Up later than I should be and just discovered that the Lucksmiths are putting out the final song they ever penned together…

It pains me deeply that these boys are no longer together…

Get-to-Bed Birds by The Lucksmiths

When we made it out to the Limelight the other night to catch a few local Ska bands, Fin noticed on the marquee that the Wild Moccasins would be playing the following night in support of their record release.  The decision to come out was an easy one, seeing how we really enjoyed their short set a year or so ago over at the G.I.G.

Prior to any of the acts taking the stage we got a chance to meet some of the Wild Moccasins and secured some merch.  Fin picked up a really cool shirt that I need to take a photo of and we also picked up their latest full length.

The first act was a three piece out of Austin that goes by Transmography. They can lazily be described as 8-bit/Synth… most of their stuff was instrumental.  I wished the drums were miked a little better, they were pretty pleasant to catch and a great opening act for the other two bands.

The Wild Moccasins followed and they put on a great set.  The setlist had a lot of new material I wasn’t familiar with but I’m really excited to tear into our new disc.  I would describe some of the new stuff as being more layered… especially with swirling guitar effects.  The band appears to feel more confident and comfortable on stage.  I noticed that they had a new drummer on skins.  He’s just as energetic as the last one… I’m not sure if this is a permanent change of if he was just filling in for the night.  I’d be curious to hear if their bassist is at all reluctant to play live or not.  It took a few tracks before he seemed to lock eyes with anyone that wasn’t on the stage.   His bass lines really make a number of their tracks infectious…  I hope to be in attendance on a night when he gets to come out of his shell.

Big Soy (from San Antonio) took the stage afterward.  We stuck around for a few tracks…  the two piece were pretty bombed and I didn’t really feel up to hanging around for the drunken banter between songs.   Their set was pretty tight nonetheless tho’.

When Fin and I began to see each other, I made it down to the Warhol to catch a band I had read about that went by the name of Look Mexico.

I included one of their songs on one of the mix-cd’s I made for her and after seeing that show, I saw her the following day – gave her a Tour Shirt i picked up for her and promised her that we would see them the next time they came to town.

They’ve yet to return to San Antonio, but Fin got us tickets to see them in Austin last week and it was possibly one of the best shows I’ve seen all year.

Prior to Look Mexico taking the stage we caught a short set by a local band by the name of Stegosaurus.  They had an incredible set and were incredibly friendly after their set.  We look forward to catching them when they return from their 2 month tour.

The Paper Shapes and Weatherbox also performed some sets before Look Mexico hit the stage… but both were forgettable for the most part.  Weatherbox was especially disappointing because of some banter between the drunken lead singer and the small crowd.

I hope that Look Mexico manages to complete the tour with these guys from San Diego…  they struck me as being self destructive.

When Look Mexico took the stage, I quickly noticed that they seemed relaxed.  A number of band members had friends/girlfriends attend the show and I thought it was strange at first that those people would travel for their first show of the tour.  I then learned that the band moved to Austin.

Their set was shortened a bit because of some technical glitches… but they soldiered on and put on an incredible performance.  While there we also got Fin a new Look Mexico shirt and I’m pretty sure that she would agree to seeing them again live if the opportunity presented itself.

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A few weeks ago I posted a little update about having tickets to see Ben Folds at Stubbs in Austin Texas.  I’ve been meaning to post a review of the show along with some photos of the show but things have been a little busy on the home front.

The show itself was nothing short of spectacular.  The venue and the artists were a perfect fit.  We arrived early enough to make our way to the front of the stage where we had some incredible sight lines.

As you can see from the photo above, we were only a few rows away from Ben and all of his goodness.  Prior to him coming out to entertain us tho, was the opening act that went by the name of Kate Miller Heidke.  A singer song writer that I had never heard of prior to her coming out on stage.  Despite having a few songs and a vocal approach that I could do without in my life.  She won me over…  its a shame however that some of my favorite tracks she sang that night were the comical ones.

Ben quickly followed her set and to my surprise he started the show with a cover of Elliot Smith’s “Say Yes”.  A cover that I wasn’t expecting to hear but stood there in complete amazement and took it all in.   I recall Fin at one point turning around to ask why I wasn’t singing along. I didn’t have a good answer at the time… but it was one of those moments where you’re taken aback by one incredible artists covering an incredible song by another incredible artist.

One thing that really surprised me was how well versed his fans were in the Ben Folds songbook.   There wasn’t a song that the entire crowd around me didn’t break out in to full cheer for.  The singalongs were deafening at some points.  My favorite part of the show was seeing Ben Folds come from behind the piano and sit behind a drum kit.   I knew that he was an accomplished musician but I never thought I would get to see him play on the skins while I was in attendance.

A few months ago, I got Fin and I tickets to see Camera Obscura @ Emo’s in Austin…   She had made a new years resolution to see more live shows, so I took it upon myself to find some of the best available shows that I could in late January.

Said show, ended up being Camera Obscura… which was doubly awesome because it happened to be a band that I hadn’t seen live yet.  I wanted to see a band with Fin that neither her or I saw… and it fit all the criteria I mentioned above.

One thing I couldn’t shake however… was the feeling that the show could be a snooze fest.  If you’re not familiar with their stuff – its pretty much Quiet Core, but some of their more recent stuff is radio friendly.   Upbeat… but still bookworm music for the most part.

All in all, the show was pretty good.  They didn’t play my favorite song… but it was great experience nonetheless…

Look forward to more shows this Spring.   Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is coming up. I’m going to see if I can talk Fin into that this week.

While I was putting together my post for today… I jotted down a couple things I wanted to touch on. I had planned to tell a St. Patricks day story, until I read that Alex Chilton was pronounced dead.

My introduction to him came thru the Replacements song : Alex Chilton. I think it was my favorite song off of “Please to Meet Me”… I recall listening to the song over and over because of the incredible guitar hook.

When I learned that it was based on someone and that many of my favorite artists admired him greatly, I made it a point to become a lot more familiar with his work.

My favorite tune he ever penned was “September Gurls”… a song I found too fitting at times because I happened to be born in December and the “December boys” reference – stopped me in my tracks.

Made it over to Waterloo records to catch one of the most talked about acts of last year, GIRLS from San Francisco.  One of the things I really wanted to do this year was get back into seeing shows.  I saw a handful of shows in 2009 and there’s no way that I can go through 2010 with seeing as few of shows as I did last year.

The GIRLS hit the stage a little later than we had hoped for…  we actually skipped out on having a late lunch to catch them at 5:00pm, we had to wait nearly 45 minutes after until they began to play their first song.

The set was short and sweet.  They played a number of tracks off their debut disc “Album” that I wanted to hear live so all in all it was a near perfect outing.  We could have stuck around town to see them play again later in the evening, but they don’t really have enough material to make it worthwhile.

I had intended to post a review of the new Vampire Weekend album over the weekend or next week… but I just read this afternoon that their sophomore effort has snagged the #1 album on the Billboard Charts.

Figured now was a good time as any to post some quick thoughts on the album CONTRA.

While I’ve given the album a number of listens, I haven’t taken to it as much as I did with the debut.  The sound of the second album builds on the soundscapes of the first…  completing I think the sound that the band had intended to have the first go around.

What I find most interesting is that the art direction hasn’t changed in the slightest…  It still a bit Wes Anderesque at first glance and perhaps its purposeful that it hasn’t changed.  Vampire Weekend is the one in the same just a little more filled out and thats fine with me.   I don’t know if it will be one of the better efforts of 2010 but its hands down the best thing I’ve listened to thus far.

So it occurred to me today that it’s been ages since I properly reviewed an album on this thing…  Figured today was as good as any day seeing how Spoon just released their latest offering TRANSFERENCE on MERGE Records.

Got introduced to the band by my dear friend Heather K from the Bronx nearly a decade ago and have picked up just about every album in hopes of seeing what Brit Daniel crafts with guitar, bass, drum, vocals and the occasional key & horn.

Transference after one complete listen feels like an album that fits somewhere between – KILL THE MOON LIGHT and GIMME FICTION. Some of the tracks have deconstructed pop structures found on KTML but the rakus swagger of Gimme Fiction is also easy to hear also.   It doesn’t seem as polished as their last effort  GA GA GA GA GA. But I think I was in the minority who really thought GA^5 was as good as anything they had ever etched onto space age plastic.

Can’t say that I would enthusiastically endorse this record to anyone.  I would much sooner have someone listen to GIRLS CAN TELL.

A number of years ago I sank some good money into a special set of CD’s produced in RUSSIA – that contained every Beatles album.  I was told that to sell a cd in Russia that the disc had to be made in Russia – so Apple Records allowed the albums and outtakes to be put onto discs.  My copy of the White Album for example has 40 tracks.

I only bring this up because you can pick up the entire Beatles discography in a new box set that would be very tempting to pick up if I didn’t already have their work.

Even more tempting is the Rockband game that dropped today.  Either one will set you back 200 to 300 bucks…