Four years ago I claimed that I would come back to Austin for South by Southwest every year until I die, and so far I’ve kept that promise. Continue reading…
All posts by jake feala
Review: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with The Whigs; March 13, 2010; House Of Blues, San Diego
A couple of years ago, staring down the barrel of my approaching thirties and in peak quarter-life crisis mode, I came up with the obvious solution to my ennui — I bought a motorcycle. Even though my riding phase lasted less than a year, it was awesome, and 90% of the sonic fuel blasting freedom and badassery into my helmet was none other than Athens, Georgia’s The Whigs. When I heard these dudes were in town to support fellow joyride soundtrackers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I threw on my Zeke Death Alley biker shirt and my finest tattered jeans and headed down to House of Blues to rock it out. Continue reading…
Review: MAN/MIRACLE – THE SHAPE OF THINGS
On their LP, THE SHAPE OF THINGS, MAN/MIRACLE have done away with minuscule letters and churned out a solid thirty minutes of all-caps, genre-hopping power pop.
The first half of the album is catchy as hell. The lo-fi, major-key island hook and afrobeat of album opener “ABOVE THE SALON” sounds like Vampire Weekend playing inside a sealed U-Haul trailer.
“HOT SPRAWL” and “UP” maintain that energy, with toms like a locomotive driving hollering, energetic sing-alongs (provided you don’t mind making up words to approximate the mostly unintelligible lyrics). Continue reading…
Review: The Clientele with The Wooden Birds; March 4, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
The Thursday night crowd that came to see The Clientele at the Casbah was bubbling. Half of them had just come from a successful SoundDiego launch party; the other half were presumably just happy to be celebrating the unofficial start of the weekend with syrupy pop exported from England. It was a fun crowd to be a part of, and especially fun to hear the chatter peppered by the English accents of a few of The Clientele’s San Diego British expat fans. Continue reading…
Review: Appleseed Cast with Dreamend; March 3, 2010; Casbah, San Diego
When you watch Appleseed Cast‘s trippy post-rock, time slows down, twists apart, and becomes nonlinear. The long, vocally sparse shoegaze jams force periods of intense introspection and send your brain floating on a sea of disjointed, personal thoughts. They make you forget you’re still around other human beings, that you’re not sitting, stoned, on a beanbag in a blacklit velvet room, wearing thick over-ear headphones. To say that this is not a good first-date show would be a monumental understatement. Continue reading.