Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I began the official SXSW festivities in the way that I like best… with a visit to the Conqueroo-Guitartown day party. This year the party's lineup looked to be fantastic, full of country music and rock and I was sure to run into a couple of friends. There were two stages this year, so the music never stopped, just rolled from the back to the front of the building. A local Austin band called Stonehoney was on stage when I arrived, and their blend of traditional country with modern elements was great. The band threw in liberal amounts of 4-part harmony, blazing lead guitar (all played on one of those fancy metal telecasters), and a super tight rhythm section. The band has a sound very reminiscent of The Refreshments or The Jayhawks, clean country twang with a hint of college rock. There are elements of Creedence in their sound, without the swampy stomp… it's a very classic Texas sound, nothing extraordinarily new, but very, very well executed. I would love to hear some records from this band to see if they can maintain the same energy in the studio.
James McMurtry played next, and his set was stunning. Seeing just the man and his guitar makes it so easy to see the wonderful little pearls that dwell in his songs, more so than on his records where the beauty of the song sometimes gets lost in the production. McMurtry has an almost Leo Kottke-esque virtuosity on the acoustic guitar, and this is obviously something that comes across amazingly well when there are no other instruments to obscure his playing. Seeing him solo acoustic makes me wish for an album or six of his songs performed just this way.
The acoustic bluegrass-based rock of Emory Quinn (San Antonio) is a wonderful thing to behold. The band has a sound very similar to Frog Holler, traditional fiddle and mandolin on more modern songs that have an occasional stomp similar to classic Steve Earle. The songs are very highly melodic with a Southern feel. The vocalist has a very rich voice and the rhythm section is incredibly solid. The band becomes a bit less spectacular when the mandolin is traded in for electric guitar, mostly because of all the effects on the electric. I would love to see this band in the hands of the right producer, making an acoustic record that would surely be a fine, fine thing.
The Silos were up next and certainly didn't disappoint after all these years. The set was a fairly acoustic affair, really showcasing Walter Salas-Humaras' songs as he stepped back and forth from singing to playing drums to singing. As the set progressed various band members took their turns moving to the drum kit and traded instruments around, making for a dynamic sound that is rarely accomplished with a set of musicians playing the same instrument over and over. The band played through some newer songs that had a bit more of a rock'n'roll spirit, but the tunes seem to stand fixed in Salas-Humaras' ability to coin gritty, beautiful songs about common people and real life. The newer songs even have a little bit of the soul of such songwriting greats as Robert Earl Keen in them, songs that make the human spirit soar in triumph and beauty.
Austin Collins And The Rainbirds (from Austin, Texas) wrapped up my tenure at the Conqueroo party, and did so with a gritty, dense alt country sound that I just love. Layers of beautifully simple guitars and dense vocal harmonies remind me of Son Volt and Lucero. The songs are really nicely written, invoking a definite Americana sound and vision as Austin Collins' voice weaves tales of life and love. I am definitely interested in the recorded sound of this band as well, hoping that the laid-back energy that the band has live is somehow captured, as well as the gritty push and grind.

For the evening's festivities, I started off with a trip to the alley entrance of a quaint little club to see Denver's amazing The Wheel play a set… only now, it seems for whatever reason The Wheel is actually called Nathaniel Rateliff, ostensibly after lead singer Nathaniel Rateliff. This band sounds absolutely amazing at lower altitude, the thick air lending its brilliance to the softly tender and dynamic songs that so many folks have come to love about The Wheel. The songs are full of such an intense life and power and beauty that it's very difficult to not get caught up in the moment as Nathaniel's silky voice carries you along. There are some elements of such Britpop bands as Adorable or maybe even Snow Patrol in these songs with a decidedly Western American bent, perhaps an arrangement that carries dynamism along so naturally that it can be felt, but not explained. If this is how my week of music begins, I can't imagine it can get much better.

I headed over to the Sounds From Spain tent to experience first hand some of the great music I'd been hearing about from friends who were in the know. Rocking chanteuse Eva Amaral was in the midst of her set when I arrived, showing the Texians just how one of the top grossing Spanish acts gets things done. With her band simply called Amaral, Eva's powerful vocals are a perfect sit atop the powerful rhythm section and gritty, yet incredibly smooth, guitars. Her songs are really wonderful, containing a definite European feel, but with an earthiness that I have seldom seen in acts from Western Europe. Her songs are all sung in Spanish, which is a bonus for me, as I love when foreign music meets my ears in foreign tongues, and even the grit in the music is fairly smooth-edged. The band breaks out acoustic guitars and harmonica for a couple songs that really make them seem like a Spanish-speaking version of The Alarm, with an epic and anthemic sound. When the band is at full-tilt in the rock realm, however, Amaral's power lies in the power of Eva's voice, sounding more like Pat Benatar at her finest and most rocking. It is easy to see why this band sells out 50,000 seat arenas in their native Spain.
Los Planetas make a more aggressive and psychedelic rock than I would normally expect to come from a country such as Spain. Perhaps it is my American naiveté about world music, but when three guitars make a wall of noise of the magnitude that Los Planetas creates, I automatically assume British or American blokes. The songs have melodies that don't move much, but the volumes get extremely loud and the guitars get supersonic in the best of all possible ways. Sometimes Los Planetas sound reminds me of the bigger, thicker moments of Hum; there is something visceral that I can't really put words to, but anyone who has ever experienced My Bloody Valentine live knows what I'm talking about. This band has a beautiful noisy sound… Como Se dice Spacemen 3 en Espanol?
I finished my night up by following one of the Spanish ambassadors into another venue to experience the rock and soul mayhem of The Right On. This group of hombres takes garage rock one step further and a bit louder as well. Their sound is like putting Jet playing garage rock through a Marshall stack set to 11 in the middle of the burningest frat party at Animal House. Very energetic, super loud, and extremely awesome, The Right On play their songs with just enough soul to be groovy while blasting through songs that could be considered derivative, but have their own unique energy. I don't know what the guitar player sings, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be English, but I know it's great. When the drummer takes lead vocal duties the music doesn't ease up as one would expect, instead it ramps up to an even more energetic level, and then breaks down into some sweet late-era Jam-like grooves. If you can imagine Smokey Robinson fronting a band that sounds like Jet on steroids, you can get an idea of what you'll get with The Right On… and don't worry about losing interest, this band makes no stops between songs, leaves you no room to breathe or relax before the next soulful onslaught begins.

-David DeVoe

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