Just a quick note, you can catch Brit-Poppers the Kooks at Antone's tonight. These guys put out a great record this year, that seems to have been lost in the shuffle. It's called Konk and I suspect it will have a revival once one of its songs hits Grey's Anatomy or some commercial.
According to the Kooks' website, tonight's show is sold out but I have a strong suspicion that if you're seriously interested in attending that you can probably get in if you show up tonight.
OK...well as I dig deeper into this story. If you bought tickets to the sold-out Kooks show tonight at Antone's you can get your money refunded. Apparently the show has been canceled due to a throat infection. But still...you should check 'em out at some point.
That's right kids, Ghostland Observatory is coming home and they're playing a gig at Stubb's. Tickets went on sale about 2 hours ago, so if you want to catch this show you better hit this ticket link fast. The show is going to be on Friday, November 14th and the only way to get tickets is online. So don't harass the folks at Waterloo they can't help you B.
While I'm on the topic of live dance music in Austin, I neglected to mention in my last post that Girl Talk is doing a show at Emo's on Monday, October 20th. Tickets for that one are NOT available online and may only be purchased at a physical outlet. I think your best bet here would be to go to End of an Ear or some other less popular ticket outlet, like Run Tex
More Ghostland media after the jump... You can stream some Ghostland from their website. Also, you KNOW how much I HATE when YouTube video are not embedable but you really should see this performance of Sad, Sad, City from the Austin City Limits show here. It should also be noted that you can buy the entire performance on DVD.
There is actually a lot of video available of Ghostland on YouTube but most of it is of sub-par/cellphone quality. So, my apologies for some of the craptastic quality here.
Ghostland Observatory - Silver City video via YouTube
Ghostland Observatory w/UT Marching Band - The Band Marches On video via YouTube
This video looks so ghetto and you can tell it's before GLO hit their stride. You can tell by Aaron's lack of braids and Thomas' lack of cape.
Ghostland Observatory - Piano Man/Stranger Lover video via YouTube.
This song was the first (but not the last) Ghostland song that I dug:
Ghostland Observatory - Midnight Voyage "video" via YouTube
I'm re-posting a song from above because the sound on the other one sucked and the video on this one sucks. But I want you to hear the studio version of this track cause it rawks:
Ghostland Observatory - Silver City video via YouTube
Find the Girl Talk composition after the jump... The sample in question is at the 1:25 mark but peep how Girl Talk breaks it down in the info listed for this YouTube video: * 0:00 Rihanna - Umbrella * 0:01 Ying Yang Twins - Jigglin' * 0:05 Swizz Beatz - It's Me Bitches * 0:06 Eric B & Rakim - Eric B. Is President * 0:20 Jay-Z - Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)... * 0:21 Radiohead - Paranoid Android * 1:25 Mary J. Blige - Real Love * 1:26 The Guess Who - These Eyes * 2:04 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message * 2:04 Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion * 2:09 Ice Cube - Check Yo' Self * 2:09 Young Gunz - Set It Off * 2:35 DJ Kool - Let Me Clear My Throat * 2:36 Mistah F.A.B. with Turf Talk and E-40- Super Sic wit' It * 2:38 The Spinners - Rubber Band Man * 2:47 Bubba Sparxxx ft. Ying Yang Twins - Ms. New Booty * 2:55 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen * 3:33 Eddie Floyd - Knock On Wood
You can actually hear all of Feed the Animals by Girl Talk by going to his YouTube channel. Feel free to check the info so you keep score of all the samples while you listen.
Last minute update. In a strange turn of non-randomness...apparently the Guess Who are actually playing two gigs in one night at the One World Theatre this Monday here in Austin, TX.
So this is a bit behind schedule but I wanted to let you know how a couple of shows were. First of all, I caught M. Ward, Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst at La Zona Rosa Sunday night. It was a pleasant change to be at La Zona after the previous couple of shows at Emo's. When I stepped inside the La Zona my first thought was brrr, it's chilly in here. My next thought was wow look at how much personal space I have. You can imagine after being jammed teet to teet inside Emo's sweatbox that being in a venue with working A/C that doesn't oversell tickets was very pleasant.
But that's enough venue bashing I suppose. Although I was marginally familiar with M. Ward I really didn't know any of his music very well. Let me tell you, he blew me away. Playing most of his set solo with an acoustic guitar that dude has some serious chops. At first it made me think of a sad/haunted Jack Johnson. His music really showed the power of restraint. He did end up switching to electric guitar but it still wasn't like a wanky show-off guitar playing.
More review after the jump... After M. Ward came the lovely Jenny Lewis who played mostly from her latest album, Acid Toungue but also some cuts from her work with the Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat. Ms. Lewis' sound is what I like to call California country with a hint of Boogie Woogie blues in there. In other words it sounded rootsy without sounding to trite or depressing. She did not play any Rilo Kiley tunes but did manage to slip a cover song in the set. Closing out here performance with...wait for it...Love Hurts by Nazareth...for reals.
Last but certainly not least was the jump boogie, country-fied indie rock of Mr. Conor Oberst. Even though his latest album is a solo disc, two of the songs he played he didn't even sing on. One of them was sung by the drummer, the other by one of the guitarists. Again, no Bright Eyes songs were played by Oberst but he did slip a cover of Paul Simon's Kodachrome. I must admit I left before the encore so I didn't get to hear the 3 artists play anything together but I suspect that they did. Give me a break I had to work at 9am the next morning.
Which, bring me to Monday. So I worked from 9-5 after getting roughly 4 hours sleep then headed to Emo's around 10:30ish for the last, in my marathon, of shows. I have been praising Cut Copy's In Ghost Colours all year long so obviously I had to catch their show at Emo's. I arrived around 11:00 and the venue was already packed to the gills with people dancing their asses off to the darker, more industrial sounds of The Presets. All of my work friends were much more excited about The Presets than they were about Cut Copy and after witnessing the crowd at this show I can see why. Those goes really brought the noise and had the whole floor jumping and their sound was so intense that when Cut Copy came out they really sounded very light and poppy.
Don't be mislead though both acts were really good, even if the Presets sequencer got unplugged during a peak in their performance virtually halting the party atmosphere. The crowd was very forgiving, clapping, jumping and singing along all without being directed to do so...can you tell I hate being directed at a concert? I know you're gonna think I'm lame but again, I left before Cut Copy played their encore but I again I had to work about 7 hours after I left the show. Oh, I forgot to mention the lights. Cut Copy and the Presets had some serious dance lighting with them. Including those funky ceiling lasers and panels of light bars behind them. It's something I've never seen in the bombed out warehouse that is Emo's outside stage.
All in all it was great to go to a show every night from Thursday through Monday but it really did wear me out. Especially considering I had to work in the morning Monday and Tuesday. I would give ACL a much lower rating than SXSW as far as the atmosphere in the city goes. ACL is much more for the casual music listener, who enjoys chatting/making out/taking pictures of themselves more than actually watching/listening to the band on stage. SXSW is where all of us serious music geeks, who like to study equipment and listen for flaws get together and geek out over who is more indie and who is a sell-out...there's also a lot more free shhhh.
In conclusion, La Zona Rosa was the best venue I went to and Jamie Lidell was my favorite show.
I was going to promote the Presets with a video but they are on an imprint of Universal Music Group, my favorite faceless corporation in music. So they won't ALLOW plebians like me to embed their SUPER valuable YouTube clips. Let them pay radio stations and pray that MTV starts showing videos again. I'll be busy promoting independant artists with an eye on the future of music, rather than a foot in its dinosaur past.
Here's a clip from Jenny Lewis at La Zona Rosa from the same point of view that I saw this:
So today is the official final day of the Austin City Limits Fesitival. Don't forget if you're headed down to Zilker I've planned your day for you. But, let's focus on last night's shows.
My Jose Gonzalez ticket said the doors at Emo's Inside would open at 10p, so like any wise concert go--er I arrived around 11:00 or 11:15. Generally shows at Emo's last until 2am so if you want to catch the headliner you can show up around 12:15 or 12:30. But was this the case last night? Oh no, of course not. When I walked in Jose Gonzalez was already playing and had been playing for quite some time. The show was sold-out but the crowd wasn't very dense, so I suspect a lot of people made the same mistake I did. I only got to hear about half dozen songs before Gonzalez left the stage, but I got to hear enough to decide that Emo's was the wrong venue for this performer. Jose Gonzalez has such a quiet, intimate aesthetic that it was hard to pay attention with all the socializing, drunken hipsters talking over his guitar picking.
More review after the jump...
After Gonzalez left the stage I made my way out into the courtyard and towards Emo's Outside stage. I assumed that I wouldn't be able to get into the outdoor stage area since there was a seperate show, with a seperate ticket price. But I managed to work my way out there into to catch Man Man making their way on stage. I hadn't heard any music by Man Man but I had heard a lot of hype. The band certainly lived up to the hype. Dressed in all white, with very short shorts, lots of props and even some white war paint. This 6-piece sound like a hardcore band that traded their guitars for synthesizers. Their stage presence was intense, and the crowd was loving it, jumping and shouting along with the music. The worst part of the set was that it ended after only about 40 minutes but alas Man Man were not headlining.
No, the headlining slot at Emo's Outside went to local heroes Okkervil River who brought all the drama and bravado that one would expect from a homecoming show. The crowd for Okkervil was full of fans who knew every lyric to every song. With the songs from Black Sheep Boy recieving the biggest response. A personal highlight for me in the set was Okkervil's cover of the Beach Boys, Sloop John B.
In a note totally unrelated to music, there were a few Bill Murray sighting last night. He was actually spotted at Emo's, then later at the Parish. Band of Horse played a sold-out show at the Parish last night.
Check out the line-up for tonight's after parties:
The Black Keys w/ The Black Angels & Jessica Lea Mayfield at Stubb’s BBQ Doors at 7 p.m., Show at 7:30 p.m.
Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and M. Ward at La Zona Rosa Doors at 9 p.m., Show at 10 p.m.
Papalactic Aftablasta at the Parish Featuring Galactic’s Stanton Moore and Rob Mecurio, Papa Mali, Ivan and Cyril Neville.
