[France] “Those, those beautiful boys / Those, those beautiful boys / Born illegitimately / To a whore, most likely / He became an orphan / Oh what a lovely orphan he was / Sent to the reformatory / Ten years old, was his first glory / Got caught stealing from a nun / Now his love story had begun” – those lyrics are pretty much why I went to this show – and because I think their general sound is pretty remarkable – [on a side note, you've got to hear how they sing the song to really appreciate it, and, as usual for me, it was not played at their live show which I sadly realized was because it features Antony from Antony and the Johnsons who was not touring with them] – it ends up I may have been more enthused about the crowd than the band, but the band deserves a lot of credit for the crowd – so the crowd was fantastic – some mix of neo psych hippies, ravers, plain old burners, steam punks, and some unfortunate ones in renaissance garb – the common theme was iridescent eye paint or painted-on pencil moustaches on girls, which I came to find out was part of the whole CocoRosie cult I didn’t know existed – surprisingly, at least to me, there were also lots and lots of lesbians – I’m always confused as to how the lesbians unite and figure out which bands they love but turns out one of the sisters is a lesbian plus the band promotes drag, androgyny, etc. – there were also an awful lot of young females falling out, e.g., being carried out because of excess consumption – not sure if it’s because the crowd was pretty young or if the band attracts a druggier crowd – anyway, the band is comprised of 2 sisters who are artistes in every sense of the word – one had long romantic hair and sang in an operatic voice (properly trained) and plucked a harp – the other one with the squeaky baby voice that defines CocoRosie (at least to me) strutted around with male attitude and had a baseball cap on top of a feminine doo-rag on top of long brown hair – I much preferred her – there was a keyboardist guy and then a little unassuming guy who did a human beat box solo that was amazing and referenced actual American hip-hop songs – their music is a lot more diverse than I was aware of before the show – they manage to incorporate electronic, hip-hop, classical, and pop into a sound that ends up being pretty distinctly theirs – many bizarre instruments come into play – I think the thing I liked most about their sound is that they play childhood innocence off of the dark realizations of growing up and seeing stuff – especially with the two sisters interplaying their vastly different attitudes and sounds (think Enya intermixed with ghetto dance rap), it’s a bizarre but beautiful marriage of cultures (which I am always a fan of) – so I thought they were from France and assumed their inclusion of rap and the bad sister’s headdress was a nod to the French Muslim outcasts – I also assumed their air of hipster superiority was a product of general French superiority, but turns out, they’re American, and the superiority is a product of New York – the good sister moved to France early on to study opera but the bad sister moved to Brooklyn to party at Kill Whitie parties – those parties are a whole other conversation, but the sisters are worth looking up in general because of their interesting backgrounds – other notes of interest: 1) Rockboy overheard a couple mating in the outhouse bathrooms, 2) the most shocking girl was the one in a modest dress with granny panties that clearly shone through (a lesson to the young girls) , 3) the bad sister moistened her clarinet in her beer like the bad ass she is, 4) Rockboy happily gave up all claims of being a hipster once he realized that hipsters are now parting at the back of their skull and combing their hair forward, and 5) there is a series of really interesting photos of the sisters that do a nice job of expressing their artistic vision

[Austin, TX] we had both heard good things about this band but were mostly disappointed – first off the stage was dark just like the opening band (I started wondering if there was a malfunction), which made their fantastical costumes only bland outlines – secondly, they worked so hard on being odd art rock that they forgot to be themselves – they probably have potential (sounded like they have some genuine jazz background) but, in terms of both sound and visuals, they just seemed really far away from the audience in the most anti-climatic way

this is an inappropriate and rude review, but I am open to the criticisms of people who know better – it’s inappropriate because I saw only a little bit of each performance but the little bits I saw were an introduction into a world of music that I didn’t know people participated in, especially live – Derek Morgan was literally a guy at his keyboard playing what seemed to be a single sad note, made bands I’ve called monotone in the past sound downright lively – AMASA GANA was a full band playing at -40x speed – you had time to watch the violinist pull his bow across the strings and then turn your head to catch the guitarist change frets – Fennesz, on the other hand, came highly recommended, actually beat out CocoRosie as the “recommended” show for the night, but I was done with this room by that time the entire staff of the place where we go for music trivia came to see Fennesz and loved him so it’s clearly a personal issue – I maintain still that these “bands” were the definition of minimalism and as close to being comatose as you can hope to be without extra help

James set was destroyed by technical issues, bad sound and even the stage lighting was obnoxious. How much of that could be blamed on the band, it was hard to say. But the energy, at times up to the high level one expects from this band, was nevertheless uneven all night. And you had to believe they were at least as frustrated as the people that paid money to see them.

They opened with new tracks of their two disc release The Morning After The Night Before, then discovered Larry Gott’s guitars had shorted out trying to launch Dream Thrum from their iconic Laid album. As time ticked away, after trying their hand at some comedy, they decided to swap in Lullaby only to stop suddenly. More technical issues. So in the end, they played Dream Thrum from start to finish.

The set pulled a nice mix of new and old, from Tell Her I Said So (new stuff) to Ring the Bells (old stuff) and the obscure kind-sorta hit Jam J. The latter was a sonic mess, neither remix or rock song, though how much of that was due to the poor acoustics and how much was a bad arrangement, it was hard to say.

Lead singer Tim Booth alternated between shrugging his shoulders apologetically after every song and gyrating through the band’s solos as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Midway through the set, the music was mostly clicking. The best, Five-O, Say Something, were given energetic treatments. Even Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) didn’t suck, although there are far better songs for the band to choose from. James stretched way back for a lingering version of for the old-school track Johnny Yen before ending the main set on a one-two punch of Laid and Sometimes.

If you get the sense that their show tonight lacked finesse, that’s an understatement. Worse, it was insubstantial. And for a band that makes its living out of finesse and substance, it couldn’t have been a worse showing. This was just a tragic waste of a show that should, on many other nights would, be utterly transcendent.

As if to underscore just how nothing was going to come easy, the band aborted a techno, urban version of Sit Down to lead off the encore (and it sounded great, albeit for the brief 30-seconds intro that we got to hear) in exchange for an acoustic version of the song because of more technical issues. So okay, they tried. That much was evident. But there were too many distractions and too many wasted minutes trying to bang out the show instead of just playing great music.

James Setlist
Dust Motes
Rabbit Hole
Dream Thrum
Tell Her I Said So
Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)
Ring The Bells
It’s Hot
Come Home
Jam J
Honest Joe
Five-O
Johnny Yen
Say Something
Laid
Sometimes
Encore
Sit Down
Out To Get You

Not much to say. Atmospheric and boring.

[Austin, TX] I wasn’t going to say anything about this show because I’ve already said way too much about them, but they’re too good not to promote – lots of echo effects and classic songwriting is the key to their superficial sheen of coolness – not to say that they’re only superficially good – they’re just so immediately striking that you worry they might be – I think that they’re actually pretty down to earth people who really love what they’re doing – they have a distinctive and modern sound of their own but also are definitively influenced by Spiritualized, The Doors, and Suicide – the record store was pack-ked and the young guys buying their record in line behind me discussed the band: Guy 1: So you’re buying their record?, Guy 2: Yeah, I mean, they might be influential someday, you know?, Guy 1: So where would you rank them on your list of all-time great bands?, Guy 2: uhhhh… uhhhh… 4th

[Los Angeles, CA] we had never heard or heard of this band but were there because I’d won free tickets through an Emo’s contest for naming your favorite show you’d ever seen at Emo’s and describing why – pretty much the contest I’d been waiting for since the day I moved to Austin – I spotted the photographer for the Statesman’s A-list in the crowd early on which was a plus since it’s a sign that the event is at least minorly significant, but a negative because the bastard, once again, didn’t care to take my photo – on the other hand, though, the Chronicle had recommended the opening and local band, Pure Ecstasy, which was pretty much a slap in the face to Autolux – so they started off kind of average-sounding, which is dangerous for a band I don’t know – without a remarkable sound and with songs I don’t know, I’m at high risk of being bored – but I quickly became mesmerized – some of their songs had a 90s noise rock sound, which confirms my suspicion that the kids are on their way to reviving the 90s instead of the 80s, also confirmed by the number of NIN t-shirts I’ve been seeing around lately, and flannel shirts – anyway, there was also a shoegaze element, in the quiet repetitiveness – some suggestion of synth – it was all very simple, drum, bass, and guitar – there wasn’t a lot of to-do or hijinx – but their very calmness and seeming maturity suggested that they knew they didn’t need that extra fluff – I think they might be better live than recorded but, in general, this band pleases me greatly

[Austin, TX] Blackholicus had everything Faceblaster had lacked: creative interesting loops and variations in timing WITH hard complex guitar work – incredibly un-boring – very Iron Maiden – the bald fellow with the tufts of hair was very familiar to me but I couldn’t place him – the lead singer was a short solid woman with hipster-hippie stylings, with a piece-y haircut and big feathery earrings – she came out in knee-length black shorts and a cherry colored tank top – I appreciated her seeming statement that you don’t have to look the part to feel it, but mostly I felt bad for all the metalheads in the audience who were forced to hear a very high quality version of their music coming out of a person like her – it would have been decent of her to put on a little black, look a little less clean – ironically, a short solid woman looking very much like her joined me in the elevator the next day at work – I tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was in a band and she sneered, “Nobody ever recognizes me, at least not here.” – even if she’s snotty, I definitely recommend this band

[Essex, UK] I don’t see a lot of electronic or DJ shows but always find them exciting – it was one guy, in a hoodie I believe, with an Apple and other gadgets that mystify me – he started out so ambient I kept wondering if the show had actually started – then things picked up and he put on the heavy beats with dirty trills on top of it – this I like but I don’t even know how to talk about it – the mood of the audience was completely transformed: all rapt attention and dancey – it was interesting what drew response from the kids, very different from a rock show or maybe not, basically whenever he’d pause and then break back into it or when he’d do some fancy work with the scratchy top-notes – the bass was so heavy and loud it hurt my heart, seriously disturbs me and always has – electronic music always makes me wonder how do they do it? why do they do it? what does it all mean for the larger picture of humanity?

[San Antonio, TX] their name pretty much says it all I’m not sure why Emo’s description of them specifies that they’re from San Antonio – the audience was definitely the Latino metal crowd – tough-guy vocals (though not screamo thank god) with technically proficient but not very creative guitars – I think the drumming irritated me the most: seemed too basic and too dominating or too high-pitched? – Rockboy pointed out that this band could be the Alamo Drafthouse’s hardcore band of animated food items who warn the audience before the movie starts: “Don’t talk!! Watch the movie!! I will bite you!!”

[Austin, TX] I really liked this band but then I really like shoegaze, at least some of it (basically The Stone Roses) – the band was tucked into one corner of the stage basically playing to each other – unassuming in plaid shirts – well-paced, sweet, and dense

also a 2nd wave ska band from the late 70s on the 2 Tone label more recently noted for the song playing as Ferris Bueller runs through backyards and houses to beat his family home – so we were optimistic at the start – the lead singer had a cute British accent – the band was good – it was pretty quickly clear, though, that there was something lacking – that energy! the quick pick-up of ska – it finally became clear that they just weren’t playing ska – maybe some sort of pop-rock inspired by ska but not ska – the early part of the set reminded me of The Talking Heads, kind of – the pop-rock became decreasingly ska and increasingly soul-pop – like a mix of 90s artists Soul Decision and Shaggy – by the end, it was full-on reggae – I preferred the reggae to the watery rock – reggae would have been okay if I hadn’t come expecting ska – 2 hours of unska was not okay – Rockboy insists they were playing poorer versions of their recorded material and/or the worst of their recorded material – I insist this band is not for me

we thought he was going to be the first band and he should have been the first band – it’s not that he was bad but he was a ska-pop (which sounds remarkably like afro-pop) lone singer on a guitar!! he sounded like an acoustic Matisyahu! Vampire Weekend! – would have been great if you chanced upon him in a coffeeshop – big deflation in crowd energy but luckily he only played for about an hour

I always like this band when they come on Rockboy’s iPod but didn’t expect them to be the great show of the night – they’re 2nd wave ska from the late 70s, on the 2 Tone label – maybe more of a party band than the others?… something about them made me put them in the bar band category – anyway, in addition to the slew of great young musicians on stage, the lead singer was perfect – it was his 50th birthday that night – his outfit was so horrid and ridiculous – he was so unattractive and large (although some 200 lbs lighter than he used to be) – and he was entrancing, getting the crowd to jump, shout, etc. – the entire band never stopped moving – this is what ska is or should be about! and then the next 2 bands came on