SXSW: Day Four | 03/17

The Polyphonic Spree + Rosie Thomas

So day four was a bit of a downer, one of the main flaws in my schedule was simply the fact I wanted to go to too many events and didn't trim it down so I can actually walk like a normal person to a venue and not step inside a venue halfway through someone's set. That and we barely caught the last song of Peter and the Wolf's set at Okay Mountain Gallery, essentially missing him completely. So next year I'll have to stop being this greedy!

Alright, The Polyphonic Spree! What a band! What a set! What the heck was I doing all this time without a single Spree song in my life? There were 17 some members all dressed in black uniform with bright red crosses decorating the pockets, cut out fabric hearts hanging on the right, every one of them just pouring in all their energy into the set, well with a frontman like Tim DeLaughter who can stay still?!

I didn't know a lot of their songs, except embarrassingly "Light & Day/Reach For the Sun", but they got me convinced and probably everyone else to just go sprint to Waterloo Records for anything that had their name on it. It could be the six member chorus's dance moves, the neat lit up drums, that amazing piano solo/improv from Evan Jacobs, the three multi-instrumentalists, the crazy violinist to the very left standing/swaying on an amp, Tim Delaughter clinging onto the bottom edge of the stage's roof, pointing to the sky as if poking the sun...no it's all of this and more!

This makes me so excited for their third full-length, The Fragile Army coming out in early June under their new record label TVT Records. That and if you haven't yet gotten it, they released an EP in January called WAIT full with three neat covers, one including a cover well of DeLaughter's old band, Tripping Daisy and two fresh Spree songs all this produced by no other than Jon Brion! Hear some songs from The Fragile Army on their MySpace!

If anyone was there too, wasn't it strangely cool that whenever Tim Delaughter was singing/shouting and thrusting his head up to the sky, "hail to the sky, it's time to watch a show, the trees wanna grow, grow, grow, grow...!!!" that the clouds kind of parted and the sun started to shine in on him?

If you live in Colorado go make a trip to see them, because they're playing in Boulder and Denver, this Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. They're also going to be playing in their hometown Dallas on Saturday the 24th!

Download + Purchase:

Sonic Bloom (Tripping Daisy Cover) | The Polyphonic Spree

Links:

>>> The Polyphonic Spree's Official Site
<<< The Polyphonic Spree's MySpace
>>> The Polyphonic Spree's Blog
<<< Purchase WAIT EP
>>> Purchase any Spree album
<<< More photos of The Polyphonic Spree's set

Austin has the nicest people, I swear we probably asked a half dozen people for directions and they were just incredibly nice. Sometimes we didn't even have to open our mouths, I guess we just looked confused and were squinting at street signs, but nevertheless Austin itself is a great city to be in. Great food and a lot of neat one-of-a-kind shops, especially if you just walk down South Congress. That's pretty much what we did after watching the Spree.


We then lost track of time and made it to Waterloo Records midway through Rosie Thomas's set She played mostly off of her new album, These Friends of Mine, which she recorded in a simple set up in an apartment in Brooklyn with Sufjan Stevens and Denison Witmer. With the signature banjo of Stevens' and the backing vocals and guitar of Witmer both did justice to Thomas's beautiful voice. She closed with "Why Waste More Time?" and signed CDs and met with fans after. She has a short tour in April scheduled to hit both coasts, to check if you're in one of the lucky cities go here.

Download + Purchase:

If This City Never Sleeps | Rosie Thomas

Links:

>>> Rosie Thomas Official Site
<<< Rosie Thomas MySpace
>>> Purchase These Friends of Mine
<<< More info on her April tour

All in all there is my first South by experience as best as I can report on. A few lessons learned, a lot of good memories made and tired beyond imagination, but definitely oh most definitely worth it.

So yes this experiment was a success, I saw about 18 bands in four days and only spent $20 for one, which was the Kork showcase mainly to see The Octopus Project and Voxtrot. $3 on bus transportation buying the 24 hour passes. Probably $50 or less on food and water and bought a couple CDs at Waterloo. The drive from Houston to Austin and back is sponsored by my dad, thank you, I owe you! The apartment aka place to sleep for three hours aka more importantly somewhere to shower is provided by my brother, thank you for going to UT. Going to possibly the best music "festival" on earth with a close friend, who would probably kill me if I put her photo on here...priceless.

I'll have a post tomorrow filled with what I think were the best photos that came out of Southby to make a nice, easy visual read for you and me.

~anne