RR #3 :: Texas Time

26 March 2010, 09:19

As I write this, I’m somewhere over the Atlantic ocean. It’s either 1am or 6am depending whether I’m on Texas or UK time, so whichever timezone my malnutritioned body believes it’s in, it’s pretty early.

I’m on my way back from completing a long-time goal of mine, South by Southwest festival in Austin. It’s somewhere I’ve longed to go, and up until three weeks ago I believed it was an experience that would elude me again in 2010.

The lessons learnt from attending this year are numerable: the first being that, thanks to excessive red tape and licensing laws, the UK could never put on a festival that transforms a city as much as SXSW – there are literally gigs in alleyways, abandoned parking lots (car parks to you and me), houses, abandoned houses, record stores, and nearly everywhere you can (and can’t) plug in a PA.

The record store gig was the best. This wasn’t an acoustic session, this was a full on blowout by one of the two artists I’d been most excited about travelling 5,000 miles to see – Thee Oh Sees – a band who I’ve loved for the past five years, and whose frontman had been in one of the bands that nearly changed my life before that – Coachwhips.

Like the gig I’d seen the night before, when the venue was one in, one out to see John Dwyer’s increasingly popular San Francisco four-piece, this was an utterly ramshackle crowd experience. In between racks of rare 12” records, moshpits formed, and crowdsurfers either landed on shelves of records or the drumkit. The keyboards collapsed under the weight of one over the top teenager, and John Dwyer managed to punch someone in the face. Blood, sweat and tears indeed, with some incredible music thrown in…

San Francisco is actually the home of all great music these days. Since Coachwhips blew my mind with Bangers vs Fuckers in 2004, a steady stream of great, distorted garage rock has flowed around the US from the great city, somehow avoiding taking over the UK. The closest they’ve got is now, with Thee Oh Sees performing a sole UK show at ATP in June and The Fresh & Onlys somehow breaking out to play a slew of festival dates, including my favourite End of the Road festival in September. SXSW provided an ample opportunity to catch a few more of the bands I’ve long loved, but never got to see.

The other one is Ty Segall, who is becoming big stuff over the pond, but is yet to have a label release over on these shores. His debut was released on Dwyer’s Castle Face label two years ago, and through split singles with Thee Oh Sees has managed to slowly take over my consciousness over the past year. His 7” single last year ‘Cents’ has been a staple play whenever I’ve DJed in recent times, and he has taken on covers of a number of my favourite classic artists, from a fuzzed up version of Beefheart’s ‘Dropout Boogie’ to a bewilderingly energetic cover of ‘Do it Clean’ by Echo & the Bunnymen. On a four-way split 7” only available at a daytime show in Austin, he covered 2+2=? by Bob Seger, the highlight of a record that also included a version of one of the best punk songs of all time – 7 and 7 is by Love – performed by another band who shone at SXSW – Charlie & the Moonhearts.

But Segall isn’t a covers artist, his own tracks are what makes him special. ‘Cents’ is a phenomenal slice of thumping garage rock, matched by recent single ‘Caesar’ and by his two LPs thus far: his aforementioned debut and most recent LP Lemons. Chatting to him in Austin, he promised to be playing the UK in October, and if the crowd response is half of what he got in Austin, he’ll be returning shortly after that.

Both artists are expensive ones to start on though, Thee Oh Sees in five years have clocked up a mighty 11 LPs and countless non-album singles – all released on gorgeous vinyl, and only two released by a European label (Tomlab), meaning that import charges have made them an expensive habit. Last year alone they released three LPs, and this year have started early with the utterly beautiful one-sided etched 12” ‘Quadrospazzed’.

Myspace.com/ohsees

Myspace.com/tysegall

For more of what Gareth enjoyed in Austin, see his blog http://myownworstNME.tumblr.com

To buy this month: Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences – Apologies to the Enlightenment (Jezus Factory)