The Stuff of Legends

So we had heard from FFWD/Exclaim! writer Aubrey MacInnis that fellow Calgarian Chad van Gaalen had missed his SXSW show because of an argument he had had at the border with US Customs Agents. In further conversations with MacInnis and later, back at the Calgary Airport, with members of the AA Sound System, the story goes that the Customs Agents started searching through vanGaalen's bags, prompting the musician to become irritated and defensive, calling one of the agents a "douchebag", at which point he was denied entry to the US. Rather than simply fill his spot at the SXSW music conference with another artist, the organizers instead helped to arrange a closed circuit broadcast of Chad vanGaalen from his home in Calgary.

How much of this story we do not know, like we suggested though, it is the stuff of legend. Click here to watch the YouTube version of the closed circuit broadcast.

Reliving the Moment

Someone brought in the new iTunes Live in Soho EP of The Good, The Bad, and The Queen and it did what all live albums are supposed to do, evoking for us memories of their live set at SXSW. As good as Damon Albarn's songwriting is, and as much as it makes us what to be young and British and railing against the remnants of Empire, what we cannot escape is Paul Simonon's magnificent bass-playing. Back at Stubb's in Austin, we were captivated by his stylish looks and movement on-stage, but listening to the live EP we began to appreciate his work more and wondered at how much involvement this ex-member of the Clash had in the the evolution of the musical landscape created by The Good, The Bad, and The Queen.

Since Tuesday I think it's been played a dozen times, and something everybody wants to hear once the stereo is turned on.

Hills alive with music and sounds!

So much music has passed through our office this month that you'd forgive us for being somewhat reluctant to post about it all, especially if you factor in the amount of music that we brought back from SXSW and still haven't taken out of our festival bags.

But let us begin in those distant days before SXSW and what we were listening was dominated by The Arcade Fire's Neon Bible. While some of us were hesitant, fearing that the band might be caught in a sophomore slump, these fears proved deeply unfounded. From the first listen we were entranced with Arcade Fire's ability to evoke the streets of Montreal, capturing that unique blend of modern alienation and despair thoroughly steeped in feelings of Catholic longing and guilt.

We were also quite taken with a little EP from The Bombay Bicycle Club. Four songs blending the Strokes, Sonic Youth, and the Smiths. Jangly, pop-oriented guitar songs. Beirut's Pompeii EP helped to whet our appetites for their SXSW performance, as did repeated listens of Blonde Redhead's Misery is a Butterfly.

We also acquired Julie Doiron's latest offering, Woke Myself Up, and while we are enjoy her return to lo-fi rockdom, we do not feel that we've been able to give the able its full due, and expect to hear more from it in April.

The Return from SXSW featured the introduction of the Great Lake Swimmers' album, Ongiara, but their quiet overtones were quickly overtaken by the surprisingly catchy pop-work of the Tokyo Sex Club, who we passed up seeing at SXSW in order to see the Stooges. A fair trade, but we realize that we would have been just as happy watching Tokyo Sex Club open for Cursive. Their high-energy three song Smith EP (again owing a debt to the Strokes) demonstrates that the band would have been a much better time than Spoon. We also picked up the Pony's Turn the Lights Out which is proving to be an enthralling textbook display of guitar work.

However, the class of the end of March clearly belongs to Modest Mouse and their new release, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. As quirky as ever, but with the extra guitar pop of Johnny Marr, we are perfectly happy sailing off into uncharted waters with the band.

SXSW X The Numbers

Our final tally:

1 movie
2 conferences
3 cities
4 days
5 assignments
7 magazines
8 bars
10 guest speakers
14 cds
15 hours sleep
31 bands
42 phone calls
72 text messages
550 miles driven
3454 miles flown

SXSW #5

On the final day of SXSW we stumbled around the city of Austin little more than zombies, shuffling from bar to bar watching bands. Highlights must include unexpectedly seeing Lee "Scratch" Perry as we attempted to find a UPS station to mail back some posters. In retrospect, one of the more surreal SXSW moments must have been being mistaken for members of another band, as we stopped to watch Million Year Dance perform in an empty parking lot on our way to the Omni Hotel.

At the Omni, we gathered our strength and focused our attention. There were many hard choices to be made, starting with Cursive or the Stooges? Things were not made easier when we heard that 400 Blows was also playing at midnight. Furthermore, some of us wanted to go see Field Music open at the Cursive show, while others were pulling for the Buzzcocks, having missed their earleir show. Spoon and Kings of Leon were also getting big hype, countered with Tokyo Police Club. Most of decided on starting the evening at the Cursive show, catching Art in Manilla and Field Music, before heading over to Stubbs for Iggy and the Stooges, Spoon, Kings of Leon, to meet with those who had gone to the Buzzcocks. Art in Manilla seemed rather etheral and poppy, but it was Field Music that caught us off guard. For starters, our initialy impression (incorrect) was they were somewhat ambient and spacey, easily complementing Art in Manilla. The Sunderland trio took significant time getting set up properly, and the crowd grew restless as they complained to the soundman about minor changes. However, as soon as they began, it all proved worthwhile as they produced one of the best sounds that we heard throughout all SXSW, even though the backyard, chain-linked, tented-awning stage was perhaps one of the crudest performance spaces (only Maritime and Million Year Dance had to deal with worse). Furthermore, their angularity completing surprised us, sounding something like a poppier Mission of Burma, but with keyboards.

Afterwards, we ran over to the Stooges show, only to find the line-up extending all the way down Red River, across the street along 9th and up the block. Realizing that there were hundreds of people in line, we hustled back to the Cursive show, where a half-block line-up had already formed. We texted the rest of our group to suggest that we were bailing on the Stooges. Luckily, it turned out that the hype of the Buzzcocks had been so great that they went from openers to headliners, and our colleagues decided to head straight for Stubbs. They were near the head of the line when we sent our message and quickly ran back to join them in line as Kings of Leon started in all their Texan, trailor-park fury. Queens of the Stone Age might do it better, but that's not really a knock. Spoon on the otherhand, left us cold. Technically proficient, we simply did not understand where they were coming from.

Iggy, however, we understood all too well, and were immediately held in thrall by his vitality. Like James Brown, you kinda get the same show with Iggy Pop but there's still something heartfelt in the animosity he generates. Of all the shows we saw, he was the only one who through himself repeatedly into the audience, hugging and touching its members (though after unzipping his pants and prancing around for ten minutes, we all thought we were going to see his), no doubt causing the SXSW security team to wince. The head of security must have popped a vessel when Iggyy finally invited some fifty people to come onstage at the end of his set to dance. It ws unbelievable.

Once it was over, and we negotiated the ensuing bedlam, we piled into the rental car and drove off to San Antonio where our 6:25 departure was waiting for us, ending our SXSW adventures.

SXSW #4

By Friday morning, the plucky staff of The Daily Wenzel needed some time to recharge. Down on sleep, we called for a late morning before heading off to see the trade show, check out the posters and artwork available at Flatstock, sit in on a session about the future of Digital Music, and of course, check out a couple of bands. Perhaps most surprising was the Buzzcocks. Generally, we are not fond of old punk bands reuniting and trading in on our nostalgia. We do not want them to relive their youth so that we can relive ours. We would rather move forward, culturally speaking, and find new ways of saying things that resonate with these times. The shock of the Buzzcocks though, was just how timely the music actually was – they sounded every bit as vital as they did twenty years ago. Perhaps that’s something of an indictment on the current crop of punk bands. Certainly, somewhere out there are bands that would level the Buzzcocks like the old men they are (Adam Kamis of CJSW and Broken City swears that 400 Blows could do it), but in general, the Buzzcocks are more than likely to crush what passes for most people as punk.

Other bands that we saw while hanging around the Convention Center were the Polyphonic Spree and Daniel Johnston and his Nightmares. We were a little puzzled by the attraction of Johnston, a sort of Neil Young character back by much younger men and women, but the Polyphonic Spree made an impression. We had actually passed the backup singers for the Spree in the hallway earlier in the day. They were practicing their “dance” routines, and we mistook them for girls from the previous night’s roller derby. One of the things that caught our attention, was not just the similarity of the Polyphonic Spree to the Flaming Lips, but also the debt that the Arcade Fire owe to the Spree. Many people have commented on a connection between the Arcade Fire and Belle & Sebastian, a link that we see, but never really made us comfortable. After seeing the Polyphonic Spree, their influence seems fare more important, even if the Arcade Fire have twisted it and made it somewhat darker.

Popping out for a bite to eat brought us to the Pure Ultra-Lounge, where Maritime were setting up shop. Having been passed recommendations by various eastern seabord media outlets, we stopped to check them out. Despite having virtually no stage presence (passing as members of average Joe Public is one thing, but the lead singer actually stopped to answer his cell phone in the middle of the set), we rather enjoyed their songs, but felt they still have quite a ways to go.

We also checked out the rather lacklustre The Annuals, before making our way to Peter, Bjorn & John's second show of SXSW. The Convention Centre halls echoed with the sound of people whistling the melody from "Don't Care About Young Folks", which seems to be one of the top singles of this year's SXSW. As is the way of SXSW, the conclusion of the PB&J show saw us rush off to Stubbs to try and catch Andrew Bird's show. Despite the line-up, we managed to catch the last few impressive songs.

Not recognizing the next band, we made our way to the back of the crowd to touch base with other folks who were feeding us updates on other shows, when the next set began. We asked a Swedish journalist next to us who happend to be holding a SXSW schedule, the name of the next band and he shrugged, saying "The Perry Farrell Featherlife Family". We turned around and saw Perry Farrell, of Jane's Addication and Porno for Pyros, shaking his shiny, silver clad booty at the audience. We, and the bikers to our otherside, were completely taken aback. None of us knew if this was satire, self-parody, or part of Farrell's new age seriousness. It was bizarre, it was riveting. Checking Bands, Blogs, and Buzz the next day revealed that we were not the only ones fascinated by this apparent trainwreck. Did we mention he wore a sweater? Or that he had a go-go girl in a one-piece mini-skirt outfit? That he called us his brothers and sisters and offered to do unspeakable things for every member of the audience if only he had the time?

Perry Farrell was followed up by Badly Drawn Boy, who we normally like, but appeared to have a very off night. He lost his train of thought several times, appeared awkward in front of his audience, stopping and starting the same song several times. Despite this, he closed with a cover of Foreigner's "Don't Stop Believing" and the crowd loved him for it.

The highlight of the night, and indeed perhaps the festival, was Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, who we must admit was almost upstaged by the ever stylish ex-Clash bass player, Paul Simonon. However, Albarn's ability to craft a musical world and populate it with people, history , and details, is a force to be reckoned with. The show was subtle and sophisticated, less a gig than a dramatic musical production. Someone suggested to us that The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, was one of the most important albums about Britain to come out of Britain in the last thirty years. Not being British, we don't feel that we can really agree, but we certainly aren't going to go out of our way to disagree.

SXSW Breather

Trying to maintain The Daily Wenzel while keep up with everything that's going on at SXSW sometimes makes us feel like the kid from Almost Famous who keeps trying to write his story while on tour with the band. Ultimately he locks himself in the bathroom and takes refuge in an empty bathtub. This afternoon we kind of feel that way, but with a break in action just before the Lee "Scratch" Perry show starts, we have a small opportunity. Some of our members have left to do a radio broadcast for CJSW 90.9 FM back in Calgary so those of us left are trying to get some work done.

Check out our special SXSW site, www.bandsblogsbuzz.blogspot.com to see how the blogosphere hype is shaking out.

SXSW #3

With just a few hours of sleep we are off to San Antontio for a technology conference in the morning, and then back to Austin early in the evening for a session on China as an emerging market for Western music. After dinner, we saw the upcoming documentary Helvetica, on yes, the typeface of the same name. A fascinating, and often humourous film, we have been unable to view the world the same since. A must see.

The evening's music, was located primarily at Stubb's. Despite hearing a lot of hype and a few singles from Aqualung, there set was rather disappointing, coming off as a cross between James Blunt and Snow Patrol, though some may argue whether that amounts to a credible difference. The Apostles of Hustle came on next, and at times delivered a good show, but were a little too stylistically diverse, from their clothes to their sound, and were unable to show a degree of consistency. The problems of the Apostle of Hustle were shown more clearly as soon as The Dears took the stage and, along with Bloc Party, who were headlining and perhaps repaying SXSW for helping to launch last year's phenomenal North American tour, were perhaps one of the most successful one-two pop punches we've seen in awhile. It is arguable who pulled out deserving the No.1 spot more, a win-win for the audience.

SXSW #2

We left Calgary at seven o'clock Wednesday morning and arrived for our connecting flight in Houston early, at a little before noon. At the airport, while looking for a bite to eat, we heard mention that there had been a tornado sighting a few days earlier, but thought nothing of it, although it soon appeared that our flight was going to be delayed half an hour. A little while later, our flight was delayed another hour, on account of extreme weather at its originating airport. Next, the flight was announced to be overbooked. We began to think of driving straight to Austin and by the time our flight was announced delayed another hour, we were already on our way to the rental agency with our bags when he heard about road closures in southern Houston on account of washouts.

Luckily, we were heading north, and despite the hard rain in Houston, things cleared up about half an hour out of town, and there was just sporadic bursts through to Austin. Once we checked in and picked up our passes at the convention center, it was on to Emo's to catch a double bill of The Early Years, Callas, and Voxtrot in one room, and Beirut, the Mountain Goats, and Blonde Redhead in another.

Highlights here included the crescendo, wall of sound, descent into showgazing reverb madness that was the Early Years, and Voxtrot really made the most of its hometown status, delivering a high energy show. But it was Blonde Redhead in the Main Room that had the audience. Simply taking the stage changed the atmosphere of the club, making things darker, with shrieks of feedback piercing the air like lightning. Playing mostly songs off their upcoming album, things appear to be more muscular and menacing a complete contrast to the innocence and exuberance of Beirut - sweat-drenched, hanging from the rafters, playing their backyard bar mitzah Bowery folk music.

SXSW #1

With little over seven hours of sleep in the past seventy-two, we have planned for a late morning start tomorrow in an attempt to catch up on sleep. However, we promise to update The Daily Wenzel with a complete SXSW update, including an account of our almost, but not quite, harrowing trip into Austin.

With luck, we'll even post some pictures.

Compass Bearing - SXSW

Up and at'em early in the morning. The espresso machines on rapid fire as we all prepare for the short jaunt out to the airport to catch our flights to Austin and SXSW. Once there, we'll be making contact with other members of the Calgary media namely Fast Forward, CJSW, and Beatroute Magazine. We are prepared to be overwhelmed by bands, music, and film. We can't imagine what this week is like for the residents of Austin as a small town of music industry types descend on their city. One estimate we saw suggested that 17,000 people will visit the SXSW festival at some point, though by this time SXSW is really three festivals or conferences in one: music, film, and technology with each one drawing a sizable crowd.

Some things on our agenda for SXSW: the 4AD Showcase tonight, featuring (among others) Beirut and Blonde Redhead, both of these bands have been getting heavy rotation in our office speakers. The film Helvetica. Yes, it's about the typeface - hey, we read The Gutenburg Galaxy, it's only natural. People have been telling us to check out Andrew Bird all week. Damon Albarn's The Good, The Bad, and the Queen seems like a one-time only deal. Most anticipated pre-SXSW rumour? Arcade Fire to play a secret show. They've got a four day window in their Ireland/UK tour to pull it off. Crazier things have happened.

Check out our SXSW side project: Bands, Blogs, and Buzz.

March Madness

No, we're not talking about college basketball.

March is shaping up to be quite the music month. The release of the new Bloc Party album , and the new Damon Albarn side project, The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, have only served to whet our appetite for major releases by the likes of The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. That Blonde Redhead have a new set for March doesn't hurt, nor does the slate of new music being released in advance of the spring festival circuit which kicks off with Austin's industry orgy known as South by Southwest, something we at the Daily Wenzel are desperately trying to wrangle our way into.