The 2nd International Body Music Festival
Back in elementary school, we here at Festival Watch used to be way jealous of all the kids who could make farting sounds with their armpits. Seriously: This was a big deal to us (and we’d like to point out that, had we the Internets plugged in at Casa de Festival Watch in 19diggity8, our social life might have been just a touch better).

Come to find out, one can make more than just novelty sounds with one’s body (sort of). If you don’t believe us, you should check out the 2nd International Body Music Festival, which will happen Dec. 1–6 at various locations in the San Francisco Bay area. Artists include D.C.’s own Step Afrika!, “accomplished” flamenco performers Fátima Moreno González and Silvia Moreno Gil, and beat boxer Kenny Muhammad, who—for good reason (please, please, please click here; the bit with the New York Philharmonic is kind of priceless)—also goes by “the Human Orchestra.” For those of you who feel like breaking out the ol’ cupped-hand-in-the-armpit trick for audience testing, there’s also an open mic. Venues and prices vary; tickets were, as of this writing, still available.
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When Frodus Conglomerate International decided to reunite for the first time in 10-years, its initial appearances were rather exclusive. There was a single, quietly announced, performance Murky Coffee and then two quick shows at SXSW for, you know, for industry insiders. At any rate, the larger public, suffering greatly amidst the collapse of capitalism, was denied its chance to receive a much needed dose of shadowy, high-concept, spazzcore.

That situation is about to be rectified however, as Frodus will be going public in a few select East Coast cities during May and June. Liam Wilson of the Dillinger Escape Plan and Jake Brown from The Eastern Wave will be on board to supply bass.

Frodus Tour Dates:

05-08 Balitmore, MD – Talking Head Club w/ Sick Weapons, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer, Caverns
05-09 Philadelphia, PA – The Barbary w/ tba
05-10 Brooklyn, NY – Death by Audio w/ Limbs, Himalaya, special guest
06-18 Orlando, FL – Redlight Redlight w/ Guiltmaker, Hurrah
06-19 Gainesville, FL – Common Grounds w/ Guiltmaker, tba
06-20 Washington, DC – Black Cat w/ Van Pelt, Guiltmaker

Lovitt Records Showcase: I had been looking forward to this showcase all week, since it was a chance to visit with some D.C. folks and familiars—Lovitt being a local record label, and all—in a city with better than average Mexican food. Also, I heard there was going to be free Vitamin Water, but it was pretty much all gone by the time I arrived. There were plenty of reasons to stick around, though.

Pygmy Lush played some of its quiet, non-hardcore material, from last year’s Mount Hope, sounded pretty good.

Read More “SXSW Recap: Saturday” »

Medications: When Medications performed at Fort Reno a few years back, I told drummer/bassist Chad Molter that I thought his band’s new songs sounded sort of like mid-’70s Fleetwood Mac, in a good way. I’m not sure he really liked hearing that, though. At any rate, when they played Friday, at this funky art-space/theater, the new songs were a bit more heavier and more progressive. So, maybe more like Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac?

Earthless w/ J Mascis: The San Diego-based psych-rock trio, augmented here by Dinosaur Jr guitarist J. Mascis, basically improvised a 30-minute space-rock crescendo that never stopped, it just got louder and louder.

Metallica: Metallica is pretty much the last of the superhuman mega-bands, at least in my opinion. Any personal obligations that they might have as grown men with families seem totally secondary to their lives as rock stars. Metallica will always go the extra mile for rock. Like, if you’re sick and dying and you love Metallica, I feel like there’s still a chance they would show up in your hospital room and surprise you with an autographed guitar. Not a lot of bands will do that anymore, certainly not a lot of the bands playing at SXSW. But the line was long–all the way around the block–so I skipped the show.
Read More “SXSW Recap: Friday” »

I’m no Brandon Wu, clearly, but I snapped some photos of Mi Ami over at the Mexican Summer party yesterday. I was really floored when I saw these guys play in DC a few weeks ago, and also pretty much floored at this show too. If you want, read Cole Goins’ BPB interview with them here and check out his review of the band’s record, Watersports, here.

More pics below:
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If Tim Rutili’s doesn’t have the most harmonious singing voice, but it’s certainly one of the most distinctive, or just the flat-out weirderst. On his records with Califone and the long defunct Red Red Meat his words are always slurred, as if he’s somehow singing them backwards and forwards at the same time. I had assumed that some degree of studio trickery was involved in producing this effect–maybe running the tapes in reverse and then patching the mix through a worn out catchers mitt?–, but no, apparently it’s all natural.

When Red Red Meat reunited last night to perform at Subpop’s SXSW showcase all Rutili had to do to get that strange, nasal, warble was to simply push air through his lungs. Anything else that’s involved remains a mystery. That voice really drives the music, though. Without him Red Red Meat’s rusty, lo-fi, folk-rock might just sound like pretty-ok grunge.

More, plus photos below
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Naked on the Vague’s Blood Pressure Sessions was one of my favorite records of last year, but I didn’t really anticipate ever getting to see them play, mainly because they’re from Sydney, Australia. It’s pretty expensive to get up to the US, even if your band is just cheapo keyboards, a trashy guitar, and a bunch of distortion pedals. I lucked out yesterday, though, when I randomly wandered into the Sacred Bones showcase and found them on stage.

Blood Pressure Sessions was, to put it lightly, a creepy sounding record–moaning out-of-key vocals over lo-fi keyboard hum–but the live show was downright intimidating. Heavier, noisier, sounds, and grimy, slightly industrial beats blasting out of the PA. Scary stuff, but highly recommended.

On the way to Austin I listened to a George Carlin comedy album, not sure which one it was. “White people have no business playing the blues. They give people the blues, they have no business playing them,” he said.

Carlin’s words came back into my mind while watching Heartless Bastards perform at Stubbs Bar-B-Que. Surely this was a situation that he would have appreciated, an all-white blues band chugging away beneath the looming visage of a scowling black man.

But while this scene had some serious Blues Hammer-elements going on, I’m not sure I completely believe Carlin. Heartless Bastards was pretty good. Erika Wennerstrom had an appropriately leathery voice, and they played a heavier and moodier set than I would have expected from a band sitting on a bill with the Decemberists.

My initial impression of SXSW is that it’s kind of like Burning Man, only with tighter clothes. Since I’ve never been to Burning Man, I could be mistaken, but there’s enough smelly people, people on stilts, people offering free hugs, dudes with septum piercings, that I think the comparison is a pretty safe bet.

And amid all of this excitement, it was pretty difficult to decide what to do. So I went to see a Van Pelt reunion show.

Sorry.

Obviously you’re asking where the Edward Droste sighting are. What, you weren’t into mid-90s emo? Neither was I. In fact, it’s likely that Terrapin Station had a lock on my stereo system in ‘96, the year that Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves came out. Kind of into it now, though. There’s something to be said for a time when indie-rock records didn’t sound like Crosby, Stills and Nash. When they had a distinct and separate style that wasn’t something, like Fleet Foxes, that your mom was going to want to put on in the car (not that’s there’s anything wrong with Fleet Foxes—I own it, and I bought it for my mom)

Nobody’s parents were listening to Van Pelt, though, that’s for certain. Maybe not that many kids, either. This a wasn’t particularly crowded affair. The members of Van Pelt may not even have been that excited about it–Chris Leo hadn’t even bothered to re-memorize his lyrics, he read them off of a few pieces of paper on the floor.

But I’m a sucker for nostalgia, so if they play again, I’ll probably be there, waiting for them to crank out “His Saxophone is My Guitar.”

Van Pelt:

This guy played, too. If you’re into that kind of filth, you can read about it here.

Edie Sedgwick:

Maybe noon was a little bit too ambitious a time to get the DC Does Texas Showcase started, given that the majority of Austin’s population seemed to be out late last night, swigging tall-boys of PBR. As a result, the streets were kind of bare, even at 1:20, when Deleted Scenes went on.

Not a bad show, though. Not too poorly attended either, with people meandering in off of the street to watch Deleted Scenes singer Dan Scheuerman spaz-out on stage.

Photos after the jump.
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