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SXSW VOLUME ONE

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Co written and with pictures contributed by brokenbrooklyn

To make it easy on readers we decided to choose a different format this year. We have posted all the bands we have seen in alphabetical order according to bands names. We first discuss what made us decide to check out the band in question and then talk briefly about how they lived up to the hype and our expectations. As expected, we had a great time in Austin and feel even more confidant getting around the city and enjoying it like a local. Austin remains one of our favorite places to visit and SXSW remains the premier music festival in the country. Thanks SXSW for a wonderful time and for making minorprogression a part of your celebration of music and music culture.

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Todd P announces MtyMx, a three day music and arts festival in Monterrey Mexico with Dan Deacon, Andrew W.K. and 76ish others!

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For those of you who don’t read Pitchforkmedia religiously and for those of you who don’t go to see bands play in New York City on a regular basis the name Todd P may mean very little to you.  Todd P is essentially the premiere DIY music event organizer in New York City and one of the bigger events coordinates of his kind in the country.  Though he’s done great things for the music community of New York City and has gone out of his way to get all ages of folks into his shows, some people find it hard to forgive his love/hate taste for bands, a trait that elevates some okay (or not so okay) bands to godly indie heights and neglects other great music artists entirely.

While I am sometimes hit and miss with Todd P’s choices of indie music champions, I can’t get angry at someone for promoting what they like and not promoting what they don’t, even if we differ in opinion. It is hard for me to get my panties in a twist over someone who has put on some of the better music shows I’ve seen since moving to New York and I have more than a handful of memories I’m happy to have that I wouldn’t, were it not for Todd P.  His blog is consistently updated and friendly in it’s anonymous layout and he continues to find unique and interesting, if sometimes unnecessarily half hazard spaces to put on live performances, adding a level of uniqueness to what could otherwise be just another indie show. His constant commitment to making live music a special event is perhaps my favorite thing about the way Todd P works and it is also why I look forward to the event he just announced so eagerly.

For the past four years Todd has put on free showcases in Austin during the week of SXSW as a free all ages alternative to the hopelessly expensive and sprawling official festivities, often offering some of the best up and coming bands to be playing the festival officially.  This year, he has announced something different, a split from Austin and it’s impersonal feeling festivities and an establishment of a three day festival of his own planning called MtyMx. It’s taking place south of the Texas border in Monterrey Mexico.  It’s three days long, at an abandoned drive in movie theater, it only costs 30 dollars, almost 80 bands are playing and most of us will be sleeping in tents and having dirty hipster sex for seventy two hours straight.  If this doesn’t sound like a good time to you, you most likely shouldn’t be reading this blog.

The line up so far is reproduced here after the jump

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Two of my favorite Brooklyn bands: Beach Fossils and Woods in some belated CMJish documentation *Pictures!* (Also, a rant about the band Girls and how overated they are)

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There were other cool “non official” CMJ happenings that took place over the past week (this not being one of them) or so that didn’t involve Pitchfork Media or Todd P., although all bands involved in the shows that I caught have gotten shout outs from one or the other at some point in time.  Myopenbar.com, one of my favorite resources for free booze and interesting times in this and a few other cities, also happens to throw great parties and shows from time to time, one of which went down just as CMJ was kicking off at Manhattan’s sprawling but sometimes not awful Webster Hall.  The show line up included Beach Fossils, Woods, Titus Andronicus and Here We Go Magic.  The event  was free to those who R.S.V.Peed and although there was no free (or even discounted!) booze at the event, the line up was good enough not to scoff.  Strangely, Here We Go Magic was headlining the night, even though they were the least exciting name on the bill.   My friends have all assured me that so far Here We Go Magic’s music hasn’t been used on a popular teen TV show or film so I can’t really understand what’s going on here, but I guess they have a lot of New Yorkers who are really into them since the show continued to get more and more crowded as the evening moved on towards their performance.  Needless to say I didn’t stick around for them to play.  I also left before Titus Andronicus did their thing, since I’m trying not to kill my interest in them while I still like what they’re doing and I’ve seen them play an embarrassing amount of times since moving to New York two years ago.   I focused my evening instead on Woods who I hadn’t seen play in a good six or seven months and on Beach Fossils, a newer Woodsist/Captured Tracks band that I’ve been really into lately and one that I’ve been trying to catch live for a while.

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Pictures from the Pitchfork/Showpaper Benefit!!

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The Pitchfork curated, Todd P organized, Showpaper benefit at the Market Hotel went off with a few hitches, mostly, the power blowing out multiple times during the course of the day and some bands sound being far worse than others. This is the Market Hotel though and I guess we should just expect that from this kind of venue…? Whatever, the show was still well worth it and the chance to see all these buzzing bands play in one place for a good cause is something that’s hard to complain about. While there were no bands playing that would accurately be described as bad, only The Smith Westerns came off as a bit of a let down. This might however be due to their banter showing their age and the obviousness that all of them were younger than me.  Maybe I’m just jealous that they were playing a cool show I was mearly watching.  At the top of my list are unquestionably Javelin, Real Estate and Delorian, the last of whom most likely played the days most impressive set.  I had to leave before Cymbals Eat Guitars took to the stage, but I’m sure I’ll see them sometime soon and then be forced to decide whether I think their brand of revived early nineties indie rock is worth my time and yours.  In the meantime, you should all be highly anticipating Javelin’s recordings to surface beyond their myspace since they bring the kind of hip-pop dance party many bands try for and few achieve. Real Estate’s debut full length is arriving soon and if their live show is any source or indication, it should be cause for excitement. Lastly, the continuation of Delorian’s evolution in sound from electroish rock, to blissed out, whimsical, electroish rock should be tracked closely readers. Their show blew the roof off and got just about everyone in the room moving, something I see less and less of these days.  I can guarantee they will float your boat, unless of course, dear reader, you don’t want to be forced to dance like you’re Prince on prom night, in which case just stay home and give your old Bright Eyes records one more spin. Don’t fret, we’ll have fun without you.

Some pictures I took at the show after the leap:

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SUPER SWEET PITCHFORK/TODD P/SHOWPAPER SHOW TONIGHT AT THE MARKET HOTEL IN BROOKLYN!WEET

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The Cover of Showpaper’s current edition

Artwork by Kemialliset Ystävät

I don’t know how this one slipped under my radar until the night before its going down but most likely it has just been kept somewhat on the DL due to the fact that the line up is super stellar and undoubtedly the best thing music related going on in the city tomorrow, Saturday October 24th, the last official day of CMJ New York.

NOTE: This is not an official CMJ event so that means it’s cheap ($12.00) and the money goes to a great cause.
A few words about Showpaper from its myspace page:

“SHOWPAPER is a FREE bi-weekly print-only publication which aims to list and promote all ages DIY shows in the NYC and tri-state area. We try to spread the word about shows that would otherwise slip under the radar, and the all ages scene in general. Each issue also features a full color piece of art by a contemporary artist. Look for it in your local record store/gallery/café/pizza place/etc.”

The paper is always free to pick up and gets its funds from donations from its readers and other generous folk. The line up for this show is pretty much worth its weight in gold, so please if you are free on Saturday, fuck CMJ, get thee to Bushwick, see some great music and support a good cause. It goes on ALL NIGHT LONG…

LINE UP (copied and pasted from Todd P’s website):
====| SATURDAY 10/24 – 1PM to 7AM! – @ MARKET HOTEL |====
:: PITCHFORK SHOWPAPER BENEFIT FESTIVAL
:: curated by Ryan Schreiber
:: http://pitchfork.com
:: http://myspace.com/showpaper

0100pm : BANDS ALL DAY & EVENING
0000oo :
1100pm : special guests to be announced…
1000pm :: Cymbals Eat Guitars
0900pm ::: Cold Cave
0800pm :::: Delorean
0700pm ::::: Real Estate
0600pm :::::: the Smith Westerns
0500pm ::::::: Javelin
0400pm :::::::: Small Black
0300pm ::::::::: Bear in Heaven
0200pm :::::::::: Highlife
0100pm ::::::::::: Surfer Blood

1200am : LATE NIGHT DJ SETS
0000oo :
0430am : Lemonade
0300am :: dj Alan Palomo / Neon Indian
0200am ::: 20 Jazz Funk Greats
0100am :::: Jamie xx

| MARKET HOTEL |
1142 Myrtle Ave @ Bdwy | Bushwick, Bklyn
JMZ-Myrtle, L-Jefferson, G-Myrtle/Willoughby | 1pm to 7am! | all ages | $12 sliding scale
| MYSPACE |- http://myspace.com/markethotelnyc

| curated by Ryan Schreiber, organised by Todd P & SHOWPAPER |

SXSW DAY 4: AUSTIN BLURRIER, MORE DEBAUCHED AND BETTER THAN EVER (FRIDAY THE 20TH)

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Words by Popejohnpaul12 and Brokenbrooklyn

Pictures by Brokenbrooklyn

Our longest and most excellent day of the festival started at Pitchfork’s Showcase at Emo’s. Girls was the first band to go on (at least when we showed up) and they come from the San Francisco area which may explain their 1960′s Californian pop style.  This isn’t the Beach Boys revisited though and everything they touch seems to get all covered up in lots of reverb. The lead singer/guitarist suggests a Zepplinish,  pre metal virtuosity that never really makes its way into their music, though there are moments where you feel like it may someday.  Their songs seem well constructed enough and aren’t totally boring, but if they let themselves rock out just a little bit more or  piled on a some stranger atmospherics, it would likely take their sound to the next level. The singer’s voice suggests an early Conner Oberst, but it comes off as affected in a different sort of way, one that I’m not sure if I buy yet.

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BROOKLYN HALLOWEEN 08 : TODD P THROWS DANBRO STUDIOS WAREHOUSE PARTY W/ MATT & KIM, PONYTAIL, DMBQ AND MORE!!!

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Halloween is always a difficult holiday to account for.  Doing the day justice usually requires a bit of planning, something lots people have a hard time with. Even when facing mundane and simple routines, such as hygiene maintenance and sleeping, we seem to always find excuses to postpone.  Often, this results in people making last minute costume decisions, usually to disastrous effects. I myself was simply going to slack off on this post and let all of you New York and Brooklyn children go your own way this upcoming Friday night, but since I’m a bit under the weather this evening, I thought I should at least give you a brief rundown on some festivities I may be partaking in.

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