Results tagged “pastiche”

Blame it on our fair city's populism, but secrets don't typically stay secret for very long here. The land of velvet ropes, VIP-only entrances and tucked-away, always-reserved tables at restaurants feels very far away. Even our secret shows and pirate radio stations are fairly conspicuous, and in the case of KAOS radio, you might stumble onto some of the movers and shakers while walking the dog or grabbing a drink in north Austin.

Used to be the word “garage” was the template and the starting point for most if not all of rock and roll. Whether the garage was literal was irrelevant - the term could apply to a basement, empty room or vacant storage space/warehouse, or really anyplace a band could put their roots down, plug in equipment and then plug away at songs without disturbing the peace. Back then, rough demos were cut onto cassette tape (putting a pillow over the built-in microphone helped stifle cymbal noise), and “in the garage” recordings were the first and easiest way to get the word out about a project.

                       

Between the house party and the club show lies the nebulous House Show, a tricky hybrid that attempts to straddle the world of booking, touring, sound checks and bartenders with your average party, the kind punctuated by loud talk, dark rooms, and limited toilets. At face value, a house show really just requires two things: a band or musician willing to play, and house to host him or her. Even electricity isn't a given, as many acoustic-based, un-miked shows have flourished in Austin living rooms, to be sure

                

The three bands in this pictorial took a different route: the neo-psychedelic Ume work on their songs in an office enclosed in a business park off of 183, Brothers and Sisters rent a storage space in north Austin, and the Pillow Queens practice in a warehouse off Burleson road. While different, the unifying factors of sweat, inexpensive beer, clutter and a getting-shit-done mantra were there for all three.

World-famous radio station WFMU made a special appearance in Austin this past Monday when the weekly show Sound and Safe with Trent roadtripped its way into a south Austin back yard. WFMU has a long history of creatively unhinged musical programs, beginning its broadcasts in 1958 and more lately enlisting the DJ talents of notables including Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, Matador records main man Gerard Cosloy, author Irwin Chusid, etc.

Whether it’s at the forefront in an all-timpani ensemble or artificially inseminated into your favorite techno jam, percussion moves and shapes music differently but just as substantially as any other instrument. From technically robust prog-rock players to minimalist and simple garage rock bangers, a good percussionist knows when to be subtle and when to go all out, when to drive the beat and when to sit behind it. Austin has a community of talented percussionists who do far more than the bare minimum – but you can bet each of the quartet of talented drummers profiled here have great respect for the pursuit of accuracy and tasteful playing over showboating or pesky gong solos. Our gang of four -Thor Harris, Sarah Norris, Chris Cogburn and Erik Conn - are different in many respects but are united in their ability to perform amazing feats of slamming, banging, scraping and much more with remarkable skill and a good taste not always synonymous with the word “drums.”

Undoubtedly, the oddness of The Church of the Friendly Ghost is what caught my attention first. You’ve got that amazing name, for one thing, and it’s hard to beat seeing a show in a converted tiny chapel out on the southeast side. Over the years, the Church put on a multitude of fantastic performances, but what made the events so special was undoubtedly the community, a term that feels “It Takes a Village” trite but which nonetheless was a big part of what made the Church shows so unique. Many shows were potlucks, all were B.Y.O.B., and the atmosphere was much warmer and inviting than any club, at least. And the music – where else could a person see an acoustic evening featuring Carolyn Berk of Lovers and the super-solitary Josh Pearson of Lift to Experience one night, and then witness a local group of jazz musicians running through John Zorn’s game-piece Cobra on another?

Editor’s note: Pastiche is a bi-weekly column exploring the diversity within the Austin music community. The views expressed in Pastiche are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the outlook or beliefs of anyone else in the IST network.