LIFE BEYOND SXSW



JULY 11, 2007

It's only a few weeks from the date when you can get hotel reservations confirmed for SXSW 2008. Have you applied yet?

Meanwhile THE BURNING CLUB has hit Burn 23 of it's series of Mix CDs.

The Burnmeister is , myself, Ronnie for this/ Here is the accompanying blurb which I sent out with my CD.

BURN 23.

Radio Orkney Every Saturday Night In July 2007 From Midnight till 1AM on 66.6FM.

Sunsets at 22.30. Sunrises at 03.30. This is Radio Orkney.

Good Evening, Let’s head back to 1966 to an excerpt from the never staged Teenage Opera by Mark Wirtz. Here is a track by MOOD MOSAIC featuring The Ladybirds, charmingly title, A Touch Of Velvet, A Sting of Brass. They really do not make them like that anymore!

So what band has influenced the music scene most over the last three decades? We all have our picks, for me it has to be JOY DIVISION, who in only two albums and a handful of singles wrote a template which thousands followed. Love Will Tear Us Apart is omnipresent but the first thing of theirs that I owned was this song, Transmission, I even got a friend to make me a t-shirt with the ringing chant of “Dance To The Radio”. This is where it started. I left Genesis, Yes, Camel & Pavlov’s Dog to follow a different path.

From the best three decades ago to the best seen three weeks ago, PATRICK WATSON. Another Canadian act who played SXSW this year although I missed them there saw them/him in London thanks to Dave’s pick. The venue was the old Paul Raymond Soho Review Bar. A cross between Jeff Buckley & the wilder parts of Arcade Fire, the live show was the best I have seen for a long time, including all the SXSW ones!!! Dave, I owe you.

Next up are one of the finest Austin acts still relatively unknown outside of Texas. Here is the Latest Toughs by OKKERVIL RIVER. Another track of theirs is perhaps my most played song of the last year (For Real). I came across them in a freebie CD from SXSW 2006 and then had the good fortune to see them play live this year at a magazine launch party on the same bill as The Walkmen in my favourite few hours of the week.

Next up is a band who were due to play SXSW but pulled out. All the way from Argentina come BJC or to give them their full title BANDAJAMONCRUDO. As they say themselves “Pixies meets Luca Prodan and have coffee with Olivia Newton John” – whatever the hell that means. The best use of a bit of Andrew Lloyd Webber song ever, too. Yes and I know what you’re are wondering, “Who the fuck is The Pixies?”

As we drift into the wee small hours it is time to play the song which was the single three minute highlight at Austin this year. This band were introduced and much touted by Al on numerous occasions in the past, but I just didn’t get it. We went to see them live, twice, now I get it. BEIRUT here do their glorious “The Elephant Gun” which showcases perfectly Zach Cordon’s vocals, ukelele and French horn skills. Might be the peak of this CD.

We need some verse/chorus/verse/chorus + pounding drums vs soaring geetar riffs every now and then. So to THE BLAKES three minute of pop punk wonder, Don’t Bother Me. Played SXSW. Missed them too. This Seattle band were unsigned until a week or so ago.

Another highly influential artist from the seventies would be BRIAN ENO, founding member of Roxy Music and key contributor to many seminal moments such as Bowie’s co-writer & producer throughout his Berlin period, the main driver behind “Heroes”, involved with Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Producer of Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music. Producer of both of U2’s only good albums, The Unforgettable Fire & The Joshua Tree, contributor to Nico, Gabriel, James and Robert Wyatt stuff over the years. Here is his 1974 single, Seven Deadly Finns, before punk. Tell me, does it sound over 33 years old?

Back to SXSW and a band we all met and whom I have kept in touch with, “scoring “ an interview for a mag along the way. ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL were a fun band live, loved playing their stuff and were genuinely pleased that folk wanted to hear it. Pure music. This was the showstopper, “ I Am An Excellent Steel Horse”. ‘Course you are. End of year polls beckon.

Next even further back to 1966 again. This guy had John Sebastian playing harmonica on his first album, just before Sebastian formed The Loving Spoonful. He wrote Candy Man which was a Roy Orbison favourite but best of all he was the writer of one of the great songs which is forever remembered for inclusion in one of the great movies. He wrote Everybody’s Talking which, sung by Harry Nillson was on the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack. But hardly anyone knows who this guy is. He is FRED NEIL a reclusive folk rocker, now passed away. Long overdue some real recognition here is his own best track, Dolphins, forty one years after it was recorded. Forty one years!

There is definitely something in the water in Canada. We all know our favourite Canadian bands, mostly thanks to Andy, but there is no stopping the flood of brilliance. Already I have included Patrick Watson & Rock Plaza Central. Here is the third (with another to come). Destined to be the world’s first major crossover French speaking indie band, MALAJUBE have a great bag of tunes and high intensity playing (& volume, as I recall). One of my must sees at SXSW this year, they were way too loud but way too good as well. On the march to global domination. Jump on.

Long gone are the days of Kansas, Boston, Chicago, and the United States of America, the days of bands who actually, scandalously named themselves after places they were from (or their mass transit system, as it were). Now, in the age of indie irony, we have a band called Canada from Michigan, a band called Idaho from L.A., a band called Iran from 'frisco, and today, a band called ILLINOIS. Where do Illinois call home? You guessed it: Pennsylvania. (Nicked from Pitchfork). Just to add to the confusion, the song is called Oh Asia, but I think it is about a girl. Have banjo, will impress.

Back to the early seventies once more, to a hotbed of dub stuff. KING TUBBY emigrated from Jamaica in his teens, arriving in the UK in the mid sixties. His sound system quickly became one of the staple diets of the international dub world and sounds so fresh today, you would be proud to say you invented it. Here is Cecil Rennie (his real name) with 91 Orange Street.

This next song is a mystery. I have a bunch of old Cajun records and when I was experimenting with putting vinyl onto my iPod, I stuck some of these tracks on. But I did not take note of the artists. This is a great song, called , I think, Louisianna Two-Step and recorded way back in the fifties, I believe, maybe by Nathan Abshire, but maybe not. Just let your feet tap and soak up the fiddles, accordions and harmonicas.

Keeping the party atmosphere, next up is Essex premiere hardcore gypsy band, THE FIGHTING COCKS. Normally their sound is unraveled & anarchic, but this is their pop anthem, Love Somebody, Yes I Do. They may have the best home page of any band I have seen. Simple and to the point, check out http://www.f-cocks.demon.co.uk/

Now to round of your listening pleasure, here are three fairly unknown groups. MENOMENA hail from Portland, Oregon, played at SXSW, but I missed them, and know how to use silence, electronics & clattering drums at just the right time. The album is all like this one, Wet and Rusting.

The newest band on the entire show here obviously loved early seventies rock, especially Thin Lizzy. They claim to be one album away from starting a revolution, here they are. HOCKEY NIGHT from St. Pauls somewhere in the states with Psychic Lightening.

Back to SXSW and Canada too for the penultimate track. Gordon and I saw TOKYO POLICE CLUB in a small bar, Red Eye Fly, on the Friday afternoon. There were about a hundred people there. They are on the rise, played Glastonbury last week and on to T In The Park, watch out for their Gang Of Four bent thru’ The Strokes with a sugary Bay City Roller chorus & handclapping filter. Be Good is the track.

To finish then, something to remind us of Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathieu. Who could not like this?

Ciao, Burn 23 July 2007.

This has been a PotKettleBlack Records production.

JUNE 7th

Received a great new CD from a rising East Coast USA band recently. They are called GRAMMAR DEBATE!. Their album goes by the rather nifty title of "Cheetah Vs. Helicopter". Anyway if you go to Losing Today magazine ,http://www.losingtoday.com , you will be able to read my review of this CD.

To whet your appetites, here is an excerpt from my review:
You have to love this. You have to clear some space to listen to an album with a title debating the centuries old puzzle, which moves fastest, the cheetah or the helicopter? You must open up to a band who dedicate their collection of songs to “anyone who has thought of them during sex”.
GRAMMAR DEBATE! Have been on the go for nearly two years now since forming under Joseph Lekkas in Philadelphia. This is their first release, only available in the states right now but crying out for a European release, to allow them to bring smiles to jaded faces, help jesters and right wrongs.

Still waiting on playlist entries from anyone who cares. Perhaps it's time to ask some of these groups to send me their current playlists.

HEY, you have just been front seat at the birth of an idea.

MAY 31st

Big News !!!

I have just finished interviewing one of the hottest acts around, ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL from Toronto. I met them at SXSW and have kept in touch with them, culminating in a full interview with the lead guy, Chris Eaton. This is now published on-line at Losing Today magazine, http://www.losingtoday.com/.

Next, here comes FRIENDSWITHCG with his latest playlist. Check out the playlist tag.

MAY 28th

Next up to show off their current playlist is GORDON from South Korea by way of a host of other places but starting off in Glasgow. He was one of the intrepid THE BURNING CLUB folk who made it to Austin this year. Several of his choices are of bands that he saw live there. Go check out the playlist pages.

Following up on the great new groups we saw and met at SXSW, I am currently arranging to interview one of them for LOSING TODAY magazine. More details to follow very soon....

May 23rd

Like I said, you have to check out my myspace site. It now features a great rare video of Tim Buckley singing "Songs To The Sirens". It has a new featured song, from the soon to be known by everyone, Miracle Fortress. So, go on over http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=155032035.

Also a brand new playlist is featured as of today in the playlist page

May 10th

OK - you have to check out my myspace site. I have 1) mastered how to put up a slide show of some of my favourite band pics from SXSW over last two years, plus some of Carol, especially one when she met someone a matter of days before he went away for a lengthy jail term , and 2) I have got a few fairly interesting friends on my little list , including some sterling blasts from the pasts and 3) I will use it to feature a completely unknown group or at least unknown to most folk - changing it weekly - this week - MANISHEVITZ. You can see and hear all this on http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=155032035.

Starting to get some good connections with fellow SXSWsters. One who has been in regular contact has been FRIENDSWITHCG. I have listed the ten tracks he is listening to on the playlist page. Try and track that lot down. We met FRIENDSWITHCG over and over again at gigs at SXSW. Next year we will hook up officially but by then he may even have successfully joined THE BURNING CLUB, but let's not put too much pressure on him at this point.

Here is his toppest picks of SXSW 2007

Malajube @ The Canadian Blast Showcase

DJ Champion @ Maggie Maes

OFFICE @ Fader/Levis Party

Peter, Bjorn & John @ Bat Bar in the Austin Convention Center

Tokyo Police Club @ Emo's

Albert Hammond Jr. @ Waterloo Records In-store Performance

I was at the Malajube gig - met him there and saw two of his top pics but at other showcases, Tokyo Police Club and Peter, Bjorn, Anders, Benny, Agnetha and John.

Watching the Austin City Limits line-up announcement with envy....
Cheers

May 8th


I am having problems posting the brilliant collection of photos from Days Three & Four. I am also struggling to get the photos online of all the interesting folk we met on the trip.

But I will get there eventually. In the meantime here are some post SXSW thoughts.

Before that even, check out this month's play list on the tab to your left over there, under playlist, yes, that's it.
The best shows that I saw, now that the dust has settled. Well I would list teh magical five of.....
BEIRUT @ Emo's......

THE WALKMEN @ Bourbon Rocks......

MALJUBE @ Brush Square Tent......

GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY @ Austin City Limits Studio
THE JYROJETS @ BD Riley's....

THE COLD WAR KIDS @ Maggie Mays....

Yup, the best six acts shows.

Who were the acts that you never knew before SXSW this year that you discovered and loved, I hear being asked from the back of the class?
Good question. That would be The Redwalls, Canada, the previously mentioned Ghostland Observatory, Robert Gomez, Los Adandoned and Dead Meadow.

What was the single standout song of the entire shebang, did I hear someone say?

Well that could have been the live rendition of "Decisions" by the Young Knives at the Current radio show session. It could also have been the opening song by The Cold War Kids at their paste magazine showcase - do not know the name of it. Or it might well have been "Louisianna" as done by The Walkmen at the Found Magazine launch party. But no, I would have to say the one stand out song for me , in an overwhelming collection of stand out songs would have to be.................

Elephant Gun by Beirut, stunning...

OK, it cannot all have been great, who were the turkeys? Dish the Texas dirt.
Fine, it is true some people did not live up to expectations. The Mountain Goats struggled to follow in the mighty Beirut's footsteps. The Black Flames had been much touted by my colleagues , but I found them dire. I, in turn, dragged my party to Stubbs to watch a dull set by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly. The sound seemed poor but whatever the reason I thought the first Apostle oF Hustle set on day one in tent at Emo's was way off the mark. Finally one of my most anticipated shows turned out to be my biggest disappointment, The Ponys, in the afternoon set at Emo's, seemed not to want to be there. Me too, so I left.

NOW WHAT ABOUT THE GREAT GROUPS THAT I MISSED !!! NOW I DDO NOT MEAN THE USUAL SUSPECTS THAT I JUST NEVER SAW, BUT BRAND SPANKING NEW GROUPS WHO IN RETROSPECT I REALLY SHOULD HAVE GONE AND SEE.

Well there are a handful of groups who I am kicking myself for not seeing. Here they are, do not be like me, catch them when you can before the world wakes up to them all.
Menomena...should have seen them. Great debut CD.

The Kissaway Trail....from Norway....soaring pop....overheard an big record lable exec on teh Sunday after SXSW as he got ready to leave Austin airport, that they had been thee outstanding band he saw. To make it worse. I was in the venue they were due to play and left ten minutes before they came on ( after Midlake). Unbelievably bad judgement.

Miracle Fortress ....everyone will be raving about them soon - should have caught them....

Popup....Scotland's finest who played about a hunfred and five gigs at SXSW and we missed all of them. We will regret that.

Finally my biggest regret is not tracking down many people's pick for best up and coming band at SXSW - The Dirty Projectors.....

So there you have it - go and discover them yourselves.......

Watch out for a bit more stuff coming up and check out my good friend, Perry's, myspace site to see some even better photos, as done by a real pro.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=108854851

NEWS FROM AUSTIN SIXTH STREET & BEYOND 2007



APRIL 17TH


I'm back!!

Finally getting around to posting teh Day Three and Day Four photos......................soonish
Also, the long awaited photo journal of the four The Burning Club members and all teh folk they met in Austin will be posted over the next few days. So if you want to see the coolest dressers (from Nashville), the Nakedest Cowboy (from NYC), Estonia's number one pop star (from, erm, Estonia), very friendly ladies kissing each other and us (from all over the place), and the Little Purple Felt Hat in numerous places (it's a hat on Al's head) then check back over the next few days.
Also about to publish the final SXSW awards...
Then I will have to change tack for fifty weeks.

Losing Today magazine published sixteen of my mini-reviews with photos and many of teh groups have been in touch to say thanks . The Jyrojets sent me a promo of their newest single "Favourite Things About Jane" and their record company wanted to know if I would liketo interview them. The Needles asked for my details to send some promos too.They also put out a bulletin to all their friends on myspace with a link to Losing Today review. Other bands to be in contact include Okkervil River, Ghostland Observatory, Victorian English Gentlemen's Club, Canada, Rock Plaza Centra and Dead Meadow who asked if they could post my photos on their website.
Losing Today is at http://www.losingtoday.com/index.php


Ciao, Ronnie


NEWSFLASH - DAY TWO PHOTOS POSTED - go to link on left, band photos

March 29th.

Here is my own wrap up.

The Best Fifteen Shows of the week !!!!!

The FIRST THREE were my top picks

Beirut

Cold War Kids

Malajube

Rock Plaza Central

Dead Meadow - thanks, Perry.

Okkervil River

Sloan

The Walkmen

Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club

Ghostland Observatory

The Needles

The Jyrojets

Los Abandoned, thanks Al.

The Polyphonic Spree

Canada

The Biggest Surprise = Dead Meadow. Expected serious ear bleeding but turned out to be one of the highlights of the week. As Perry said it would.

Biggest Letdown – The Ponys. I love this group but the show at Emo's on Friday afternoon was just a mess.

Best Moment Inside a Show, Zach, leader of Beirut starting a song by blowing a giant Conch shell. The guy can do nothing wrong.

Bets moment outside of a show. Asking a lovely girl, Tiffany, if I could take a photo of her tattoo on her shoulder. She replied that she would have to take her top off in order that I could get a good photo. So we walked around a corner and in the street she proceeded to take her jersey, then her t-shirt, then her bra, off. After I photographed her naked back, she asked me to help her clip her bra back up. Probably my best moment……..

The ones that got away for me were a bunch of groups that I knew were good and fairly unknown . The top ones being Menomena, The Kissaway Trail, The Blakes, Popup and Miracle Fortress. I also wish I had seen Yo! Majesty play live, topless and all.

Single thing which summed up SXSW – getting lost from the rest of the team and just walking in to a completely deserted bar, which had a sign saying San Francisco music outside. Then hearing some faint music and being told there was an outdoor stage out the back. I then go outside to see a big stage and some couple of hundred people dancing about to a great group that I had never heard of – THE LOVEMAKERS. Brilliant. So SXSW.

Now getting a daily posting on a great indie music magazine called Losing Today. They will post one mini review a day from now on until I exhaust all my mini- reviews. Today I am on teh front page with the Malajube review. http://www.losingtoday.com/index.php

Trying to post the Day Two band photos today also....



March 28th - Now it's Perry's Picks below. Dont forget to check out the Band Photo pages - Day One has Malajube, Cold War Kids, ILikeTRains, Apostle Of Hustle, Beirut & loads more. Today the Day Two photos will be posted. I also have lots of The Burning Club on the streets of Austin, meeting folk, meeting bands & other stuff. That will be posted last. So here are the selections of Perry. Cheers.

Perry's Best Ten Bands.
The first three were his absolute top picks.
Polyphonic Spree
Oreskaband
Ghostland Observatory
Beruit
Peter, Bjorn and John
Dead Meadow
Fratelli's
Tiger!Tiger!
Lily Allen
Cold War Kids

Perry's Biggest Surprise was the Japanese band, Oreskaband

His Biggest Letdown was Peaches (hey Perry, I warned you)

Best Single moment of SXSW at a show.
Iggy Pop stage diving over the photo pit.(Note - Perry had press photography credentials and that plus his walking stick which was assisting him after a recent operation, together with his general demeanor, meant the was always in touching distance of every act.)

Best Single Moment of SXSW not during a show.
Hanging with Al, Ronnie and Gordon (strange but true)
Ronnie's lessons in street photography

Ones That Got Away - Three Acts you wished you had seen.
Tom Morello with Les Claypool and Slash
The Mint Chicks
Antibalas

The oner incident that summed up SXSW 2007 for you.
Being at SxSW 2007



March 27 th = Band Photos Day One posted check out teh link to the left here - Go Band Photos , then next click on Day One.......

Here are Gordon's Picks.

Yesterday you got Al's picks ( down below), here is Fast Gordon's picks all the way from Seoul to where he has returned.
Best Three Bands = Ghostland Observatory
Beirut
Oreskaband
In addition the rest of his top ten is:
Cold War Kids
Spoon
Sloan
Dengue Fever
Lily Allen
Peter Bjorn and John
The Jyrojets
Biggest Surprise Act of the week were all the way from Japan - Oreskaband

The Biggest Letdown were The Ponys .
Best Single moment of SXSW at a show.
Perry hugging the bass player of Tiger Tiger
Best Single Moment of SXSW not during a show.
Two girls Frenching with me in the middle. Soon to ber posted in the Other Photos page - look out for this one
Ones That Got Away - Three Acts you wished you had seen.
The Mint Chicks
Pop Up
The Hedrons

The oner incident that summed up SXSW 2007 for you.

Ronnie's multiple successes with taking photos of lovely ladies with Tattoos.


PREVIOUS BEST PICKS
Al, veteran of many SXSWs.
The Best Ten Acts From SXSW 2007

Beruit (at Emo's)
Fratellis
Rock Plaza Central
Polyphonic Spree
Dead Meadow
Ghostland Observatory
Young Knives
Los Abandoned
Antibalas
Midlake
Geez... this is painful. I wanted to add others and I am sure I missed some.

Best three were Beirut, The Fratellis and Rock Plaza Central.
Biggest Surprise.
Dead Meadow - Hands down winner of this category based on my original expectations!!!

Biggest Letdown.
Black Angels at Emo's outdoor tent. I am convinced that it was the lousy sound in that tent, but this must be my answer none the less. I still love the album!!

Best Single moment of SXSW at a show.
The impromtu lecture by the drummer at the Rock Plaza Central show. Just totally spontaneous (including Willam Burroughs references), funny, and showed the group's fun and eclectic attitude which also comes through in their music.

Best Single Moment of SXSW not during a show.
Gordon's immediate love for Austin within only moments (ok, a few hours) of his arrival. He got called sexy by a woman at the hotel, got into an exclusive, secret Spoon show without a badge and then got kissed by two girls that first lip-locked each other prior to turing their amorous spirits his way. Welcome to Austin Gordon!!

Ones That Got Away - Three Acts you wished you had seen.
Pop Up
Menomena
Kissaway Trail (but the show I saw instead was still worth it)
and
Lily Allen's showcase with her band (ok, I did see her acoustic set in the record store)
Cold War Kids showcase (ok, I did see them at the private Paste party)
The one incident that summed up SXSW 2007 for you.

Perry's triumphant return to SXSW after spending 2006 on the injured reserve list and missing the entire match.



Day Four Saturday.March 24th With one of our troupe departed back to South Korea, Gordon, we soldier on for our grand finale. We decide to have a leisurely start and go hand around Waterloo Records and buy some discs or ten. Then it’s a drive to my favourite venue which has no official showcases but which today is the setting for Mojo Magazine’s showcase. It’s the Mean Eyed Fly which is basically a tiny stage in the pub car park.

Whilst they tinker with the sound system we step inside to hear the new Bob Dylan, mark 178, FIONN REGAN. It is a pleasant enough half an hour but he is not the first to look phased by playing odd venues at odd times.

Then it’s another SXSW moment. Live on a stage not big enough to lay out a Twister game setup, on crowd the same nineteen folk of THE POLYPHONIC SPREE. And they go wild, giving it some real stick in front of about 150 assorted punters. It’s a rare thing to see something which is Big Arena up close and intimate. They are excellent and afterwards all hang around and mix with the crowd –who turn out to have a large number of friends & family amongst them as they are a Dallas group. An ordinary group of people making extraordinary spectacle.

Then it is BLANCHE with their well worn Adam’s Family goth country & western. They looked great buit the Handsome Family were there half a decade ago. They snuff out the atmosphere for us so we brave the traffic jams and antiwar protest matches and head back to the environs of SXSW, where we quickly get separated. Whilst my two friends, Al & Perry go to see Mew and The Fratellis. I have a walk around town and go see some different stuff from that what I would normally catch.

First to Emo’s lounge to see the vitriolic GALLOWS continue their foul mouthed assault on SXSW. The crowd love them.

Then onto Habana Calle where I go to the New York To London ( NY2LON) showcase. Just missing Malajube , I see JONNESSE, a drum and guitar power pop set up, not bad. Then a full show from ANTIBALAS, with their full on funk filling folk’s famished faces famously, Fine.

Time to catch half of the anarchic electro punk of WE ARE WOLVES before heading off for some much needed sustenance. Then time to hook up with the guys again.

I head over to yet another restaurant commandeered as a live venue, Jaime’s Spanish Village, to see Perry’s top pick, DEAD MEADOW. Fearful for my ears I strive to get as close to the group as possible and behind the amps. It works, I am virtually the fourth member of the band and they turn out to be more trance like than thrash like. Less Sabbath, More Kraftwerk with no electric beats or synthesisers, just the repetitive driving & anthemic slow building wall of pleasant then thunderous sound.

Hard act to follow so we elect to go for a long walk to the downtown restaurant area and off the beaten track in Lamberts to see the one group who I had met most often during the week., all the way from Aberdeen, THE NEEDLES. A decent crowd had been enticed out of the usual haunts and they were treated to a rollicking Olivers Army of a time from the Scottish lads. Despite amps malfunctioning, guitar strings snapping and ceiling panels falling down, the band strode on and smiled through a set which could only appeal to even the most jaded SXSWer. They also get the cockiest band award, only worthy of being presented to folk who are as good as they think they are.

Then to avoid the general rugby scrum that is SXSW Sixth Street, we decide to park ourselves at one venue for the rest of the night. The lucky recipients of this are Buffalo Billiards, but this time in their main room. We grab a seat at the bar and let SXSW gently wind down in front of our own eyes. FIONN REGAN comes out for his second session in front of us today, more comfortable in a large crowd, late night setting, but more nice than anything else.

Then its part one of the Denton crowd. ROBERT GOMEZ shows why there is a growing clamour for his stuff. He comes over like another indie songwriter in the Sufhjan mould but with a more polished lean towards California AM friendly rock. The end result is surprisingly attractive and he gets a big crowd reaction.

Then the final set for us for SXSW 2007, It is the group of whose album the NME, no less, said that it might change your life. None other than MIDLAKE, also from Denton. I’m all descriptive word-ed out now. They were my type of band. Irregular patterns, a bit country-ish, tremendously tight playing. Catchy melodies and scruffy to look at. They didn’t change my life but they did make it pretty perfect for about 40 minutes.

THE END.

March 23rd Day Three Review posted !!!! Photos giving me a migraine, they will have to wait. Broke open the first of my seventeen cds that I bought in Waterloo Records whilst in Austin. First one is always an honour to the band that gets picked, I believe. This year it was THE REDWALLS, who I saw twice. Great stuff. About to get on a plane to travel to Kuwait so not sure when I will post the photos but , the Day Four review should be on tomorrow. Cheers.

March 22nd Day Two Review now posted. Day One Photos Now posted in Band Photo section !!! Tattoo section complete, vote now.

AAAAAAAAAArgh Finished posting about fifty photos on Day One & they have just crashed ....I'm off to bed, I should have Day Three Review and Day One photos fixed for tomorrow- driving me crazy, sorry

March 21st Trying to overcome the ten thumbs handicap and getting the photos posted and the reviews written. Will try to do Day two reviews today.

Already the regrets are sinking in as to what I did not see. Stupid really as it would have meant dabbling with what I did see and changed the course of the week out of the shape with which I was perfectly happy. Still, I overhead some intentionally loudspeaking record labele execs showing off to the waiting folk about to get on the Austin to Newark flight on Sunday. Rather indiscreetly they first let it be known that they were bigwigs with someone and were in town to sign bands and then they proceeded to regale all with who the best bands were that they say this SXSW. Top choice was The Kissaway Trail. Now that bugged me, as they were the next band on after Midlake at Buffalo Billiards on Saturday night. I left straight after Midlake with a nagging sense that I should not have. So hearing this fella say that , has caused me some grief.

As has the fact that I heard many people say that one of my top choices to see before I landed in Austen turned out to be a great act. I did not see them though - Menomena !! final one which was criminal to miss was perhaps the most ubiquitous act along with The Young Knives, The Pipettes and The Walkmen, that is Popup, many folk raving about this Glasgow band - I should have seen them.

Anyway, I have posted a few photos from Day One , more to follow, I'll finish the Day two and three reviews by close tomorrow. Off to listen to one of the seventeen discs that I BOUGHT after hearing a band at SXSW , The Redwalls from California. I caught them twice , both times unplanned and both times very good.
Ciao,

March 20th
Back In Scotland. It's Over for another 51 weeks.
Words cannot etc..........
Only by being there can you etc.......
Unbelievabetc......
Four days.
SIXTY THREE BANDS
(Well more actually but we are only going to count those acts where we saw at least One whole song.)
In TWENTY SIX different venues ( out of a possible sixty)
Seeing bands. Meeting bands. Meeting characters. Taking photos of all that was colourful and exciting. Launching a best tattoo of SXSW competition.
WE did it all. You can find out all about it here.
As well as photos of all that happenned, I'll have reviews of all the best gigs. All the awards from The Burning Club of best acts/gigs/venues/tattoos.
My fellow The Burning Club attendees, Al, Perry and Gordon will also have their own pages to air their own views.
On top of all that I have introduced a Forum for comments , contributions and everything else. You can access it by clicking on the Forum link to the left over ther, yes, that's it, over there.
In coming weeks we'll also give out plaudits for the best of the scores of free cds that we blagged at all the stands, venues and in the streets. But for now ,just read through all the acts that I saw. We did not all go to the same shows so I will add Perry's picks, Al's attendances and Gordon's gigs once they send them to me !!! Whenever you are ready guys.
oh and the article was published on Dazed & Confused magazines website at WWW.DAZEDDIGITAL.COM
Check out the top right hand box for contributors - you might see my face staring out at you, sorry about that. If not, just search for SXSW and you will see an article by me as well as a most interesting biography on me. They seem to have got right inside of me on that one
So this is what I saw
(Capital letters means it was a wee bit extra special)

Day One.
Wednesday

Saturday Looks Good to Me
The Factory Field Recordings
CANADA
The Affair
GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY
Honeycut
Apostle of hustle
The Black Flames
The Redwalls
MALAJUBE
ILikeTrains
Future Of The Left
Emma Pollock
BEIRUT
The Mountain Goats
BROKEN WEST
Spoon


Day Two
Thursday

PETER BJORN & JOHN
The Prototypes
The Young Knives
OKKERVIL RIVER
Tally Hall
Great Lakes Myth Society
THE WALKMEN
Gasoline Cowboy
Dimmer
Cut Your Hands Off
Die!Die!Die!
Get Cape Wear Cape Fly
THE JYROJETS
Old Time Religion
Dengue Fever
Architecture In Helsinki
GHOSTLAND OBSERVATORY
The Young Knives

Day Three
Friday

Antibalas
The Pipettes
The Ponys
COLD WAR KIDS
Tokyo Police Club
The Lovemakers
Daniel Johnston & The Nightmares
BEIRUT (again)
ROCK PLAZA CENTRAL
VICTORIAN ENGLISH GENTLEMEN'S CLUB
LOS ABANDONED
SLOAN
The Polyphonic Spree
The Walkmen (again)
The Redwalls (again)

Day Four
Saturday

Fionn Regan
THE POLYPHONIC SPREE (again)
Blanche
Gallows
Jonessee
Antibalas (again)
We Are Wolves
DEAD MEADOW
The Needles
Fion Regan (again - same day)
Robert Gomez
MIDLAKE

March 16th

It's a Zoo.,
The 2007 SXSW Tatoo Photo competition is well under way with a bunch of great photos, and already we have a clear favourite in Tiffany, more later.



March 14th
Arrived last night in the middle of a Texas downpour. The day was not without event. Firstly I drove through New Jersey to the airport and heard on the radio that there were camera crews near where I was driving. So I headed over and saw the set of The Sopranos at a petrol station. I recognised a few of the actors, Tony’s sidekicks. I understand the dialogue went a bit like this: PAULIE Jnr: “ So are you in or wha?” LITTLE JOHN : “Well what do I get for my two points off the top?” PAULIE NR; ‘ A ticket for the Scottish Arts Council Showcase and guaranteed entry to see SPARKLEHORSE at Antones.” LITTLE JOHN: “ I dunno, I’m gonna have to square it with Tony, he specifically said the Little Radio Shocase at the Mean Eyed Fly and back door passes for The Young Knives”. Onto the plane and the buzz was in the air. I have never been in a plane with so many floppy or bedhead haired people, with so many tattooed females, with so much thrift store clothing. I guess all flights to Austin today are repeating this. I chatted to a few Norwegian groups, including LIONHEART BROTHERS and DAVY JONES LOCKER. I sat next to NY’s BLONDE REDHEAD who were a bit reluctant to be playing SXSW but as they had a new album coming out, had been forced to by 4AD. Lots of Scottish Accents too and ERRORS were on the plane. So arrived Downtown Austin, and checked out a few places getting ready for the aural/visual goldmine that starts at 12 Midday today. I also met the first of our Party Of Four, seasoned SXSW-goer, Al. Looks like we have invites to a few more private parties including Paste Magazine, IHEATCOMIX all nighter, and Brooklyn Vegans NY2LON shows ( New York To London) – all of whom have great line-ups. Will certainly deviate from show planned schedule – part of the fun. But enough speculation. Off for a tex-mex breakfast and then ……the music. This time tomorrow I will be a changed man, once more, as I discover some act that I do not know exists today…. March 11th

Landed in the US of A at Newark. FIRST SXSW band spotted. All the way from Aberdeen and also on the flight, none other than THE NEEDLES. Had a quick chat with them, they are playing Lamberts on Saturday night at 9pm. Over here for the first time and looking to drum up dome US label interest. As the official first spotted group, I feel duly bound to go and see them but they are playing exactly the same time as Seattle's THE BRAKES. Must find an afternoon showcase which has one of them on, to ensure seeing both groups. Staying in Noo Joysay tonight, on to Austin tomorrow afternoon.

March 9th

Remember what it felt like it the days running up to Christmas when you were a kid. Remember the feelings of looming and building excitement in the few days prior to finishing school for the holidays. Remember wanting the day to come so much but also wanting it not really to come because you knew it would be the fastest day of the year and it would just be over too quickly. But still you wanted it to be that day! Well, waiting for SXSW is nothing like that.

The preparation has been great fun. Every day I contacted every band that I picked as Band Of The Day and most of them were interested enough to get in contact, some asking that we meet up in Austin. same thing with the bands that I picked for my weekly playlists.

So here are the ones that replied back to me.

El Jesus De Magico.
The Blakes.
Hypernova.
The Bermuda Triangle.
The Jyrojets.
Roger Dean Young & The Tin Cup.
Electrico.
Beat The Devil
The Diableros.
Rock Plaza Central
Windom Earle
The Twilight Sad
The Awkward Stage
Patty Hurst Shifter
My!Gay!Husband!

Most Communicative of all have been
Popup ( great new Glasgow group - and the final pre-Austin band of the day)
Victorian English Gentlemen's Club (two girl/one boy Welsh band- going to be massive)
And best of all, one group's lead singer has been chatting about his one month spent CAMPING in Orkney a few years ago !! On the beaches !!!! And they come from Canada !!!! So one guy I must buy a small , half pint of house brand beer is Trevor of The High Dials.

So I am set. I will be blogging daily for the site. I will be sending things to a few Music magazines which will be published on their websites and best of all I have a Jimmy Olsen gig to "cover" the local band, The Jyrojets, for a review /photo for publishing in the Inverness Courier. Citizen Greenwood.


March 6th

One week from now I will be in the states. I have formed my schedule. But there are three others from our club going too and the negotiations have yet to start. One big area is to agree on who NOT to see. By passing up the chance to see big names or big buzz groups you are virtually guaranteed a very comfortable viewing stance for alternative slots. This year I hope to avoid Iggy (never went to see him any time in the previous thirty odd years either), Razorlight ( what are they doing at SXSW anyway), Lilly Allen and Amy Winehouse ( coveted by the US press darlings, they can have them), Bloc Party ( difficult second album has tarnished them) and I am swithering about The Good The Bad and The Queen ( Alburn's golden touch & Mr Simenon.....but it will be a zoo). Names that I will queue for include Sparklehorse, Cold war Kids and The Young Knives and Apostle oF Hustle. Check out my running band list. I'll report back after the event how many of the planned 68 groups I see and why I missed some.

My fellow The Burning Club members are also getting ready to get to Austin. Gordon will fly in from Seoul, Perry from Atlanta and Al from New York.

We're nearly ready.


March 2nd

Only nine days till I fly out now. My band list to see just gets larger - I need to stop checking out the mp3s of groups unknown to me. Although it is fun. As SXSW gets near some bands drop out and some surprises are added. Latest addition is the legendary ( always have to say that) Lee "Scratch"Perry, the grandfather of Dub. Dropping out are one of my picks as band of the day, BJC. Check out THE BURNING CLUB CURSE in About The Club Section. A few of the UK groups have struggled to get Visa clearance to get in to the States. The View pulled out for that reason and I hear that the Young KNives have cancelled a couple of pre-SXSW gigs for the same reason, although they still plan on being in Austin, so far.

The four members of the club are getting ready for the trek and we have started exchanging lists of who we should see. Negotiations start. The profiles of the members lists their ten must see bands. With just about all of the day shows announced the choice is bewildering. I will be updating my final showcase picks over the weekend. The strategy for deciding who to see has to take in a bunch of elements : venue, location, ease of entry - how busy will the place be, passing up on some acts because you expect to see them in another SXSW slot, space to go with the flow and stamina. The venues are in a few groupings too.

99% of the action is on Sixth Street, where you walk out of one club, pub, cafe or billiard room and into another with more live stuff. Anything which pulls you away from this area involves missing the compactness of the choices here.

The Convention centre has a day stage which is always easy to watch groups on, as the entrants are conference attendees only. But this is a brisk walk away from the epicentre of SXSW, Sixth Street But it has the likes of The Winterkids, Daniel Johnston, and Gruff Rhys so it needs to be done.

There are some interesting venues a long walk from Sixth Street with La Zona Rosa, one of the bigger venues, a fair walk. But again it has quite a bunch of acts to see playing there- Peter Bjorn & John, The Cold War Kids and Mew for example.

The Austin City Limits Studio hosts the Seattle Radio KEXP live sets. This is my favourite venue of all but it is a car journey out to the University of Texas compound. But you really get up close and personal. This year they have The Ponys and Beirut amongst a great lineup.

If you play your cards right you could be watching at least one live band an hour from 11 am to 2am the next day , Wednesday through Saturday night.. That is fifteen bands a day and you always squueze the avaerage up in the day shows, with some nifty footwork.

So....onwards....


23rd Feb

Last year I went to Sxsw for the first time. It was a week of marvel, or rather three days. I flew from Tokyo to Dallas, drove to Austin. Got there at eight pm and was at my first show at 9.00 pm. The Mudville Project at BD Rileys. By the time I had left my last show at 1.30am on Friday morning, Centro-Matic at Maggie Maes, I was a complete addict to the cause.

So this year I am going back. I will get there on Tuesday night and stay until Sunday morning. I intend to see FOURTEEN bands a day, at least and have set myself a 56 band target.

Here is where I layout all of the SXSW band watching preparation strategies, as well as , come the day, band reviews and photos.

So, Kirkwall Airport, Orkney to Glasgow to Newark International to Austin, here we come.

Who are the must see bands this year ? Who have you never heard of but would die to see if you had heard them? Who are the over-rated name bands who will suck in all the punters, thereby freeing up space at better gigs? What are the best daytime showcases?

What are the folk in Austin saying about the Scottish bands? What are the venues like?

Every day I will select a Must see band from the hundreds of fairly unknown ones. And loads of other stuff too.