Every Five I Think Of You

1. Scissors For Lefty, BOTH, Noise Pop festival, Tuesday - I've heard lots of things about SFL but this was the first time i've seen them. Impressive. Their sound seems very british, so it's no big surprise they were signed to Rough Trade. i even bought their cd - yay. Some of their stuff reminds me of early-era Cure, yet other times they have a sort of affected, out-of-leftfield meandering sort of vibe. The record is a little slower than i would have expected, considering the sort of quietly intense vibe they threw out at the show. The lead singer, in particular, has a strange magnetism about him. I expect their Rough Trade record to be even better.
i thought they were much better than the headliner, Every Move A Picture, which seemed more than a BIT too polished, i.e. boring. A poor man's Franz Ferdinand. It was clear by the difference in the crowd -- most of the SFL fans seemed to have disappeared when EVAP went on.


2. Running With Scissors, by Augusten Burroughs - Continuing on the scissor theme, i just finished this memoir that originally came out in 02. hilarious, set
in amherst and northampton, Mass., in 70s/80s. He's a good writer, in a deadpan, succinct sort of way. I'm definitely gonna check out the sequel, Dry.




3. Space Mtn., Thursday, Cafe Dunord - I caught them Thursday night at Cafe Dunord when i was supposed to be watching David Bazan (he WAS pretty funny but we needed cocktails so we wandered downstairs) and Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt. Anyway...Space Mtn, I had never heard them before but i was way into them, good pop/rock with a lead female vocalist, Dina Waxman. They sort of reminded me of (dare i say it?) Veruca Salt. The band might hate me for saying that but oh well.


4. Matthew Dear as Audion Fabric 27 - I'm so liking this new mix by detroit's Matt Dear. Dark, sometimes pummeling, sometimes skittery and fractious, minimal
techno just for you. Crispy too! i think he's one of the few people that played both SXSW AND WMC this year. My favorite tracks are many but I've really been digging on Billy Dalessandro's "Come With Me [Jon Gaiser Remix]," mainly because i totally LOVE Gaiser's thwippy sort of techno, as well Robert Babicz's "Battlestar," which is just insanely awesome. Looks like Mr. Dear will be returning to San Francisco April 22 at Boca!




5. Noise Pop - i didn't make it to SXSW this year but i feel like I made up for it with Noise Pop. I really liked the wide variety of music available each night and checked something out every night except for last night and tonight. Even if i don't like everything (and i haven't - We Are Scientists, despite their witty website, were particularly bland and ungood), the bottom line is the festival provides great exposure to a shit-ton of bands. And that rocks.