The Current Music Blog: March 14, 2008 Archive

The Stream 03/14/08 (Pi Day)

Posted at 9:20 AM on March 14, 2008 by Barb Abney (1 Comments)

Watch some of yesterday's live SxSW performances here.

More local SxSW coverage.

The Bad Plus to be on Conan tonight.

Today In Music History:
1933 - Quincy Jones Jr. was born.
1951 - Rick Dees was born.
1952 - David Byrne was born. (I'm a little premature on that one, sorry)
1971 - Rolling Stones left England and moved to France to escape taxes.

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Flat tire, don't stop me now!

Posted at 10:06 AM on March 14, 2008 by Christina Schmitt

A flat tire on a bike messenger's rickshaw put an end to my outing last night. Why I was trying to get across town seems silly to me now, but that's SXSW--plans are continually morphing and getting weirder.

At some point during the Current's broadcast yesterday - I think it was after the phenomenal DeVotchKa performance - I realized that I was not going to have time to see Motorhead. Although I did get to run over to stand outside Stubb's, where they were playing, and catch 15 minutes of the rock.

Then the Current's best friend Kate Beckman stopped by and the next thing I knew, the broadcast was over and we were off to the other side of the freeway--where Austin's true counterculture lives--to see a band called Dark Meat. How to describe this? If you've seen the TC band Chooglin - horn section, crazy drummer, soul-singing Stooges party band - then imagine Chooglin plus another drummer with full drum kit, several other percussionists, a female vocalist, violins and... I think I saw someone with a clarinet, but hard to say. I was too busy tucking my Lone Star under my arm so I wouldn't get any blue confetti in it (some guy was shooting it out of a gun).

All the Dark Meat-mates had these swipes of blue paint under their eyes - sort of a part tribal, part high school football player look. Some of their fans proudly sported the blue swipe, too. We saw many of them later on at the Jay Reatard show. Jay Reatard, by the way, was awesome with his new wave/garage/Flying V/curly hair rock'n'roll.

Next we jetted over to Emo's Jr to see the Marked Men, legendary Texas garage rockers. Wow. No kidding. I haven't had stars in my eyes in awhile, but when the one guitarist/singer let if fly, playing his Danelectro, I thought I found my soulmate. Then someone told me my soulmate was soon leaving for Japan to get married.

Life is short. Which is why I suddenly felt inspired to hop in the rickshaw to go see my TC buddies Birthday Suits playing across town. That's when the flat happened, and after a brief discussion about bad omens, I decided it was time to go back to the hotel. I'll get to see Birthday Suits at the Modern Radio showcase today, yeah!

Do the Shuffle

Posted at 10:33 AM on March 14, 2008 by Tony Lopez (3 Comments)

I am young and I'm alive.

"In the Round," The Cardigans
The Swedish quintet put out a best-of CD earlier this year. I'm still waiting for their compilation of Black Sabbath covers. Nina Persson's side project, A Camp, is reported to be releasing its second album later this year, again with the help of Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse. A Camp's first disc, from 2001, was a journey into country. In fact, Nina's got that quiver in her voice that reminds me a little of Emmylou Harris. "In the Round" is from The Cardigans' most recent album, Super Extra Gravity.

"Banta," Daby Toure
Toure (no relation to Ali Farka and Vieux Farka) is a Mauritanian singer-songwriter who is just as influenced by someone like Mark Knopfler as he his the music of his homeland. Pleasant stuff.

"Lume, Lume," Fanfare Ciocarlia
A little Roma music is good for the soul.

"Break You Off," The Roots
One of my favorite hip-hop acts. ?uestlove and Black Thought are the bomb! The Roots are looking at a late April release for their 10th album, Rising Down. The steamy video guest stars the actor Hassan Johnson, known to many as "Wee-Bey" Brice from The Wire, R.I.P.

"Juanita," The Flying Burrito Brothers
Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman basically invented country-rock. This track is from The Gilded Palace of Sin, one of those archetypal albums that traces a huge arc from the roots of a musical movement to its present-day form, in this case what we've come to call "alt-country." Chris Hillman was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, along with the rest of The Byrds. In 2006, the documentarian Gandulf Hennig filmed a biography of Parsons's life, Fallen Angel. If you're into the history of music, it's a must-see.

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Heavy Makes You Happy

Posted at 10:46 AM on March 14, 2008 by Bill DeVille (4 Comments)

I just noticed my right hand is covered in stamps and bracelets from yesterday's festivities here in Austin at the SXSW festival. Guess that means I've covered some ground!

Saw some cool stuff last night. The highlight was a new band from the England called The Heavy. This band is really something. They are funky and soulful and they rock! The singer, Swaby, is incredibly charismatic and full of swagger. I hear hints of Curtis Mayfield & even Jimi Hendrix. One track even sounded a bit like Screaming Jay Hawkins, "I Put a Spell on You." Really looking forward to tomorrows set at the Current's Free Yr Radio Stage!

I checked out a set by Dan Sartain. He is from Birmingham, Alabama. Sartain has described his as, "Chris Isaak hooked up to jumper cables." Not a bad description for the gent who has opened for both the Hives and the White Stripes. His sound is kind of a trashy mix of rockabilly and blues. I've seen him before and his live shows are kind of uneven but he sure delivered in his all too short set last night!

Also took in a set by a Texas group called the Marked Men. If you like the Buzzcocks and the Ramones you'll dig these guys.

Things are heating up in a hurry. It's supposed to be in the 90's today in Austin.

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Mr. Jones and Me

Posted at 9:59 PM on March 14, 2008 by Ali Lozoff

There is more than one reason why my face is pink and flushed today. Besides getting over a wicked sinus thingy that made me feel like my head was going to explode on the airplane, I didn't apply quite enough sun block today, and I am way more aware of the existence of my forehead than I have ever been before. I'm going to peel like an orange later this week. But I barely noticed the burn happening as I was so busy going out of my brain with excitement and happiness at today's live broadcast. The entire day went incredibly well, though for me the excitement really kicked in when Billy Bragg showed up. What a true gent. The crowd ate up his signature blend of political protest, humor and showmanship. I mean this in the best possible way - that guy should have his own show on the Vegas strip. His stage presence and patter is amazing.

So then Nino Moschello and Darondo stopped by. I didn't know what to expect, but I didn't expect to hand over my extra-large bottle of generic pain reliever to be used as a percussion instrument. (Sounded pretty good though!) I can't even describe Darondo here - you'll just have to watch the video to witness the funk soul brother in his full glory. Hi-larious and amazing. Like James Brown, Al Green, Morris Day and Redd Foxx all in one, with an awesome backing band. It was a perfect jammy vibe for a sun drenched afternoon.

But then, then, then.... then came Carbon/Silicon. Now, I'm slightly more than a casual fan of The Clash. Lunatic is probably a better word. I made the heartbreaking decision once to pass up an opportunity to talk with Joe Strummer, thinking I didn't want to be one of those people that gushes to someone how much they looooooove them, etc etc. Sadly, Joe passed away shortly after. So there was no way I was going to miss at least shaking Mick's hand. And shake it I did. I looked him square in the eye and thanked him for helping shape my world view. He couldn't have been sweeter. A total doll. (For the record, Tony James is no slouch either.) They also put on a great show to a packed crowd that waited patiently for hours in the blazing sun. It was truly a high point for my musical life, not to mention this year's SXSW broadcast. I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm going to try to score a picture with another long time hero, John Doe.

As Dizzee Rascal said this morning, "It's public radio, can I get an OHHHHHHH....".

Guest DJ Set 3-14-08

Posted at 10:26 PM on March 14, 2008 by Steve Seel

Mark Wheat's absence this week (due to his presence at our big SXSW hootenany in Austin) nonwithstanding, our regular Friday night Guest DJ set comes your way as always. Mark made sure to leave me with an excellent one before he boarded the plane for the Lone Star State.

This week, its a new mix from our friends at fabric -- #38 in their series
by the German duo known as M.A.N.D.Y. The duo is comprised of longtime friends and kindred spirits Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung. The two met in their teens, and immediately cultivated a friendship based on a mutual love of sports, compilation tapes, Tears for Fears and Janis Joplin records (!).

When the two discovered Chigaco acid house in the late 80s, their love of electronica was born. They spent the 90s cutting their chops as DJs, and it was 2004's Get Physical compilation that got them their true first blast of widespread noteriety among house and techno lovers alike.

M.A.N.D.Y.: from fabric 38

Tim Paris - Widow Diskow / Marketing
Imps aka Minilogue - Unkle Limps (Turkish Version) / Mule Electronic
Voodeux - The Spell / Mothership
Miguel Toro - Cure (Oil of Mars vs. Samim Mix) / Moon Harbour
Todd Bodine - Secret Edge / Mothership
Livio & Robby vs ARc - XY (Terrace Mix) / (unreleased)
Gel Abril - Papa Dee / Ovum
Jona - Puppets (Dan Curtin Remix) / Resopal

Just another day at SXSW

Posted at 11:13 PM on March 14, 2008 by Bill DeVille

My day started with a bang. Saw live "grime" for the 1st time in my life. Dizzy Rascal was on the Current's Free Yr Radio Stage at 11AM this morning. This got has got the goods. Dizzy is truly an entertainer. Make sure you take a look at his performance while you're visiting thecurrent.org!

There is all kinds of music happening at this festival. Headed over to the Red House Records showcase and took in some peace among the chaos. I took in a set from Storyhill. Sure is nice to see this group back among the living. Just love the sweet close harmonies of Chris Cunningham & Johnny Hermanson. Enjoyed a few tunes from the Pines as well.

My next stop was to have a listening party for the upcoming release from the Twin Cities own Atmosphere. The Album is set for release April 22nd & will include a DVD. I am very impressed with what I heard. It's funky, soulful and has a nice live band feel. Atmosphere's, "When Life Gives You Lemons..." also features a special guest you may have heard of...Tom Waits does some beatboxing on one of the tracks. Apparently Waits son is a huge Atmosphere fan & helped make it happen.

A few other assorted highlights...saw a really great band from LA called the Aggrolites. These guys mix old school reggae with rock, soul, & funk. I want to rent this band for a summer party someday. They are a blast!

Oh...I forgot to mention I shook one of my heroes, Mick Jones of Carbon/Silicon, hand today!!