2016: A Year In Pictures

The more accurate title of this post would be 2016: The Year I Waited Nine Months to Post My SXSW Pictures, since that is where 99% of these shots are from. The remaining 1% are from New Year’s Eve 2015, taken too late to be included in last year’s round-up.

So, yeah, anyway, here they are, better super late than not at all, I guess?

Here’s the one from NYE:

IMG_9730 The Molly Ringwalds, Biloxi, MS, NYE 2015

SXSW was, by turns, glorious and exhausting. There is so much music, and so little time, and so many people. I was pleased to be there – to have been invited to be there, given the honor of a place on a panel, because honestly, otherwise, I would not have gone – but I did not really feel like I was among my people until the third day, when I walked into a grimy punk bar far from the main (festival) drag. At that point I was also so tired and people’d out I was about ready to just lie down on the (disgusting) floor and let the sea of noise wash over me.

Here are the pictures I took:

Day 1

IMG_0025
HarMar Superstar, who did one song before stomping off in the huff.

IMG_0031
CHVRCHES, dj-ing.

IMG_0048
Charlie Belle, at their first (official) SXSW.

IMG_0057
Lev

IMG_0064
David C. Clements, the man I drove two days to see. “Blowing the roof off” is a cliche, but he really did – his set was electric and incredible; the crowd was buzzing with interest afterwards.

Day 2

IMG_0076
Interrobang (?!), busking with a full horn section, including a tuba.

IMG_0078
Danie Ocean and the Soul Tide.

IMG_0084
BANDITS

IMG_0099
Deap Valley; I wasn’t feeling them at first, but they won me over.

IMG_0105
Matthew Vasquez

IMG_0111
Alberta Cross, who rocked so hard the lighting rig fell down. Thankfully nobody was injured.

IMG_0130
Wintersleep, whose album I had been listening to somewhat obsessively on the drive over.

IMG_0147
The Dirty Nil, who melted our faces and were rewarded with a pit. I have never been so pleased to have get out of the circle belling out and the center starting to spin.

Day 3

It was St. Patrick’s Day, and as they say in Ireland, “a fine soft day.” Translation: it was sort of chilly and damp outside for a while. Since my SXSW “plan” was basically “uhhhhh, I’m just going to show up and follow my ears to the good stuff?” I spent part of the day ducking in and out of mostly empty bars, and then a chunk of time slipping between showcases.

IMG_0151
The Schisms were the first to lure me in out of the rain.

IMG_0152
Then I followed the sound of the pipes to Capitol City Highlanders

IMG_0155
Rodgie and the Waters were next, and a totally refreshing change of pace.

IMG_0158
Everybody Sing: I liked the guitars.

IMG_0160
Unknown, but he sure did have some pipes.

IMG_0163
Conchúr White, from Silences, at the Northern Ireland showcase.

IMG_0165
Girls Names, bringing some gothy grity and edge to the NI showcase

IMG_0172
Back across the street to Voodoo Doughnut for Rusango Family, who brought propulsive rap from the west of Ireland.

IMG_0181
Back to the NI showcase for round two of David C. Clements, and it was just as electrifying the second time.

IMG_0186
Ciaran Lavery, who powered through a minor wardrobe malfunction and silenced a chattering room with just his voice and his guitar. He also managed to sum up the heartbreak of the Irish diaspora in one two minute song at the end, sung without the help of his guitar. It was sad, and sobering, and incredibly painfully lovely, all at once.

IMG_0211
Jealous of the Birds (Naomi Hamilton). Her own songs were pretty but didn’t especially grab me; then she wielded a cover of Heart Shaped Box like a weapon.

IMG_0237
Loretta Lynn, as sparkly and as fierce as ever.

IMG_0245
Liebling, the first band I saw after I had decamped to my natural habitat, aka a grimy punk bar far off the (festival) path.

IMG_0254
Basketball Shorts, singing songs about faithless pizzarias in a pit of darkness.

IMG_0261
Voirvoir, or: here is where I hit the wall, and went home.

Final thoughts: I’m glad I could get to SXSW at least once. Looking back through these pictures, I feel all warm and fuzzy about the whole thing, and also bemused. I mean, where else can you hopscotch between the cream of the Northern Irish folk-rock crop, propulsive rap from the West of Ireland, Loretta Lynn and art-punk-rock all in one day? It was exhausting on many levels and often aggravating but mostly it was a great time.

Plus I got to tell a room full of musicians that the secret to getting blog attention is “follow the damn directions” which, y’all, that really is half the battle. Other suggestions: don’t be tedious, or a pest; do some research; but mostly: just be who you are. Play what’s in your heart. Let loose that which brings you joy and don’t worry who you “sound like.”

And I was awakened every morning by someone playing Reveille on an actual bugle outside my hotel window.

You can’t do better than that, for real.

I won’t be at SXSW 2017. I may never go again. I’m hanging on to music blogging by the skin of my teeth. I’d say “blog more” will be my NYE resolution but wow would that ever be a waste of time. I guess all I can really say is that for now I’m still here, and still listening.

Lagniappe: This isn’t a musical picture and it’s not even one I took this year, but it’s my favorite picture from the crop I just uploaded: Dark Corridor to a Stormy Sea, Panama City Beach, December 2015.

IMG_9375

Three Songs From: Wintersleep

One of the ways I find new music is to go to the Soundcloud pages of labels of bands I like and see who else they have on their roster.

And thus I have stumbled over Wintersleep, who, like The Dirty Nil (scrappy little band of my heart, Frozen North division), are Canadian and signed to Dine Alone Records.

I am extremely late to the party – Wintersleep have been a band since 2001 and have won a Juno award! – but, you know, better late than not at all.

Their next record, The Great Detachment, will be out March 4, and they’re stopping through SXSW later in the month. Here’s a three song sampler, featuring Amerika, Santa Fe and Territory.

All three songs are solid; I’m particularly partial to Amerika because . . . because I feel like it’s been a really long time since I’ve heard song like this, a little bit anthemic, a little bit of sledgehammer running through the bottom. All I can tell you is I think I’ve listened to it five times in a row and I’m still a little bit confused by the lyrics, but I also mostly don’t care. I’m vibrating on their frequency and I like it.

I’m also especially fond of Territory, which is a little bit lighter, tonally, than Amerika, and is mostly a reminder to assert one’s authentic self: You’re not a factory. You’re not supposed to be, you’ve been told, the territory of anyone.