The Correct Amount of Cowbell
Originally published at The Raw, The Cooked, and the Half Baked. Please leave any comments there.
SXSW has been an obsession of mine since 1997. For those who don’t know, it is a music conference that takes place in Austin, TX at the same time that the University of Texas is on Spring Break. When I started going, it was about 800 bands that came to this conference, and each played one 40-minute set. Now it’s closer to 1400 bands, and many of them play extra shows outside the conference.
Picking which bands to see can be a chore. You will scour MP3 collections (provided by SXSW via bittorrent), articles, other radio stations (KEXP), and of course, your friends.
This night, my friends seemed evenly divided between three obviously good shows in the final (1AM) timeslot of the night. The first was The Lemonheads, the second was the Black Keys, and the third was REM.
The Lemonheads remain to this day the only time I’ve ever been scared of a mosh pit. In Minneapolis, no less. Yes, I am aware that there is nothing in particular about the Lemonheads’ music that would ever imply that mosh pits happened at their shows. Such was the 90s. Be glad they’re over.
Similarly, I passed up my only real chance to see REM because I thought they took a big step backwards after Orange Crush, and I contented myself with filling up with their back catalog. In short, I think that Michael Stipe was at his best when totally incoherent. His forays into the land of Enunciators led me to the conclusion that he’s just a pretentious prick.
Fact is, there are a scant few bands I’m excited about at this year’s festival, and the Black Keys was at the top of the list. Close behind them are The Helio Sequence, Say Hi (formerly Say Hi To Your Mom), and MGMT.
This band is sparse. Two guys. One plays drums in a way that makes Kieth Moon seem docile. His kit is pretty basic. The other sings, and plays guitar, though he switched to keyboards on one song. It’s basically the same arrangement as the White Stripes, but the sound is more reminiscent of the band Free, and their attitude is much more down to Earth.
I have enormous respect for artists who don’t waste your time with banter or extended song jams. Just walk on stage, open your can of whoopass, and go. Don’t bother trying to evoke applause from the audience. Or sing-a-longs for that matter. Don’t make me cheer for this current event or that. Pause just long enough between songs for the audience to realize the song is over, but not so long that the dickhead in front of me has time to request Freebird.
This last point is an important one. The next time I hear somebody request Freebird, I’m going to jump on stage, tear the set list off the floor, and stick it up the ass of the guy who shouted that “joke”, even though it was played out 30 years ago.
But I digress.
The Black Keys went head-to-head with REM, and won.
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