Much Better Sundays

Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos, with Telekinesis and Everything, Now!

Austin, Texas, 23 May 2009

It’s hard to believe that I’ve spent a total of five weeks in Austin, Texas, the “World Capital of Live Music”, and I’ve only seen two shows there. The first was Polka Dot Dot Dot, back in January. The other was on Saturday night, at some bar that I forget the name of. Someone gave me free cherry-mint flavoured water, so I was happy. I was also happy because of the music, which I hadn’t seen in a very long time and which was good. Possibly this had more to do with the happiness because the cherry-mint flavoured water was actually quite odd.

I think my excuse is that Austin is very big. I’ve also been suffering from standing-still-depression, which tends to follow going-places-ecstasy. Austin, like many US cities, is very daunting without a car, and the sheer size of its music scene makes it difficult to know where to start. I ended up at the gig on Saturday because I went with a friend (if you want to talk about daunting sizes of things, his music collection is around 160GB). Anyway. This is a review, not a diary. On with the music.

We missed the first band, Everything, Now!, because they started playing early. What is this? I was disappointed because they all had very impressive beards and apparently give out vegetables which is certainly a step up from the baked goods at other shows. The next band, Telekinesis, had one very energetic singing drummer who was sweating a lot from exertion. Unfortunately the other three members seemed to be somewhat in awe of him so formed a kind of silent unmoving tableau around the furious man. Their music seemed OK. Maybe I should go listen to it again. Or you could, if you wanted to. I’m too excited to talk about the headliners.

Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos hail from Indiana. That’s in the mid-West (widely regarded as a kind of cultural desert). They have many members… let’s see, eight. I am told their genre is “sex folk”, but if you don’t know what that is that’s OK, because I don’t really either. Many of their songs do seem to be about love but that’s hardly unusual. And they are folky, in that way that everybody seems to be nowadays, not that that’s a bad thing, I like it. In fact their brand of alt-country folk-rock is tops, possibly because of the triangles.

I think I like them particularly much because every member of the band seems very individually special. They are very participatory. Also because they have a big sound representative of all their members. And also because their lead singer, Richard Edwards, is a classic. He is very pretty, smokes cigarettes on stage and looks so tormented when he sings that you can almost smell the tears. The shaggy dark haircut and stubble add to the appeal. My friend tells me that he was looking remarkably sober on Saturday, normally he is very doped up and picks fights with the other members on stage. 

They played songs, like you do at a show. My favourites were ‘Broadripple is Burning’ and ‘Skeleton Key’. Nobody really danced, this upset me a little. I would really like them to come to New Zealand. I think we would appreciate them. In fact, the best place for them to play would be Camp A Low Hum. Imagine the fun they would have! That we would have! We would dance like crazy things. The girls would form a line for Richard. Casey, the theatrical percussionist who looks like a mix of Martin from the Sneaks and Matthew Crawley with eye make-up, would be a hit. I am going to go and petition Blink to make this happen. You should go and listen to their music so you too can appreciate them and support me in my cause.

The DHDFDs with the Demi-Whores, Flick and Golden Axe
Whammy Bar (that’s Auckland, people), Friday 6th June

So lately I’ve a) been so busy with school that I haven’t been out in months and b) turned into an alt-country wuss who listens to way too much Elliott Smith. It took a visa appointment in Auckland to actually get me out of the house, but hell, I should get out more often.

I assumed Whammy was going to be uber-shiny, but it sits somewhere between Valve and Happy on the cleanliness stakes; that is, not very high. And it’s a fucking rabbit warren, with this awesome little bar next door that somehow leads into it. Very similar to a cave. It gets crowded. And violent, as I found out. It’s underground.

Golden Axe played first, we know they’re great. They make my heart beat that much faster. Definitely make the effort to see them next time they’re our way, and dance too. If I had a lot of money, right, I would have this awesome party in the forest with fairy lights, and they would play. It would be fantastic.

Flick I hadn’t actually seen before; totally out of my genre but really impressive and kind of puts a lot of bands to shame. You think you need a drummer, a vocalist, a bassist and a guitarist to play metal? You’re wrong! You only need one person! And a loop pedal!

The Demi-Whores played their first show in fourteen months. In that time they must have been cultivating facial hair because they had a bunch of impressive moustaches. The three-piece play grungy kind of grunge stuff, I don’t know a hell of a lot about this kind of music so I won’t say too much. People enjoyed them, and I really like Marcus.

And! The DHDFDs! Blew my mind! Up till this point the gig was good but this band were insane. No, I mean literally. You have to see them. This is youth energy on a totally different scale, they move like ten times faster than normal humans. Their singer was bleeding by the end of the first song. People were dancing on stage because it was safer than being in the audience; the front of the crowd was a thrashing mash of arms and legs. Apparently their fans get themselves psyched up for the show by punching each other. Their music is rock, and roll; their guitarist is incredibly fast; the recorded song I’ve heard (off the first Real Groove Awesome Feelings) is a lot more melodic. But it’s hard to be melodic and kick at the same time. The singer kind of looks like Anton from the Brian Jonestown Massacre (if you squint) and likes to take his clothes off.

So we need more gigs like this in Wellington. Not that I want to go home with a broken arm. I don’t know if this kind of riot would be allowed in a Wellington bar; the only bouncer was kind of apologetic when he asked for my ID, and if things were out of control I don’t know if anyone could have stopped it. But this was a party like it was the last night in the world. This is the fire that shakes a city; this is the self-defeating anger that makes us cry and keeps us young. This is alive, and Auckland have got it.

I’m putting on a gig, you should come if you want to.

If you are blind and cannot read that, it says that Peneloping will be playing with Seth Frightening (from Seth & Merle, check our interview) and William Jackman on the 25th of May at 2pm at SpaceThing Gallery, which resides at 171 Adelaide Road, Newtown.

Also did you know that Polka Dot Dot Dot will be touring here in July?!! This makes me so excited I can almost forget about the dozens of essays I have yet to do. That’s excited.

So, there’s this band and I really like them. They’re called Seth & Merle, and they make kind of beautiful wafting folk music with some kicks from this keyboard and amazing lyrics that stay in your head all day. They played a great set at Camp A Low Hum 2008 (‘Like, one of the best things ever’) and supported Beirut when they were in town. Being that they’re sort of awesome, I went to ask them questions and they gave me tea.

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Tommy Ill, Heat Like Me, Kittyhawk, Bodega, Friday 23rd November

In Wellington, the weather has never been so good. Temperatures reach 20 degrees every day; the beach is packed with sluggish bodies getting their first taste of summer. And on Saturday, I woke with that blurry green mark on my wrist that is the sign of a blissful Foxcore show. I feel like I haven’t seen music in ages. We haven’t had holidays in ages. It’s time to loosen some strings and DANCE.

Tommy Ill started it off on Friday. He’s looking good. He’s definitely growing on me, I’m trying to rid myself of prejudice. He has blues ballads for the modern youth. It’s cool. Yeah. It helps if I forget how popular he is amongst the scene kids.

Anyway, if you want to DANCE then check out Heat Like Me, indie electro synth. This is something like their third gig, but they’re already lined up to support some bigish names, which is cool. Four synths is not a set up I’m used to seeing onstage, but the music pulls it off with catchy intensity and awesome vocals. Definitely a good time band that’s great if you want to party, forget your worries and DANCE.

Kittyhawk came all the way from Auckland to play for us, which is very nice of them. They are very nice guys. They even had a free CD on the door. Having made preliminary chit chat, I was excited to see that they also play music well. I envy their stage energy, their disco punk beats, their guitarist’s curly hair. DANCEable rock is not something to sneeze at, not that you could, because you wouldn’t be cold, because you would be dancing so much. See?

So the moral of the story is that we should get out more and DANCE, because although philosophical paradoxes are excellent, actually the only thing that matters in the end is having a good time. Oh, and the other point is that all the bands that played were awesome and excellent and you should definitely go to see them!!!

P.S. I was really excited because Bret from Flight of the Conchords was there.
P.P.S. Hey Cara, how are you? I’m glad your gig was good. Are you coming to see the Actualities play on Friday?