Good news! I did get a chance to make it down to Austin last week for a couple of days of SXSW 2010. It was the shortest, kindest, gentlest SXSW trip yet - we minimized show jumping, and spent longer stretches of time at specific venues catching bands we wanted to see.

A great trip, and like most years it was made up of bands we knew we wanted to see, and then other random bands that sprang up out of nowhere and really impressed us... and to be fair, there was some crap as well, but Im not sure how you can have 1600 bands without a fair amount of awfulness!

There were really two bands, or to be specific, artists, that we wanted to see - Dan Black and Amber Rubarth... and sure enough, even though I saw a couple of dozen bands, it was these two shows that really made the voyage worth while.

We wrote about Dan Black a few weeks ago (here), and he was actually one of the very first bands we saw, at the Spaceland/Echo showcase at the Beauty Bar annex. It was an early afternoon show at 1:35pm, and the venue was near empty - I think there was about 20 or so folks there. I could tell Dan was a bit freaked out by the lack of people, but as far as we were concerned it was Austin that was missing out and we had the benefit of semi-private Dan Black show (plus I'm fairly sure he had a PACKED house later that day at the VEVO/Fontana Distribution party).

And it ROCKED. He was seriously entertaining live, playing with a bassist, a guitarist, and what looked to be a 128 square board that played various samples when each square was pushed. He basically recreated his record, or variations on his record, by punching buttons, tapping buttons, driving up and down the pitch, then rocking out over it. Bottom line, a brilliant show made up of tracks from both his new record, Un, and his mixtape, Weird Science - be sure to check him out if he comes anywhere near you, and if you haven't yet - buy his new record ((UN)) on Amazon for FIVE DOLLARS. It will be the best $5 you spend all month.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Pump My Pumps
U + Me =
Alone
Symphonies
Pass That Head Noize
Yours
Outro

Labels: austin, beauty bar, dan black, electronica, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, spaceland, sxsw, the echo

Following up on the last post, I promised to put up all of the other Rilo Kiley related shows that I've taped over the years, that haven't made it up.

I figured I'd start with a quick post on Pierre de Reeder, Rilo Kiley's bass player, who released his solo album, "The Way That It Was" last August. Well in advance of that release, Pierre played a short 4 song gig, opening for The Elected and Jenny Lewis, back in June of 2004.

There were four bands playing, Pierre, Whispertown2000, Jenny and the Elected, and Pierre went first. There weren't a whole lot of folks there, but I was glad to be able to capture this rare (at the time) solo recording, which featured three originals and a cover of Neil Young's Harvest.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Open Frame of Mind
Where Ever You May Be
Foolish Heart
Harvest (Neil Young)

Labels: indie, live mp3s, los angeles, pierre de reeder, rilo kiley, soundboard mp3s, the echo

So here I am. Like I never left ;)

Wow - I didnt realize its been over two months. Kind of weird.

So I took a break. Life is pretty damn good. I want to share again. Sweeet!

OKAY. Whispertown2000 has come up with a pretty cool concept. Rather then book a "formal" tour - they put up a post on their MySpace asking people to find them homes/clubs/trailer parks at which they could play. No money needed, just a place to sleep and enough in donations/merch sales to get to the next town. How supersexy is that? Hell they can't even be positive they are going to make it to the next town. That takes some serious courage.

I'm sure this has been done before, but I've never run across it - so I wanted to let all the kids out in Lullabye's Blog Land know. GO SEE THEM! Oh, and they're playing with a guy named Runion who also sings beautiful songs. Check him out here.

Jun 17 2006 6:00P SOSU Ballroom Durant, OK
Jun 18 2006 6:00P Sarah's House MC KINNEY- Dallas area, TX
Jun 19 2006 6:00P Bootleg Warehouse HOUSTON, TX
Jun 20 2006 6:00P Rio Haus NEW BRAUNFELS, TX
Jun 24 2006 7:00P OnePlace PHOENIX

Side note - just found their obligatory fan site - lots of fans going nuts over hosting Whispertown shows. How cute ;)

Oh and since this is a Live Music blog - here is their gig from the Echo in Los Angeles in June 2004. They opened for Jenny Lewis/Elected and put on a pretty kick ass show. I think this was one of their first public appearances - I was pretty damn impressed.

Live MP3s
Soundcheck
Intro
Fear It
Numbness
Gonna Hafta
Intentions
On the Move
The End
Doctor
Follow You
Suitcase In My Hand

Labels: concerts, indie, live mp3s, los angeles, soundboard mp3s, the echo, whispertown2000