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Review: The weekend in rock, hip-hop and being cold, part two
Austin Music Source headed over to Flamingo Cantina Sunday night for the inaugural AustinSurreal party thrown by former Houston rap blogger-king Matt Sonzala, who is currently paying the bills as part of the staff of South By Southwest.
Openers Zeale 32 and Gerald G got the crowd moving, but the night belonged to Dallas trio PPT.
Harnessing a level of nerdy weird not seen since Kool Keith at his least druggy or De La Soul at their oddest, PPT MCs Pikahsso, Picnic and Tahiti embodied the thrilling energy that can only come when a hip-hop show is on full blast, mixing straight ahead beats
All three were charismatic, but decked out in a white satin Porsche jacket and a Cub Scout shirt complete with neckerchief done up like an ascot, Pikasso all but owned the place as he hurled himself around the stage, a from-the-heart rap nerd who knew that a corny chorus of A-Ha’s “Take On Me” was worth the dividends in love from the crowd, who were ready the follow PPT off a cliff by the end of the set. Look for a new album later this year.
Live dubsters Grimy Styles headlined. A brilliant evening and a smashing start for Sonzala.
Maybe the entire town was hung over Monday night or maybe Austinites thought they would melt in the rain, but the music district was all but abandoned last night.
This included Emo’s where The Roller, Howl, St. Jude and Canyon of the Skull delivered chunky, louder-than-God crust-metal (heavy metal with a punk-yet-progressive cast and a cranky, end-times worldview) in the small room and Oxbow singer Eugene Robinson held a reading for his hysterical new book “Fight.” Neither show drew more than 20 people, which is a shame, as all four bands were face-pulling. And Robinson is a very funny guy, which you might not realize from his wildly intimidating (and often three-quarters naked) stage presence in Oxbow.
Austin Music Source felt bad about all this lack of turnout and picked up solid EPs from Howl and St. Jude, both of whom hail from the gnarly punk-metal scene in Providence, R.I., as well as a killer Oxbow album from Robinson.
Again, see you at Lupe Fiasco.
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By AMH
January 23, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this
van morrison at austin music hall march 11? http://austinmusichall.com/index.cfm?Fuseaction=EventDetail&EventID=8320