South By Southwest Music 2010

Another year has passed and with it another South By Southwest music festival. Taking place in Austin, TX, it's possibly the best perk of my job and I look forward to it every year. This year was Schubas (and now Lincoln Hall's) 14th party and Matt and I agreed that this was the best party either of us had been a part of. This all went down from March 17 - March 20 and in true Stiles fashion, I'm getting these pictures up a month and a half later.

Some set up the morning of our party at Yard Dog

Matt and Megan 

Me with the merch

The Threadless prize dice. They were a sponsor and gave away all sort of fun stuff to attendees

The Rural Alberta Advantage

Dan O'Conor and Hannah

The Hood Internet

We Are Scientists

Japandroids

this year's poster designed by Spike Press

Threadless throwing t-shirts into the crowd

Born Ruffians

Once again we had the honor of housing Chris aka Bald E for a couple nights. He was confined to the corner and kept under quarantine, but he made us laugh and played the latest remixes while we got ready.

Broken Bells

Hannah and I watch lots of Current TV. This is Douglas Caballero and he hosts a music show we like. Anyway, she and Casey hung out with this dude while Matt and I saw Broken Bells and watched 3-D TV at the C3 party. He was very nice and I'm sure everyone was well behaved.

Local Natives

Casey, James Mercer from The Shins and Broken Bells,  Hannah

and again

We rented bikes this year. I'd say it was a great move.  A minor hassle at times, but that was outweighed by the ability to get anywhere in Austin in minutes. I'd definitely recommend it.

I've never had so much difficulty using an ATM.

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings

Since everyone down there had an iPhone it took forever to load up anything online. Instead of going online I took a screenshot of party schedules and would just refer to my photos.

Here's a full list of all the acts I came across this year...
Keepaway
Here We Go Magic
Jokes of the Scene
Hey Champ
The Smith Westerns
The Rural Alberta Advantage
We Are Scientists
Japandroids
Born Ruffians
The Hood Internet
Freelance Whales
We Were Promised Jetpacks
Maps and Atlases
Rogue Wave
Local Natives
Miike Snow
Broken Bells
Washed Out
Dam Funk
Best Coast
Harlem
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings
Free Energy
Marina and the Diamonds
Hudson Mowhawke
Tanlines
Delorean
Fool's Gold
Fang Island
L-vis 1990
Willy Joy
The Antlers
Frightened Rabbit
Arms
The Growlers
James Messersmith
Radio Radio
Bonjay
Craze
Treasure Fingers
Flosstradamus

This place has some damn fine street food.

The Zero Gravity machine at the Mad Decent party. It was the longest ride I've ever riden. Seriously, we were on that thing a good five minutes.

Frightened Rabbit at the IFC House. I can't seem to find it online, but I think they play it on TV in between movies.

The Growlers

Fun with duct tape

Radio Radio at the Pop Montreal party

One of the last shows we saw was at a church. Just about anything can be a venue during SXSW.  Here's Jeremy Messersmith.

There's really not too much to say about the music. Some I loved, some I hated, some were completely unmemorable. Check out the links of the bands above if you want to explore. The trip itself was awesome and I look forward to next year.

Hannah and I put this video together. Enjoy.

Best Albums of 2009 - Ten through One

More of my favorite albums of 2009. Here are numbers ten though one. They're listed in the following format:

Artist - Album Name

Name of Track I Like

Click the track name to listen.

I should say that I'm not trying to say these are "THE BEST" albums of the year. They're just albums I really like, respect and played often this year and I highly recommend them.

#10

Atlas Sound - Logos

Criminals

#9

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Rome

#8

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

The Fear

#7

Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care

The Animator

#6

School Of Seven Bells - Alpinisms

Half Asleep

#5

Kid Sister - Ultraviolet

Right Hand Hi

#4

John Vanderslice - Romanian Names

C & O Canal

#3

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

Dragon Queen

#2

Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Oblivion

#1

Sondre Lerche - Heartbeat Radio

Easy To Persuade

Even more lists coming soon.

Best Albums of 2009 - Twenty through Eleven

At work we made Best of 2009 lists. I broke mine down a bunch of ways, but I'll start with the old fashioned Best Albums. I chose twenty. Here are numbers twenty though eleven. They're listed in the following format:

Artist - Album Name

Name of Track I Like

Click the track name to listen.

#20

The Pains Of Being Pure at Heart - ST

Young Adult Friction

#19

Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

The Sweetest Thing

#18

Jack Peñate - Everything Is New

Pull My Heart Away

#17

Royksopp - Junior

Vision One

#16

YACHT - See Mystery Lights

The Afterlife

#15

Julian Plenti - Julian Plenti is… Skyscraper

Only If You Run

#14

Miike Snow - ST

Burial

#13

Jay-Z - The Blueprint 3

Thank You

#12

Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

Deeper Down

#11

Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health

Sunlight

More lists coming soon.

Helen Of Troy

This is the video for Helen Of Troy by Telefon Tel Aviv. They're one of my favorite electronic artists and this video features my friend Nick.

Heck, I didn't know they were putting out another album this soon

New Russian Circles album coming out called Geneva

Details

One of the tracks is called "Malko"

My Trip to Bonnaroo '09 in Motion Picture Form

I had the fortune of being invited to Bonnaroo this year as tour manager/assistant/all-around helper for my friends in The Hood Internet. It was tons of fun and all went despite a little heat and rain.

Back in 2003 I went as a regular camper. That was amazing, but I'm a little spoiled now so it was nice to stay in a decent hotel and get driven around, eat catered food and drink free. Plus we fly there.

I took Hannah's Flip video camera down there and tried to document the experience as best I could. Out of nearly 60 minutes of footage I whittled it down to 20, using iMovie 09. It's kind of long, I suppose, but I was there 3 nights, so whatever. Enjoy!

Heading to Bonnaroo

I'm going to Bonnaroo tonight until Sunday to help The Hood Internet (and mooch a free trip out of the deal). It'll probably rain the whole time, but we're in a hotel and Bill Jones loaned me his boots, so whatever. This video from Sasquatch fest a couple weeks ago is getting me pumped for the weekend. Try to watch all the way to the end.

Riding on the Trader Todd's Tiki Bus

Apropos of nothing, and extremely late (these are from April 18), here are pictures from a ride I took on the Trader Todd's Tiki Bus. Due to a compromise based on location of homes and the Cubs/Cardinals game, Hannah and I ended up at Trader Todd's to meet Ryan Keller, Tom, Ryan's wife Laura and their buddy whose name I can't recall (but he was cool). This bar is tiki themed, which means they have a sailboat in the back patio and island themed drinks. They also have a giant pink bus (which used to have a grass skirt) that runs shuttle-style from the bar to Wrigley and back in a loop. Inside is a TV playing, at quite high volume that can't be lowered, a collection of songs culled from Jimmy Buffet's recent Wrigley Field show. The driver has a microphone/loud-speaker setup so he can yell things at people on the street. We had the good fortune of knowing the driver, Dylan, who is one of the funniest people I know. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.




It also features a recliner that Tom's enjoying here...





Also, to settle any comments that may mention it, Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds never actually owned the place, but was just the owner/spokesperson for the Trader Todd's Beer and is friends with the owners of the bar itself. This is, according to Dylan, the most common misconception about the establishment.

DJing Friday At Burlington

I hesitate to call it DJing, but this Friday from 10 until close I'll be at Burlington with my friend-worker, Matt, playing songs I deem "fun" while you all drink.  No Cover.  Specials are $3 Tecate, $4 IPA drafts and $4 Beam shots (always $2 PBRs too). Won't you join us?

ToneMatrix

This rules.  Requires sound and might be better with weed.

Thanks Brendan.

Bad Brilliance, Five Buck Club, Dan Deacon Live

I found this picture in last month's Paper magazine (his story here). This is the same guy I saw outside Beauty Bar in Austin during South By Southwest. Well how about that.



##########

On Wednesday I went to see Adventureland at one of the two Karasotes Theaters in Chicago for only $5. I'm sure I've personally told many of you about the Five Buck Club, but if you see movies in Chicago you really should get on it. It works like this: at Karasotes theaters (Webster 11 and Western 14 in Chicago), once a movie has been playing for around 2 weeks (or if it's bombing) you can see it for $5. The "club" is free to join and you only get one email a week telling you what the $5 movies are. Sign up here.

Oh, about Adventureland: I really liked it. It was from the director of Superbad, so I expected more of that type of humor, but this was much more cute or tender or something. More of a John Hughes coming of age thing, as my friend Jarrett put it, than a Superbad thing. Funny as hell though too. Anyway, check it out when you get the chance. Also, the music was great.

##########

Hannah and I made a last minute trip to Metro on Thursday to check out Dan Deacon and his 14 piece band. Aside from his introductory rant about Metro being "deceitful" about the barricade situation (I imagine it was more of a misunderstanding as they're a very professional venue) it was a very entertaining night. The music was great and, as usual, he told the crowd to spread apart so he could moderate a dance contest or have them run in circles around the soundbooth. All very entertaining, as was the music. Near the end of the show he announced the plan for the human tunnel. Basically two people would create an arch with their arms, then two more people would run through and set themselves up as an arch next to the first two people, and so on and so forth until all the people created a human tunnel with everyone running though. The route started on the main floor, went down the stairs to the entrance, out the entrance, onto the sidewalk, back in through the store, back into the venue, back up the stairs and back onto the main floor. We expected a total failure because the security doesn't permit re-entry, but as far as I can tell they pulled it off. We went outside to get a better view and then left. Anyway, if you have any interest, go see Dean Deacon sometime soon.