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Brief notes from the Austin underground
— There’s something uniquely satisfying about seeing bands you like bring their A-games to a packed house. Follow that Bird, Dikes of Holland and Kingdom of Suicide Lovers did just that Thursday night to a full Beerland during night one of the Casual Victim Pile record release shows at Beerland at Feb. 4, 5 and 6. (No slight on the bands that played earlier; I didn’t see you.) Sadly, everyone suddenly remembered it was a school night and Follow That Bird ended up playing to a smaller crowd, but they still smoked.
According to witnesses, Friday and Saturday night were utterly jammed, one in and one out for most of the night for the shows headlined by Woven Bones Friday and Harlem Saturday.
— It was a last minute show that didn’t get the promotion it deserved, but former(?) Lungfish frontman Daniel Higgs played an extraordinary set at the acoustically-excellent Bethell Hall Saturday afternoon. Texas minimalist synth composer J.D Emmanuel, playing his first live set in decades, opened the show, followed by a storm of drifty electronic clouds from Christelle Gualdi, a.k.a. Stellar Om Source.
Higgs, having car trouble, was outside of Austin for his opening acts, but rolled in and hit the stage like a hip-hop star. (All I could think of was a DJ screaming, “Daniel Higgs is 20 minutes away! Daniel Higgs is 10 minutes away! Daniel Higgs is in the building!”)
About ten minutes after Gualdi ended, Higgs rolled up with banjo and harmonium, wearing traditional Higgs wear of a dark suit and massive beard and a pair of mirrored sunglasses he might as well have stolen from Axl Rose in 1987.
Asked if he wanted amplification, he let out a yell to test the acoustics, which were terrific, and declined.
His solo work has focused on acoustic improvisations and loosely constructed patterns, the lyrics surreal juxtapositions chocked with natural, biological and religious images, much like his work with Lungfish.
The first song, “Holy Bible Time,” featured his voice and a harmonium droning one chord, yet he managed to give the chorus a sticky riff, something too many Austin rock bands have clean forgotten how to do. He also appended the song with a few verses from a song from a the Star Trek original series episode “The Way To Eden (“where I first learned the scriptures,” I think he said).
Another piece freatured a “free singing” section during which the audience was invited to collaborate. They declined, sadly.
So, yeah, in sum, as far as freak folk/acid folk/new weird America/etc., there is Daniel Higgs and then there is everyone else. The end.
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