Vampire Weekend in Brooklyn in 2012 (more by Greg Cristman)

SXSW already revealed one round of artists, then a second, and now they've just revealed a third announcement which includes Vampire Weekend, Local Natives, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Clutch, Rockie Fresh, Baauer, Bleached, TOY, Waxahatchee, Bleeding Rainbow, Count Bass D, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, ST 2 Lettaz, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Single Mothers, Eddi Front, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Today is the Day, Killa Kyleon, Lemuria, Love Inks, Moon King, Pac Div, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, Stagnant Pools, and many many more.

Full round 3 list below...

Continue reading "SXSW announces even more artists (Vampire Weekend, Local Natives, Thermals, Clutch, Rockie Fresh, Waxahatchee, more)"

photos by Amanda Hatfield & Tim Griffin

The Drums / Wedding Present (by Tim)

BrooklynVegan's Hotel Vegan, located at Austin venues Hotel Vegas & Volstead Lounge, began at noon back on Thursday, 3/15/2012, on three stages in partnership with M For Montreal. One of those stages was the BV Austin stage which you already saw a full set of pictures from. Here are some more from all the stages.

Like on Friday and all four days, we served complimentary HobNob Wines. We also proudly passed out Sailor Jerry drinks.

Special thanks to Supercuts who were giving out free haircuts all day and to our official backline providers Vox, Blackstar and Korg, and thank you to ASCAP, and to NadaMoo for supplying free vegan treats, and to Honest Tea for the tea.

Bill talked about a lot of this day,. The full set of pictures, slightly beleated, from the entire SXSW Thursday at Hotel Vegan, below...

Continue reading "#HotelVegan Day 2 pics (The Drums, This Will Destroy You, Wedding Present, Glen Hansard, Of Monsters & Men & more)"

by Bill Pearis

Half Moon Run

After getting in late Wednesday, Thursday was my first full day in Austin, and maybe the best, music-wise. Daylight hours were spent at the second of our day parties at Hotel Vegas which we dubbed Hotel Vegan. I was running a little late so I missed Iceland's Of Monsters and Men, but we were running late on one of the inside stages, so I got there in time to see Montreal's Half Moon Run (today was the day we teamed up with M For Montreal). Three-part harmonies, intermingling guitar parts, bonus percussion -- it's a little Radiohead by way of '60s folk rock. Their debut album, Dark Eyes, is out next week.

Feathers

The Volstead Stage at Hotel Vegan was dubbed the BV Austin stage on Thursday with all local bands. Feathers have barely been together six months but they have clearly spent that time practicing. They have it together and this was one of my favorite sets of the week. Most of their material is of the gothy electro variety, they opened with a Norman Greenbaum-style glammy stomper that I really dug. A lot of instrument switching showcased most of the members of the band.

We Are Serenades

Adam Olenius fronts Shout Out Louds and Markus Krunegård of Laakso comprise Swedish superduo We Are Serenades who are a full band live. While both come from indie backgrounds this is full-on commercial pop and ridiculously catchy. Was happy they played their single "Come Home" even if it is a Christmas song.

Thus:Owls

When not backing Patrick Watson, his band perform under the name Thus:Owls with Swedish singer Erika Angell fronting. They played the inside stage -- the only air-conditioned place in Hotel Vegan on a very humid day -- and held the audience rapt with their understated but drama-filled arrangements.

Cymbals Eat Guitars

Cymbals Eat Guitars, in NYC at least, play much much bigger rooms than the tiny inside stage of Hotel Vegas so it was a treat to see them in tight quarters.

The Velvet Teen

Holy early aughts! Anthemic Californians The Velvet Teen, who I didn't know were still together, packed the inside stage with dedicated fans.

Ringo Deathstarr on the BV Austin stage

One of my favorite Austin bands, Ringo Deathstarr, do the shoegaze thing better just about any current band. Good and loud!

Korallreven

Lot of Swedes today. Radio Department offshoot Korallreven played the main stage and proved a perfect soundtrack to a mid-afternoon chillout session sitting on the grass, drinking a beer.

The Young

The Young played our official showcase the night before as well and we like them so much we couldn't not have them on the BV Austin stage too. Straight-up rock and roll done right.

The Drums

Once known for using a lot of prerecorded backing and making up for it with a lot of entertaining jumping around, The Drums have become a real band since releasing their second album. I miss the crazy tambourine playing of old, but the Drums sounded great.

UME

Famous vegan-hater Anthony Bourdain put aside his prejudices check out Ume with his No Reservations film crew in tow. "A shitload if rawk in a tiny little room!" he Tweeted. Indeed, Tony, indeed. We originally had Ume playing last on the Volstead BV Austin stage but moved them inside the bigger Hotel Vegas room to better accommodate the film crew. We were also running late in there, so they were shoved before The Jealous Sound who ended up going on over an hour after schedule.

The Wedding Present

We didn't get Seamonsters in full like they'd do at the Cake Shop showcase on Friday night, but The Wedding Present definitely pulled out some old favorites for their Hotel Vegan main stage performance, including 1986 single "You Should Always Keep in Touch with Your Friends" which opened their rocking set. Frontman David Gedge, who is 52 but looks at least 15 years younger, throws his all into his guitar. The Wedding Present played a lot of shows during SXSW, don't know how he does it.

Spectrals

After a full day at Hotel Vegan, it was taco time, with a brief stop at Cheer Up Charlies to catch some of Caveman's set. Then the first show of the night: Scottish pop band Spectrals at Swan Dive who, I must admit, were rather lackluster live. I loved Louis Jones' early singles and 2010 EP but there was no energy on stage, save for the bassist who danced around the whole time like he was in a different group. Disappointing.

SISU

Over at the Beauty Bar it was SISU aka Dum Dum Girls drummer Sandy Vu's band. They were minus their drummer, who missed his flight or something, but Dum Dum Girls guitarist Jules sat on the drumstool and sang harmonies. Still sounded great in amputated form: glide guitar, ethereal vocals, volume.

DZ Deathrays

Speaking of volume, Australian duo DZ Deathrays were next and the nitro-blues sonic assault blew right through my earplugs. I mean LOUD. How do two people make that much noise?

Allah Las

One of the best things I saw at SXSW. 12-string guitars, Vox bass, bolo ties, nehru collars... Los Angeles' Allah Las are a pristine recreation of '60s West Coast pop with great songs like upcoming single "Tell Me What's on Your Mind." Not pastiche, the real deal.

Fiction

Wrapping up my Thursday was London band Fiction who were a bit like Wild Beasts if less over-the-top. A lot of Big Rhythms. Not bad, will have to keep an eye on these guys.

by Bill Pearis

I didn't get in till 6PM so unfortunately I missed the first of our Hotel Vegan day shows, but I rolled into downton just in time for the start of the official BrooklynVegan showcase which took place at Bar 96 on the now hopping Rainey St strip. Like a lot of the clubs there, it used to be a house so it had a backyard vibe, with a good African food truck in the back yard. (I must say, as a New Yorker, the Austin food truck explosion has made eating during SXSW a much more pleasurable experience.) Very chill, very party-like. The area in front of the stage was carpeted in artificial turf, which invited sitting down and chiling out.

Caged Animals

"You can sit for the first two songs, but then lets get up and dance" said Vincent Cacchione of Caged Animals who opened the set. He played affable host, running into the crowd and dancing (and hugging people). Nice mellow start to my week.

2:54

After that it was 2:54 who have gotten exponentially better than when I saw them at Pianos last year, a much more confident band. I am a sucker for their dark, moody, shoegazy sound. Good set, though it was cut short a song by equipment problems.

Cashier No. 9

From there I ventured out to other shows. I really wanted to see Ireland's Cashier No. 9 whose album To the Death of Fun made my Best of 2012 list. The tiny Tap Room stage could barely contain the band's six members and the bassist played on the nearby staircase when their weren't people going up and down. The band reproduced the album's lush sound and rich harmonies ably.

Half Moon Run

From there I went to the M for Montreal showcase and caught Half Moon Run who would play our day party the next day (3/15). Part Radiohead, part '60s folk rock (CSNY comes to mind) the trio sound great -- look out for their debut which comes out at the end of the month.

Craft Spells

I then lost an hour to find my friends and wandering around the Red River strip which has smoke machines and lasers going all night, making the street seem like Ibiza or the Terminator "future" set. I headed back to Planet Quebec to catch Craft Spells (who played our day party on 3/16) who have recently relocated from Seattle to San Francisco. Last time I saw them, nearly a year ago, they were pretty green but a year of gigging later has made them a really good live band. Still very '80s, but more New Order than the Cure which is a good thing. They had a new drummer, only their second show with him, but he seemed up to speed.

Cadence Weapon

Last of the night, after some delays, was Cadence Weapon (aka Montreal resident Rollie Pemberton) who played Hotel Vegan on Saturday (3/17). He was good but I was fading after a day of travel and too many Lone Stars, the ubiquitous Texas tallboy of choice.

Better pictures and reports from the entire week of BrooklynVegan shows coming soon.