South by Southwest, for every attendee, is full of moments of revelry and revelation, disappointment and transcendent joy. This show didn’t rock me the hardest, and it certainly didn’t last the longest, but it was surely one of the rarest moments of serendipity I’ve experienced on the musical plane. Early Saturday afternoon, a companion and I were shoeing it from South Austin all the way up to Waterloo Park on the northeastern edge of downtown for the all-day Mess with Texas party. As it was a long journey, halfway I suggested we stop at my favorite little Austin coffeeshop/bar/lounge downtown—Halcyon—for a drink. I’d always loved the outdoor seating at Halcyon; the patio is part of the pedestrian throughway on 4th St., and it offers some of the best peoplewatching in town. We knew that South by crowds would render the seating pretty much nil, but we weren’t prepared for the crowd that was spilling out of the main entrance. We worked our way around to the side entrance, and I asked the familiar bartendress, “What’s the deal—who’s playing?” “M. Ward,” she says. Come again? “Uh, wow. When’s the show start?” (figuring it would be a wait). “Oh, five minutes or so.” Hot damn. There were maybe 100, 120 folks stuffed into the place, but my companion and I were able to squirm our way up to just about 15 feet from the stage, still a bit baffled that this was happening. (I’d last seen M. Ward at a quickly sold-out show at the Apollo Theater.) And then the man took the stage, masked behind windscreen-wide Ray Bans, and said, a little shyly, “How y’all doin’?” Well. Pretty goddamn well is how we’re doing, Mr. Ward, thanks for asking. And then he started right in on a set of familiar tunes in his sweet smoky lovelorn voice and warm river of guitar, expanding out into minutes-long acoustic expansions of songs that blended into others, mixing their rhythms and melodies, and then back again. Time didn’t so much stand still as expand outward until you were unaware of anything but the hypnotic strumming of M. Ward’s guitar. He played for only a short while, but afterward I still felt like I needed a post-coital cigarette.
DOWNLOAD: M. Ward - Poison Cup (MP3) or Follow us for more M. Ward MP3s (Twitter)
The Roots + Orgone + Lilla D’Mone - 1/2
Roseland Theater
Grass Widow + White Fang + Hornet Leg - 1/7
Artistery
The Moondoggies + Sera Cahoone - 1/8
Doug Fir Lounge
Steve Earle + Hayes Carll - 1/19
Aladdin Theatre
Asobi Seksu (Acoustic) - 1/19
Mississippi Studios
Steve Earle + Hayes Carll - 1/20
Aladdin Theatre
Steve Earle + Hayes Carll - 1/22
Aladdin Theatre
wow haters your lips must cant move as fast as his. the other reason mayb your brain cant follow up the words he be saying.
by tasha hines on Sat Jan 2, 2010 at 04.01 pm from the entry: Lil Wayne is going to jail
k’naan is the best album."Trabadour"
by Mohammed on Sat Jan 2, 2010 at 03.26 am from the entry: Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums/Mixtapes of 2009
Courtney Love is a neurotic, drug addled, fame whore. She should focus on seeking professional help. Courtney - substantiate your allegations in court, or shut up.
Ryan Adams is a talented songwriter, and has an alert and inquisitive mind. He is also a gentleman.
by sickchip on Fri Jan 1, 2010 at 09.54 am from the entry: Ryan Adams Denies Courtney Love's Allegations
Damn man, this is a real dope list. 2009 was a great year for hip hop! we actually made a list of our own for the top 10 albums of the year which had a couple overlaps but also some new stuff too:
http://da-what.com/2009/12/31/end-of-year-top-10-albums-of-2009/
we also made one for the top mixtapes of 09:
http://da-what.com/2009/12/30/end-of-the-year-top-10-mixtapes-of-2009/
and a list for who we thought had the best year of 2009:
http://da-what.com/2009/12/29/end-of-year-who-had-the-best-2009/
we would appreciate it if you checked it out and left some comments. tell us what you think!
by ben on Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 05.52 pm from the entry: Top 10 Best Hip-Hop Albums/Mixtapes of 2009
oh noes, josh! I love this. what’s jumpy alterna-pop - like harvey danger?
by beth on Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 05.08 pm from the entry: Vampire Weekend rockin' down a deserted alley (vid)
the Yamar jam was the shit
by spencer on Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 04.45 pm from the entry: Phish - The Gorge Amphitheatre (George, WA; Aug. 7th, 2009)
now that I have a baby at home, Vampire Weekend is surprisingly more listenable when dancing with my daughter. Well, as long as I earmuff that whole “do you wanna f*ck” bit…
by Ian on Thu Dec 31, 2009 at 08.47 am from the entry: Vampire Weekend rockin' down a deserted alley (vid)
succinct review! amazing soul! fusions of moments that come and go and come ‘round again: the holy grail of Americana!
_ long-time fan. Matt is right up there with Lennon for me.
Funny, his birthday is the day AFTER John Lennon’s
‘Grok’ that! Being a Libra also, I now wonder no more. lol.
And did you hear Howe Gelb’s empirical discussion on NPR recently?