Play.  Plutopia’s mission is to bring arts, entertainment, and technology together, to discover what can work in the future, to be playful, to appeal to all ages.

The Mexican American Cultural Center was a great venue for the evening’s festivities, with several themed buildings, rooms, and hallways of all sizes, and an outdoor area for extended romping.  Experiments, demonstrations, interactive games, and artistic displays lined the walkways— and plenty of chances to create art as an active participant—with paint, objects, computers, light, sound-- oftentimes with more than one of those combined. 

Attended by all ages of folks, from the casual to the costumed, there was in fact an invitation to play—usually with something colorful, tactile, and futuristic-looking-- at the turn of every corner.  And those men in black, the secret service guys with the attaché-cases?  Until the rotary telephone popped out, they had me fooled.   But the mad scientists in the white lab coats—they might have been for real.

The headlining event was a performance by Text of Light, an improvisational group from New York City (also the name of a 1974 Stan Brakhage film).  Text of Light features Sonic Youth’s guitarist Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht (guitars and devices), Tim Barnes (percussion), and Ulrich Krieger (saxophone and electronics)..  there are also turntable-spinning members who were not present this evening.  Together the group creates improvised compositions alongside avant-garde films, primarily those of Stan Brakhage (although they include other filmmakers at times).  Important note: the players do not watch the film while they compose—they admittedly do not play “at” the film.  Knowing this in advance (from the press conference) made for an eerily synchronistic experience for this one audience member.

Renaldo stated the group has developed a language together, clearly not a standard band-like formulaic one, and they use different films for each performance—unscreened in advance.  Part of the goal is to create juxtaposition, to induce different synaptic interactions (for players, for listeners) during the experience.  I had the opportunity to ask if the group members approach their events with a particular artistic mission in mind, what is their conversation like as a group after performing, and what kinds of reflections do they have prior to or after their performances?  When does it fail; when does it rock?

All 4 members took turns answering my layered question, completing and complementing each other’s thoughts:   One primary goal is to turn art aficionados on to Stan Brakhage’s work.  Text of Light aims to create synergy, to generate the unplanned, to be in the moment as possible.  The overall encounter is more than the sum of the parts, and the only times they vaguely deem a performance a failure is when there’s a basic failure in technology.

While playing, they stop to hear the sound that is still going, and enter a group mind.  “Making music is playing,” Ranaldo emphasized, and it is simultaneously “serious and playful”.  Wrapping up the group-mind answer, Tim Barnes added: “And it does rock.”

I hesitate to use the word “performance”—perhaps “experiment” fits.  What was the experiment like?  Dark, with most spectators sitting Indian-style on the floor.  The screen was up front, with the 4 musicians on a stage, their backs to the screen.  There was no formal opening announcement—just an entering...  of an altered mind state.  If you can imagine a hallucinogenic experience induced by only sound and images..   The “group mind” was not limited to the people on the stage, I soon realized.  It only got deeper as time went on.  

Brakhage’s work is a blur of moving colors and images, unfocused objects, with close-ups, movement, flickering hues (in the beginning, red, and orange) and plays on perspective.  You never quite know what you are looking at, and you forget you are watching a film—especially with the sound wrapping around.  The instruments that I could detect being used were a saxophone, drums, guitar, but not all at once..  

Speaking of synaptic interactions:  Cello bow on a guitar.  Cacophony, silence.  Distorted feedback, silence.  Alarms, felt in the floor, grabbed my (musician) earplugs.. Synthesized loops.  Crescendos, lulls. screeches, and wandering.  Kinetic fear, threat, chaos.  Frenetic drums, circular squeaking, a cell phone on a guitar.  Jazz, and here is Miles Davis: peace.  Mourning, and a military march.  “Panels for the Walls of Heaven”—blue, choppy, ambient saxophone, bellows and howls from guitars.  Speed, movement—discovery!  

Undoubtedly—play leads to discovery.  Perhaps the group’s mission, perhaps Plutopia’s mission.

No segment of the Text of Light’s experiment is a repeat of the moment before, and clearly listeners are out of a certain comfort zone.  Because the group members are centralized on a stage in front of a screen, the sound and images serve as a vacillating invitation and dare, to draw near.  The closer you get, the less the individual parts make sense..   the more you are forced to let go, to accept the moment, and the less it matters —like an impressionistic painting.  

I can always go back to my comfort zone, but Text of Light sure reminded me of how important it is to leave!

Los Flames 3-25-11

by Sophie Block

While waiting for our table at Homeslice Saturday night, my friends and I trotted across the street to Guero’s Taco Bar to have a drink and check out that night’s band. Los Flames, a blues/classic rock/soul band was playing. I’m not sure if they identify themselves as a cover band, but I’m pretty sure all the songs I caught that night were covers. I feel like that label gets a bad rap, but here in Austin our cover bands are just as good as artists with their own material! Los Flames played everything from Chuck Berry to The Rolling Stones, adding their own flair and flavor to the songs they covered.

For example, the band played Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues,” and threw in their own twist on the lyrics:

I bet there's rich folks eatin',
In a fancy dining car,
They're probably eatin’ tacos,
And smokin' big cigars

(Note: Johnny sang “drinkin’ coffee,” not eating tacos.)

It was their originality with the songs, extremely talented musicians, and drummer/MC Bobby Fuentes’s little quips that made the band such a fun band to listen to. At one point his phone rang. “It’s probably my wife,” Fuentes said into the mic. (answers phone) “What?!” The audience laughs. He talks to her for a few seconds, and tells the crowd she was calling to see what time he’d be home--so she knows what time to get home! Laughter filled the yard and Fuentes gave himself a little punchline noise on the drums.

Some of my favorite songs included “Carol” (originally by Chuck Berry) and “Let It Bleed” (The Rolling Stones). All the musicians--including two saxophonists, two guitar players, a bassist and drums-- were on their game. They switched from genre to genre without showing weakness in any form. According to their website they have guest musicians that play with them from time to time, so who knows what big guns Los Flames will be pulling out next! The band plays every first Thursday and every Friday at Guero’s, so next time you’re walking around SoCo (South Congress), stop in for a margarita and check out Los Flames.

Tapes 'n Tapes and Okkervil River, SXSW 2011

by Sophie Block

The highlight of my SXSW was Saturday afternoon at Lustre Pearl, where I saw Tapes ‘n Tapes and Okkervil River--totally free--shaded from the sun beneath a large tent while still reveling in the Texas heat. Lustre Pearl was transformed from it’s cute, elegant-meets-destructed house vibe to full-on concert venue this week. Dickies hosted the day party that brought together a big crowd of SXSWers.

Huge shout out to Tapes ‘n Tapes from my native Minneapolis! I felt right at home at their rockin' set mid-afternoon. They were wrapping up a two-month tour with their final SXSW gig at the Pearl. They said they were psyched to finally get some R&R after the stint, but definitely weren’t done working yet! Josh Grier’s singing was fun and engaging, and he interacted a lot with the other band members. Bassist Erik Appelwick sang backup vocals and some refrains with Grier, showing off his missing tooth as he smirked and sang along throughout the show. The band shone on the chill anthem “On and On” off their new album and “Freak Out.” When Grier’s guitar strap fell off during the show, Jeremy Hanson rocked out an impromptu minute-long drum solo that the crowd went wild for. As big as this band gets, watching them live I saw that they’re still just some Minnesota boys having fun playing music. Really, really good music.

Indi rockers Okkervil River went on next, and they tore it up! The local band wrapped up their SXSW with the show at Lustre Pearl as well. They are so enchanting to watch play live. The band has cycled through several members since its formation in the late 90s, but the current line-up was authentic and cohesive. They opened the show with “Lost Coastlines,” a song in which the bassist shares vocal duty with songwriter Will Sheff. The song builds from slow and sweet to full-on cheer fest. They played two songs off their new album I am Very Far due out in May. I will definitely be on top of that one once it comes out after hearing “Rider” and “Wake and be fine.” Okkervil River is one of the bands to point to when bragging about why music in this city is the best.

SXSW 2011 - Garret Endres, The Mother Hips, Flogging Molly

by Sophie Block

SXSW can be enjoyed by poor locals, too! Without a wristband, badge, or any idea of where we were going to end up, my friends and I saw three free shows Thursday night--and drank for free, too. After waiting in line (to no avail) for an Aziz Ansari stand up show, we meandered over to Shiner’s Saloon on Congress. This second-story venue, equipped with cozy leather bar stools shaped like wooden barrels and other southwestern details, is having its own unofficial SXSW showcase with free music- seven nights a week. The small stage and gentle breeze flowing through the large open windows made this the perfect chill place to begin our evening.

Austin singer-songwriter Garret Endres and his band sang some fun country songs about whiskey, home and treating women right. Before his last song, Endres said that the band does not condone drug use--just drinking. The lyrics included the lines “drank the corn whiskey, let the cocaine be.” Ironically, the melody of the song was strikingly similar to Old Crow Medicine Show song  “Cocaine Habit”, but that song is pretty much the opposite on the subject matter: “Well I love my whiskey and I love my gin, but the way I love my coke is a doggone sin.” Endres put on a great show, so go out and support this local artist when you get the chance.

I wasn’t too happy waiting in line for the Sony SXSW party at Trinity Lounge on 2nd St., because it didn’t look like much was going on from the outside. But there’s nothing like free entry, open bar, and good music to make a girl forget all about waiting on queue! Sony had the joint set up with several large TV’s and couches that party-goers could peruse their on-demand videos. I thought it was comical watching the Burlesque trailer while listening to a jam band, but beyond that short infatuation with shiny electronics, it was all about the music. The Mother Hips, a psychedelic band hailing from Cali, have been playing together for about two decades--and it shows. Singer/guitarist Tim Bluhm sounded great and was a lot of fun to watch. I couldn’t believe I stumbled upon this band for free! I will definitely check out more of their recordings.

En route to the car at what we thought was the end of the night, we asked the doorman at the W Hotel what was going on inside. Flogging Molly was playing--totally free! I hail from the Midwest, where a lot of people will shell out big bucks to see a Flogging Molly concert over and over again. I have never really cared to go to a show, but figured I’d see what all the fuss was about. My cousin just about lost her mind when she heard they were playing and ran through the doors.

They’re great! Who knew that punk and Irish music could blend together so perfectly? The crowd was going wild for the band, and I myself danced around to hardcore accordion and Irish jargon with glee. Although we came just before the encore, it felt like we saw a whole show because it lasted about 40 minutes--whew! I hope Flogging Molly saved some of their energy for St. Patty’s day, because I sure didn’t.

Shaft El Grupo de Rock 2-26-11

by Richard Crenwelge

Shaft El Grupo de Rock, 02/26/11

I am always looking for something different to do on the weekends, and I truly treasure the times that I can find a show that is not on Red River. Luckily, this past weekend fell into the more favorable category. It was a blast from the past, featuring Austin band Shaft, at an incredibly cozy little bar called the Rabbit's Lounge.

I remember seeing Shaft 12ish years ago, which I believe was at Flamingo Cantina with the Applicators. The one thing that I remember about them then, and noticed again this past weekend, is that they are an extremely cohesive band (even though the line-up has changed). This is something that few local bands can ever claim to have accomplished, as it requires an intuitive, synergistic feel for each other, along with a ton of shared history and practice.

Musically, they are very similar to a lot of other bands that were becoming popular in the late 90s, and they of course share threads with the sounds that created their contemporaries. I always hesitate to compare bands to other bands, but it is nevertheless a useful tool for attracting new fans. When I hear Shaft, I definitely hear a current of Jawbreaker, and perhaps Texas is the Reason, but they are most similar to the music that I heard coming out on Asian Man, No Idea, and Fueled By Ramen at the time, most notably Tuesday, which was fronted by the “other” singer of Alkaline Trio. Shaft has the characteristic syncopation in their guitar riffs, short pop hooks, and heart-on-the-sleeve sing-alongs that helped mold a whole generation of aging ex-punks at the time. Note the legions of sappy, drunken, and bearded guys that followed Hot Water Music around for the next decade (and still do).

Although they claim that this show was “one of their last”, I have a feeling Austin will be able to enjoy Shaft for some time to come. Their shows are heart-felt and energetic, and the enthusiasm of their crowd is admittedly intoxicating. Look for upcoming shows at myspace.com/shaftelgrupoderock.