SXSW 2007 through the lens

Shooting Southby was no easy task and lugging around a big bag full of camera equipment was not my kind of fun, but now looking back at these photos I'd say it was worth the work and effort. The group of photos below are just some from the pool of SXSW photos I selected, you can view all 17 photographs in a slideshow. I also have some advice below on how to shoot live music if you're interested. Hope you enjoy these!

View the selected SXSW photos as a slidehow here.
Veiw all the SXSW photographs here.

A few tips on shooting live music...

When shooting shows try not to use flash, I know it'll be harder for people who have the smaller digital cameras, unless you brought along your external flash. Try shooting on the manual mode and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. Another neat effect is using someone else's flash, this is easy since most people out there will use flash no matter what and the different angle of light and distance will make your photo less washed out and more interesting.

If you're at a venue who just loves dim lighting, try putting your flash on rear curtain sync. This means you'll freeze your subject, but also have a neat motion blur too. Remember to hold the button focusing and pan your camera when you're using this so you'll get those cool extra trail of lights.

Wait for the right moment. There is no need to take 20 photos of your subject in the same strumming guitar pose, knowing their songs is a plus and if you've seen them live before use it to your advantage. You know when the climatic moments are and you'll know when to shoot the photo. Remember to put your camera on continuous mode, where you can just focus then hold the button down to take multiple photos per second. This increases your chances of getting a photo where your subject's in focus and not blurry.

Also when shooting live music don't forget that there are people who are trying to watch a show around you, there is no need to elbow people out of the way to get that perfect shot. If you're going to go in front of someone shorter than you, tell them first that you just want to take photos for a few minutes, then kneel on the ground to get that shot without ruining someone else's experience, don't forget your "please, thank you and excuse me"s. Try and be subtle in your movements and don't get too consumed by your camera, you shouldn't forget to enjoy the music too!!!

~anne

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

SXSW: Day Two | 03/15

St. Vincent + The Octopus Project + Voxtrot

Wow, just came back from the Kork showcase mainly cheering on The Octopus Project and Voxtrot! It's three minutes away from 4AM, so I'll try and make this as short as I can. For anyone who might have gone to the Tonewheel Collective's show at Progress Coffee today from reading the post from yesterday night, I'm really sorry and I'm doing the best I can to double-check everything. Thank you so much for reading...okay here we go.

First off, not only were we turned away at shows/parties that did not mention it was RSVP or 21+ on their websites, we spent almost the entire half day going back and forth causing us to miss a key artist, Andrew Bird. But enough complaining, just make sure and double-check if the event needs RSVP or if it's invite only or it's 21+.

We ate breakfast at a neat place on W. 4th Street called Halcyon, the blue sign has a drawing of a couch! It has really nice seating, couches, sofas everywhere, but also big tables for larger groups and tables for two and higher level small round tables for people with laptops nursing a cup of coffee. The food and beverages aren't bad either and there is a wide variety, if you're a sweet tooth like me, their chocolate cake is heaven.

Anyways, we found ourselves at Jo's Coffee to see St. Vincent and also saw the band before them called The Missing Tapes. St. Vincent is from Dallas and is also one of the guitarists for The Polyphonic Spree, her solo stuff is definitely different from the Spree. Annie Clark has darker songs under her belt, just listen to "Paris Is Burning", "Your Lips Are Red" and "Bang Bang". She played a slew of new songs off her upcoming album releasing sometime in June, songs like "Bang Bang" and "Now Now" gives me shivers to think what the album will be like. She alternated between two mics, one regular and the other was this strange neat vintage sounding one. She stomps with one foot as makeshift drumming giving her set an attention-grabbing sound.

Now she'll be playing two events on Friday (today), first one is a 21+ event at Mohawk for the Hot Freaks!: Blogger Curated Music Experience hosted by some of the best music bloggers out there sharing a stage with Bishop Allen, Sea Wolf and many more! The second one is the Billions showcase at Antone's with My Brightest Diamond and more! After that she'll be getting ready for her wide-range April tour with John Vanderslice!

Download + Purchase:

Paris Is Burning | St. Vincent

Links:

>>> St. Vincent's Official Site
<<< St. Vincent's MySpace
>>> More info on Hot Freaks! show
<<< More info on Billions showcase
>>> Read more on St. Vincent with our three minute entry
<<< St. Vincent's blog
>>> See tour dates for her April tour with John Vanderslice!
>>> More photos of St. Vincent's set


We missed Andrew Bird's free show at Emo's by mere minutes! After going on a shopping spree at Waterloo Records to cheer us up, we speed walk-ed all the way back to Emo's to join a huge line for public tickets to the Kork showcase. Thankfully we got in and slowly made our way to the front of stage after each band finished their sets. The Octopus Project was incredible, the absolute genius of the band's use of keyboards, theremin, laptop, multiple keyboards, drum machines, samples, basic drums, guitar and bass shone like a beacon. They give electronic music a nice makeover glazing it with a bit of energetic rock vibes. They played a lot off their latest album, The House of Apples And Eyeballs and also of course the popular oldies "Music Is Happiness" and "The Adjustor".

Also they make their sets more unique by decorating the stage with cute ghosts made from white sheets over amps draped over Christmas lights and sometimes if you're lucky they'll have pinatas! Even if you don't know their songs, they are after all instrumental making the set more comfortable with strangers to The Octopus Project, all in all extremely fun and energetic!

They're playing at a 21+ venue called Elysium [ 705 Red River St. ] on Saturday the 17th with 65daysofstatic, Girl Talk and many more. For more info go here! After that they're traveling to Taiwan for the annual Spring Scream Festival! Also if you haven't gotten it yet grab the latest issue of the Austin Chronicle that has The Octopus Project on its cover, hint: it's purple.

Download + Purchase:

Lollipopsichord | The Octopus Project

Links:

>>> The Octopus Project's Official Site
<<< The Octopus Project's MySpace
>>> Purchase their new album, The House of Apples and Eyeballs!
<<< Info on their show at Elysium
>>> More photos of The Octopus Project's set


Sometime after 1AM, Voxtrot's set started and I think that the audience was amazing, it seemed like everyone was singing along to their songs and cheering like there was no tomorrow. They brought in the Tosca String Quartet, which is the same group that you've heard on the past EPs and will hear on the upcoming Voxtrot album due out on May 22nd. I really thought they were going to play "Sway", but nevertheless their set was amazing. I loved the new songs they played, "Kid Gloves", "Brother in Conflict", "Steven" and many more which I can't remember the names. Though I think "Steven" was written a long time before, maybe they touched it up a bit. I would do anything for them to include "This Is Not My Bloody War" on an EP or something tangible!

Anyways, they included old songs like "Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives", "Soft and Warm" and "Raised By Wolves". I think one more, due to my carelessness of forgetting my journal on the Emo's stage which has a concrete, fuller setlists of the bands I've seen so far and just a lot of past journal type writings/sketches. I'm going to go back and see if they didn't trash it, just in case anyone picked it up please be kind enough to leave a comment so I can get my journal back.

Also, Voxtrot will be having a listening party of their new self-titled album at the backroom of The Whisky Bar [ 303 W. 5th St. ] from 5PM~6PM this Friday(today), yes it is 21+. The only other show they will be playing until their summer tour is going to be in Mexico City at Pasageuro celebrating Ibero 90.9FM anniversary show on March 22nd. For what info I can find on this party, please go here. The anniversary show for 90.9FM was canceled, sorry guys!

Download + Purchase:

Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives | Voxtrot

{ Tip: if you want to buy their latest EP, Your Biggest Fan from InSound, go ahead and get 15% off just by typing in voxtrotdiscount!!! }

Links:

>>> Voxtrot's Official Site
<<< Voxtrot's MySpace
>>> Purchase any/all of their 3 EPs
<<< Read about Voxtrot's upcoming summer tour
>>> More info on the Ibero 90.9FM anniversary party
<<< More photos of Voxtrot's set

I am so elated that I got to see Voxtrot and we caught the 2:10AM bus just barely! Okay I will have more photos hopefully uploaded by tomorrow morning before I leave for Day three of SXSW. It is time to catch some sleep.

~anne

SXSW: wristband&badgeless

This is an unofficial guide to SXSW for people who don't have a wristband/badge. I'm going to be wristband/badgeless in Austin with a friend to join in on the fun that SXSW brings in. So I have no idea if I get to see even half of what is on my tentative schedule. This is my first year of SXSW and I just want to see what it's like and hopefully hear some good music.

Before reading this exciting yet crammed list, you must realize there is no reason why someone should stay at one party all day unless that is if you want to! For me other than the very first day, the other three days are full of events that will conflict each other. So this means a lot of walking/running/speed-walking...

I bolded the bands that I want to see at the event. I also put the better known songs by the band/artist up for download, they'll only be available for 7 days. Also a lot of bands/artists are playing multiple events, so sometimes that frees up your time and you can plug in another event with the extra space.

Also, if you have a gmail account there is a neat calendar feature they have! So when you see something you would like to attend go ahead and start adding events to your gmail calendar or just write this down the old fashioned way with a pen and paper. Hopefully I'll have enough energy/time to post everyday for these four exciting days! Let's see how this goes...

Click on the...
song name = download the song by yousendits
band/artist name = band's official site/MySpace
show poster = larger image
venue name = venue's site

Day One | 3/14

11~6pm | Austinist, Gothamist and Gorilla vs. Bear presents Gonna Gonna Get Get Down 2 @ The Mohawk | free!

[ 912 Red River St. ]

Architecture In Helsinki | Headlights | Nicole Atkins | Peter and the Wolf | Tom Brosseau | Apes & Androids | The Shivers | Hello Stranger | The Forms | Sparrow House | Teitur | Earl Greyhound | Lexie Mountain Boys | Stars Of Track And Field | Loney, Dear

Owl Eyes | Headlights
I Am John | Loney, Dear
Foxes (sighing like a furnace) | Sparrow House
Safe Travels | Peter and the Wolf

Day Two | 3/15

12pm~6pm | Filter Magazine's High Noon Party @ Cedar Street Courtyard | Badges or limited guestlist: RSVP (rsvp@filtermmm.com)

[ 208 W. 4th Street ]
for more info on Filter's Thursday&Friday setlists!

• 12:00 - Bright Eyes Cassadaga Premiere & BBQ
• 1:00 - Grand Ole Party
• 1:45 - Great Northern
• 2:30 - Midnight Movies
• 3:15 - The Besnard Lakes
• 4:00 - Kenna
• 5:00 - Youth Group
• 6:00 - Badly Drawn Boy

No One Would Riot For Less | Bright Eyes
Low Is A Height | Greath Northern
Disaster | The Besnard Lakes

1pm ~ 9pm | South X San Jose @ Jo's Coffee | Free

[1300 South Congress Ave.]

for more info on their other events!

• 1:00 - Li'l Cap'n Travid
• 2:00 - The Missing Tapes
• 3:00 - St. Vincent
• 4:00 - The Octopus Project
• 5:00 - The Glass Family
• 6:00 - Zookeeper
• 7:00 - Gulf Of Mexico
• 8:00 - SOUND Team
• 9:00 - David Garza

Paris Is Burning | St. Vincent
The Adjustor | The Octopus Project
Movie Monster | SOUND Team

12 ~ 7pm | Schubas' 11th Annual SXSW Round-Up @ Yard Dog Gallery | Free

[ 1510 South Congress Ave. ]

• 12:10 - The 1900s
• 12:55 - Elvis Perkins In Dearland
• 1:40 - Prototypes
• 2:25 - David Vandervelde & The Moonstation House Band
• 3:10 - Cold War Kids
• 4:00 - Midlake
• 4:50 - Bishop Allen
• 5:35 - Russian Circles
• 6:20 - Benjy Ferree

Roscoe | Midlake
The Monitor | Bishop Allen

12pm ~ 5pm | FactoryPeople + Anthem Magazine Party: DJ Sets By Rockstars @ FactoryPeople | Free

[1325 South Congress ]

more info on this event and Friday & Saturday's

• 12:00 - IHeartComix Bloody Mary Mix
• 1:00 - SOUND Team
• 2:00 - Surface To Air Installation(ongoing) w/DJ Gordon Hull
• 3:00 - Kudu
• 4:00 - Crystal Castles
• 5:00 - (Ramesh Srivastava) Voxtrot VS (James Minor) Blacklist
  
• 11:00 ~ 4AM - Anthem Magazine + FactoryPeople Private After-Party (21+)

Day Three | 3/16

1PM ~ 7PM | Tonewheel Collective Showcase: Solo Sets By Lead Singers On A Break From The Rock Stage @ Progress Coffee

[ 500 San Marcos ]

for more info on this event and many others

• 12:00 - Evan Jacobs (Tacks, The Boy Disaster)
• 1:00 - Martin Crane ( Brazos)
• 2:00 - Jared Van Fleet/Sparrow House (Voxtrot)
• 3:00 - Mark David Ashworth (INK)
• 4:00 - Bill Baird/Sunset (SOUND Team)
• 5:00 - Red Hunter (Peter and the Wolf)
• 6:00 - Michael Winningham (The Glass Family)

1PM~7PM | KXEP Live-On Air Performances @ KLRU Studio aka ACL Studio (on UT campus)

[ Guadalupe and 26th (Dean Keeton) Street ]

Not in Austin? Listen to this event while it's happening!

• 1:00 - The Stooges
• 3:00 - Okkervil River
• 5:00 - Under Byen
• 7:00 - Beirut

Postcards From Italy | Beirut
For Real | Okkervil River

Day Four | 3/17

12PM ~ 5PM | Filter Magazine's High Noon Party @ Cedar Street Courtyard | Wristband or limited guestlist: RSVP (rsvp@filtermmm.com)

[ 208 W. 4th Street]


for more info on Filter's Thursday&Friday setlists

• 12:00 - Doors open & BBQ
• 1:00 - Mohair
• 1:45 - Kate Havnevik
  
• 2:30 - The Pipettes
  
• 3:15 - Mando Diao
  
• 4:00 - Mew
  
• 5:00 - The Fratellis
  

Judy | The Pipettes

2PM~6PM | Waterloo Records In-Store @ Waterloo Records | Free

for more info on the other Waterloo in-stores taking place!
(Amy Winehouse who was playing at 3pm cancelled!)

• 2:00 - Money Mark
• 4:00 - Danava
• 5:00 - Rosie Thomas
• 6:00 - Young Knives

Pretty Dress | Rosie Thomas

12PM~5PM | British Underground & Mojo Magazine @ The Mean Eyed Cat

[ 1621 West 5th St. ]

for more info on British Music Industry's other events!

Gruff Rhys | iLiKeTRAins | Blanche | Bat For Lashes | Fionn Regan | The Explorers Club...and very special guests!

The Underwood Typewriter | Fionn Regan

All 3 days! | Flatstock 12 @ Austin Convention Center | Free

[ Trinity St. & 4th St. - Exhibit Hall #4 ]

This is such an exciting event, not only do you get to see all these amazing concert posters that featured shows you've attended, you also get to buy them. Flatstock is also going to have screenprinting booths in the streets to spread awareness of this underrated art form. You can snag free limited addition posters there and free snacks and water and Wi-Fi here! To the right is the winning poster of the student Flatstoc poster contest from Eric Drommerhausen from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

for more info such as when it'll be available for viewing and which designers will be there!


Helpful Links:
Donewaiting | constantly updated with new public shows!
Showlist Austin | lists all the shows in Austin, also only public shows!
SXSW Baby! | useful blog with tips like on where to eat/shows & parties!
Oh My Rockness | organized list of public & wristband/badge shows!
See You In The Pit | lovely blog introducing all the SXSW bands/artists!
Flatstock 12! | don't forget to swing by and snag amazing posters!
Austinist's SXSW Interactive Guide | Austinist's list of picks, automatically add onto your gmail calendar and very useful and organized info!

~anne