Music Monday: Bootleg Casxio.

As you may or may not know, I tend to be less of an equal-opportunity music appreciator, and more of a band favoritist. A one (or two, or three) band kind of girl. A "band-aid," as Penny Lane called it in Almost Famous.

A "creepy stalker" if you will.

This is the reason I straight-up texted Casxio a few weeks ago after SXSW, and asked if they had any bootleg tracks they could send my way. And lo, they responded!

"Anticipation" is one of two they sent, and it is my favorite. It is on Casxio's soon-to-be-released EP, and I think it's a good song for a Saturday night. Or any night that needs a quick injection of sass.

"Anticipation"

One long, last farewell to SXSW 2010: Hole, WhoMadeWho, and Dominique Young Unique.

Reader, we are FINALLY FINISHED with our SXSW 2010 recap series!  Are you sad?  You're sad.  Stop crying.  Cowboy up.

Since assuming the role of in-house Austin Eavesdropper videographer, GARY! has dived* into his new duties with stunning aplomb. Here are the last four videos he shot during SXSW, of three very different acts.  First, the girl with the most cake.

Below is Courtney Love at the Perez Hilton party. I'm going to start with "Violet," because I love her commentary at the beginning. Girl's all class!


Also, "Celebrity Skin." God, doesn't this song take you back? In 7th grade I had this song on a mix(tape) right before "Seether" by Veruca Salt. Good times.


Moving on then, to WhoMadeWho.  Of the three bands included in this post, they are probably my favorite. GARY! describes them thusly:

"Really fun Danish band. They had an excellent sense of humor, and even did a weird impromptu song when one of their amps broke. Instead of just sit there waiting for it to be fixed (like most bands would), they continued to play while singing about their current equipment woes, 'My amp is broken....' on repeat. 'Can someone fix my javascript:void(0)amp? My amp is broken...' Everyone around us couldn’t decide if it was really one of their songs. Turns out they made it up on the spot. It was probably one of the cooler things I saw at SXSW this year."


Finally, 17-year-old Dominique Young Unique, who played at the Knuckle Rumbler Lounge (where we watched dreamy Casxio too). GARY! places her somewhere between the likes of Rye Rye and Lil' Mama, and said: "once her voice finishes maturing I think she's really gonna take off."


This is off-topic, but girl's got legs for days, non?

Anyway, that is it for our SXSW 2010 recap! We hope you enjoyed, and now, we're going to get back to our regular blogging schedule. Totes McGotes!

*This word is always extremely confusing, grammar-wise. Dived/doven/diven? Something is amiss.

SXSW 2010 recap: Mayer Hawthorne.

Doesn't South By seem like a million years ago? 

Now that I'm all caught up on sleep, and have established normal lifestyle patterns again - eating breakfast, for example - I've come to regard SXSW as an alternate universe.  Isn't that exactly how it feels?  If you immerse yourself in it? 

I want to thank regular readers of this blog for allowing Austin Eavesdropper to temporarily become a SXSW blog. GARY! and I are finishing our recaps today and tomorrow, and then will return to our regular programming of...well we're not sure really, but we'll think of something! (Outfits / Austin fun / psycho cats).

This year,  my personal SXSW experience was enhanced by select doses of funk and soul.  Casxio is one, Mayer Hawthorne is another, and interestingly enough, both acts are from Los Angeles.  Somethin' funky in the water, Angelinos?  

Below, GARY!'s video of Mayer Hawthorn at the Fader Fort party, leading off with a song cover that EVERY child of the '80s will remember.

SXSW 2010 recap: Hexadecagon and Octopus Project.

Some of you may have heard about "Hexadecagon," the multi-media show local faves Octopus Project put on at Whole Foods during SXSW.


I've seen lots of bands utilize projected visuals in their shows lately - Broken Bells, Ratatat. But Octopus Project took this idea to a new level, as GARY!'s videos attest.  For one, the projections were a 360 degree affair, literally surrounding you with surreal images both playful and haunting.  And secondly, this show happened off the beaten path of South By, in a tent erected inside the parking lot of Whole Foods. I like that, because while many bands are content to play in such nonconventional venues as unused portions of crosswalk during SXSW, it typically happens within a 20 block radius, stretching from 4th to 12th Streets, contained by Red River to roughly Colorado. Or so. Hexadecagon was a three months-in-the-making project, with a deliberately different setting, for a crowd who had planned well in advance to get there and get there early.

In other words: Away from the riff-raff.

GARY! shot six videos of the party, which is a lot, but TOTALLY WORTH IT to watch all of them. (Fun fact: the projected videos used at Hexadecagon were shot and edited by Austin’s own Wiley Wiggins, whom you may know as Mitch Kramer from Dazed and Confused.)




In the video below (says GARY!), Yvonne Lambert proves she's a master of the Theremin, in a performance being hailed as one of the top 5 performances of SXSW 2010 by USA Today.




Finally, here are some of my favorite Hexadecagon images, shot by Happy Mercado.

(AMAZING outfit.)

SXSW 2010 recap: She & Him.

I caught She & Him at Lustre Pearl last Friday night, at the Filter/Dickies party. My darling Kerissa, who works for Filter, was by my side.

She & Him's music, as no doubt a lot of you know, is kind of Loretta Lynn-meets-60s California. I have always been intrigued by Zooey Deschanel's vintage sensibilities in general - style, music, etc. - so it was a treat to see her and M. Ward for the first time.  I was surprised by how shy she is on stage! But I guess when you are movie star famous, and people are freaking out right there in front of you, it might be a little weird.

Even though Kerissa and I were able to get close to the stage, my photos from the night are que horrible! So, here are some good ones from Rolling Blackouts.

Photos courtesy Rolling Blackouts

This video is pretty cute, too. I like it when she asks, "are we in a house?"


Video courtesy Pet Marmoset.

SXSW 2010 recap: Meet Casxio, our favorite musical discovery.

So there I was, trekking down east 6th St.  Friday.  The third day into SXSW Music.  I had parked my car somewhere between I-35 and Egypt, and was just starting to make it to the mainland. By which I mean, the point on e. 6th where you can begin to see things like the capitol, or, the curve of the earth.

Just outside Shangri-La, I heard a big funky bass.  Accompanied by the sung words, "I JUST WANNA HAVE SEX WITH YOU." I thought: "I will check this out."

The band was Casxio, and they are officially my favorite accidental discovery of SXSW.  I stumbled upon lots of bands last week that I hadn't heard of before, but this time, I stayed for the entire set.  Here are some pictures from that show.

I successfully turned GARY! and Sweet Leaf's Happy Mercado into groupies too, so they joined me at the Knuckle Rumbler SXSW Lounge on Saturday to check them out. Here are some to-die photos that Happy took.

Casxio is from Los Angeles, and their sound is falsetto-laden funk, with touches of Mika (says GARY!) and Scissor Sisters (says me).  It is instant dance party, and makes me want to wear sequins. They kindly toted along SXSW sampler CDs, so of course I snatched one!

Pictures fail to fully give justice to what amazing performers the Casxio members are.  GARY! caught both "Seventeen" and their cover of Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares" at the Knuckle Rumbler Lounge on video. The pipes on Lucas, the frontman, are RIDICULOUS.


(Pause: how cute is Andrea, the keyboard player, with the shoulder shimmies?)



(Sidenote: this is my roomate, Jesu..I mean, Caleb. If you see this man around town, please make fun of him for knowing ALL the words to this song.)

Lastly. As evidenced by my own blog profile, I am kind of a sucker for drag. My father went on one of his first dates with my mom dressed in drag (true story), I dressed up as Rodney Dangerfield for Halloween one year, followed by K-Fed....anyway. Here is Casxio's music video for "Seventeen," for which I think we can all agree that Lucas makes a disturbingly beautiful woman.



 Are you dying?

Eavesdropper readers, let's help make Casxio super rich and famous!

UPDATED WITH VIDEO: SXSW 2010 recap: VV Brown is my Quick Fix.

Ladies, do you remember being 11 years old, looking at all the cute boys in Bop or Tiger Beat, and being like, "omg, Jason Priestly!  Luke Perry!  MARK PAUL GOSSELAAR!!" and ripping out the poster inserts so you could put them on your wall?  Gentlemen, did you do the same with Pam Anderson posters? (would not know since I'm not an icky boy)?

That's how I feel about SXSW. I fall in love with everybody a little bit, meaning, every band I see. I play it cool on the outside, but on the inside, I'm shrieking like a braceface 4th grader.

This is all to say that GARY! and I are going to attempt to recap SXSW 2010 in a calm, professional manner, but want to warn you right now that things might get gushy.

So last night at the Perez party. I saw two ladies who blew my mind: VV Brown and Marina and The Diamonds.  Here are is a picture of VV.

PS: I am 5'2." Welcome to my life.  Someday, when am famous music journalist, staring at other people's heads won't be a problem. In the meantime I have to violently elbow charm my way to the front.

VV Brown got the memo that sleeves are IN.

You know what else is in? Being dynamic on-stage. Girlfriend puts on a show. The best way I can describe VV's sound is Motown-meets-post-punk, all while donning a peacock mask. (Seriously. She was wearing a peacock mask at one point). The audacity of hope, indeed.  I HOPE you are my BFF someday, VV Brown.

I'm going to stop talking and let you guys watch a video.


UPDATED: Here's VV Brown at the Perez party! GARY! shot this amazing video of her performance. Enjoy!

SXSW 2010: Perez Party Full Line-Up.

Whee! Dance party fun times:

7:00 - 7:35 PM | DJ Atrak

7:35 PM – 7:50 PM | Soko

8:00 PM – 8:20 PM | Sliimy performs

8:30 PM – 8:50 PM | Macy Gray

9:00 PM – 9:20 PM | Mike Posner

9:30 PM – 10:00 PM | VV Brown

10:10 PM – 10:30 PM | Agnes

10:40 PM – 11:20 PM | Alphabeat

11:30 PM – 12:00 AM | Marina and the Diamonds

12:10 AM – 12:40 AM | Snoop Dogg

12:50 AM – 1:10 AM | Estelle

1:20 AM – 2:00 AM | Courtney Love and Hole

House DJs: DJ Mia Moretti & JD Samson

SXSW 2010: White Denim at Mohawk.

This was one of my favorite shows so far, and these fools are hometown.

Whenever I turn on this song of theirs, "Shake Shake Shake," I have to DANCE A LITTLE BIT.



Know what I mean?

SXSW 2010 Parties: Thursday is exciting because...

...of THIS amazingness!

We interviewed the Morning Benders here on Austin Eavesdropper last week, and I have JUST discovered the magic that is Delorean (thank you Pandora)!

Also - yesterday, you guys, something wonderful happened. I caught up with my buddy Mr. Steve!  Mr. Steve and I used to be co-teachers together at this after school art program by the Dougherty Arts Center about six years ago, right before I moved away to California. When I came back, Mr. Steve was this crazy huge rock star (White Denim, anyone?). I saw him play yesterday at Mohawk, and while I was a little sad to see he wasn't wearing his taped-together glasses like he used to, I was thrilled to watch him shred his bass like a badass. Which I will do again today at Eastbound & Found.

Here is the FULL line-up:

Stage One
12:15-12:50 Ragen Fykes
1:10-1:45 Freelance Whales
2:05-2:40 Ume
3:00-3:35 Warpaint
3:55-4:30 Morning Benders
4:50-5:25 Here We Go Magic
5:45-6:20 Maluca
7:00- 8:00 GZA

Stage Two
12:30-1:05 Burnt Ones
1:25 – 2:00 Diamond Rings
2:20-2:55 Kid Sister
3:15-3:50 Slow Club
4:10-4:45 Danielson
5:05-5:40 Delorean
6:00 – 7:00 White Denim

For more shows today, check out Austin is Burning and Ultra8201.

And if you haven't already, remember to enter the GIVEAWAY for Perez SXSW 2010 passes. We're hooking up two lucky readers, and there is one day left to enter. GO MAN, GO!

UPDATED: TICKET GIVEAWAY: Perez Party SXSW 2010.

I'm just going to give it to you straight. We have two coveted passes to give away to Perez's SXSW 2010 Party!

This was BY FAR my favorite party of SXSW last year.  Kanye. Yelle. Little Boots. Rye Rye. Ida Maria. Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Ladyhawke.

At past SXSW parties, Perez has hosted MGMT and Katy Perry. 

It is notoriously tough to get into this party, so I am over the moon that Austin Eavesdropper gets to do a giveaway!  Dance parties may be my most favorite way to spread the love, so if you win you have to promise me that we'll jam together.  My name is Tolly, I have red hair, and you must come find me. Deal?

To enter, please leave a comment on this post by 12pm on Friday.  You must be 21+ to enter, and you also must leave an email address so I can send over the good news if you win!  I will announce winners on Friday.

(You may also want to RSVP for the party here, and while entry is not guaranteed, it certainly does not hurt!)

good luck friends!

UPDATED: **You people are hilarious.** If funniness was the contest you people would clinch it.  My favorite comments left on this post (so far):

(Dana, that's funny because it's true).

That's what she said.

Our favorite autograph yet of SXSW!

GARY! got one too, but the picture was too blurry. I think because he was shaking too much with excitement as I took it. 

Look at this pod of crazies. We've got Stan, Chris, me, Happy, and GARY!  Stan is detecting the weather with his tongue, Chris is beyond excited, I am sporting Carrot Top hair, Happy is beginning to question his choice of social companions, GARY! is all, "I'm SO SURE."

In the above picture, I instructed everybody to make their "handsome face." GARY! misunderstood the assignment.

(This exact same thing happened last year at SXSW.  When GARY! and my beautiful friend Sissel joined me in a picture, the person taking it said to make a "hot face." GARY! and Sissel knew exactly what to do. And looked totally hot -

- while I just look PISSED).

Anyhoo! Last night's Gowalla party at The Belmont was a ridiculous treat. Miss Nina Hartley, it was such a pleasure to meet you!

SXSW 2010 Parties: The Monday Plan.

Hi interwebs!

So here is my SXSW plan for today.  Panel-hopping at SXSWi, followed by:

No RSVP needed.  Just your fine local self.

RSVP here. 
Austinist Presents: Local Music is Sexy
PureVolume House
504 Trinity
First band at 9pm

RSVP here.
Skateland at ATX Emerge (after party celebration)
Mohawk
912 Red River
First indoor band at 8:15pm; first outdoor band at 11pm

I'm pretty sure you just show up for this, and if you have a film badge you will probably be able to get in sooner. Also: I don't know about anything else being screened besides Tub. But if you were with us a few days ago you know why it's reason enough.

Going to all four of these is slightly ambitious, perhaps overly so. But! I'd love to see you all out and about if you hit up any of these. Look for the girl with wild Medusa-like hair.  I half blow-dried it, half let it dry naturally yesterday, resulting in this:

Hi!

TONIGHT: The Last Days of San Jose.

Do you all know beautiful San Jose Hotel on South Congress? Of course you do.

Once upon a time though, San Jose was a roach motel. It was originally built in the 1930s, an ultra-modern motor court. But as Austin grew up, and South Congress - for a time - became known as the dodgy part of town, San Jose fell into disrepair. It was the Miss Havisham of South Congress.

That was the '90s. In 1997, Liz Lambert purchased San Jose, befriended the community that inhabited it, and eventually turned it into the upscale, Zen-like San Jose that we know today. Its interesting transformation has been turned into a documentary, being screened tonight (for free!) at the hotel, at 7:00pm.

Immediately following the screening, there will be an after party catered by La Condesa (mmm), and a performance by Amy Cook.

Hotel San Jose is located at 1316 South Congress Ave.

Afterward - if you geek out over SXSWi stuff like me - check out Mashable's Mash Bash going on tonight at 10:00pm. RSVP here, and go meet interwebs superstars!

Get dressed for SXSW 2010.

Oh my fellow SXSW attendees. Does getting dressed in your hipster finest puzzle you as much as it puzzles me sometimes?  I feel you.

See, SXSW is one of exactly two times during the year when I ride my bike. The other one being ACL. I want to look cool, but more than that, I want to be able to not wreck my bicycle on Red River because I'm wearing ridiculous heels that don't fully apply even pedal pressure and I'm negotiating potholes and steering around pedestrians and adjusting my special vintage belt because now it is too tight and NO. I do not want that.

So! I want to share with you three fashion events happening in Austin during SXSW that will help us all get dressed. Let's get comfortable AND cute.

This one is happening today! Here is some info on the (FREE) SXSW New Media Boutique Crawl, which includes fashion bloggers, champagne, and discounts with your cash money:

"Come see what’s new in-store, meet the best of the Web’s fashion bloggers and take a break for a fun, stylish and non-music-related event during SXSW.

The crawl starts at 12:30 with badge pick-up at Eliza Page. Begin the crawl with champagne and goodies and Eliza Page, then enjoy discounts and specials all day long throughout the District, including 20 percent off at Eliza Page, Beyond Tradition, Gallery D, Girl Next Door, Wee, Finch, Estilo, Mercury Design Studio, St. Bernard Sports and other 2ND Street District boutiques.

The crawl will begin in 2ND Street District and travel to South Congress, ending at about 6:30 pm."

Fun, right? Here's another tip for my fellow winos: During the crawl today, Cru on 2ND Street will offer a complimentary glass of champagne with chocolate covered strawberries, and will be handing out an invitation to come back at the end of the tour with 1/3 off any bottle of wine. Nice.

Tomorrow, you've got the Fashism SXSW 2010 Party.

Alright so Fashism is this website, started by three UT grads.  It's a LookBook.nu of sorts, execpt you shoot yourself  - ahem, with a camera - in the dressing room BEFORE you buy whatever you've just tried on.  (And judging by this photo, I am pretty sure you are allowed to utilize it in more places than just dressing rooms). Then you get real-time feedback from other Fashism community users.  I haven't used it yet, but God, is genius?

The party they're having this Saturday looks equally creative. Info:

Saturday, March 13, 2010
Photos, DJ and Drinks | 1:00 pm-4:00 p.m.
Venue: The Dress Shop, 315 Congress Ave.
Entry Fee: Free with Free drinks

From party organizers:

"Fashism and The Dress Shop (315 Congress Avenue), a new women’s clothing boutique located in the heart of downtown Austin, are creating a unique opportunity for social media savvy fashionistas during SXSW. On Saturday March 13, 1-4 pm, guests can try on clothes, get photographed, upload the photo to Fashism’s interactive site and receive real time feedback from a community of followers who will tell let guests know if they are rockin’ that dress. In true SXSW party form, DJ’s will be spinning and free drinks will be served."

LASTLY, we have:

That poster is a little difficult to read, so here are the essentials:

"American Apparel is bringing its factory flea market to Austin!

Tens of thousands of your favorite garments to choose from. Up to 85% off, with prices starting at $1. Inventory will be constantly replenished throughout the weekend. RSVP on this event page to receive updates, tips, and be the first to know when new inventory arrives!

More than 50,000 people came to our factory rummage sales in Toronto, Vancouver, San Diego, and Miami. They found great pieces and saved hundreds of dollars. Get there early!

Mexican-American Cultural Center
600 River Street
Austin, TX 78701

Thursday, March 18th 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday, March 19th 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Saturday, March 20th 12:00pm - 10:00pm

Free admission
Cash, credit, and debit accepted"

Whew. That's a lot of fashion options.

Friends, before you embark on your outfit-hunting adventures, I want to recommend one last item, and that is a post by one of my favorite bloggers in the world: Amanda at Dishevelled Stars. She is headed to the SXSW New Media Boutique Crawl today, and offers some intelligent wisdom before the requisite shoe-squealing begins. Wonderful post, Amanda.

(I lied. I want to show you one more thing.

This is my dream SXSW outfit.)