Recently in Festivals Category

I know, I know. I'm terribly behind on these pix, but I am trying to catch up. This show was on the night of March19-20 at the Playboy Rock The Rabbit party during the SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Festival and conference. It was their first show with their original lineup in, well, a long time! I'm not a big fan of the band, but I have to say, it was a blistering 45-minute set and the crowd left on a serious high! I'm posting a few pix here and after the jump, with 50+ more on Flickr, here: Jane's Addiction Reunion

One of my favorite new artists from the past couple of years is Nicole Atkins who, both with and without her band, The Sea played several sets at SXSW over the past couple of years and who I've seen live 4 or 5 times in the same time span. Her song "The Way It Is" gives me shivers every time I hear it. The first time I heard her excellent debut CD (which I wrote about back in November of 2007) I compared the sound to long time David Lynch collaborator, Angelo Badalamenti and what do you think I saw when I just perused Nicole's Wikipedia entry?

"Atkins also feels a kinship with Angelo Badalamenti, who has scored many of Lynch's films. She once emailed an mp3 of "The Way It Is" to Badalamenti, who is said to have replied, "I think our Sicilian great-great-great-grandparents must have laid down on a picnic blanket in the park and done something together, if you know what I mean." Atkins subsequently received an invitation to Badalamenti's home in Morristown, New Jersey to talk music."

All I have to say to that is "Ha!" At any rate, I saw Nicole at SXSW 2008 and it was a typically fantastic set and she was wearing an absolutely stunning dress. See?

More pix on my Flickr stream, here.

Last year's Spin Magazine show at Stubb's BBQ was pretty amazing, with the lineup of The Raveonettes, Vampire Weekend and X, among others. Talk about a super bill. Last month I posted some pix from this show and others and now.....X! Here's a few pix of X from the Spin show and the rest can be found on my Flickr stream.

Billy Zoom. Is there anyone cooler?

Exene Cervenka can still bring it!

As I load up hundred of pix onto Flickr, I figure I should post some samples here, too. Below are some pix of the bands mentioned in the title, plus Liverpool's The Rascals. Click on any one of them to get to my SXSW 08 Flickr set, which is still growing.

Soon to come: X, Nicole Atkins, White Rabbits, The Wombats, Tift Merritt, Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong and more We Are Standard!

First off, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend at the Spin Magazine party at Stubb's BBQ

My hero, Billy Bragg, performing at the concert for Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue's Body of War at Stubb's.

To hell with machine guns, these bikini girls got trombones!
This is one of the craziest things I've seen in quite some time, but what are you gonna do? You gotta stand out somehow, right? I give you:

Futomomo Satisfaction and, believe it or not, a cover of the Ramones!! Catch them this March at South by Southwest!

The Scouse trio (one by way of Norway) has a new single on the way and as per usual, it's a bouncy pop tune that belie the rather deeper lyrics within. "Can't wait to wallow in self pity In my circuit board city tonight," goes the catchy refrain and having seen the band live quite a few times, I doubt any of them have a digital alter ego. Doesn't seem their style, really!

Matt @ SXSW, 2008After the jump, some more pix (and even a video) from various Wombats shows at SXSW.

And Then There's The Music...

After 5 days of Film and Interactive screenings, panels and assorted mischief, there's music. Last year my feet hurt so badly I could barely walk in the mornings. I was under the impression that it was simply a matter of me being too old to pogo (mosh, skank, slam) but it turned out to be Plantar Fasciitis, which has now gone, so this year, I'm in the pit! (Yeah....right.)

The latest big news to come out of the SXSW camp? R.E.M., baby! They will be playing in support of their upcoming album Accelerate which, as its name implies, is apparently chock full of rock-pop goodness. That alone should be a reason to do the Snoopy Happy Dance for R.E.M. fans who are less than thrilled with their recent "adult contemporary" sound, but wait! There's more:

Also confirmed this year: