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The Crookes
I couldn’t help but think of Morrisey when The Crookes single “Chorus of Fools” first stole my heart. I guess I wasn’t that original, because The Crookes bio reads, “Influenced by the optimism of The Beatles walking down the airliner steps at New York airport in '64 and the melancholy of The Smiths waiting by the cemetery gates in Manchester in '84,The Crookes tap into 50 years of British pop for their sounds, and 100 years of British social history for their words.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
When reading a band’s bio, nine times out of ten there’s an “art-school-meets-guitars” moment in there somewhere. The “thing” that brought the band together. But meat and records; that is a new one.
That seems to be the way the menz in Let’s Wrestle bonded. Meat and records, dice and fruit cake, Twinkies and pretzels. It doesn’t matter. What does is the debut release on Merge Records, In The Court Of Wrestling Let’s, out soon after the dust settles from the British invasion at SXSW 2010.
Creating a SXSW playlist (by downloading select showcasing artist’s MP3s from sxsw.com/music) to carry with me on my iPod or iPhone has been a way for me to really get to know bands that are completely foreign to me—literally—prior to stepping foot on Austin soil. Listening to bands from all over the world that expand on the breadth of music that is SXSW, along with some of my favorites who also happen to be playing, has helped the planning process and brought rewards months after the last band has played and we all go home.
This year things are a bit different.
To say that Eyedea and Abilities’ latest accomplishment, By The Throat, (summer 2009, Rhymesayers), resides solely in the land of hip-hop is to say that that Africa is a country because that's what Sarah Palin read to you off her hand. For fans of the Minnesota duo, I may be preaching to choir here. For the rest, Eyedea (Micheal Larsen) & Abilities (Gregory “Max” Keltgen) has created an amalgamation based on the foundation of hip-hop, but with a New York No Wave edge.
This magical musical ride takes place not just within the streets and alleys of Eyedea’s lyrics, but inside the unexpected quirky bleeps, dirgy guitars and abstract, billowing beat-laden melodies that wrap around each other like velvet and barbed wire.
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After Eric Ronick (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar) and Than Luu (drums, vocals) formed the group in 2006, three years later their debut album, Rush, arrived in February of 2009. Irony? Not sure. But they were now on the road with Shiben (bass) and Alister Paxton (guitar, vocals) to put some miles on their latest creations.
There was a time when I would tell friends I was covering South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, TX, and I’d get a blank stare. Now I get a glare of envy. SXSW has been evolving and growing by leaps and bounds for a number of years now, to the point of becoming a household name in the world of music, film and interactive.
In 2010, the SXSW Film Festival will host 80 Film conference panels and 130 short films, which will keep people running from one to another starting Friday, March 12 through Saturday, March 20, 2010. And if you weren’t able to make it to Sundance or didn't have a spot at a Golden Globes table, you’ll have a chance to be in the same room with Quentin Tarantino during one of these panel sessions.
That’s the beauty of the SXSW festival—it’s for everyone. The film fanatic. The seasoned filmmaker or the newbie starting out. The actor/writer/filmmaker.
Read more: SXSW 2010 Film News – More Films, More Panels, and Quentin Tarantino
