[Austin, TX] I’m ashamed to say this was a by-chance band. I’m not sure I need to review him. In all his old age frumpiness, he’s still a demon of garage psych. His backing band was the same one we’d seen him with in Houston. The SXSW gods were with us.

[Denmark] The band I’d chosen this venue for. They were roaming around before their set all rocker glamorous. Well, in particular, there was a fellow in striped tight pants, a midriff shirt, and a Blue Van jean jacket … who turned out to not be in the band … just a roadie or something. Embarrassing for him … but effective advertising for the band. The band was much more low-key 70s stoner looking – tank tops, lanky, shaggy hair – a look I enjoy very much. They were straightforward garage punk with lots of 60s flavor. They had some Led-Zeppelin-esque moments. I’m a huge sucker for the genre but they were so perfect I just couldn’t get excited. Rockboy’s favorite band of his one day at SXSW. Upon listening to their recorded stuff, I think the band was a lot more poppy than I realized during the live set –may have seemed harder because they were such a relief of competence after the first two more painful opening bands.

[Oakland, CA] BetterThanSomething recommended him as a great perverted show – and he came through. He wore a dirty ragged rabbit mask, a ratty wig, torn mangled clothes, and a torn mangled body. The clothes came off by the end of the show to reveal torn mangled underwear. He mouthed his microphone, and then stuffed it in his underwear. Jumped in the crowd, pushed people. The music and his performance style is similar to Hunx & His Punx: wooing the audience in a fey way and engaging in shocking behavior while all the time singing ridiculously innocent doo wop style songs. As a young girl, I would have gloried in it. As a less young girl, I felt kind of sad that we watch artists self-destruct to appease whatever part of our selves wants to self-destruct. He was backed by a cleaner cut Ramones-esque trio of guitarist, bassist, and drummer. Don’t see this band for the spectacle, see them because they are a very good punk n roll, lite garage punk, dirty doo wop band.

[San Diego] The doorman acted like it pained him to look at my ID, let alone look at me. The bar staff ignored me for ten minutes, even though the place was practically empty. The band was delayed because the sound was screwed up and water was leaking on them. Even if their faces had that this-venue-is-going-to-ruin-our-SXSW-set look on their faces, they remained polite. And once they started, it was as if they had ran on stage to a clapping audience of 1000. (It was an audience of about 10, and most of them were looking into their beers instead of at the band.) They’re a guy on bass, a guy on guitar singing, and a girl on drums. The guy on guitar flails around ‘schizophrenically’ – it’s a little silly but you’ve gotta to do what you’ve gotta to do. They’re loud bluesy rock. I liked them, as people really, and think they’re a cute little band with a lot of heart. Jackalope had good bands slotted for the entire day which I vetoed because of their shitty attitudes – take that Jackalope.

[LA] I stay the same age, they get older (a personal problem for sure)… and this generation is the skinniest tiniest generation yet, including the boys – I think I stepped on one hipster by mistake… and the smell of pot wafted in the air by the time Austin was in view and the smell of American Spirits was wafting at Scoot Inn. I was kind of wondering why I’d starred this band. They were good but they weren’t remarkable. Kind of a psychier The Donnas. 60s rehash. And then The Song came on. I never notice/love a song after only two listens but I did their song and so they got a star, and they deserve it. I did really really like the looks of this band. First off, three females. There was a goth Zooey Deschanel with hipster neon sunglasses. The lead singer was a punky Drew Barrymore – she gave kind of an ironic intro to the band – then there were sound issues and they had to restart – she gave the exact same ironic intro but unironically – it was funny, unintentionally. The male drummer was a hot guy who’s probably a hot mess – with his wavy faux hawk and tattooed neck. And the third girl looked so hot and flushed in her sweater I thought she was going to pass out. “Think of You” is the song you must listen to.

I go to a lot of shows I’m only minorly excited for, but this was a show I was majorly excited for. Roky’s music and I fell in love pretty much upon first hearing: dark, weird, and even supernatural but all with a pretty straightforward rock n roll foundation. In fact, I’ve come to realize that I may love The Hellacopters because they do a harder and louder version of Roky’s music. I wasn’t sure what to expect in a live show, though, with his long trail of mental troubles and advancing age. Well, he was awesome, awe-inspiring, and amazing – despite the fact that the only parts of his bodies that really moved were his lips and his strumming hand. Somehow he was able to emit the same raw rangy rock n roll voice with complete body containment. I almost cried when he opened with “Cold Night for Alligators” (a song that is covered magnificently by The Hellacopters). I hate fandom, but there are certain artists that I feel close to or whose music has spoken to me, and it’s so eerie to see them in the flesh that it makes me emotional. Or maybe I was overwrought from my mad summer. Or maybe it was because I was so happy to see a man with such a sad history able to be on stage doing what he loves. I imagine that a lot of his dark imagery (demons, vampires, zombies) is metaphorical for his mental troubles. Live, he sounded Texas garage sludge with a lot of psychedelia. The Hounds of Baskerville did a tremendous job backing him, in that their respect for him was clear, and they played without stealing the show. He was front and center, and they were clearly his backing band. The guitarist to his left in particular couldn’t seem to stop smiling shine on Roky. They were protective of him and made sure the progression of things suited him, asking him throughout the show if he approved of the next step. He closed with an encore – “You’re Gonna Miss Me” (one of the biggest hits from Roky’s band, the 13th Floor Elevators) – which was amusingly introduced as a new song none of us would know. Otherwise, he mostly played his solo material. It was amusing to see all of our freaky friends from the Roky signing earlier that day, milling about in the crowd, all freakily-like, and fittingly, when the crowd sang happy birthday to Roky (because it was his birthday), he looked more embarrassed than pleased.

[Memphis, TN] the only show I was insistent upon seeing this SXSW – fronted by Alicja Trout, the woman who dated Jay Reatard and formed Lost Sounds with him – since none of his other material had the same sound as Lost Sounds, I attribute the sound to her – she was so thoroughly not a disappointment – in case you’ve forgotten, Lost Sounds are the best band of the 2000s: dark driving synth punk – despite this, I just was certain she wouldn’t be a scenester and she wasn’t, bless her honest heart – she showed up in blue jeans (they were skinny) and a bright-blue halter top (literally could have been from Old Navy) – her hair was naturally brown and a ridiculous mess, she had a little cloth tie buried in the nest – she was medium height, not skinny but spare, you could see her cheekbones – yes, I have a crush on this woman – she was very decorous while she watched the band before her, no antics, spoke to the people who approached her – and then she hit the stage and was a fury of guitar whaling – and it was over for me – she is a goddess of rock without pretension or show or sexy little tricks – and so I near cried by the end of the set – seeing women break boundaries does that to me – so this band is not Lost Sounds, they’re more garage punk – she is accompanied by a lean grizzly man on bass and a guy on drums – they played one Lost Sounds song which was pretty much put me over the edge of ecstasy – Rockboy, although not a Lost Sounds fan, did notice that the sound of that song was dramatically different than the others: harder, more staccato guitar – I always thought Lost Sounds had a keyboard but now I’m not sure – Alicja invited the wild frontman of the Zoobombs up to accompany them on their last song which I thought was very gracious – I’m not sure if he was following their lead or they were following his (good sign) but it basically ended up that she and he went into a guitar battle – it is just very apparent that the guitar and music are within her, and that she does this because she loves it – she could kick a boy’s ass any day

[Puerto Rico] very nice sleazy garage punk

seems this band opens for half the shows in Austin and I had never ever seen them – their sound wasn’t new but it was good – raucous well-crafted garage rock – chatty clean-cut boys – they drew a diverse crowd of old and young, hip and not – the super-60s keyboard woman teaches preschool and had a whole slew of her students dancing in front of the stage – best part was when a scary tattooed guy retrieved the dropped beaded bracelet of a little girl dressed up like a princess

[Atlanta, GA] I had never heard a lick of music from this band before the show but it was love at first sight – everyone else I ran into before this show had seen them like 5 times and had stories about spitting on the crowd, spitting into each others’ mouths, and kissing each other – I didn’t see any of that but they did have tribal drums, tight jangle pop guitar, and a punk ethic – some spaghetti western and even hints of O’Death – bit of psychedelia – some surf rock – they were pretty much The Strange Boys (local) perfected – like being in a Robert Rodriguez movie – some of their songs were more rowdy pop punk (like Redd Kross, as Rockboy pointed out) – the building was so moved that the Emo’s employee who was trying to stop the crowd surfers ended up giving up and jumping in himself

[Nashville, TN] clean driving garage punk – precision and darkness – doll voiced lead singer and female drummer with a cloud of hair were the visual highlights – I kept feeing like the lead singer was French but not for any valid reason – cacophonous coolness (whatever that means – I was a little note-happy that night) – kind of a classic rock element – reminded me of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs or a harder CocoRosie (at least the voice on the latter)

guaranteed, this band is quintessential garage rock, the definition of it – but their live show was kind of horrifying – really old men using the same-old “we’re-so-crazy” rock star antics they’ve used for probably some 30-40 years now – one guy looked to have the same haircut he had in the 70s – jumping on the rails and running into the crowd is best pulled off by 20-somethings

[Nashville, TN] I liked this band, partly because I am a sucker for female bands (there was one guy (on bass?)) – so I kept thinking that they were a mix between riot girrrl music (Babes in Toyland) and retro-garage stuff like the Donnas but finally came to the conclusion that they were basically a total ripoff of The Runaways – the girls, very young, were in high-waisted shorts and ugly 80s ankle-boots – take note, little hipsters

[?] I am a fat sucker for this band despite their silly rockstar posturing – they act like pretentious partiers and play like rockers and it works – it’s the over-the-top tongue-in-cheekness of it that makes it hilarious and then suddenly I’m kind of believing it – even falling for the sexy LA sunglasses at night – plus, like other long-playing bands, they’re just so fast and professional and…tight (I don’t know another word for it) – they totally reminded me of The Hellacopters (I forgot they did last time too) which is such a good good thing – if you’re going to rock, then don’t mess around = garage punk

[Toronto, Canada] hardest garage band I\”ve ever heard and I\”m sure they\”d take that as a compliment – so loud it was painful but they\”d probably take that as a compliment too – thought the sound system was causing the feedback and fuzz but they sound about the same on MySpace – two men and a woman – they\”re good but earplugs required

[Los Angeles, CA] I found them through internet radio stations (“Action” and “The Split”) and was pretty excited to see their show – it was immediately apparent that the five guys milling around in long lean black jeans and black pointed boots and black shirts were “The Lords” – their dress code was simultaneously hilariously and effective – as was their music sleazy fast garage punk with big-drama vocals love them – Rockboy heard the Fuzztones in them and it was (sketchily) confirmed that there is a former member of both The Fuzztones and MC5 amongst The Lords – and, the sullen girl on the sideline with long black hair and long black boots and a long black coat jumping to stay warm transformed into a jumping go-go dancer with tremendous breasts only restrained by a black bikini once The Lords got on stage

[Los Angeles, CA] I wanted to see this band because the homecoming (prom?) king of my 5000-person high school is in it but Rockboy had actually listed them as someone he wanted to see through his SXSW research – hard blues rock with garage swagger – vocals and lyrics are genuinely blues inspired – something like The Black Keys, which is a very good thing as far as I\”m concerned

There really is no other musician who has mattered more than Jay Reatard in the last couple of years. I realize I may say this more often than I should, but for Jay Reatard, it\”s the truth. He reins in diverse aspects of rock into a sound that is all his own, a sound that encapsulates the fury and angst of frustrated youth. I envision him as a troubled prodigy who can\”t start enough bands to keep himself sated. His Lost Sounds material is what changed my world, but this night he played his solo material which is similar but less synthy and gothic. A barrage of raw garage punk. Unceasingly intense. Which could have been a boring annoying wall of sound, except that his material is also finely crafted and well executed. The sound was not what you would call crisp or tight, but it didn\”t displease me. The show ended with two audience members jumping on stage and attacking him. Rather than an amusing band antic, it was disturbing and upsetting. Rockboy maintains it was staged, but I maintain that PMS and Jay Reatard being attacked do not go well together.

Another fantastic local band. Jangle-pop garage punk with all three male members harmonizing sweet vocals. Reminded me of The Strange Boys. Seemed like they achieved a nice consensus of sound from a diverse range of influences from the band members. Extremely danceable. Some of that stop-start groove guitar like the Gang of Four. I had lots more to say about this band that escapes me now. You should see them. Great live show.

a motley crue for sure and Austin no-names but I thought they were great – a happy-dad keyboardist, a stringy haired lurching ex-hippie lead singer, a punk kid on bass guitar and a slick-guy drummer (smelled like a “session drummer” to Rockboy) – their music reflected these disparate influences – some blend of a garagey, punky, post-punky rock – lots of energy too

I didn’t recall at the time why I was so committed to seeing this band but I was surprised when I saw the audience members who ended up being the band members: the freaky guy with a bald head with the exception of a stringy shoulder-length curtain of hair along the rim of his skull AND in a truly awful shirt with wide white and pink stripes underneath an old suit jacket AND those I-want-to-molest-you yellow-mellow 70s eyeglasses – otherwise, the drummer and bassist were cute young people and the other band members were average-joe older people – they’re from Detroit which is instant cred – despite my misgivings, they were instantly much more exciting than the last band – a stomping drum was matched with dark psych-infused garage rock – the freak’s vocals were particularly interesting a distinctive ponderous progression almost spoken or stumbling – I was not surprised at all that I had some memory remnant of really liking them – unfortunately, as usual, they were running late and I had to run and only saw a couple of songs – but I looked them up upon arriving home and these are the two songs that had led me to being subconsciously committed to them: “You’re Not a Nice Girl” and “A Song for Someone Sometimes”

Montreal – came to this showcase for Outrageous Cherry but also because I have discovered I am a girl immediately smitten by the sound of garage rock which was the theme of the showcase – this band was young and idyllic – they were a more melancholy version of The Beach Boys – they were quite good but I\”m always annoyed by young freshness in rockers – on a happier note, the music played in between sets was fantastic: all old garage I instantly recognized and an indication I was in the right place – BUT the crowd was ALL OLD MEN which was a clear indication I was in the wrong place

so silly I couldn’t stop the smirk and I don’t mean that politely, the crowd was peeing all over themselves, apparently this band’s hype precedes its arrival – some sort of political repression legend based on their Israelian origins and the fact that a few places haven’t allowed them to perform (though they’ve managed to rack up some 300 shows of late despite this), there is nothing political in their message, in fact their lack of message was complemented by a lack of music, there was some sort of something going on with sounds though the only band member you could pick out (what with the 40 drooling boys swaying ON the stage) was the lead singer in his jockey shorts hanging from a tree near the stage – I think the drummer was up there for a while too, this is a band for people who have a need to belong to something – to get caught up in the fervor and collectivity of – something, anything

the Chronicle was correct to classify this band within the cream of Austin – they are infectious plus interesting enough to be enduring – the lead singer is inexpressibly darling and delicious, in his dark elfish-ness with a T Rex voice and mischievous knowing smiles – with his voice and a competent band, every audience I\”ve seen has been unable to not dance – which was unfortunate in the case of this crowd: the drunk college artistes stumbling around in their European knee-length jean shorts and vintage cowboy shirts were amusing but the thought of the middle-aged couple grinding in New Age slow motion with their general total lack of sexiness and 80s perms still puts me in an uncomfortable place between admiration for out-there sex and personal aversion

there were two epiphanies during this show that I haven’t been quite able to recollect, something about grunge and how it has such a distinctive sound and a sound so distinctive from contemporary sounds and all of this despite being such an amalgam of old sounds, and how grunge was the defining sound of my adolescence and I couldn’t break it down to you now nor then with words more descriptive than “grunge,” so I tried to hear this band as if there were no history between us – as if they were any old band – and they were so good but I had a hard time piecing them out, firstly Mark Arm has a tremendous and passionate voice that sticks with you, they are a mix of blues and punk and garage, they are thoroughly influenced by the Stooges, lastly I am not as thoroughly tired of them as I am of all of the other 90s bands

The Black Lips from Georgia opened the show, and their potentially interesting music was overshadowed by the frenetic-and occasionally revolting-stage antics of their guitarist. While the band played songs which all seemed to come off a ’50s compilation CD, the guitarist would frantically whip around the stage performing all the tricks he could think of. It’s fine to have one or two gimmicks, but he did the same thing for every song: he’d knock over his mic stand and catch it with his foot before it hit the ground; he’d strum over his head or with his tongue (are we back in the ’80s now?); and worst of all, he’d spit a huge wad of phlegm into the air and-brace yourself-catch it in his mouth. A middle school gross out trick at best, he did it over and over again throughout the set. Maybe that’s his way of amping up the routine.

Their music was an updated version of ’50s chord progressions and drumbeats, played louder and faster and crunchier for a modern audience. The annoying guitarist also played vocalist on a few numbers, singing in an odd imitation of Bob Dylan, both in terms of the timbre of his voice and general incomprehensibility. I think in a smaller venue or perhaps on CD, I might have enjoyed their music, but I was too distracted by the mediocre performance.

it is unfair to blame my mild disappointment in them on them because I had built them up unreasonably in my head and created a sound for them that didn\”t really exist, I had filled in all of the fuzz from the first time I saw them with really bad sound with this fantastic original sound, so they didn\”t have on their old ranchero clothes and they are not bizarre creening country but pretty straightforward 60s garage rock, they are very rounded and irresistibly danceable, there is some country in there and maybe old-school rockabilly, the voice remains though and is the key to their originality, very good band

fantastic, their sound had a roundness and polish that you don\”t often hear in live music, lots of energy, diversity of sounds revolving around hopped-up rock country, from garage to psychedelia, very energetic show with lots of appealing personalities, I think there were two exchanging vocalist duty, stilly-moustached keyboard player, and a guitar player who kept leaping up to the microphone to yell out punk references, if all of that wasn\”t enough they claim Jay Reatard, Gun Club and Lee Hazlewood as influences

my beloved lead singer of Lost Sounds, his look fit his irreputable reputation: face never breaking free from the cover of his shaggy hair, he was younger than I would have imagined, he was also a lot more intense and together than I would have imagined, he knows his music up and down and left and right, this reincarnation sounded little like Lost Sounds (no synth, less dark and less intense) but was some amalgam of hair metal, punk and garage- veering from head-banging joy to darker undertone, always fast and ferocious but light-hearted and sincere, his voice also altered dramatically even within one song to the point that I suspect he may be the male and female lead I hear in Lost Sounds, may be schizophrenic but a music genius I think, Jay and the guitarist\”s (also mop top curls) dedicated head-banging was very amusing for some reason

first thought was that this was the reincarnation of Gore Gore Girls, lead singer a cute young rocking girl in a 60s A-line dress playing an authentic 60s keyboard, vampire-gothic girl who made appropriate grimaces as she played bass, much older guitarist whom we presumed to be the inappropriate husband of the lovely lead singer, nondescript drummer, playing to an audience of ten in the back of a record store – two of whom were ancient women – became obvious that the younger of the two ancients was the vampire\”s mom and we all melted when the vampire finally smiled – the older of the two ancients bobbed her head like Dr. Dre, the point is that the band was much better than Gore Gore Girls (though similar in sound and feel) – their sound was more complex and subtle and had harder riffs

the pleasant surprise of the week, the drummer is fantastic: just a girl but so intense and lively and plain good she dominates the stage, flanked by two good guitarists, high quality and engaging and intelligent and driving garage rock

Dead Moon and the Pixies, quirky indie rock with a lot of soul, only saw the end of the set but pretty appealing