"If You've Only Got" is a feature here on Both Sides showcasing one song, one artist. Whether you have all day to listen to it or just enough time to put it in play once, an If You've Only Got song is gonna be well worth that time. It could be something from way back or something entirely new to you, but ultimately it's just something I really feel like sharing...

The experienced duo that take too the stages as the Eagles of Death Metal play a classic form of rock that's just dirty and chainsmoking. Coming from their latest release, Heart On (clever?), Wannabe in LA is a showcase of their brand. With the start of a few heavy grunts, the song progresses into a cocky, stairstepping rhythm with heavy breaths and the cadence of some simple, rocking acoustics.

If You've Only Got Series 3 (all songs are right click - save as):
Wannabe in LA

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!


Otherwheres - The guys at Party Ends! don't think you're very funny...

Otherwheres - Good aural at Nothing But Green Lights...

Otherwheres - And just because I'm always asking for more Swedes, Please...

Labels: If You've Only Got...

Okay kids, take a seat so your eyes can fully molest the list about to be bestowed upon you. Last night, Austin City Limits Fest released its line-up, and if I may say so, it's looking to be a much better festival than last year. With over 100 artists on the list, I can't exactly list them all. Though a few of these were already expected, some of the notables this year that I picked up when I skimmed it this morning include the likes of...



Grab yourself a pass or two at the ACL site.
Be its friend!

Labels: ACL '09

Playing in all those dark corners, this trio of Chicagoans emerged from the depths to play as the Netherfriends. With haunting wails scattered amongst the vocals and heavy keys dauntily looming over from the background, Netherfriends play a maniac, mad brand of rock. Fear not though, these guys are here to shed a bit of light from the darkness and tame their demons. What you have left with Netherfriends is a delightfully obscured, deviously dark set of distortion.

Various songs from Netherfriends (all songs are right click - save as):
TAC TAC
Worean Kor
Stop Smoking A$$hole Cigarettes

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!


Otherwheres - Mmm, Ultra8201 showcases Passion Pit's video for "The Reeling"...

Otherwheres - John over at Party Ends! gives his thoughts on the Lolla lineup...

Otherwheres - Connor at IGIF shares an old...but new...but old Sufjan song...

"If You've Only Got" is a feature here on Both Sides showcasing one song, one artist. Whether you have all day to listen to it or just enough time to put it in play once, an If You've Only Got song is gonna be well worth that time. It could be something from way back or something entirely new to you, but ultimately it's just something I really feel like sharing...

With only four albums to their name, this English quintet certainly can seem like the seldom seen kid, but Elbow is anything but the new kid on the block. With almost 2 decades under their belt, these guys definitely know their way around, and the experience they have is expressed in volumes in their discography. Coming from their latest album, The Seldom Seen Kid, Grounds for Divorce is a song so cool it made me start smoking. Having an overtly simple instrumental, the driving force for Grounds for Divorce is undoubtedly the smokey, hazed lyrical deliverance from Guy Garvey. Dive into the bar where everyone knows your name in the worst sense and drink your woes away with this cocktail...

If You've Only Got Series 2 (artist name leads to site & all songs are right click - save as):
Elbow - Grounds For Divorce

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!


Otherwheres - Enter to win a limited edition Wavves 7" at You Ain't No Picasso...

Otherwheres - Great Discovery at My Old Kentucky Blog...

Otherwheres - IGIF has the video for Matt & Kim's "Lessons Learned"....

Labels: If You've Only Got...

Jamie Lidell - such a soulful, soulful white man. I'm sure this gentleman walks the streets with the sun shining at his back and a gospel choir following only a few steps behind. Proclaiming his words like a preacher on one particularly joyous sunday, Lidell's music encapsulates soul and spirit. With a flurry of tambourining and the fuzz of an aged Wurlitzer, Lidell's a sunday servce, in the guise of rock, preaching about love and life. With an upbeat, uplifiting, uproarious demeanor, Lidell is just up, up and up and gets you on your feet, so play that music, white boy.

Various Songs from Jamie Lidell's JIM (all songs are right click - save as):
Another Day
Out of My System

Learn more at his site.
Be his friend!


Otherwheres - Win a signed copy of the Beastie Boys' Check Your Head vinyl over at Picasso...

Otherwheres - Lawrence over at Covert Curiosity has your view of of Dan Deacon's set at Emo's last friday...

Otherwheres - The boys over at Party Ends! stuffed some great goodage in a bag, have your chance at winning one of two Green Label Sound prize packs at their site...

Damn, these guys are catchy. Introducing themselves as the woodsmen of Sweden, this duo wields more than just axes. With instruments in hand a creative knack for song, these guys carry the propensity to make me alliterate, for the Swedish Sweet Serenades serenade sweetly in Sweden indeed. Utilizing handclaps, tuneful guitarwork, and rounded, hearty drumbeats, these are some dangerously talented axemen - as in axemen that are dangerously talented, although I'm sure they're amazingly skillful with an axe too. What a double threat! There's an aspect to their music that really gets you to realize that these guys really understand what they're doing - experts at their craft. If I were to make a pie chart of their components, slices would be even. Nothing outplays other parts here, and these guys just make a damn good pie. The Sweet Serenades - musicians, woodsmen, bakers.

Various songs from The Sweet Serenades (all songs are right click - save as):
Mona Lee
I Can Never Die
First Taste of Trouble

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!


Otherwheres - Record Store Day is tomorrow! Get your tookus out of that seat and support some local goodness...

Otherwheres -Jot the digits down, Ultra8201 along with Do512 will be hosting a great trio of artists over at La Zona Rosa on May 2nd....

Otherwheres - Matt over at YANP shares the Boy Least Likely To cover of Grease's "You're The One That I Want" woo woo woo....

Camera Obscura was yet another replay - a band I had seen just the day before, and yet, like the Grates, I had no problems with seeing again. In fact, if anything, I was more glad tos ee them today, as today whey were playing in full compared to the exclusion of one the day before. Ah yes, the full set. Taking position at the mic, the petite, swan-buttoned Tracyanne Campbell hid behind her guitar. Slowly approaching the stand, lifting her head high, Campbell began to utter the words to a piece from My Maudlin Career in that oh-so-distinct Scottish deliverance of hers. Beautifully cushioned by the sounds around her, this air of comfort, a lulling sound blanketed the crowd - it's hard to imagine this sedated crowd was the same rambunctious bunch that moshed to the sounds of Peelander-Z just a few minutes before. We were hushed, calmed and persuaded by the Glaswegian septet. The setlist, to no surprise, mostly reflected their upcoming release, My Maudlin Career - a beautiful collection of songs with the undeniable familiarity that makes it quintessentially Camera Obscura. The group glided through their set, and just as all the best of things seem to go, seemed to have left as quickly as they came despite having a hearty setlist.

Various Songs From Camera Obscura (all songs are right click - save as):
French Navy
Forest and Sands
Let's Get Out Of This Country

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend.

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

I had stuck around under the insistence of Matt from YANP. After seeing pictures from their last Hot Freaks! engagement, it really wouldn't have taken much persuasion for me to stay. My position grasped closely to the edge of the stage, and I came in fully expecting to not know what to expect. Their soundcheck teased us with their antics ranging from the coming and going of various wigged streaks of color to odd calls being made at the mic, but that was but a sliver of what was to come. Peelander-Z took two things to their advantage with their performance - the fact that we were never, at any point, going to really ever understand what they were going to say and that we would spend a great deal of our time in confusion. Essentially, they took what it is to be a Japanese band and molded it in their faavor so that we would end up the foreigners at the the end of it. The clashing of East and west turned our world upside down and proceeded to shake the shit out of it. Unprepared for it all, Peelanders Yellow and Green began the mayhem and were eventually joined by Red, clad in a costume straight out of Power Rangers. Eventually, the tentacled beast was thrown aside, and rightly so. As if they'd need costumes to illustrate the idea that they're monstrous, wild things. It was a show of unbounding energy filled with stage dives, audience immersion and just all-out craziness.

Various Songs From Peelander-Z (all songs are right click - save as):
S.T.E.A.K.
Ninja-High Schooool

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

Spending the entire day at the Hot Freaks! event, I started my day with the Grates, a group I had seen the day before at the Aussie BBQ and had no problems whatsoever in seeing again. The show at Hot Freaks was just as amazing, and as it should be, they pulled that off without having to regurge the exact same show. The Grates are truly something to get excited about. When one of the warm-ups on stage is to simply jump up and down, you know you're in for a show that's anything but passive. Considering the show antics, this band is just all about fun, and these guys make extra sure you have it, refusing to let anyone get through the show sitting down. Brushing the sweat off her brow, Patience Hodgson made fun a work-out, and having fun was their career, their job, their work. The group is just as infectious as their music, if not more so, and the vocals delivered by Hodgson refused to let anyone down as she waltzed across stage - jumping, skipping, hopping. All the while she would point playfully at members of the crowd, dedicating songs to everyone and everything. The stage was all smiles, the crowd was all smiles. Nearing the end of their set, she called out to us to make room. Parting like the Red Sea, she took with her a twirler as they started Rock Boys. Twirling the purple ribbon around her, Hodgson was like a central planet with a cascading ring moving around her. Eventually this lonesome planet was joined by an unexpected, and very random member of the crowd clad in rainbow spandex. Taking an orbit, this fellow ribbon twirler danced and played with Hodgson. You never really know what you'll get when you see the Grates, but one thing can always be expected - you will most definitely, most assuredly have a good time...guaranteed.

Various Songs From The Grates (all songs are right click - save as):
Aw Yeah
Milk Eyes
Rock Boys

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

March is definitely one month I always look forward to, and I contribute that entirely to SXSWeek - Austin's favorite time to show some love to film, music, and technology. Buried into that schedule are four days dedicated to music, and it is in those four days that I truly live. Given here is my perspective of South By Southwest.

SXSW One Helluva Recap: Day Four (artist name leads to site & all songs are right click - save as):

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

Whether the British have a thing for playing in hotel lobbies or not, I found myself at the Sheraton to catch Slow Club. Having been well on their way through their set, a sizable crowd had already gathered around the corner of the hotel bar, and as any bar environment should be, celebration and enjoyment was abound. You might as well have thrown confetti around the whole time. I excitedly joined the fray walking in to the beat of the floor tom, playing to demeanor of a parade march, and an amazingly affluent amount of fun was had with this couple as they worked the crowd with no more than a guitar and a modest drum set. Slow Club is anything but a let down, and a highly recommended watch.

Various Songs From Slow Club (all songs are right click - save as):
Me And You
Summer Shakedown

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

Ever since I talked about this then-busker from London two years ago, I've been hoping to catch Rod Thomas do his one man wonder sometime during this South By. Little did I know that I would find this opportunity at the Hilton lobby. Oddly enough, the large, grand lobby of this hotel made for a decent stage, and the constant hustle through the room only brought Rod to more people's attention as he literally stopped people in their tracks, beckoning them closer. Echoing in the room, the murmur of conversations slowly faded to Rod's bare acoustics as he, a one man act, worked the pedal loop to construct multi-layered goodness. As he played his tunes, not even the occasional celebrity passing through trumped interest, and the lobby began to crowd as Rod moseyed on through his set. He was in no hurry, and you could tell he took this to his advantage as he carefully doted over his music constructing piece after piece. At the end of his set, a finale garnered the unhooking of his guitar as he went back to his busker roots and played unamplified in the middle of the crowd. A great showing from this great Brit.

Various Songs From Rod Thomas (all songs are right click - save as):
Good Coat

Learn more at his site.
Be his friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

Though I typically would try to avoid watching a band I'd seen the South By before, London-based Fanfarlo was a welcome sight to see (at the same venue nonetheless) with their exquisitely poppy tunage. With Simon Balthazar behind the mic, he crooned his way through a fun, lively set that garnered happy-go-lucky sways from the crowd. Behind the dark tint of his sunglasses, Balthazar would take to the mic like a schoolboy doing recitations, his hands placed neatly behind his back, and occasionally, like a boy of mischief, drumsticks would be pulled out from his back and he'd bang away at the set beside him. Fanfarlo's appeal lay in this youth that just garners a fun and feckless mood, and their live sets are a definitive reflection of this as smiles were abound just all over amongst the crowd.

Various Songs From Fanfarlo (all songs are right click - save as):
Fire Escape
Harold T. Wilkins

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

As I waited for Bishop Allen to take to stage, I bumped into John from Side One: Track One. Explaining his reasoning for being there, he said that Bishop Allen would just make for the perfect start to the day, and I couldn't agree more. The sunlight bathing the quartet in bright light, Bishop Allen plucked their cheery acoustics to tales weaved by Justin Rice. The storyteller nature of the songs really embodies itself in Rice as he motions his hands about and stomps his feet around like any good bard. This Brooklyn-based quartet is always a pleasure to watch, and they always seem to coax the sun out. Bishop Allen is a perfect way to start the day, agreed.

Various Songs From Bishop Allen (all songs are right click - save as):
Dimmer
Shanghaied

Learn more at their site.
Be their friend!

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

March is definitely one month I always look forward to, and I contribute that entirely to SXSWeek - Austin's favorite time to show some love to film, music, and technology. Buried into that schedule are four days dedicated to music, and it is in those four days that I truly live. Given here is my perspective of South By Southwest.

SXSW One Helluva Recap: Day Three (artist name leads to site & all songs are right click - save as):

Labels: Retrospective, SXSW '09

We here at Both Sides had the great opportunity to syndicate the South By perspective of The Gin Riots' frontman, Guy Stevenson. With nothing but literary entertainment ahead, I send it off to Guy.


The Gin Riots arrived in Austin for Schmooze by Schmooze West with aching heads and a weekload of worry upon our shoulders. We were booked to play five shows over the festival but we weren't sure on the plane over whether our eijit guitarist would be able to make it. Y'see, despite being a bit of a genius when it comes to songwriting, Cillian Riot is none too proficient at simple day-to-day organisation and he managed to put his passport through the wash four days before he was supposed to fly.

Just a little light-headed from the Bloody Mary refills we'd hit to keep us from thinking about this on the plane, the band stumbled out into the Austin sunshine to be greeted by our hostess for the week, miss Lacey Griffin. A native Austinite and a friend of ours from myspace, Lacey had promised to treat us to 'some good ol fashioned Southern hospitality'.

First stop was the 401, a bar she tends for fifty or so drunk, shady and downright legendary characters just outside of downtown. There they stood against bar as we walked in, decked out in stetsons, bandanas and snakeskin boots, like extras from every film about the south we'd ever seen. Once we'd stopped beaming at the surrealness of the scenario, the locals got to work buying us drinks. My god...do they drink in Austin. We were pretty darn proud of our nation's binge-drinking abilities til we met you lot...fucking hell!

We moved on from this mecca of neon signs, sawdusted floor and low lit pool tables to about hundred different pubs, necking shots, leching over your pretty womanfolk and generally making embarrassing arses of ourselves ... The night ended in a fight between Tim Riot and myself that would not have looked out of place on www.bumfights.com (if you never saw this abominable website before it was banned, I strongly recommend you to steer clear - heinous rich kids run around paying homeless people in drink and junk to fight one another ... )

So, the week was built on downright messy foundations ... But everything started looking up for The Gin Riots when Cillian finally got his passport through and took the plane over on Sunday. We played loads of shows - beginning with Momo's on the Monday night and ending with our main Saturday night showcase at The Rio Grande - and saw so many bands I'm finding it hard to remember any actual names ... hmmm ... who stood out? Late of The Peer, who our drummer Jack Riot went to see twice, were apparently unbelievably tight and innovative and put on a dazzling show. Likewise, French electro kids Kap Bambino.

Peelander-Z, a Japanese punk rock band who looked like they'd stepped straight out of a kid's Manga cartoon, played pretty atrocious music but entertained their audience like consumate pros. The formula went like this: yellow lycra-clad singer with clown hair asks the audience a question (WHAT DO EVERYONE LIKE EAT IN U S OF A?, for example), red lycra-clad drummer holds up a sign with a catchword written on it (STEAK), the crowd shouts out what's on the card and the song starts. Simple, you might say, but fuck me was it effective!

The Gin Riots left America exactly ten days after we'd arrived, exhausted, schmoozed out of our skulls, but generally mighty happy indeed with the shows we'd played and the people we'd met. Good people of Austin - we fucking love your town and reckon you should be gurt proud of it. Thankin you kindly ...

Until our next encounter,

Love Love Love to your mamas,

Guy De Riot

Labels: Guest Writer, SXSW '09