Results tagged “sxsw”

Last month we had a ton of LAist folks at SXSW-interactive and via the grapevine we got hooked up with Joe Glaser, co-founder of Moontoast, direct from Austin.

By the time dozens of LA-based bands descend on Austin for South by Southwest next week, LA's greatest freaks and geeks will have already mad an impact at SXSWi. The interactive component of SXSW, which begins tomorrow (along with the opening of SXSW Film) is a long weekend packed with panels and conversations regarding the future of new media, technology, and entertainment. Now in its 16th year, SXSWi has grown more notable in recent years for the sheer number of happy hours and parties (at least 85 at last count) that span the 5-day conference with product launches flowing as freely as the beer.

In recent months, Erin McCarley's music has been featured on shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Privileged and One Tree Hill. The movie trailer for He's Just Not That Into You includes her song "Love, Save the Empty." And tonight, she'll appear on the Late Show with David Letterman. Not bad for an artist whose first album debuts today! LAist recently chatted with McCarley a couple days after hanging out on the set of her first music video shoot. During the conversation, she opened up about the new record, the best advice she ever received, and why she might take up grocery shopping as a hobby.

                            

Last Wednesday, local band The Airborne Toxic Event (MySpace) performed at Becker Amphitheatre on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.

So I think The Mae Shi are robots.

If you live in Los Angeles or know anything about punk rock circa 1977 then you know about X. If you don't, Perry Farrell will tell you in the clip on the right. Farrell introduced X last month at SXSW, headliners of Spin's day party at Stubb's BBQ. The place was only two-thirds full after a mass exodus of sweater vests following a short set by Vampire Weekend. But all four original members of X -- now touring in celebration of their 31-year anniversary -- proved once and for all that punk's not dead (or at least that rock and roll is alive and kicking).

There is a song called "The March" in Astra Heights' infectious debut album, Good Problems, that is so insanely catchy that you can't help but wonder why radio stations don't play songs like it any more, and you would also think that a record company would have no problem hawking the song. But I suppose it speaks volumes of the current woeful state of the record business that Astra Heights was dropped by its label a day after Good Problems was released on iTunes.

For the third consecutive year, KCRW's Nic Harcourt and crew set up shop in Austin's Tequila Mockingbird studios to produce Morning Becomes Eclectic during South by Southwest. We caught up with them for the first of three live in-studio sessions last week and witnessed the raw power of Glasgow's Sons and Daughters.

We ran into two of our favorite LA-based music bloggers, Justin Gage of Aquarium Drunkard and Ashley Jex (Jax) of Rock Insider at SXSW last week. We ducked behind The Mohawk, where Aquarium Drunkard cosponsored the Hot Freaks! day party featuring performances by Jens Lekman, Film School, British Sea Power and more.

We made it through another South by Southwest Interactive, Film, and Music Conference and Festival in Austin, TX. After writing out that sentence, we need a nap but stay tuned for more interviews and live footage documenting LA's presence at the 21st annual event.

Capping off four days of panels at SXSW's 2008 Film Festival, (which also included Mark Cuban interviewing Michael Eisner, and a conversation with Billy Bob Thornton), Doreen Ringer Ross of BMI interviewed Moby. The meat of the interview is posted above and concerns Moby's take on licensing music for film (and the concept of mobygratis) as well as a look at his unlikely rise from a punker on Manhattan's lower-east side to a corporate party-playing DJ to a world-renown commercial artist.

We caught up with Jonathan Coulton after he participated in a live taping of the Heather Gold show, an experience he blogged as well, without noting the more relevant details -- he sang a duet of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" with Gold reading the lyrics from an iPhone and then sang Billy Joel's "Don't Ask Me Why" with Harvey Danger's Sean Nelson.

Human Giant unleashed itself upon an unsuspecting public last year via MTV and the bell just rang for Round 2 - are you ready? There's sketch comedy, there's underground sketch comedy, there's in your face on-the-streets sketch comedy, and then there's Human Giant, a team that presents, in each episode, collections of bits that are more like experimental movies than the sketch comedy we've been seeing for the last 15 years. There's plenty of parody to be sure although none of it is familiar-feeling, "safe", or boring - which is perfect for Human Giant's 11:00pm slot (what, the kids can't handle this at 10:00pm?).

Luckily, since SXSW Music officially starts on Wednesday, tonight's massive line-up of residencies is hardly affected, save for The Voom Blooms who are replaced by We Barbarians and others at the Viper Room tonight (full list of tonight's residencies after the jump). However, the exodus of Los Angeles based bands is upon us.

As reports and tweets comes out of of SXSW in Austin, TX where BusinessWeek's Sarah Lacy reportedly held a disastrous interview with 23-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, news of the popular social networking site with more of a national and local business twist hit the wires: Paramount will offer movie clips via a Facebook application, a first for the movie industry.

Tuesdays are usually slow nights in LA for music and as bands prep to head Texas-way for SXSW, we'll probably see even fewer choices like tonight. But fewer doesn't mean worse. Mountain Goats and Jeffrey Lewis (great video below) play at the Troubadour tonight (and tomorrow), Working For A Nuclear Free City is back with another concert, this time at Cinespace (though it's a private premier party. Crash?) and LA Weekly says to head over to Glendale and check out The Scene.

Despite SXSW starting up this week with 100+ Los Angeles based bands heading over there, residencies are growing stronger and more venue-diverse across the line, especially on Monday nights where the volume makes it hard to choose from. Here's to a great month of residencies, rock on.

http://seattlest.com/2008/02/28/foo_fighters_da.php">announced his presidential bid.

Speaking of local rock duos (and also tonight), The Pity Party (MySpace), who were interviewed here at LAist earlier this month, conclude their February residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake.

Three weeks ago, The Airborne Toxic Event (MySpace) concluded their January residency at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake with a show that included The Deadly Syndrome (MySpace) and Castledoor (MySpace). It was a chance to see all three of Kevin Bronson's bands to watch on the same stage in a single night.

RocknRollDating.com is the creation of Eagle Rock resident and music industry veteran, Daniel House. He has created the free online dating site with music as the coming-together concept. Put in your favorite bands and concerts, your preferred genres and the normal dating profile stats such as heights, sex, etc. and go find your mate based on the tunes you share in common. Or maybe you'll find someone who will let you experience new music.

Every March in Austin is like Mecca for music and techies. South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the most popular interactive and music conferences, always hosted in the Texan city that has been honored as one of the creative cities in America. Out of the 1200 or so bands playing from around the world, 109 are from Los Angeles and LA County(give or take a few depending on errors in the list from SXSW, ex: Meiko lives in LA, not Georgia anymore). Add in some other nearby areas and make that 122 bands.

Thanks to those who responded yesterday to help make this LAist column more useful. You can still chime in, it's never too late. Today, here's a short form list of our picks with select MP3s embedded after the jump.

Photo Credit: Malingering

I hate contests. Hate. LAist doesn't need them, lots of you don't appreciate them, it's not what big blogs do, and we have quietly become a big blog in this town. But I love Great Northern. Love. I first saw them at SXSW in March, and it's been nice to watch them get on the cover of the Weekly (and the drummer at that), and it's great to see them continue to make good...

Imagine our surprise when we discovered from the LA Times' Buzz Bands blog last week that our friends Rocket were not only on the new tv show The Next Great American Band but they had made it pretty far already. Rocket is the all-female pop rock band from East Hollywood who we first told you about during the summer of last year when they were playing shows almost every day in LA. Then this...

If you live in Los Angeles, you may have felt a rumble from rap group Brother Reade. Wait, let me take that back. You can compare them to a 4.6 earthquake. Making heads bop and girls shake their asses, Brother Reade has steadily taken over the eastside, and and soon the world, with their ingenious lyrics “This is for the strippers and the fans of the Clippers / cuz life ain’t easy for y’all” and infectious beats.

LA Weekly's inaugural Detour music festival rocked downtown last October, with frenzied dancing, drinking, and dope smoking on the downtown streets, City Hall lawn, and even St. Vibiana's Cathedral with the likes of Beck, Blonde Redhead, !!!, Queens of the Stone Age, Basement Jaxx, and Nortec Collective. The second Detour is a day-long music extravaganza that's set up to be quite the, um, party, with headliners: Bloc Party, Satellite Party, Justice, Celebrity Skin, and...

Regardless of what we think about pretty boy actors who seemingly have it all handed to them on a silver platter, anyone who lives in LA for a while either becomes friends with stars or have friends who are friends of stars. And one thing that's clear about celebrity, is that the stars are just like us, if not more pathetic. While you and I are struggling to make ends meet, the stars are...

Daniel Johnston at SXSW, 3/07