26 posts tagged “sxsw”

Every year, thousands of people travel from all around the world to the Coachella Valley for one of the premier music festivals in the U.S. This event happens practically in our backyard and KCRW is proud to have hosted many of this year’s headliners and main attractions for live sessions here at our basement studio in Santa Monica.  For a preview of the festivities, check out KCRW.com/Coachella, as well as an interview Jason did earlier this week with Coachella founder Paul Tollett.

Also, video from our SXSW sessions at Tequila Mockingbird with PJ Harvey and John Parish and Peter Bjorn and John are now archived on the site and our SXSW page.

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Most talked about artist – Janelle Monae.

She is a truly unique artist – her futuristic songs, her wild pompadour hair, and most of all her MOVES. That girl is “in character” the entire time she plays. Garth Trinidad was an early champion of her music. If there is one must-see artist coming out of the fest, it’s Janelle.

Surprise performances that weren’t really surprises – Metallica at Stubb’s, Kanye West at the Fader party and Jane’s Addiction at the Playboy party. (I missed them all - oh well)

My favorite bands that I had never seen before: The Whip, Annuals, Vetiver, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Other Lives, Harlem Shakes

Biggest disappointment – Ida Maria not making it in the country in time to headline our showcase.

I got a call from her management the day before with the bummer news.  BUT Zee Avi came through in a big way, and helped KCRW end an amazing night right.

Worst stage presence (despite having good songs AND a good name – Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears.

They were at the top of my list of bands I wanted to see. I’ve been listening to a vinyl EP and loving it for a few weeks. But live, they didn’t really sell it. It sounded good, but a frontman for a “neo soul revue” type band shouldn’t be wearing a black baggy t-shirt and jean shorts. It kind of ruined it for me.  
 
Most unusual request – tracking down the tambourine Wild Light drummer Seth Kasper threw off the stage during their set. The fun part was, I got to carry it around with me for most of the night before I handed it to its rightful owner. Thanks Seth!

Most exciting trend – More ladies making music! At least 85% of the bands I saw had at least one female member. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

Most annoying trend – Bands doing DJ sets instead of live performances. If you’re there, PLAY! 

Best quick eats discovery – an empanada stand. I had the veggie chorizo and brie. The "heavy metal" pizza on 6th was also pretty good at 2am.

Bands I heard good things about that I missed – Tempur Trap, Camera Obscura, Dawes, Lucero, Sam Roberts, Mt St Helens Vietnam Band.

A few of them are playing LA in the coming days so keep an eye out if you’re local. (you might see me there if I can muster the energy!)

Most unexpectedly fun activity – sitting on the sidewalk on 6th street Saturday night.

After many straight days of seeing bands, you need a break. My final night, I wanted nothing more than to sit on the curb and people watch. I ran into so many friends I hadn’t yet seen at the festival AND I got to rest my weary feet. Yay

Still recovering and missing the 80 degree heat…

RR

Rachael ray

When I saw that Rachael Ray was hosting a party at SXSW last year, I was suspicious – what was the famously perky food maven doing in our music world. Was it for self -promotion or to work on her “hip” factor? Well, this year I went to her party and after seeing her jam backstage during Bob Schneider’s set, I have visual proof that she is a real music fan. She was dancing and having a blast – and put together one of the best bills of the weekend for her showcase!

While I heard the food itself was just ok, the bands were great – especially Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. The Polyphonic Spree is the first band comparison that comes to mind because of their size – it’s a 12-piece band – but it looks more like a circus than the choir/singing army of the Spree. And the music is just joyous. I had a perma-smile the whole time. Frontman Alex Ebert, formerly of Ima Robot, is a quirky character – the type who wears a casual suit jacket with no shirt underneath, his long hair in a bun, and shoeless with low hanging pants. My friend Jeff went to high school with him in LA and told me he was the superstar jock at the time – now he’s a gypsy leading a caravan and he looks entirely comfortable doing it.  It was one of the best sets of the week.

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After a morning stop for a few live sets, I gathered my official SXSW music badge and visited the offices of C3 – the folks behind Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. I got a sneak peak into some new music, including a country-style collaboration between Heartless Bastards singer Erika Wennerstrom and the Black Angels.

My next musical adventure was the IFC/Crossroads party featuring Gomez and Decemberists. Gomez is always a dependable live band and they did not disappoint. The UK lads played some brand new tracks and some old favorites like “See the World,” as well as a song they played during their first SXSW set 11 years ago. They ended with a super jam on “How We Operate.” They pretty much have three frontmen and the dynamic switches seamlessly between them. I’m excited to hear their new album!

Time to hit the hay, more tomorrow….

RR

Not wanting to miss a minute, I started my first full day in Austin at 830am! Local radio station KGSR broadcasts from the Four Seasons hotel and there is nothing like watching a band with a breakfast burrito in hand. All of them were local favorites.

Fastball are back with the hooks and melodies that powered their mega-hit The Way, which took them from a local Austin bar band to mainstream radio about 10 years ago. I lived in Austin at the time and they gave a lot of bands hope that the vibrant music scene in the city could cross over into commercial territory. This morning they were back in true form and played the title track to their new album "Little White Lies," which is out in April.

Next up was David Garza, a frequent guest at Largo in LA, who once again demonstrated what a supportive music community Austin is by having members of bands that played earlier sit in with him.

Bob Schneider closed out the broadcast. The man can write a perfect pop song but he's best known for his wild live shows that are packed almost entirely with females. He has a wonderful tactic of looking every single audience member in the eyes while he plays. I've never seen anyone do it as well as him and, well, the ladies love it. But I have to say, I saw a different musician this morning – much more mature. He played only two songs but I definitely wanted to hear more. Apparently he has a new album ready to go, just waiting for the right moment to unleash it.

More soon…

RR

On my flight to Austin, I spotted only a handful of people that looked like musicians – that’s what happens when you come in a day early. Over the next couple days a parade of musicians will be filing through from around the world on the way to Austin to strut their stuff. It’s 80 degrees and everyone here for the Interactive portion of the festival keeps telling me how lucky we are since it was sweater weather a day or so ago (I have a rebuttal, which is that musicians typically don’t smell better in extreme heat but I left it alone).

I saw my first band of the festival at The Onion party – not only were they really good, but they’re from Austin! Their name is Low Line Caller and the singer voice reminds me a lot of The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser while the music is Band of Horses-style psychedelia -- but with not as much reverb and a bit more dreamy/spacey. They were followed by a few stand up comics (this is the Onion after all) and another local act the Lemurs. By that time my travel day started catching up with me. Better get a good night’s sleep while I can …

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Make sure to tune in to Anne Litt ‘s show NEXT weekend, March 21- 22, where she will celebrate the abundance of talent in KCRW’s hometown by playing local artists performing at the SXSW Music Conference AND feature Guest DJ sessions with SoCal standouts Anya Marina and Port O'Brien, live from Tequila Mockingbird Studios in Austin.

You can catch exclusive SXSW preview performance videos and more here.

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Local singer-songwriter Miranda Lee Richards played songs off her first album in eight years, “Light of X.” The story goes that Metallica’s Kirk Hammett helped her hone her guitar skills and she had a stint singing along with the Brian Jonestown Massacre, but neither of those influences seem apparent in her music, which is closer to folk/California country. She’s got a beautiful voice and an excellent backing band. This set was simply a delight. She’s engaging and warm off mic as well – she hugged me as soon as I walked in the room, having no idea who I was! That openness comes through in her music and engages you as a listener, especially on the first track “Life Boat,” which has been getting steady airplay here. Check it out here.

She will be “floating with the chaos” down in Austin for SXSW next week

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Jim Bianco stopped into the KCRW studios today – fresh off a tour – to serenade Morning Becomes Eclectic producer Ariana Morgenstern with one of her favorite songs “Belong” as part of our SXSW preview series. Our piano was being tuned so Jim played the song on guitar and sang his heart out in our control room. He’s part of the Hotel Café crew and will be playing their official showcase at SXSW on March 19 at the Parish. He returns to LA for a show at the Café on April 2.

KCRW.com/sxsw

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Aussie brother and sister Angus and Julia Stone gave us a bit of a SXSW preview earlier this week. The band will be part of KCRW’s official SXSW showcase and we are thrilled to present them at the massive music festival. This was their MBE debut and they seemed to be having a blast. Check it all out here

And to see more about our SXSW plans, go here

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