SXSW interviews

Listen to interviews with Allison of Hot Lava, Lucy and Ashley of Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles, and Destiny of Midnight Masses!

Allison Apperson and Lucy Michelle photos by Joanna Ramos

Playlist: March 30, 2010

Erykah Badu	Window Seat	New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)	Universal Motown
Lykke Li	I'm Good, I'm Gone	Youth Novels	LL Recordings
Sleigh Bells	Ring Ring	Demo	Self-Released
Chairlift	Planet Health	Does You Inspire You	Kanine
Anni Rossi	The West Coast	Rockwell	4AD
Tune-Yards	Sunlight	Bird-Brains	Marriage
Huggy Bear	No Sleep	Taking the Rough With the Smooch	Kill Rock Stars
OOIOO	UMA	Taiga	Thrill Jockey
High Places	On Giving Up	High Place vs. Mankind	Thrill Jockey
The Avengers	Car Crash	We Are the One [EP]	Dangerhouse
The Vignettes	Stand by Me	I am U/U am I [EP]	Self-Released
The White Stripes	In the Cold, cold Night	Elephant	V2
Goldfrapp	Alive	Head First	Mute
Ike and Tina Turner	River Deep, Mountain High	Proud Mary	EMI
Beach House	Walk in the Park	Teen Dream	Sub Pop
Bratmobile	Eating Toothpaste	Ladies, Women and Girls	Lookout!
Dum Dum Girls	I Will Be	I Will Be	Sub Pop
Liz Brady	Palladium (the Hip)	Swinging Mademoiselles	Silva
Sahara Hotnights	Alright, Alright	Jennie Bomb	Jetset
Dark Dark Dark	Bright Bright Bright	Bright Bright Bright	Supply and Demand
Midnight Masses	Desperate Man	Rapture Ready, I Gazed at the Body	Team Love
Annie Lennox	Don't Let it Bring You Down	Medusa	Arista
Dolly Parton	Muleskinner Blues	The Essential Dolly Parton	BMG
The Besnard Lakes	Albatross	The Besnard Lakes are the Roaring Night	Jagjaguwar
Wye Oak	Siamese	The Knot	Merge
Basia Bulat	Walk You Down	Heart of My Own	Rough Trade
Micachu	Vulture	Jewellery	Rough Trade
Janet Jackson	Nasty	Control	A&M
Amadou and Mariam	Djama	Welcome to Mali	Because/Nonesuch
Etta James	Tell Mama	Soul Hits, Vol. 1	Rhino

SXSW slideshow!

Playlist: March 23, 2010

Deerhoof	The Perfect Me	Friend Opportunity	Kill Rock Stars
The Starfolk	Into the Clouds	Lemon-Lime EP	Mpls Ltd
Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles	Ghost Town	Special Party Time for Everybody	self-released
Sissy Bar	Gin and Juice (Snoop Dogg Cover)	Magic Bunny EP	Love Kit
Thee Oh Sees	It Killed Mom	Sucks Blood	Castle Face
The Soviettes	Sandbox	Rarities	Red Sound
Marnie Stern	The Crippled Jazzer	This is It and I am It…	Kill Rock Stars
Shannon and the Clams	Troublemaker	I Wanna Go Home	1-2-3-4-Go!
Joanna Newsom	Good Intentions Paving Co.	Have One on Me	Drag City
Liz Phair	Animal Girl	Juvenalia	Matador
The Big Sleep	Murder	Son of the Tiger	Frenchkiss
Missy Mist	Make It Mellow	Ladies First: A Female Rap Mix	Stones Throw
Prototypes	Tire Aux Pigeons	Prototypes	Minty Fresh
Bachelorette	Her Rotating Head	My Electric Family	Drag City
Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens	What Have You Done?	What Have You Done?	Daptone
Dengue Fever	Hold My Hips	Sleepwalking Through The Mekong	Birdman
Stevie Nicks	Edge Of Seventeen	Bella Donna	Modern
Cat Power	Nude As The News	What Would The Community Think?	Matador
Mr. Airplane Man	C'mon DJ	C'mon DJ	Sympathy for the Record Industry
Mika Miko	Beat The Rush	We Be Xuxa	PPM
Babes In Toyland	Ripe	Dystopia	Insipid
Chaka Khan	Dance Wit Me	The Very Best Of Rufus	MCA
Chaka Khan	I Feel For You	I Feel For You	Warner Bros
Tina And The Total Babes	All About Makin' Out	She's So Tuff	Sympathy for the Record Industry
Juliana Hatfield	Peace and Love	Peace and Love	Ye Olde
Warpaint	Elephants	Exquisite Corpse	Manimal Vinyl

Girl Germs at SXSW: Anna

TUESDAY, MARCH 16
Greetings from Austin, Texas! I caught my first set of bands Tuesday evening (while y’all were certainly listening to Girl Germs). The Panache SXSW pre-party at the Scoot Inn was too good to pass up- The Coathangers, Thee Oh Sees, the Strangeboys and  Golden Triangle were all Radio K-tastic bands on the lineup, and the Coathangers & Golden Triangle have proven to be exciting Girl Germs bands as our show has gotten started. Needless to say, they didn’t disappoint. Despite being exhausted from our 22-hour van trip down to Texas, it was worth it to stand on some very tired legs of mine for the great performances the bands gave. Former Mika Miko member Jenna Thornhill joined the Strangeboys onstage on the saxophone (and bore a striking resemblance to Roseanne’s Sara Gilbert- observe!) 

Golden Triangle followed with a set that is likely to end up a festival highlight- they brought the energy, style, and decibel count of the backyard show to a whole new level. Two of the frontwomen snarled and shook their tambourines while another calmly played the bass in glittery 6-inch heels. They were backed by three gentlemen, which surprised me- I assumed that Golden Triangle would be a trio live. At any rate, the extra band members only served to strengthen their iron wall of sound. Their energy and stamina (plus those truly awesome haircuts) held out for a long time. By the end of the show, my ears were ringing but my heart was happy!

                                           Golden Triangle

Stick around for more news from South By Southwest and Girl Germs- I’ll be joined by Dana here in Austin in just a few days, and she’ll be providing even more Girl Germs-worthy SXSW news. Check out Radio K’s coverage of the festival at radiok.org/sxsw.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17
On Wednesday, I interviewed Basia Bulat after she performed at the Paste Magazine day party- she was really sweet, and talked about performing at South By Southwest and her excellent hat collection. You can check out our interview here. I also got to talk with Peter from the Antlers later in the afternoon (and while that isn’t totally Girl Germs-related, it was pretty awesome!) At night I went to the Stone’s Throw showcase, where Peanut Butter Wolf, Madlib, and Dâm Funk spun some of their favorite records (many of which featured some soulful ladies).   

                                                   BASIA!

THURSDAY, MARCH 18

On Thursday, I saw a performance from and interviewed Olga from The Besnard Lakes, who had great things to say about their new album and the process of scoring a new film by Mark Ruffalo- I'll link to that one when it's up on Radio K's SXSW blog.

After talking to The Besnard Lakes I wandered over to the French Legation Museum, which was a really cool venue.  People were enjoying lime popsicles on the grass while the bands played on outside stages, so it was perfect for a sunny Thursday afternoon. 

                                           Outside la musée

There I caught a set from the little-seen but much blogged about Subpop-signees Dum Dum Girls, and then from The xx. I had heard mixed reviews about The xx live, but in my opinion, their performance totally blew me away. They’re playing a sold-out show with JJ at the Varsity Theater on April 9^th.

                           The xx- so very tiny from my vantage point.

FRIDAY, MARCH 19 & SATURDAY, MARCH 20
Friday I saw New Zealand artist Bachelorette, who performed solo and managed to reproduce her album’s complexity with a laptop and a looping pedal. I've been loving her second album “My Electric Family” lately, so I’m really excited to see her open up for Beach House on April 4^th at the Cedar.  

                                           Bachelorette

I didn’t see any lady-ful bands on Saturday night, but I did run into Dana at the Woodsist showcase, accompanied by Allison from Hot Lava. In all it was really fun, and you can check out lots more SXSW coverage and some excellent instudios + videos at Radio K's SXSW blog.

Girl Germs at SXSW: Dana

THURSDAY, MARCH 18
Today was day two of SXSW, and the festival was in full swing! Anna spent the afternoon at the French Legation Museum and when I got into town, we headed to the GINORMOUS Whole Foods store on Lamar Street to eat dinner (including something called "Miles of Chocolate") on the roof. We then headed over to the Galaxy Room for the Sub Pop/Hardly Art showcase, where I met Ruth from Happy Birthday, who just signed to Sub Pop. It turns out Ruth's sister is Merrill Garbus, aka Tuneyards! She told me Merrill isn't really into the whole SXSW scene so she was sitting it out this year. I got to see Golden Triangle, the Duchess and the Duke, and Dum Dum Girls.

Dum Dum Girls’ harmonies translated surprisingly well to their live performance, although I was personally a tiny bit turned off by their seemingly aloof attitudes (coulda been SXSW overload, who knows). The band was one of the superstars of this year’s SXSW, playing several shows every day of the fest. 

     Dum Dum Girls

The many members of Brooklyn’s Golden Triangle crowded onto the Galaxy Room’s indoor stage. After some technical difficulties (kudos to the sound guy!), the band’s energetic show was all a big blur of body parts, dancing and tambourines.

        
The blur of Brooklyn's Golden Triangle

Tomorrow and Thursday will be epic SXSW days, so we called it a night (relatively) early. Looking forward to the bounty of shows!

FRIDAY, MARCH 19

Anna spent the day doing interviews for Radio K’s SXSW broadcast while I covered the fest for Venus Zine. I had lunch with Allison Apperson, the singer/guitarist of Richmond's Hot Lava, at the famous Star Seeds diner (an Austin must). Hot Lava (who played Radio K’s 2009 SXSW broadcast) isn’t playing this year, but we talked about Allison’s SXSW experience as an observer rather than a performer, her new band (?) and Hot Lava’s most recent release – a split 7” with the Sad Cobras, who are apparently her favorite band ever (listen here!)

My friend (and ace photographer) Joanna and I headed over to the French Legation Museum, one of my favorite places to visit in Austin even during non-SXSW times. Dengue Fever played not only an amazing show at the Museum but Radio K’s 2010 SXSW broadcast as well. See Joanna's way better photos here.

    Dengue Fever

Anni Rossi debuted some newer songs, which sounded amazing! They are a lot more rocking than the ones on her previous records and that she played during Radio K's 2009 SXSW broadcast.  She played with a full band for most of the set and then did some older songs solo.

 Anni Rossi

After seeing some great dude bands (Austin’s own…And You Will Know us by the Trail of Dead and the ever-sassy Mayer Hawthorne), I caught up with Lucy and Ashley from Minneapolis’s own Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. As is often the case at SXSW, we had to conduct the interview next to a dumpster in a dark, seedy alley off of Red River Street…and I think there might have been some guy peeing back there. The band made the roadtrip down to Austin and played one show before heading back to Minneapolis (listen here!)

           Lucy and Ashley of Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles (photo by Joanna Ramos)

Pierced Arrows at Encore

 Pierced Arrows capped off the evening with a show at the WFMU party, where I also caught Moon Duo and Sonny and the Sunsets (both from San Francisco and both awesome). Fred, Toody and Kelly pulled off their usual high-energy performance (I swear you would never know Fred and Toody are in their 60s) and even though I interviewed the band for their Radio K in-studio session a few weeks ago, I was too nervous to talk to Toody when she was next to me at the bar. Put that one in the SXSW regrets column.

SATURDAY, MARCH 20

The temperature barely got above 50 degrees and it was windy all day (so bad that it cut out the sound at Malachai’s early afternoon show). Even we Minnesotans were freezing. I took the opportunity to spend as much time indoors as possible, eating some Ethiopian food and catching up with some friends from New York and St. Louis.

Then it was on to Buffalo Billiards for Midnight Masses, who played Radio K’s 2009 SXSW broadcast after their tour with Trail of Dead (guitarist/singer Jason Reece is also a founding member of ToD) last year. In the year since they played our broadcast, the band has changed its lineup a bit and released an EP on Team Love. Check out Radio K DJ Sam's interview with the entire band, and my interview with guitarist/singer/multi-instrumentalist/all-around talented lady Destiny Montague. We discussed how Midnight Masses is playing bigger shows this year, what she likes about SXSW and what it's like writing and recording with all the band members not living in the same city (listen here!)

 Destiny Montague from Midnight Masses

After Midnight Masses, I met up with Anna and the rest of the Radio K crew at Red 7 for the Woodsist showcase, where Woods and Real Estate did a cover of Blind Melon’s “No Rain” (viva Bee Girl!) and I spotted Lori Barbero of Babes in Toyland fame. I <3 Austin.

Playlist: March 16, 2010

Fever Ray	Triangle Walks	Fever Ray	Mute
Charlotte Gainsbourg	IRM	IRM	Elektra
Chromatics	Healer	Night Drive	Italians Do It Better
Golden Triangle	Death to Fame	Double Jointer	Hardly Art
Vashti Bunyan	Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind	Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind	Dicristina
The Vignettes	Stand By Me	I am U/U am I	Self-Released
Scout Niblett	Nevada	This Fool Can Die Now	Too Pure
The Gossip	Yesterday's News	Movement	Kill Rock Stars
Erykah Badu	Window Seat	Window Seat [single]	Universal Motown
Sleigh Bells	Ring Ring	Demo	Self-released
Ladyhawke	Magic	Ladyhawke	Modular
The Soviettes	Sandbox	Rarities	Red Sound
Uzeda	Camillo	Stella	Touch and Go
Matson Jones	A Bit of Arson Never Hurt Anyone	Matson Jones	Sympathy for the Record Industry
L7	Andres	Hungry for Stink	Slash
Billie Holiday	Stars Fell on Alabama	Unknown	Decca
Tegan and Sara	Walking With a Ghost	So Jealous	Sanctuary
Miss Georgia Peach	You Blow My Mind	You Blow My Mind	Ramo
Best Friends Forever	The Loneliness Song	Best Friends Forever	Say and Stay Said
Pierced Arrows	On the Move	Descending Shadows	Vice
Free Kitten	Seasick	Inherit	Ecstatic Peace
Fol Chen	Red Skies Over Garden City	Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made	Asthmatic Kitty
Hole	She Walks on Me	Live Through This	DGC
My Brightest Diamond	The Robin's Jar	Bring Me The Workhouse	Asthmatic Kitty
Tickley Feather	Tickley Plays Guitar	Hors D'oeurves	Paw Tracks
Fannypack	Theme From Frank	Ghetto Bootleg	Tommy Boy
School Of Seven Bells	Silent Grips	Silent Grips 7"	Suicide Squeeze
Bikini Kill	Starfish	Pussy Whipped	Kill Rock Stars
Gay Beast	What You Want	Quilted Navy Pier [EP]
Dum Dum Girls	Heart Of Stone (Raveonettes cover)	Heart of Stone (single)	Sub Pop
Kelley Deal 6000	Canyon	Go To The Sugar Altar	Nice

Girl Germs: March 16, 2010

Make sure to stay tuned to our blog, Facebook and Twitter for updates from Anna and Dana from SXSW! Thanks to intern Aidan for co-hosting this week

Lady you should know about: Isobel Campbell

Much more than just "the girl from Belle and Sebastian," Isobel Campbell is a composer, cellist, songwriter and vocalist who had a solo career during her days with B&S, and has continued to do so since her departure in 2002. She's successfully transitioned from the indie-pop world into the folk, jazz, rock and traditional music genres.

This Scottish lady recorded under the name the Gentle Waves while she was still in B&S before releasing her debut solo record under her own name, Amorino, in 2003. She's also well-known for her collaborations - both with jazz artist Bill Wells (with whom she recorded an album of Billie Holiday covers) and with Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age.

It is her collaborations with Lanegan that have drawn the most attention recently. But did you know that Campbell is the one who composed the music and wrote most of the lyrics for their three releases together (the latest is Sunday at Devil Dirt, which came out in 2008)? Campbell wrote and recorded the songs herself in Glasgow, then sent them to Lanegan in Los Angeles for him to record his portion of the vocals.

Feministing panel at the U of M

If you're in the Twin Cities, check out what is sure to be an informative and entertaining evening with the women who edit Feministing. The event happens Wednesday, March 10 at Coffman Union, with an afterparty at Blarney's.

Also, stay tuned to the Girl Germs blog as well as our Twitter and Facebook pages (and soon to come...a fancy TUMBLR page!) for an interview with one of the Feministing panelists.

Girl Germs: March 2, 2010

Playlist 3.02.2010

50 FOOT WAVE Long Painting
PJ HARVEY Sheela-Na-Gig
LULLABYE ARKESTRA Heart Like a Wheel
BABY GUTS Flies
SIOUXSIE Into A Swan
MARIA ISA Die, Not Kill
SHARON JONES & THE DAP-KINGS I Learned the Hard Way [Single]
(Pierced Arrows instudio session)
LAURA VEIRS Wide-Eyed, Legless
MARY TIMONY BAND Summer's Fawn
GOLDEN TRIANGLE Cinco de Mayo
DAWN PENN No, No, No
WHITE MAGIC The Light
THE KNIFE Girls' Night Out
THE SUGARCUBES Birthday
LIECHTENSTEIN All at Once
THE SOVIETTES Paranoia Cha-Cha-Cha
GORILLA ANGREB Supersyn
HIGH PLACES When It Comes
THE BLOW Pile of Gold
CSS Alala
SLEATER-KINNEY The Last Song
ERYKAH BADU Window Seat
FRIDA HYVONEN The Enemy Within
JOANNA NEWSOM '81
DENGUE FEVER Seeing Hands