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March 2007
SXSW’s defining moment: the Stooges
There is nothing, nothing, nothing in rock ‘n’ roll more powerful than when the Stooges open a show with “Loose.” The bass line is full-on, frantic Motor City madness and then comes Ron Asheton’s riot-in-the-streets guitar and vein-covered Iggy Pop running all over the stage and doing body contortions in time to the beat.
The guy next to me at the Stooges’ jam-packed show at Stubb’s Saturday night said the band would almost certainly open with a song from their new album. “That’s what they’re here to promote,” he said, but you’ve never seen a guy so happy to be wrong. For me, “Loose” was THE defining moment of SXSW, as the world’s first alternative rock band (the grassroots Rolling Stones) put pushing product way behind frying neck hairs on the priority list.
Such new songs as “Trollin’” from “The Weirdness” would come later, but first Iggy and the Stooges had to establish themselves as the undisputed kings of the fest. And guess what? Everyone in line with a badge eventually got in by the time a corny “No Fun,” which had a stage full of ridiculously grinning fans “dancing,” ended the set at the 45-minute point.
How’s this for an opening trilogy? After “Loose,” the Stooges did “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” with Iggy diving into the crowd, followed by “T.V. Eye,” Ron Asheton’s greatest guitar moment.
A couple of disappointments: 1) it appears that the Stooges play to taped augmentation. This was revealed when the bass line for “Skull Ring” kept pumping while bassist Mike Watt was working amp problems with his sound tech. It’s OK to use the canned help, but never let the audience know. 2) Asheton’s guitar wasn’t as loud as it should’ve been. I saw a better Stooges show in New Orleans about three years ago and the guitar and Iggy’s voice were on equal footing. Saturday night posed Iggy as the focal point, and he is a star, but the ugly beauty of the Stooges was when Iggy flailed in the feedback of chaos coming from stage left.
SXSW review: Au Revoir Simone
Act: Au Revoir Simone
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Venue: Copa, 12 a.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Their MySpace songs have an intriguing juxtaposition of electronica and sweet pop female harmonies.
High point: Pretty voices.
Low point: The harmonies showed little development or variation from song to song and quickly lost their novelty, and the singers’ detachment made for a static performance as well.
Post-show buzz: Major attrition after a few songs.
Afterthoughts: Watching the band wasn’t as much fun as watching the body language of couples first growing restless, then tentatively sharing their interest in possibly leaving, and finally slipping resolutely away together.
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SXSW review: Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party
Act: Perry Farrell’s Satellite Party
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Venue: La Zona Rosa, 12:30 a.m. (started 12:51 a.m.) Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Non-existant. Only a few people in the audience even knew who was going to perform.
High point: When Farrell took us 30somethings in the audience back to the first Lollapollooza by playing “Stop” and “Mountain Song.” I taught myself how to play bass partially by learning the infectious bass line on “Mountain Song.” The audience erupted with those gifts.
Bonus points: Coming back out for an encore. The “Satellite Party” song was quite beautiful; it’s middle-eight speed metal bridge was nothing short of awesome.
Off-the-scale coolness points: Perry Farrell announced from the stage at the end of the show that he would be available in La Zona Rosa’s patio to discuss ideas about how the 6 billion people on Earth can — and how they should — save the planet. He noted that the “Solutionist Movement” idea came about in the garage while his band was rehearsing. “I want to get to know you,” he said with his patented child-like sincerity.
And true to his word, shortly after 2 a.m., Farrell came out to talk with his fans about solutions.
Funniest bit of between song banter: Farrell spoke about death between songs, multiple times: “I heard that in hell they make you stand on your head in doo-doo.”
Post-show buzz: “The new songs were actually good.”
Afterthoughts: It doesn’t make any sense for one of Austin’s best venues to be virtually empty on a Saturday night during SXSW. If Farrell’s new band was no good — maybe. But they were good. And the Jane’s Addiction/Porno For Pyros/creator of Lollapalooza is actually a living legend in rock ‘n’ roll. It would have made more sense to have his band playing at Stubb’s with the Stooges.
The Polyphonic Spree
Act: The Polyphonic Spree
Hometown: Dallas
Venue: La Zona Rosa, 11 p.m. (actually 11:20 p.m.) Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Only die-hard fans even knew the orchestral, “Up With People”-esque band was playing. SXSW listed them as “thee spree” in the Saturday night schedule. Who is “thee spree”?
High point: The revisionist version of “It’s The Sun,” complete with acoustic intro. Band visionary Tim DeLaughter was in his typical awesome form.
Low point: La Zona Rosa was virtually empty. No musician enjoys playing to an empty room, no matter what they might say.
Post-show buzz: The band’s fans in attendance appeared to enjoy the new songs.
Afterthoughts: Something went horribly wrong. One of Austin’s best venues was empty on a Saturday night of SXSW at 11 p.m. And the few people there weren’t even sure who was playing until the harp appeared on stage. Polyphonic Spree deserved better.
Mew
Act: Mew
Hometown: Copenhagen, Denmark
Venue: La Zona Rosa, 9 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Although the venue was nowhere close to being full, most everyone there had come to see Mew.
High point: The entire set was a high point. Mew played grandiose, proggy, indie rock that’s ready-made for arenas.
Bonus points: To drummer Silas Graae, for setting up on stage left. It’s a bold move, but it’s always nice when someone is brave enough to do it.
Post-show buzz: Mew made a few new fans for life, including me.
Afterthoughts: I think Mew’s singer is a spot-on ringer for Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, although the person standing next to me disagreed. These dudes have been playing together since they were in middle school, and it shows in their tightness. Mew plays majestic, guitar heavy, spacey indie rock. Until Radiohead picks up their guitars again, check out Mew live or pick up one of their albums. They’ve got all the same influences and are equally as talented. It’s a big claim, but it’s true.
Trent Summar
Artist: Trent Summar
Hometown: Nashville, Tenn.
Venue: Broken Spoke, 7 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: A picky co-worker met him at Guero’s the other night and said he was a nice guy. Spoke owner James White heard he was the real thing and rocks out.
High point: Images of a blond Elvis in his Louisiana Hayride days, legs spread wide and a red jacket flapping before going down on his knees and shaking off his straw cowboy hat. Songs about horseshoes, hand grenades, St. Peter and needing “a gooseneck trailer to haul your love.”
Low point: Begging folks to dance to fast-slow-fast tunes and the few who did getting shown up by an 89-year-old Spoke regular.
Afterthoughts: Palo Duro Records should keep pushing this 40-year-old speed country artist because he writes songs that Jack Ingram and Pat Green will — and, in fact, did — cover.
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Mohair
Artist: Mohair
Hometown: Watford, UK
Venue: La Zona Rosa, 8 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Didn’t make it to my ears.
High point: Their song, “Keep It Together,” was a creative rock gem with a nod to ’60s musical sensibilities, which Mohair singer Tom Billington said was the No. 1 something or other in Bosnia. “I (expletive) you not,” he attested.
Bonus points: awarded for drummer Pete Baker’s fantastic trumpet solo during the bridge of “Keep It Together.” That Brit pop coolio put down his sticks, picked up the trumpet and played a spot-on solo, then picked up the sticks and went right back into the song. The audience rewarded his skill with applause. Additionally, keyboardist Alex Richards’ elegant harpsichord sound and his classically influenced playing was a nice respite from the typical four-on-the-floor rock ‘n’ roll that inevitably surrounds you at SXSW.
Oddest stage attire mix-match: Bassist Tim Slade wearing a navy polo shirt while singer/guitarist Billington donned something akin to the infamous “Seinfeld” white puffy shirt.
Post-show buzz: The thunderous applause felt sincere. Most folks appeared to be hearing them for the first time, but the consensus was that these guys were not too shabby.
Afterthoughts: I’d check out Mohair again if they were playing for free. But that said, they come across as one of those bands that have the potential to make great singles because they were all such polished, tasteful musicians. They’ve got potential for greatness, but their music isn’t going to change you life just yet.
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The Capitol Years
Act: The Capitol Years
Hometown: Philadelphia
Venue: Habana Calle 6, 10 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: “The hottest thing in Philly right now.”
High point: The three guitars, bass and drums all coming together on “You Can Stay There,” which makes a case that Freddie Mercury has a big influence on today’s power-pop groups.
Low point: When two band members introduced a song at the same time so that the talking sounded like gibberish. For a band with such short, snappy songs, this “comedic” bit went on too long. Also the room was way too well-lit, so the audience members just stood in place when perhaps many of them wanted to rock out.
Mastadon
Artist: Mastodon
Hometown: Atlanta, Ga.
Venue: SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake, 8 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Many of us continue to hold out hope they will become the next Metallica without having to make their “Black Album.” We’ll see. That said, with the exception of Boris, Mastodon is coolest, heaviest band in ages to play the free SXSW show.
High point: Gorgeous weather; singer/guitarist Brent Hinds’ Kylesa t-shirt on the JumboTron; the galloping, triumphant one-two opening combo of “The Wolf is Loose” and “Crystal Skull,” the first two songs on the band’s major label debut “Blood Mountain;” the tasteful mid-set placement of the band’s breakout single “March of the Fire Ants; bassist/singer Troy Sanders’ “metal face.”
Low point: A few songs got a little too complicated and slowed the set, but this was a minor complaint. For most of Saturday, it was blissfully possible to forget that March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day, the day an ethnic group is celebrated by everyone engaging in that group’s single worst stereotype. Ah, well. The crowd (and Against Me!, who played right before Mastodon) made this impossible to forget. But if you’re going to have an outdoor metal show on St. Patrick’s Day, shouldn’t the between band music be Thin Lizzy? For shame.
Post-show buzz: Big crowd + nice evening + cutting-edge metal presented for free = extra-large fun for the whole family. And yes, there were whole families there.
Afterthoughts: Not a bad way to start a Saturday night.
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Boris
Artist: Boris
Hometown: Tokyo
Venue: SXSW Dew Music Festival at Town Lake, 4:55 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Generally acknowledged to be one of the bands one had to see at SXSW, this doomy, majestic power trio played three times during the festival — this was the final one.
High point: Since this sounded like much the same set the band played at the Scion party, there were no big surprises. Guitarist Wata droned the e-bow as singer Takeshi — still sporting that hideous double-neck bass/guitar thing — crunched away. Also, they were projected on a fair-sized JumboTron.
Low point: That more Austinites didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to see this wonderful band.
Post-show buzz: That ruled. Boy, it’s hot out. Does this look like sunburn?
Afterthoughts: On March 17, 2007, in Austin, Texas, it was entirely possible to enjoy a funnel cake and watch one of the coolest metal bands of our epoch for free in park in the center of town. In the immortal words of Ron Burgundy, “in no way is that depressing.”
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Dengue Fever
Artist: Dengue Fever
Hometown: Los Angeles
Venue: SESAC stage at the Convention Center, 2 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Multi-culti combo’s fan base grew after its music appeared in Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers.”
High point: Closing your eyes and imagining you’re in the coolest ’70s flick ever to emerge from Southeast Asia.
Low point: A middling his and hers duet (the only tune in English, not Khmer) between the singer and lead guitarist.
Post-show buzz: Judging by the number of passers-by drawn into the room by the strange sounds they heard, the band won some new fans.
Afterthoughts: The mix of Ethiopian jazz, Cambodia-inflected vocals and Bollywood spice was a lot more accessible (and funkier) than it might sound on paper.
Rickie Lee Jones
Artist: Rickie Lee Jones
Hometown: Chicago
Venue: “SXSW Live” at the Convention Center, 4 p.m. Saturday
Pre-show buzz: Hearing that the songwriter just made an album inspired by the Bible, old fans were heard wondering if she intended to preach from the microphone.
High point: “Where I Like It Best,” an unexpectedly moving song whose modern-day interpretation of Christ’s instructions on prayer elicited a burst of mid-song applause from the crowd.
Low point: Watching the TV crew try to tell the singer her time was up, just as she was getting rolling on the hushed, stream-of-consciousness “I Was There” (which runs eight-plus minutes on the album).
Post-show buzz: Biblical inspirations or no, she’s still Rickie Lee Jones.
Afterthoughts: Sticking to new material in a lovably odd, sometimes improvisational set, Jones won a lot of believers for songs that wove everyday social and romantic concerns into a religious context and vice versa.
Pela
Artist: Pela
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Venue: Eternal, 11:15 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: None in the room. Most everyone had arrived early to see the Faint.
High point: Every song played was a high point. They rocked the majority of their upcoming release, “Anytown Graffitti.”
Bonus points: For covering the Pixies’ “The Holiday Song” without being coy or ironic.
Post-show buzz: “Those guys were really great. Who are they?”
Afterthoughts: Pela was one of the best sleeper/surprisingly delightful showcases of the entire festival. They made the band that played right before them — Austin rag-tag outfit Peter and the Wolf — look like rock ’n’ roll pretenders as Pela blew them off the stage. This crib-sheet description won’t do them complete justice, but imagine what it would sound like if Bruce Springsteen were an indie rocker who grew up listening to the Pixies and Husker Du.
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The Faint
Artist: The Faint
Hometown: Omaha, Neb.
Venue: Eternal, 12:30 a.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Their live shows are notorious for transforming dingy indie rock clubs into glamorous, “you should have been there” dance parties.
High point: The encore that included “Desperate Guys” and “Agenda Suicide.” It was the most blissfully transcendental moment of my SXSW 2007.
Bonus points: Playing “Worked Up So Sexual” midway through the set. The audience was screaming, practically begging for it. Then the Faint unabashedly gave it up.
Post-show buzz: Overheard as sweaty people sought more oxygen outside of the club on Sixth Street: “This was the best show I’ve seen at this year’s SXSW!” This writer concurs.
Afterthoughts: The Faint have always been Saddle Creek Records’ ticking time bomb just waiting to explode into the mainstream. If the Faint jump ship from Saddle Creek and move on to a major label — Internet rumors suggest Rick Rubin’s American Recordings — they will likely become the next New Order or Depeche Mode. There are multiple bands rehashing 1980s dance music these days. The Faint set themselves apart by reinventing electronic dance music with their combination of indie rock live-band verve and state-of-the-art keyboards and electronic programming, combined with guitars, bass and live drums. And songs. Songs with hooks that would be just as catchy and melodic on acoustic guitars as they are with ear-splittingly supersonic production values.
Personal to SXSW organizers: Booking the Faint at Eternal put the audience in jeopardy of being hurt. The club was entirely too small.
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Ponderosa Stomp showcase
Show: Ponderosa Stomp showcase
Hometown: South Bend, Ind. (Herb Remington); Lecompte, La. (Jay Chevalier); Lafayette, La. (Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal & the Buckaroos featuring Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural); New Orleans, (Rockie Charles, Tammy Lynn, Willie Tee and the Flaming Arrows Mardi Gras Indians)
Venue: Opal Divine’s Freehouse, all night Friday
Pre-show buzz: This celebration of under-appreciated roots artists, founded in New Orleans six years ago, had a long line out the door when it made its SXSW debut at the Continental Club last year.
High point: Loads of them. Pedal steel guitarist Herb Remington sparkled on everything from “Remington’s Ride,” an instrumental from his days with country star Hank Penny, to a lovely “Sleepwalk.” Red-hot guitarist Lil’ Buck Sinegal and soulful organist Stanley Dural (of Buckwheat Zydeco fame) played together with infectious joy (they were bandmates in the late Clifton Chenier’s zydeco band), whether backing other artists or stepping out front on instrumentals such as the Meters’ “Cissy Strut.” Snappy dresser Rockie Charles had a commanding presence, as well as a stirring, gospel-fired voice and some good new songs. Willie Tee displayed wide range — he sang his sly old soul hit “Teasin’ You,” went toe-to-toe with Dural on keyboards and led the Mardi Gras Indians through some of the carnival classics he created for the Wild Magnolias. The Indians in their splendid finery also performed some traditional chants on their own, getting the crowd dancing with only bass and drum accompaniment for their call-and-response.
Low point: Jay Chevalier overdid the showbiz shtick at times, and Tammy Lynn was a crowd-pleaser, but her big voice only has one speed — full-throttle.
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Antibalas
Waiting for Antibalas to perform, a small group of guys in their 20s was having a decidedly unacademic conversation about classic jazz artists. Their exchanges had the one-upping swagger of a sports-bar argument, and the vocabulary was more what you’d expect from, say, teenagers comparing video games. “Dude, Freddie,” one said, presumably talking about the great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. His friend started going on about organist Larry Young. “That album — dude! It’s just retarded! Dude!” Then the conversation turned to Stan Getz and his last album. “Dude, that is the greatest album. And then he died, like, two months later.” “Dude!”
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Venue: Antone’s, midnight Friday
Pre-show buzz: The next-best thing to the late Fela Kuti (well, maybe after his son Femi Kuti)
High point: Compelling polyrhythms, intricate, peppery horn arrangements and some intriguing, jazz-based saxophone solos.
Low point: A very late start because of the difficulty setting up sound for an 11-piece band. The sound directly in front of the stage was distorted — overamplified drumbeats felt like knife blades in the eardrums — although it was not bad off to the side.
Post-show buzz: After the long, hot wait for the band — so long one couple actually sat down on the sticky floor to rest — some of the crowd wilted or wearied before the end of the set. However, the (surprisingly young) audience seemed impressed.
Afterthoughts: The venue, with its narrow space in front of the stage, wasn’t really suited to a band that likes to fully engage everyone in the audience and get the whole crowd dancing.
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Pierre Aderne
Artist: Pierre Aderne
Hometown: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Venue: Copa, 8 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: His co-writers have included prominent artists such as Seu Jorge, and Aderne scored critical acclaim with his 2005 debut, “Casa de Praia.”
High point: Interesting chord progressions and quirky percussion provided a bit of contrast for his soft, pretty vocals and soothing guitar, and he added more color by inviting young singer Alexia Bomtempo to join him on two songs.
Low point: Although he had no trouble engaging the audience, his introspective style would be better suited to a listening room than a club where patrons are standing (and the ones near the bar can’t resist schmoozing).
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The Redwalls
Artist: The Redwalls
Hometown: Chicago
Venue: Bourbon Rocks, 1 a.m. Saturday
Pre-Show Buzz: Four rowdy dudes, who are barely old enough to drink, take on the Brit-rock challenge with songs that would be perfect for getting sloshed while ditching school. Think of a Rolling Stones/Beatles cover band that has just started to write some stuff of their own (need I bring up Oasis?). They want so badly to stick it to the man and merely watching them try is worth one week of detention.
High Point: In the spirit of Bourbon Rocks, the Redwalls marched right into a party with something familiar that held its own with the already energized rock ‘n’ roll atitttude.
Low Point: The tight black suits and white shoes combination wasn’t very original. The same could be said for their entire repertoire. Standing on the stage before the show awkwardly tuning their insturuments while a couple of guys fiddled with their wires for 30 minutes wasn’t a soundcheck, it was a tease.
Post Show Buzz: Playing to a three-quarters full crowd might have been a blow to their self-esteem, but with half the women in their pockets and the rest craving more, let’s just say that the Redwalls didn’t leave anything behind.
Afterthoughts: The Redwalls walk the line between posing their way into the middle ground and being poised to make an impact on the Brit rock genre.
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Archie Bell
Act: Archie Bell
Hometown: Houston
Venue: “Ponderosa Stomp” showcase at Opal Divine’s Freehouse, 12:15 a.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Is the one-time leader of the Drells still funky?
High point: The sexagenarian teaching an enthusiastic crowd how to “Tighten Up.”
Low point: As with some of the other highlight sets on the “Ponderosa Stomp” bill, Bell’s was very short.
Post-show buzz: The most danceable set of the night so far.
Afterthoughts: Like other “Stomp” singers, Bell benefited from an ace backing band highlighted by Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural (Buckwheat Zydeco) on organ.
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Public Enemy
Artist: Public Enemy
Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Venue: Auditorium Shores, 7:45 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Undisputedly one of the most important hip hop acts in the history of rap music.
Best Chuck D quote of the evening: “Asking for a record deal is like asking for a plantation owner to take you back into slavery.”
High point: Chuck D and Flavor Flav delivering the one-two, back-to-back punch of “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “Bring The Noise” while Professor Griff and the S1Ws — clad in desert camoflauge Army fatigues — step danced while brandishing samurai swords.
On point: Despite Flavor Flav’s success in the strange world of reality television, he was still the spot-on court jester to Chuck D’s acerbic vocal acrobatics.
Low point: Cutting classic songs short after racing through one or two verses and a chorus is inexcusable, even if your back catalog is as large as Public Enemy’s. Medleys are for suckers.
Post-show buzz: 20 years on, Public Enemy still enlightens like few bands of any genre ever have.
Afterthoughts: Chuck D’s polemical rhymes felt apropos — now more than ever — as he and Flavor Flav addressed the current war in Iraq, presidential malaprops and the condition of oppressed people of color all over the world. A new Public Enemy album — with the original Bomb Squad producing — is long overdue.
Personal to Chuck D: Please, “bring that beat back.”
Ian Moore
Artist: Ian Moore
Hometown: Seattle, Wash.
Venue:Continental Club, 11 p.m. Friday
Pre-Show Buzz: A former Austinite, Moore returns to a familiar roots rock scene where he started his career in the ’90s as a maverick of the blues guitar. Since then, he has moved to an arts community on an island outside Seattle, cut off his long mane of hair and jettisoned his original style for the more eclectic influences of gospel, early pop and soul. Will Austin ever forgive him? (We think so.)
High Point: “Innocent Maneuvers,” which humbly admits that Moore started out with nothing but promise and ended up in a different place. Wherever that place is, we like it.
Low Point: We didn’t see much of that Curtis Mayfield soul he was bragging about … then again, 40-minute sets are rather limiting.
Post Show Buzz: Moore is one of those tattoos that Austin doesn’t regret.
Afterthoughts: He may have dropped his blues, but whatever medication he’s taking (adult contemporary, acoustic rock) seems to be working.
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Clockcleaner
Artist: Clockcleaner
Hometown: Philadelphia
Venue: Exodus, 11 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: At their last Austin gig at the Chaos in Tejas festival two years ago, their set cleared the room. For the first two songs, it sounded like the most egregious Big Black rip-off in human history, from the guitar sound to the human drummer acting like a drum machine to frontman’s Sharky’s guitar sound, glasses and abrasive on-stage persona. Five songs in, it felt like one of the weekend’s most underrated bands. Also, they get many, many points for naming their debut album “Nevermind.”
High point: The guitar sound hasn’t changed a lick, but Sharky displays an amazing ability to translate deceptively simple songs into something tight and shiny. Nobody in the world needs a six-string bass, yet the bassist — a proper-looking gal who might as well be wearing a sign that says, “I’d rather be reading” — makes it work. Massive sound, massively catchy tunes, a whole mass of new fans.
Low point: Well, I’m sure the fight that broke out was not so fun for the folks that were involved, and the piñata filled with flour probably made the folks at Exodus none too happy, but Times New Viking followed by these guys made for the best one-two bill of the festival.
Post-show buzz: More than one patron was heard to remark, “Well, I just saw my new favorite band.”
Afterthoughts: They can play at my house if it means getting them back to Austin.
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Times New Viking
Artist: Times New Viking
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Venue: Exodus, 10 p.m., Friday
Pre-show buzz: Lo-fi art-rock geniuses with two albums on Siltbreeze; now signed to Matador.
High point: Where to start? Even though they front-loaded the front row with Columbus pals (whose slamming very nearly killed our photographer), they more than lived up to every bit of excitement. Simple, fall-apart riffs, dinky keyboards and heavier-than-God drumming adds up to something thrilling and fun.
Low point: N/A
Post-show buzz: The second coming of Pavement.
Afterthoughts: No, really.
Me: “Is this what early Pavement shows felt like? Because this is amazing.”
Longtime scenester: “No, these guys are WAY better than Pavement were live at this point in their careers.”
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Blues Control
Artist: Blues Control
Hometown: Ridgewood, N.Y.
Venue: Spiro’s, 8 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Almost nonexistent. Not only are they all but unknown outside of Internet noise-record collector circles, their name is, um, inaccurate. This impossibly noisy duo has little, in fact, to do with either blues or control.
High point: Repurposing (what I think was) the riff to “My Sharona” into the fairly abstract noise guitar-keyboard vamp, thereby giving one of the most annoying songs on the planet a whole new context.
Low point: The facial expressions of Spiro’s regular employees. They looked unprepared for the peals of skree.
Post-show buzz: Everyone was happy to finally get a copy of the record.
Afterthoughts: The handful of folks who were there thought they had accomplished something, but I can’t see them opening for, say, Spoon anytime soon. (Sonic Youth, on the other hand …)
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Luminous Orange
Artist: Luminous Orange
Hometown: Yokohama, Japan
Venue: The Ale House, 9:00 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: One of the only shoegazer, dream-pop bands playing SXSW 2007. If you follow the genre, they need no introduction.
On point: Singer/guitarist Rie Takeuchi’s guitar playing. She chops apart the “good for a girl” cliche with assured playing on her vintage Fender.
Dear SXSW organizers: If y’all are going to bother inviting this band over from Japan, why not give them a better showcase?
Post-show buzz: Almost every one of the 30 or so people in attendance left after purchasing a CD or a T-shirt. If those 30 people tell two people about Luminous Orange’s shimmering noise-pop, and those two people tell two people, then this blissfully noisy pop band will be slightly closer to receiving the notoriety they deserve.
Afterthoughts: If you like beautifully fragile vocals and Sonic Youth meets My Bloody Valentine soundscapes, you better ask somebody about Luminous Orange.
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Blanche
Artist: Blanche
Hometown: Detroit
Venue: Stubb’s, 3 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: dreamy, carny alt-country; the soundtrack to a Jim Jarmusch documentary about Flannery O’Connor
High point:The angular “Superstitious,” where the dreamland met the gutter, where Lyle Lovett and Tom Waits were brethren.
Coolest member (tie): the gum-chewing female drummer and the ingenue on bass, who looked like she’d stepped out of a Mickey Spillane book.
Post-show buzz: A lot of folks who wandered inside during the set breaks at the Stubb’s party were happy to hear a band that was more intriguing than some on the main stage.
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Aqueduct
Artist: Aqueduct
Hometown: Seattle
Venue: Day show at Emo’s Annex, Friday
Pre-show buzz: One-man “bedroom band” becomes full-fledged live act
High point: Gotta love a band with its own theme song. (“Who wanna rock with the Aqueduct … I’ll make you jump around like an awkward duck.”)
Low point: Primus frontman Les Claypool, spotted in the crowd, didn’t join them onstage.
Department of Unneccessary Covers: The Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited,” turned into a kind of halfhearted torch song.
Afterthoughts: Seeing songwriter David Terry in this format, with bandmates to help with the hand claps and dueling keyboard choruses, was a lot more interesting than seeing him alone on an empty stage with only a bank of samplers to give support.
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Dirty Fuzz
Artist: Dirty Fuzz
Hometown: London, U.K.
Venue: Blender Bar at the Ritz, 8:00 p.m. Friday
Pre-Show Buzz: If AC/DC fired Brian Johnson and picked up Tina Turner, people would accuse them of copying Dirty Fuzz. Tough, unrestrained and very tasty, Elida Zulu is everything a lead singer of a dirty, whiskey-fueled, garage outfit ought to be.
High Point: Everything from licking the microphone to gyrating on the mike stand to the rowdy group effort during “Crash and Burn” — Zulu’s a diva in a rock band all right.
Low Point: The event was heavily sponsored by companies (Verizon, Guess cologne) that I now detest thanks to the massive film projector that played 12-feet-tall commercials throughout the show.
Post Show Buzz: I don’t know about everybody else but I was ready to let Zulu do with me as she pleased.
Afterthoughts: I felt sorry for the next guy to use that microphone.
Zach Galifianakis
Artist: Zach Galifianakis
Hometown: Venice, Calif.
Venue: Emo’s Annex
Pre-show buzz: “Comedians of Comedy” co-star hosts showcase for acts from Bob Mould to The Broken West.
High point: He announces there will be “an award for Most Disinterested Hipster”; crowd members silently congratulate themselves for their sincere love of music.
Low point: Many in the crowd feigned offense at comment “I’m as photogenic as Terri Schiavo.”
Post-show buzz: Let’s hope the bands play short sets so he has to talk more.
Afterthoughts: Acting as if each joke had just been written moments before, he turned awkward tics like smoothing his hair and applying lip balm into entertainment. Got laughs by mocking mainstream acts like Sheryl Crow and the Spin Doctors, but did it in a way that suggested equal disdain for those who consider themselves above the squares.
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Tilly and the Wall
Artist: Tilly and the Wall
Hometown: Omaha, Neb.
Venue: Day show at the Belmont, Friday
Pre-show buzz: Gotta see the indie band with the tap dancers instead of a drummer.
High point: “Bad Education” — it wasn’t the set’s tightest performance, but the flamenco-ish tap percussion showed how much passion this strange configuration can put across.
Non-musical entertainment: Watching the lead dancer do the same riff for minutes straight during soundcheck, patiently waiting for the sound guy to get the level appropriately high. She was still waiting when the set ended.
Post-show buzz: With their thrift-store-explosion garb and obvious enthusiasm, it’s a bit hard not to think of Tilly & Co. as “those crazy kids.” But their music is unlike anything around, and the large crowd this afternoon seemed charmed.
Afterthoughts: The tap thing might sound like a gimmick, but it’s thoroughly integrated with the group’s songs.
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The Buzzcocks
Artist: The Buzzcocks
Hometown: Manchester, U.K.
Venue: SXSW Live at the Convention Center
Pre-show buzz: Rare chance to see punk pioneers
High point: “Ever Fallen in Love?”
Low point: Didn’t play the tune everybody probably wanted to hear, “What Do I Get?” If you’re going to sell a punk classic for TV advertisements, the least you can do is play it live.
Post-show buzz: “That’s it?”
Afterthoughts: A set less than 15 minutes long is short even by punk standards. The climate-controlled TV-studio setup in the Convention Center was better than getting shunted off into the bleachers at Emo’s, but if they play a set this short there, they’ll be pelted with beer bottles.
Peter, Bjorn and John
Artists: Peter, Bjorn and John
Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden
Venue: Pitchfork party at Emo’s
Pre-show buzz: Buzz band is contender for most gigs booked during SXSW 2007
High point: “Objects of My Affection,” a bouncy tune (with a whistling solo!) on which the boys were joined by a guest bongoist; the tune inspired more dancing than seen at most SXSW day parties.
Low point: After announcing (maybe presumptuously, but in good faith) “Thanks, we have one more song for you,” the soundman politely but firmly declared that they did not.
Afterthoughts: It was astounding to see lines down the block trying to get into a set by a band that had already played at least a half-dozen sets this week — and to see a band whose energy had yet to flag, whose voices weren’t hoarse, and who were only barely (making a joke while introducing “Start to Melt”) bothered by lugging that gear around so much in the Texas heat.
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Rwake
Artist: Rwake
Hometown: Little Rock, Ark.
Venue: Room 710, midnight late Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Truly psychotic sounding Southern sludge metal that seems to get both more detailed and more savage with each album. “Voices from Omens,” their fourth, is a career peak. They utterly destroyed at last year’s SXSW.
High point: While everyone in the band sported the truly gnarly dreadlocks common to crust-metal bands the world over, sampler player/vocalist B. simply had one large lock coming from her head. It looked like a tail and it is entirely possible there are things living in it. B., crouched on the ground and screaming into a mike, proved an intriguing foil for singer C.T.
Low point: I’m gonna see B.’s dreadlock coming at me in my dreams.
Post-show buzz: It’s entirely possible they opened a gate to hell.
Afterthoughts: The deep South has produced some of the scariest heavy metal of modern times. Bands such as Richmond, Va.’s Buzzoven and North Carolina’s Corrosion of Conformity paved the way for these folks, who really do look like they’ve buried a body or two in their day. It’s profoundly ugly music capable of great catharsis and, therefore, great beauty.
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Jesu
Artist: Jesu
Hometown: Birmingham, England
Venue: Emo’s Annex, 11:30 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: It was as deafening as their guitar buzz, impressive, considering the first few dates of this tour, their American debut, were bagged due to visa problems.
High point: “Tired Of Me,” the first song on their excellent “Silver” EP, played at ear-splitting volume; frontdude Justin Broadrick’s old-school head-neck-torso thrashes, also known as “the drinking bird dance;” the fact that Broadrick — who has been making extreme metal history since he was about 16 — looks like a first-grade teacher.
Low point: The fact that it didn’t go on for another hour.
Post-show buzz: “YEAAHHH! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!”
Afterthoughts: Part of the Hydrahead records showcase, Jesu’s doomy, wide-screen, almost ambient metal owes as much to guitar bands such as My Bloody Valentine as Broadrick’s earlier project Godfesh. It’s a sheets of sound thing, massive amp hum forged into melodies and riffs of often overwhelmingly grace. Magnificent.
The Bird and the Bee
Artist: The Bird and the Bee
Hometown: Los Angeles
Venue: Opal Divine’s Freehouse, 1 a.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: A somewhat unlikely fit for the venerable Blue Note label, singer-bassist Inara George and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin scored a left-field dance-club hit with the ironic ‘(Expletive) Boyfriend.’
High point: George’s voice sounds airy and light on recordings, but she’s an astute and supple vocalist, as well as a charismatic frontwoman who doesn’t let her natural glamour get in the way of a good laugh. On the surface, the songs have the unabashed sensuality of ’60s French pop, but Kurstin’s jazz training give the keyboards a sophisticated twist. In the arrangements, you can hear sly echoes of everything from Michel Legrand to Burt Bacharach to Van Dyke Parks to the Roches.
Low point: The band got a late start as it took a while to get the monitors adjusted properly. As George said, ‘SXSW is fun, but it’s a sound maze.’
Post-show buzz: The crowd probably would have been bigger at an earlier hour, but everybody seemed energized once the music started.
Afterthoughts: An intricate sound difficult to pull off live, but they did it, and were as much fun to watch as to hear.
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Bloc Party
Artist: Bloc Party
Hometown: London
Venue: Stubb’s, midnight Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Bloc Party was a SXSW buzz-band two years ago. This year they were out to prove that they are not a flash-in-the-pan by playing only one SXSW performance as part of a world tour supporting their second full-length, “A Weekend In The City.”
High point: When bassist Gordon Moakes began playing the irresistibly moving bass line to “Positive Tension,” the crowd started — and couldn’t stop — dancing.
Bonus points: Bloc Party played a healthy dose of songs from “A Weekend In The City” and their new songs proved stronger under the scrutiny of the live show microscope than they sound recorded. The South London boys have cleared the infamous sophomore slump hurdle.
Post-show buzz: When Bloc Party has the engines of all four members firing together, they take hold of an audience’s collective consciousness and transcend time and space. It’s rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s also dance music that can make even the most jaded foot-tapper lose his (or her) inhibitions and just bug-out.
Afterthoughts: Singer/guitarist Kele Okereke exclaimed that this was the band’s fifth performance at Stubb’s, but methinks he has miscounted by one or two shows (possibly referring to their fifth trip to Austin). Bloc Party’s performance at SXSW 2007 was not sold out. SXSW officials could have sold $20 tickets to die-hard fans (as they’ve done at venues in the past) considering the club was nowhere close to capacity. Although their buzz has died down, the band is actually performing more solid, more inspired shows than they ever have.
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Seoul Electric Band
Artist: Seoul Electric Band
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Venue: Day show at Austin City Hall’s outdoor plaza, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Cultural ambassadors set the stage with a short exhibit of traditional dance and drumming.
High point: The particularly enthusiastic applause for “The Cat’s Hometown Song” was augmented by the belching engine of a passing trailer truck.
Low point: “I’d Like to Follow You,” a tepid reggae-ish tune that was followed by a Hendrix-influenced instrumental recorded for a video-game soundtrack.
Post-show buzz: The crowd — preschoolers, businesspeople, and apparently proud Korean-Americans — contained a lot of folks who probably won’t see many actual SXSW showcases, and the unjaded, friendly reception to this mildly psychedelic three-piece was refreshing.
Afterthoughts: How many SXSW artists include two songs about their pets in a single set list?
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Umbrellas
Artist: Umbrellas
Hometown: Norman, Okla.
Venue: Day show at Momo’s, Thursday
Pre-show buzz we didn’t know about beforehand: They didn’t make the official SXSW cut, but “Grey’s Anatomy” likes them enough to put their songs in the show.
High point: The keen sound of an antique Rhodes keyboard, propelling the band’s more upbeat songs.
Appearances can be deceptive department: Aside from the tidily groomed singer, you’d swear the hirsute, plaid-clad combo was a jam band, not a sensitively poppy indie group
Afterthoughts: No offense to singer/bandleader Scott Windsor, but after having gotten hooked on the Spinanesy “Again and Again” a few months ago, this writer was surprised to learn the vocalist wasn’t a woman.
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Everybody Else
Artist: Everybody Else
Hometown: Los Angeles
Venue: Day show at Momo’s, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Zilch, as far as official SXSW goes.
High point: Drummer decides to play keyboards while keeping time on his kit.
Low point: The lyric “You got the money that I want so bad / I like the rich girls.”
Post-show buzz: With their sleeveless T-shirts, face-obscuring bangs, and general Ocean Pacific-ness, pretty sure they were fielding offers from Tiger Beat.
Afterthoughts: The Cheap Trick- and Cars-influenced pop wasn’t exactly deep, but it wasn’t boring, either.
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The Gray Kid
Artist: The Gray Kid
Hometown: Los Angeles
Venue: Day show at the Belmont, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: White-boy hip-hopper has cool connections but not much exposure around here.
High point: Disappointed at low-wattage response from a crowd seated under umbrellas, he swore: “My rule next year, before signing up for a showcase, is no chairs.”
Low point: Trying to force a crowd response with a few too many up-close-and-personal interactions.
Post-show buzz: Having taken his friends out with him, there didn’t seem to be many people buzzing.
Afterthoughts: Hard to tell if the guy’s serious. Falsetto false-soul alternated with uninspired jeep-beat rap, all delivered by a guy wearing a vest and bandana with no shirt underneath. If this was irony, he’s a committed actor.
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Eliza Carthy
Artist: Eliza Carthy
Hometown: Whitby, U.K.
Venue: Visions, 9:10 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: The worthy offspring of British folk icons Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson is celebrated at home as both a traditional singer-violinist and folk innovator.
High point: Carthy’s powerful alto is as pure as rainwater and bracing as the sea air. The original songs were as charming as the traditional numbers and a Billy Bragg cover. She displayed a gorgeous sense of harmony both singing with her acoustic guitarist Aidan Curran on a tune of his, and playing violin on an instrumental duet.
Low point: The humidity caused her to spend a bit of time between songs getting her vintage guitar in tune, but her wry humor and easy rapport with the crowd made even tuning diverting.
Post-show buzz: Smiles all round.
Afterthoughts: Look for a new album of original material, ‘Dreams of Breathing Underwater,’ due in September.
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The Postmarks
Artist: The Postmarks
Hometown: Miami
Venue: Day party at the Belmont, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Precious, precise pop should make a lovely day-starter.
High point: Nobody died.
Low point: After soundcheck difficulties that stretched for ages and sometimes sounded like a musique concrète event, front woman Tim Yehezkely (yes, Tim’s a woman) understandably had a hard time getting in the spirit of things.
Post-show buzz: These guys are getting another chance later in the day, right?
Afterthoughts: The band started to recover as their cut-short set neared its end, but a horrible sound mix had the drums beating daydreamy synths to death, not to mention Yehezkely’s wispy vocals. Let’s hope the sound guy never got close to the big cast encasing the singer’s injured leg.
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The Apples in Stereo
Artist: The Apples in Stereo
Hometown: Denver
Venue: Day party at Speakeasy, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Indie pop darlings have first new album in five years.
High point: The new album’s “Energy,” less production-sparkly than the album version and more, you know, energetic.
Low point: No appearance by respected television pundit Stephen Colbert, who recently used Apples frontman Robert Schneider as musical cheerleader in his grudge match against The Decemberists.
Highlights of stage decor: The bassist’s “Police Line: Do Not Cross” guitar strap; the star-shaped lamp, made of fused plastic pebbles, atop a keyboard amp.
Post-show buzz: Who has time? The band had to get across town for a KUT drop-in and a live performance at the “Austin City Limits” studio for Seattle radio station KEXP. Judging from the tight set here, radioland didn’t know how lucky it was about to be.
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Bob Mould
Artist: Bob Mould
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Venue: Buffalo Billiards, 9 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Bob’s just coming back to Austin to get a coffee at Flightpath
High point: For Bob, getting that coffee at his old neighborhood coffee house. For everybody else, hearing “Celebrated Summer.”
Low point: Really hard to keep that thing in tune when you bang it that hard.
Post-show buzz: Nice guy, posed for pictures.
Afterthoughts: Former Austinite and indie rock god Mould played one tune off a record that he promised would be out in August that would be — surprise — “kinda dark.”
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Say Hi to Your Mom
Artist: Say Hi to Your Mom
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Venue: Buffalo Billiards, 8 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Quietly crafting guitar-based alt-rock records in the spaces between influential bands such as Hum and Death Cab For Cutie.
Most humorously emo lyric: “We can play Pac Man or go to the library. Or we can order Pad Thai without the MSG.”
High point: When singer/guitarist Eric Elbogen rocked his sweet black Fender Jaguar guitar under the blissful sounds of his melancholy indie rock coo during one of the band’s best songs, “Sad, But Endearingly So.”
On point: One guitarist, one keyboardist and one drummer: Say Hi To Your Mom’s bass player-less rock ‘n’ roll hits the mark on your heart. And their keyboardist, Nouela, plays all the right bass notes with her left hand.
Post-show buzz: Elbogen has talent. His songs possess a sense of humor without being overly campy. How many other folks do you find writing songs about video games and vampires while allowing their lyrics to sound crestfallen and poignant? Check out their most recent release, “Impeccable Blahs.”
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Stax 50 Revue
Show: Stax 50th Revue
Hometown: Memphis, Tenn.
Venue: Antone’s, 7:30 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: 50th birthday celebration of legendary soul label.
High point: Eddie Floyd singing “my national anthem,” “Knock on Wood,” and getting so into it that, even after the fan he wanted to pull onstage demurred, he came back later and insisted.
Low point: A line that stretched out of sight as early as an hour before showtime.
Sartorial notes: The Stax frontmen made a fashion statement: William Bell in killer pinstripes; Eddie Floyd in a suit made of fabric so shimmery it must have been extraterrestrial, and Isaac Hayes, too frail to sing much but looking regal in a flowing red robe.
Afterthoughts: The vocal sets were short but awfully sweet, with Bell’s aching “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” Floyd on “Soul Man” and everyone sharing “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” But Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn and the cucumber-cool Booker T. Jones were the bedrock, men who played on innumerable classics and were in fine form here.
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Aqualung
Artist: Aqualung
Hometown: South London, U.K.
Venue: Stubb’s, 9 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Matt Hale, aka Aqualung, started his musical career early, writing tunes on his family’s piano at the age of 4. Thirty-one years later, he is known for his sophisticated songwriting, featured on “Scrubs,” “The O.C.” and that enticing Volkswagen Beetle commercial. Intimate, sensitive and smooth, Hale will likely have his fair share of female attention for the night.
High point: A steady buildup of an epic, electric keyboard, stomping bass and moody vocals that sound like a walk in the rain — he’s channeling Jeff Buckley, all right.
Low point: The ugly dissonance of an experimental scratching through the end of a song. Didn’t need that.
Post-show buzz: True fans felt like they had just had an intimate conversation with Hale.
Afterthoughts: It would be nice if the foamy commercial success doesn’t go to his head because 10 years from now, it would be better to see Hale at a concert hall than at an arena. Then again, he has the voice for both.
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Oxbow
Artist: Oxbow
Hometown: San Francisco
Venue: Emo’s Annex, 8:30 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Oxbow have been making extremely melodramatic, somewhat avant-garde heavy rock for roughly 10,000 years. (Actually, only since about 1990, but boy howdy, it feels like 10,000). Every year they come to SXSW, completely slay and go home. Their songs are complicated, interesting, threatening-sounding and involve a five-string fretless electric bass, one of the most nonthreatening instruments ever made. No idea how they pull that one off.
High point: Dangerously charismatic (and sometimes plain dangerous) vocalist Eugene Robinson is fond of taping his ears up like a street fighter (he has written articles on grappling and extreme fighting). He sings and gesticulates like the proverbial man possessed. He is also fond of stripping down to his drawers and repeatedly fondling his crotch while singing. There is also a better than even chance that the underwear will disappear sometime during the set. This did not happen this time around.
Low point: See also high point.
Post-show buzz: Reminded everyone that Oxbow can be an amazing band that will never, ever get their due. They will continue to make often-excellent records that will be utterly ignored by no more than a cult. They’re the Albert Brooks of avant-metal. Also, they had more than four pieces of merch this time around, which was nice.
Afterthoughts: What, no nudity? Is Austin suddenly the capital of Utah or something?
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The Chairs of Perception (the Urinals)
Artist: The Chairs of Perception (formerly the Urinals)
Hometown: Los Angeles
Venue: Beerland, 5 p.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Almost nil, considering the band was added that day. Word got around fast.
High point: Launched in the late ’70s, the Urinals were one of America’s primal post-punk bands, translating punk’s loud-fast-rules vibe into something brainier, tighter and more minimalist — a bit like Wire in England, but funnier. They have been ripped off by generations of bands that have no idea they are ripping off the Urinals. So hearing these cats play the Urinals classic ‘Ack Ack Ack’ was pretty boss.
Low point: Other than some bass amp troubles and backward-baseball-capped frat dudes in the front, none.
Post-show buzz: Everyone had just seen the Urinals (excuse me, the Chairs of Perception), for free, after an afternoon of solid but not legendary thrash bands. The audience was, in short, pleased.
Afterthoughts: Completely worth stopping by Beerland in the middle of the day.
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The Hazey Janes
Artist: The Hazey Janes
Hometown: Dundee, U.K.
Venue: Homeslice Pizza, 6ish, Thursday
Pre-show buzz: I was headed to my car and heard something so rocking, I forgot I needed to go home.
High point: You name it. Guitarist Andrew Mitchell and guitarist/mini-keyboardist Alice Marra both have wonderful voices, and their harmonies are superb. The rhythm section is melodic as well as super-tight. The stellar material ranges from pure Big Star-style power pop to vintage California country and pop to outright rockers full of curveballs. Never a dull moment.
Low point: There probably won’t be too many more chances to see them play for free in back of pizza parlors.
Post-show buzz: You rarely see such a rapt audience at one of these afternoon bashes. A line for CDs formed as soon as the band stopped playing.
Afterthoughts: No wonder the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris was willing to guest on the band’s album, ‘Hotel Radio.’ Catch their official showcase at Maggie Mae’s Rooftop, 11 p.m. Saturday. Go, go.
Lions in the Street
Artist: Lions In the Street
Hometown: Vancouver, B.C.
Venue: Brush Square Park. 3 p.m. Wednesday
High point: A set-ending guitar jam on “You’re Gonna Lose” that suggested a Canadian Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Low point: Hungry crowd seemed more intent on loading up at the buffet than cheering on this dynamic band.
Post-show buzz: A short, but sweet set that makes me want to catch the full-on showcase at Club DeVille Saturday at midnight. The first great band I saw at SXSW this year.
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The Ends
Artist: The Ends
Hometown: Austin
Venue: Beerland, midnight Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: The Ends have built their musical house with vintage British punk rock bricks from 1978.
High point: Vocalist Ian Shults channeled the ghost of the Clash’s Joe Strummer in his vocal delivery. Faux British accents can quickly become annoying in the wrong hands, but Shults pulls off his London Calling-influence with snotty, bratty, bombastic aplomb like a spastic, who-knows-where-it’s-going-to-land atom bomb.
On point: The rhythm section of bassist Monte Williams and drummer Venom delivers rock ‘n’ roll thunder, song after song.
Post-show buzz: Anywhere in the world that there is an angst-ridden teenager, there is an Ends fan waiting to discover his (or her) new favorite band.
Afterthoughts: These Austin boys are the electric paddles on the chest of a beautiful punk rock corpse, shocking it back to life.
The Bravery
Artist: The Bravery
Hometown: New York
Venue: Stubb’s, 1 a.m. Thursday
Pre-show buzz: Brandon Flowers of The Killers once belittled lead singer Sam Endicott for being in a ska band. Ironically, The Bravery sounds just like the Killers — only better.
High point: As if wearing black suits and riding speakers like defiant surfers weren’t enough, their sugar-rushed tunes energized the exhausted crowd, leaving them craving their next sugar-rushed album, “The Sun and the Moon.”
Low point: Starting half an hour late is never a good thing … but then again neither is playing an hour-long set through a neglected sound system.
Post-show buzz: It’s no wonder that Flowers apologized to Endicott, admitting that his jealousy was motivation for his insult. Let’s just say that if the two bands had a face-off for the catchiest post-punk-influenced dance rock, The Bravery would win without having to dress up like defiant school boys.
Summer Wardrobe
Artist: Summer Wardrobe
Hometown: Austin
Venue: Mother Egan’s, Guitartown/Conqueroo party, 7ish Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: They like to call their sound ‘ambient country.’
High point: Pedal steel guitar that creates swaths of atmosphere, or even mimics an organ, and a slow, pretty, surf-inflected electric guitar solo that suddenly swooped into a feedback squall.
Low point: The vocals are more limited than the instrumental side of the band.
Post-show buzz: More people on the deck schmoozing than near the stage listening.
Afterthoughts: Appealing, but needs something to go with the ambience to avoid serving as background music.
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Hank IV
Artist: Hank IV
Hometown: San Francisco, Calif.
Venue: Lava Lounge Patio, midnight Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Twangy twin-guitar punk with a reputation as a kicking live act.
High point: The frontman’s jittery dancing and extreme facial expressions were especially startling given that in rare moments of repose he looks like, maybe, a comptroller.
Low point: Vocals more shouted than sung became monotonous after a few songs.
Post-show buzz: The crowd was small, but it was paying closer attention than at some bigger shows, and one new fan walked out the door singing a wacky chorus about a dirty poncho.
Afterthoughts: Fun in limited doses.
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Lily Allen
Artist: Lily Allen
Hometown: Hammersmith, U.K.
Venue: Stubb’s, 11 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Loads of hype stateside for this young British star after her recent “Saturday Night Live” appearance — there was a long line outside when the show started.
High point: The old-fashioned, girlish sweetness of her voice — Louis Prima would have loved her — contrasted pertly with the ska- and dancehall-influenced arrangements of her fizzy tunes.
Low point: Painfully loud bass mostly drowned out the horn section and obscured Allen’s cheeky, comical lyrics.
Post-show buzz: Allen joked about being bored with singing her British hit “Smile,” but promised “For you, Austin, I’ll be excited.” She sounded bored. Many in the audience looked bored and was busy texting friends or checking their schedules.
Afterthoughts: She has a distinctive sound and good stage presence, but so far, more flash than substance.
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Kev Brown
Artist: Kev Brown
Hometown: Baltimore, Md.
Venue: Zero Degrees, 12:45 a.m., Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Kev Brown really was a victim of bad scheduling. His scheduled set fell at the same time as two other hot urban showcases — Saul Williams for the intellectual crowd and Devin the Dude for the blunted-out party set. To make matters worse, his showcase was bumped up half an hour from 1:15 to 12:45, leaving him playing to a practically empty room as his fans showed up late, missing his set.
High point: The track “Albany” is a heartbreaker. Kev’s segue into “Electric Relaxation” by the Tribe was particularly nice.
Low point: Kev was visibly dejected by the empty room and his disappointment was palpable. He was off the stage by 1:15 and the entire show petered out almost immediately afterward.
Afterthoughts: Kev’s a talented dude with unique style of soulful hip-hop. The few folks that did show up were into his sound. I hope it works out better for him next time.
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The Holmes Brothers
Artist: The Holmes Brothers
Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Venue: The Parish, 10 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Hard-working R&B trio is getting good airplay for its new album featuring surprising covers of Cheap Trick, Nick Lowe and others.
High point: Was it turning “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding” into a rousing gospel number, or making the overworked gospel standard “Amazing Grace” as searing as a raw Delta blues?
Low point: Is it medically advisable to get this many chills up your spine in the space of 40 minutes?
Post-show buzz: Rapturous.
Afterthoughts: One of the tightest groups in any genre, the Holmes Brothers cross boundaries effortlessly, and you won’t hear more stirring vocal harmonies anywhere. Plus, Wendell Holmes is one of the great unsung guitar heroes.
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Charlie Louvin
Artist: Charlie Louvin
Hometown: Manchester, Tenn.
Venue: The Parish, 8 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Country musicians don’t get much more legendary than the surviving half of the influential Louvin Brothers, a near-octogenarian whose new solo album features everyone from George Jones to Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.
High point: A rousing, singalong revival of the Louvin Brothers’ “Great Atomic Power,” with a wry introduction about the song’s renewed relevance.
Low point: Acoustic guitarist Diane Berry’s lovely vocals were almost too strong at times.
Post-show buzz: A big crowd of reverent fans went away happy.
Afterthoughts: Louvin’s weathered voice is as wonderful a vehicle as ever, and his modesty, humor and low-key charm proved irresistible.
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The Time Flys
Artist: The Time Flys
Hometown: Oakland, Calif.
Venue: Club DeVille , 11:15 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Standard-bearers for a very certain type of glammy, pre-hardcore punk rock; records are outstanding examples of same.
High point: Singer Sir Eric “the Masher” Von Ravenson’s magnificent Cuban-heel boots, skintight white pants and spectacular ’70s babysitter hair. Erin Error’s ginormous drum sound, high-octane rama-lama riffs that sound straight out of CBGB’s golden age.
Low point: Starting a little early; the growing realization that they really don’t seem to give a toss for music made after the Carter administration; fashion sense that high-concept power pop/punk revivalists Redd Kross played out 15 years ago.
Post-show buzz: Hard to read; everyone seemed pretty smashed.
Afterthoughts: The Time Flys play a dangerous game, that of recombinant revivalists - a little glam, a little punk, some garage and other junk. One moment they sound like alchemists, another they sound as derivative as any other tribute band. That said, the very grammar of rock is the sound of putting different pieces together; the trick is to hide your sources well or mistranslate them so drastically that they come out sounding like something else entirely. The Time Flys don’t really do either; while they would sound perfect on a bill between the Voidoids and Cheap Trick, it isn’t exactly the sound of young America.
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The Hudsons
Artist: The Hudsons
Hometown: Austin
Venue: BD Riley’s, 11 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-Show Buzz: Austin’s friendliest alternative folk band since 2001.
High Point: “It Just Takes One” and “The Shield” provided ample proof of their fertile songwriting creavity.
Low Point: The crowd that was more engaged in cell phone coversations than in the product of 20 strings. Normally, the place would be dead quiet during “Innocencia.”
Post-Show Buzz: No wonder they copped best folk group at the Austin Music Awards earlier in the evening. Hard work has indeed paid off for the Hudsons. Now the wait begins for their third album, “Spend Forever Going Nowhere.”
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The Faceless Werewolves
Artist: The Faceless Werewolves
Hometown: Austin
Venue: Beerland, 11 p.m., Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: A noisy, trashy, distortion-laced, in-your-face power trio with a great band name and a debut album recorded last year at Austin’s notorious studio, the Bubble.
High point: When guitarist Baldomero Valdez dropped to his knees, shredding his guitar while singer/guitarist Kelsey Wickliffe played inspired Electro Harmonics Cry Baby/wah-wah pedal white-noise squall and squeak.
Low points: The vocals, hands down. Wickliffe rocked her aqua blue left-handed Fender Mustang like a champ, but singing is supposed to be enjoyable for a listener. The Werewolves’ vocals weren’t horrible, but a little tweaking could speed them to the top, bypassing the medium-cool of mediocrity, and make the band one of the “greats” instead of just “pretty good.”
Post-show buzz: The band’s track currently on KROX 101.5’s The Next Big Thing is hot with a capital H. Likewise, the band members are young and attractive (which is always a plus for marketing purposes within Generation YouTube). These kids met and formed circa 2001 while in college in Denton, so don’t let their carefree cool-pose fool you: the Werewolves stage a throbbing live show.
Afterthoughts: When the Werewolves morph their three-part vocals into harmonies — instead of three-part screams — the band is unusual enough to walk the line with the White Stripes and Royal Trux.
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Cody Chesnutt
Artist: Cody Chesnutt
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Venue: Exodus, 10 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Half an hour before the show, uncredentialed civilians were breezing into the venue with a $15 cover, but by the time Chesnutt took the stage, the club was nearly at capacity. The crowd included curious onlookers and hard-core fans.
High point: Chesnutt’s voice burst from him with the beautiful spiritual clarity of a man possessed by the mission of his music. The social relevance of his work was hammered home when he led the crowd in a riff on the Dead Prez standard “Bigger Than Hip-Hop.”
Low point: I have a hard time with artists who take themselves too seriously. Chesnutt explained at the beginning of his set that he wanted the audience to hold any applause until the end of his set and then spent a good three to four minutes fussing with sound and waiting on his trumpet player.
Post-show buzz: The packed house remained rapt throughout Chesnutt’s set, a beautiful gospel-oriented testimonial delivered directly from the singer’s heart.
Afterthoughts: I was a little surprised to see Chesnutt listed in the SXSW guide as a singer-songwriter when I’d always thought of him as more of an Anthony Hamilton-style R&B cat. After I saw his set, from a meditative performance art piece to Marvin Gaye-esque social outcry, that classification makes sense.
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The Future of the Left
Artist: Future of the Left
Hometown: Cardiff, UK
Venue: Emo’s, Jr. , 9:15 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: Follow-up band to Mclusky, who were a big, noisy deal in the UK and completely failed to find an audience in the States before imploding in ‘05.
High point: Ex-Mclusky guitarist Andrew Falkous’ potent bellow; his guitar had fewer than six strings and still made quite the racket.
Low point: Starting a little late, bass riffs that may actually owe royalties to veteran noise rockers Shellac.
Post-show buzz: Everyone seemed to love it, especially their fellow Welshpersons.
Afterthoughts: Further proof that the renaissance of ’90s-style noise rock is here and now, a renaissance that Mclusky were a little early for, frankly. Loud, messy, simple songs played with boozy aggression are welcome anytime.
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The Grass
Artist: The Grass
Hometown: Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Venue: The Copa, 10 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-Show Buzz: Being Canadian hasn’t stopped this army of Nova Scotians from sounding like the second coming of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
High Point: Half way through their first single, “Oranges,” realizing with admiration: “Hey, these guys are just kids.”
Low Point: Half way through the show, remembering the third-place winner at a high school battle of the bands.
Post-Show Buzz: The Grass should cut their name, trim it down to the Sprouts, not because they’re bad, but because they still have a bit to grow before a critic like me can mow them with impunity.
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Nervous Hospital
Artist: Nervous Hospital
Hometown: Austin
Venue: Beerland, 8:50 p.m., Wednesday
Pre-show buzz: A supergroup made up of unsung heroes from the best of Austin’s punk rock underground, including members of the Chumps, the Motards and the Pink Swords.
High point: Every time the band dropped out the guitars and broke down the rhythm to just the ear-splitting pulse of bassist Ryan Brush and new drummer Damien Shores, the audience began to move, move, move to the primal rush of sound.
Bonus points: Vocalist (and would-be double for the Incredible Hulk) Sean McGowan bravely adding poppy sing-along choruses and musically studied middle-eight bridges to Nervous Hospital’s songs, while disguising the glorious songwriting under muscular power-chords and Black Flag-meets-the Misfits gravel-mouthed solipsist lyrics.
Post-show buzz: Nervous Hospital has the potential to be a break-out band from Austin’s over-crowded punk rock scene - the Riverboat Gamblers clawed to the top of the heap a few years back.
Afterthoughts: McGowan’s old band, the Chumps, has picked up the “legendary” tag since its demise. Nervous Hospital expands upon the Chumps’ musical map, providing rock-solid songs that are better than 99 percent of the music coming out of the scene that birthed them. If their charisma can be captured on a full-length record, look for Nervous Hospital’s audience to grow. While the punk rock canon often is guilty of being derivative, Nervous Hospital breaks the mold by not being afraid to write songs that are catchy; the grit and grime of the underground scene remains within a memorable chorus. Be warned: Nervous Hospital songs soil your ears and do not wash out of your consciousness easily.
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‘Forfeit’
The presence of Gregory Itzin, who’s so delicious as the disgraced President Logan on TV’s “24,” drew us to this heist drama. Not suprisingly, he’s also wonderful here, as are fellow TV vets Wayne Knight (“Seinfeld’s” Newman) and John Aylward (Dr. Anspaugh from “ER”). Unfortunately, the scheme that drives the movie is so elaborate, it’s hard to maintain interest. Armored car guard Frank (Billy Burke, who’s also appeared on “24”) is up to something, and it involves his old girlfriend (another “ER”-er, Sherry Stringfield). Burke and Stringfield aren’t as compelling as the supporting cast, but that might be because their characters are ill-defined. And as good as Itzin is, his character, a TV preacher, feels dated — like something that might have been provocative in the ’80s. Andrew Shea, a film professor at the University of Texas, directs competently, but the plot never really builds much tension. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and noon March 16, Dobie.
Read an interview with director Andrew Shea on The M.O.
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‘Itty Bitty Titty Committee’
Coming off a disastrous stab at taboo-tweaking in “The Quiet” and a run of TV directing gigs including “The L-Word,” director Jamie Babbit takes aim at the patriarchy in “Itty,” starring a misfit-militant crew reminiscent of a John Waters film but without the laughs. Teen lesbian Anna, disappointed in love, joins a crew of feminist protesters hoping to hook up with sexy Sadie, only to find enough stymied romance to fill, well, a season’s worth of TV soap opera. Billed as a comedy, the film is more light and romping than funny, painting its would-be revolutionaries with such broad strokes that the merits of their cause are irrelevant. Likeable leads keep things afloat, but the film’s throwaway tone doesn’t live up to the more credible anti-establishment stance of the bands (Le Tigre, Sleater-Kinney) on the soundtrack. 7:15 p.m. Sunday, Alamo Downtown; 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and 4:30 p.m. March 16, Alamo South.
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‘Pretty in the Face’
A reminder that coming to terms with sexuality often takes longer than the awkward years of adolescence, “Pretty” plays a teen boy’s curiosity against that of a young woman wondering how her already-established sexual life compares to those of the more worldly people around her. Shot with mostly novice actors and a one-man video crew that results in some distractingly mismatched footage, the movie gets some intimate moments just right — a couple awkwardly skirting around the issue of sexual fantasy, for instance — while having dangerously little to say about some of the other big topics (like American obesity) it wants to address. A strong performance by Meagan Moses keeps us curious about the story, which is undercooked but has strong moments. 4:30 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. Thursday, Alamo Downtown.
Read an interview with director Nate Meyer on The M.O.
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‘The Prisoner, or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair’
“The Prisoner,” a new doc by “Gunner Palace” team Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein, will rightly be a must-see for some simply by virtue of its chilling story: the firsthand account of an Iraqi journalist captured in a mistaken raid, then imprisoned more than half a year — most of it in Abu Ghraib — despite his obvious innocence. Content isn’t particularly well served by form, in this case: Almost the whole story comes from the victim’s mouth, in a casually shot interview that is only corroborated late in the film by an American soldier. Frequent comic book-style illustrations flesh out the tale, but their use is haphazard and often cosmetic — an effort to increase the aesthetic appeal of a story that ought to have American viewers squirming in their seats all by itself. 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Convention Center; 11 a.m. Wednesday, Alamo Downtown.
Read an interview with directors Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein on The M.O.
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‘Silver Jew’
A musical travelogue boasting more than its share of quirky ingredients, “Silver Jew” might sound like this year’s “Genghis Blues.” It isn’t, thanks to a homemade casualness and lack of ambition — but it should please curious fans of the Silver Jews, whose songwriter/singer David Berman has spent years inviting curiosity. Berman, a recent convert to Judaism, has decided to overcome his aversion to live performance in a big way: with a world tour. Two stops in Israel are chronicled in home-movie fashion here, allowing us to witness Berman’s intense but somewhat addled fascination with holy sites as well as his surprise at being greeted, so far from home, by hordes of very knowledgeable fans. Under an hour long, the movie introduces themes that could have made for more widespread appeal but doesn’t have the resources to expand on them satisfactorily. 11:30 a.m. Sunday and 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Alamo South.
Read an interview with director Michael Tully on The M.O.
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‘The Price of Sugar’
Here’s one for audiences who think there are no fresh outrages left in the world, or no heroes worth rooting for: This doc travels to the Dominican Republic, where not far from tourist-friendly beaches an entire industry rests on what is practically slave labor. Sugar plantations draw workers from Haiti with the promise of good jobs, then strip them of their ID documents so they’re stuck working for 90 cents a day (in credit at the company store, no less). As narrator Paul Newman tells it, the sole challenger to this system is Father Christopher Hartley, a man who has defied taboos to bring food and doctors to workers’ squalid villages and help them organize against the employers who keep them under armed guard (employers, by the way, who reportedly enjoy a sweetheart trade deal with the U.S., getting twice the world-market price for their sugar). 7:30 p.m. Sunday and 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dobie.
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‘Fall from Grace’
Right-wing provocateur Ann Coulter recently blurted the favorite word of the Rev. Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., a small incubator of hate, fear and biblical misunderstanding. The f-bomb that Phelps (and even his tiny grandkids) likes to spit so biliously refers, of course, to homosexuals, people who are the undisputed agents of Satan, Phelps declaims. It’s they, he preaches, who made God so mad that he caused the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and is killing our troops in Iraq as retribution for America’s tolerance of gays and lesbians. In this fair, troubling and infuriating look at Phelps and his flock — a minicult composed exclusively of family members — doc-maker K. Ryan Jones lets Phelps rage on, looping his rope of bigoted doomsaying rhetoric into a just-so noose for himself. It’s ugly, but reasonable minds crisply upend the perverted logic that leads Phelps and family to gleefully protest at military funerals waving signs that say “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “Thank God for 9/11.” Jones’ coup is contacting two of Phelps’ estranged children, who describe growing up with a “sick,” “scary,” “loveless” “rage-aholic.” 4 p.m. Saturday, 6:30 p.m. Monday and 9 p.m. Wednesday, Alamo South.
Read an interview with director K. Ryan Jones on The M.O.
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‘Manufacturing Dissent’
“Manufacturing Dissent” is vigorously fair, unfailingly polite (made by Canadians, could it be otherwise?) and thoroughly evenhanded. Michael Moore, the subject of the documentary by producer-directors Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine, could learn a lot from it.
As the filmmakers follow Moore on a college speaking tour, repeated requests for an interview go unanswered. Old criticisms and critics pop up: Rock critic and journalist Dave Marsh is still mad Moore never paid him for freelance pieces; Moore actually grew up in a suburb of Flint, Mich.; his films fudge chronology and are selective of facts; he’s a jerk for ambushing Charlton Heston and others; he stays at the Four Seasons while his crew stays at the Motel 6.
Yeah, we’ve heard it all, but it’s a devastating assemblage of facts. And there’s a wonderful moment between Moore’s handlers and the documentary crew that reveals the reprehensible one to be exactly what Al Franken accused Rush Limbaugh of being: a big fat hypocrite. And a serial liar. (UT film professor and former producer’s representative John Pierson is among those interviewed.) 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Paramount; 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. March 17, Alamo South.
Read an interview with directors Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine on The M.O.
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‘The Lookout’
This year’s fest kicks off with a chilly slice of Rehabilitation Noir, one that echoes former SXSW-er “Memento” in content if not form or style. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris, a high-school hockey champ whose charmed life U-turns when a traffic mishap leaves him brain-injured and barely able to master life’s little routines. Resentful of his plight and easily manipulated, he’s the perfect target for a heist crew that wants to exploit his position as a bank’s nighttime janitor. First-time director Scott Frank wrote good-time crime flicks “Out of Sight” and “Get Shorty,” but here goes for a slow-build tension, more Jim Thompson than Elmore Leonard, making viewers itch over how long it’ll take Chris to figure out he’s being used — and whether he’ll then be able to work around his limitations to get out of harm’s way. Jeff Daniels lightens things nicely as Chris’s rehab mentor, but not enough to betray “Lookout’s” pessimistic bent. 9 p.m. Friday, Paramount.
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‘Monkey Warfare’
A film for frustrated radicals and aspiring troublemakers, “Monkey Warfare” depicts the cost paid by those who romanticize revolution without condemning their cause. Set in a not-yet-gentrified district of Toronto, it finds Dan and Linda, a pair of housemates who clearly have a history — romantic? criminal? — that they’re trying to live down by eking out a cash-only existence selling other people’s trash. A sharp young newcomer, Susan, crosses Dan’s path and (in between selling him prodigious quantities of dope) shows an interest in his collection of revolutionary ephemera. Dan, barely in his 40s but talking like an embittered has-been, is simultaneously aroused by her curiosity and dismissive of her eagerness to put theory into practice. Does he know more than he lets on, or has age simply cured his belief that the world can be changed? “Warfare’s” production values suit its scrounger protagonists, and leads Don McKellar and Tracy Wright make the mysteriously burned-out housemates just enigmatic enough to keep you wondering where all this is going. 6:30 p.m. Friday, 9:30 p.m. Tuesday and 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Alamo South.
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‘Last Days of Left Eye’
You won’t find a more honest title at the festival: This documentary follows TLC rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes right up until the moments before her death in a 2002 car crash. Lopes was in Honduras on a spiritual retreat, and while there she was shooting a documentary about herself. Lauren Lazin, a veteran producer, director and writer for MTV, took the footage Lopes left behind and created a moving and eerie portrait of the star. The no-frills Lopes we see in the Honduran jungle looks like a different person from the glamorous performer we’re familiar with (though she’s even more luminous and beautiful), and she’s just as unadorned spiritually. She talks frankly about troubles with her ex Andre Rison (and she’s not sorry about burning down his house), her stint in rehab and, by turns, her dreams for the future and the sense that she’s doomed. This film — her last creative act — makes us all the more sorry she’s gone. 8 p.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. Wednesday, Paramount.
Read an interview with director Lauren Lazin on The M.O.
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‘Confessions of a Superhero’
And we thought it was the Hulk who had anger-management issues. Not so on Hollywood Boulevard, where legions of celebrity impersonators, many garbed as comic-book superheroes, pace the Walk of Fame awaiting the next shutterbug tourist. That’s where Austin-born Maxwell Allen poses valiantly as Batman and, when his notorious temper snaps, raises his voice at tourists who don’t tip. “We work for tips!” he shouts at the miserly. Allen is one in a quartet of superheroes cum struggling actors profiled in Matt Ogens’ utterly fascinating documentary about the rigors and indignities of the fame game. Allen, who appears to harbor a criminal past half-built on wishful fictions, joins a scrawny Superman (dweeby yet likable obsessive Christopher Lloyd Dennis), a guileless Wonder Woman (pretty country girl Jennifer Gehrt) and a humble Hulk (Joe McQueen, a bootstraps inspiration) for Ogens’ probing portrait of what it’s like to be human in an indifferent world. Gleaming still photos and artful interviews augment the rich scenes Ogens captures on the street and, sometimes, movingly, in these somewhat troubled characters’ minds. 1:45 Saturday and 9:45 p.m. Tuesday, Alamo Downtown; 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Convention Center.
