Ecstatic Peace at SXSW!
 

j mascis doing some solo stuff aye?

times:

Inside stage:
Northampton Wools (Thurston Moore and Bill Nace) 8
Leslie Keffer 8:45
Samara Lubelski 9:30
Little Claw 10:30
Sightings 11:30
Sunburned Hand of the Man 12:30

Outside stage:
Turbo Fruits 8:15
Black Helicopter 9:00
Tall Firs 10:00
Be Your Own Pet 11:00
J Mascis 12:00
Thurston Moore w/Band 12:45

...

http://blogs.wsj.com/sxsw/2008/03/13...googlenews_wsj

March 13, 2008, 2:38 pm
A Musical Tribute to Daniel Pearl

Met with Steve Reich earlier at the Hilton here. Last night, he hosted “Reich, Rags & Road Movies: Music by Steve Reich & Friends” at St. David’s Episcopal Church. San Antonio’s SOLI Chamber Ensemble played Mr. Reich’s “New York Counterpoint” and Brooklyn, N.Y.’s So Percussion offered his “Music for Pieces of Wood,” among other compositions. At 1:15 p.m. today, Mr. Reich appeared at the Austin Convention Center, where he was interviewed by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, whom he’s never met in person.
“For 35 years, I’ve lived in the same building with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth,” said the lifelong New Yorker. “Thurston and I have exchanged a couple of emails. We’ll talk about John Coltrane, Glen Braca and ‘Daydream Nation.’” The last is a reference to Sonic Youth’s landmark 1988 recording that blends experimental music with punk-like rock. He and Mr. Moore, Mr. Reich said, share “the overlaps that happen by life when people are interested in the same things.”
We discussed Mr. Reich’s recording “Daniel Variations,” his deeply affecting tribute to Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and killed in 2002 in Pakistan while on assignment for the paper. The CD will be released on April 8. “Daniel was a musician, as you know,” Mr. Reich said. “His instrument was the fiddle. On the cover of the CD is a photo of a fiddle with a bow covering it that looks like a sword.” Of Mr. Pearl, he said, “He felt if he could do good, good would come of it.”
When I told him how moved I was by the music, tears welled in Mr. Reich’s eyes as he recalled how Mr. Pearl’s life and death touched him. He told me that several times during the recording session members of the chorus broke down in tears as they sang Mr. Pearl’s words to the Reich compositions. Indeed, the words seem to emerge from deep in the music’s soul.
Now 71 years old, Mr. Reich could easily pass for 20 years younger, and his enthusiasm for music seems boundless. He talked of going to Birdland in New York when he was 14 years old to enjoy drummer Kenny Clarke, meeting Brian Eno in ’74 and David Bowie a few years later. Each generation of adventurous musicians seems to rediscover Mr. Reich’s music.
Though he headed to the airport right after his appearance with Mr. Moore, Mr. Reich told me that it’s no reflection on the music at SXSW. He said he enjoys all sorts of sounds. American composers who’ve influenced him, he said, didn’t necessarily draw distinctions between classical and popular music. He cited Coltrane’s 1961 album “Africa/Brass” as a source of inspiration as much as Igor Stravinsky. “Charles Ives loved to play the organ, and there’s so much jazz in Aaron Copland,” he said. “People ask me if George Gershwin was a better composer or songwriter. He was our greatest songwriter and a great composer.”

sweeeeet

wish I was in ass-town and I wish I was one of the lucky few to get an armband.

I found this in an article from Billboard.com about Lou Reed at SXSW and found this out about a tribute show for Lou that happened:

"The Fader-hosted tribute featured a host of heavy-hitters, including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore bashing out the Velvet Underground obscurity "I'm Not a Young Man Anymore" and My Morning Jacket rocking up the band's "Head Held High."

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/..._id=1003725203

Should of stayed in Austin another month and I could of been there.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/n...tthew-solarski

On paper this pairing makes sense; both NYC innovators, Steve Reich and Thurston Moore have also each earned a reputation as an everyman figures of sorts, refreshing contrasts to the negative stereotypes that plague their fields. Reich as a no-nonsense, pragmatic journeyman unafraid to stare down the serialists and Schoenberg acolytes and their dominion over academic composition, and Moore as the perennial man-child, curious spirit, and constant innovator amid an indie scene that's too often insular, stubborn, and self-satisfied.

On a stage in a windowless room on a Thursday afternoon, things were, understandably, perhaps a bit stiff. Moore resorted to book-reportage at times (prattling off various facts about Reich from his little black notebook), and there were moments when he seemingly forgot who he was talking to. One such exchange, during a discussion of language, had Moore offhandedly mentioning "Italian prog-rock in the 70s, you know?" and Reich making an amused befuddled gesture toward the audience.

But as Moore loosened up some (Reich, meanwhile, was plainspoken and good-humored throughout), we learned much. There was talk of Reich's inspirations: the poet William Carlos Williams, the great John Coltrane, the jazz drummer Kenny Clarke. Clarke, enthused Reich, inspired the composer not with technical virtuosity but with the "quality" of his playing. "It was as if the whole band was floating on his cymbal."

Reich also marveled over African music and its emphasis on rhythmic complexity, in contrast to the chiefly harmonic concerns of the West, and opined that improvisational playing may not have the meaningful potential it once did (in the Baroque era, say) due to a lack of common practice nowadays.

Plenty of fun trivia too: Four of the organs Reich used to compose and tour the 1970 piece Four Organs now reside in Sonic Youth's studio; Reich rejiggered his mono headphones into stereo headphones before such things existed by plugging each channel into a separate source (Thurston seemed particularly geeked out about this); Reich likes Sonic Youth and specifically Daydream Nation for towing a line between the feedback's improvisational looseness and the structured elements of conventional songwriting.

The most endeariOn paper this pairing makes sense; both NYC innovators, Steve Reich and Thurston Moore have also each earned a reputation as an everyman figures of sorts, refreshing contrasts to the negative stereotypes that plague their fields. Reich as a no-nonsense, pragmatic journeyman unafraid to stare down the serialists and Schoenberg acolytes and their dominion over academic composition, and Moore as the perennial man-child, curious spirit, and constant innovator amid an indie scene that's too often insular, stubborn, and self-satisfied.

On a stage in a windowless room on a Thursday afternoon, things were, understandably, perhaps a bit stiff. Moore resorted to book-reportage at times (prattling off various facts about Reich from his little black notebook), and there were moments when he seemingly forgot who he was talking to. One such exchange, during a discussion of language, had Moore offhandedly mentioning "Italian prog-rock in the 70s, you know?" and Reich making an amused befuddled gesture toward the audience.

But as Moore loosened up some (Reich, meanwhile, was plainspoken and good-humored throughout), we learned much. There was talk of Reich's inspirations: the poet William Carlos Williams, the great John Coltrane, the jazz drummer Kenny Clarke. Clarke, enthused Reich, inspired the composer not with technical virtuosity but with the "quality" of his playing. "It was as if the whole band was floating on his cymbal."

Reich also marveled over African music and its emphasis on rhythmic complexity, in contrast to the chiefly harmonic concerns of the West, and opined that improvisational playing may not have the meaningful potential it once did (in the Baroque era, say) due to a lack of common practice nowadays.

Plenty of fun trivia too: Four of the organs Reich used to compose and tour the 1970 piece Four Organs now reside in Sonic Youth's studio; Reich rejiggered his mono headphones into stereo headphones before such things existed by plugging each channel into a separate source (Thurston seemed particularly geeked out about this); Reich likes Sonic Youth and specifically Daydream Nation for towing a line between the feedback's improvisational looseness and the structured elements of conventional songwriting.

The most endearing moment by far, however, occurred an hour into the interview when Moore decided to open the floor for Q&A, then promptly interrupted himself by saying "Oh wait, actually I had a question!"
ng moment by far, however, occurred an hour into the interview when Moore decided to open the floor for Q&A, then promptly interrupted himself by saying "Oh wait, actually I had a question!"

Thurston Moore and the New Wave Bandits






Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, accompanied by a band that included Samara Lubelski and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, absolutely murdered (in the best possible way) the rarity "I'm Not a Young Man Anymore". Moore channeled Iggy Pop, crawling and rolling around the stage, diving into the crowd, seething with punk energy. It was the wildest performance I've ever seen him give. It was the ultimate fuck you to people who think rock'n'roll is strictly a young person's gameth punk energy. It was the wildest performance I've ever seen him give. It was the ultimate fuck you to people who think rock'n'roll is strictly a young person's game

The fuck?

I would ask Moore, "what's with the mole?"

this was really, really good. i have a bunch of pics from most everyone's sets minus thurston's as i watched it from the fence after coming back from seeing the bad trips down the street. ill post them when i have a chance ...

Can't wait to see 'em... !

Anyone else go?

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdail...-amps-at-sxsw/

Thurston Moore, J Mascis, Be Your Own Pet Blow Minds, Amps at SXSW

3/15/08, 4:27 pm EST
Thurston Moore demonstrated all sorts of guitar heroics at Friday night’s Ecstatic Peace showcase at the Mohawk Patio. The rock legend/label mastermind spent the night prepping to play his own headlining set while shepherding the rest of the lineup’s acts through trouble — reassuring Be Your Own Pet when their sound went dead; adjusting the treble on J Mascis’ amp (”Much better!” he mouthed).
Though he was often visible lurking side-stage, when Moore stepped up for his set and teased a photographer in the front row about his Courtyard Marriott pen, the truly magical Moore arrived. Opening with “a song about everybody who’s out of work” he kicked into “Off Work,” a wordless three-chord jam that summarizes the aesthetic of last year’s solo album Trees Outside the Academy — crisp acoustic-guitar led tracks that sound like Sonic Youth’s less-squawky songs on Ambien. Moore played several more Trees tunes (”Silver>Blue,” “Honest James,” “Fri/End”) that showed off his ability to write (relatively) short and sweet songs and his skill at generating epic tension with just a single repeated note. When it came time to acknowledge his band, Moore introduced his bassist — a dead ringer for Chris Cornell in Singles— simply as “Satan,” adding, “you know Steve Shelley” (violinist Samara Lubelski and guitarist Chris Brokaw rounded out the lineup).
Moore returned for the encore with a sticker-coated electric guitar and the crowd went wild when he announced the band would be playing the Velvet Underground song they’d honored Lou Reed with the day prior, lesser-known gem “I’m Not a Young Man Anymore.” “I’m going to be five-oh this year,” Moore said, “and I like this song because it’s about growing old.” It was an ironic intro since watching his mop of hair flop around during his acrobatic spazz-out of a guitar solo, he could have been carded at the door. The band returned once more, for “Staring Statues” from 1995’s Psychic Hearts — the most Sonic Youth-sounding song of the bunch — and Moore fiercely shredded at his guitar strings, eventually turning the instrument around and letting fans in the front rows whack away at it as the song dissolved into chaos.
Earlier, J Mascis took the stage alone to prove he could make an acoustic guitar sound just as loud and velvety as any electric. Bent over his instrument with cascades of gray hair nearly touching the strings, the Dinosaur Jr. leader’s first two tracks came off a bit pitchy, but after Moore requested Mascis fiddle with his amp, the set turned spectacular. Mascis absolutely demolished a version of “Get Me,” ripping out a mind-boggling solo that had all the head-nodding dudes in the front staring wide-eyed at the guitarist’s remarkable fingers, and brilliantly noodled through the rest of his short set with loops of his own guitar work as his only accompaniment.
If the crowd gawked at Mascis’ musicality, they were equally rapt for the preceding set from the label’s young Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet. After letting a friend draw a pair of lipstick racing stripes under her eyes, Jemina Pearl Abegg started things off with, “Hi, we’re Be Your Own Pet. Ready?” Before anyone could even draw a breath, the band launched into a tidal wave of raw energy, Abegg strutting around the stage like a zombie running back with one hand outstretched in front of her, her head flailing around, miraculously missing collisions with Nathan Vasquez’s flying bass and guitarist Jonas Stein’s scissor-kicks. After just a few songs, though, the speakers stopped working and Abegg vamped by talking to the audience about John Waters movies without a mike. When the band finally retook the stage fifteen minutes later, they picked up exactly where they left off, with “Bummer Time” and “The Kelly Affair” from their terrific new album Get Awkward — Abegg performed the former from atop a brawny friend’s shoulders, and bounded around the tiny stage to the sassy twist riff of the latter. For their closer, Stein finally joined his pals in the mosh pit, playing the last two minutes on the floor as friends and fans grabbed at his head and guitar. Only later did he learn that rocking so hard had a price: “I hate to ruin the mood, but I lost my passport and I have to go to the U.K. tomorrow,” he announced as Moore playfully grabbed him from behind like a proud dad.

g r e a t !
thankssssss for the link!

Thurston really got the Velvets sound on his guitar...

must have been the tuning or years of digestion..

thanks Moshe, there are more vids here:

http://www.ecstaticpeace.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWEylS7n9Cc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyG-i3XowG8

and pics:

Pics from French Legation - Thurston, Mascis
Pics from French Legation- Thurston ATNWB, Mascis
Pics from Lou Reed Tribute - Thurston
Pics from Lou Reed Tribute - Thurston
Pics from Roky Erickson Ice Cream Social - Thurston and Samara

sxsw 08
 

here's one video I shot yesterday at the day party - along with some photos

Wow...

That should be on the front page...

Here is a link to the Gymnasium Tapes featuring the VU version of

"I'm not a Young man Anymore"

http://www.mediafire.com/?9zcetzynbvo

Info here..

http://sendmedeadflowers.com/2008/02...gymnasium.html

SXSW Conversation: Thurston Moore & Steve Reich

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 16, 2008 - 3:23pm.

 

When I first saw it on the conference portion of the SXSW website, I knew I'd be there: a conversation between Thurston Moore, the singer and guitar player in pioneering art-rock troupe Sonic Youth, and Steve Reich, the heralded American minimalist composer whose percussion masterworks include "Drumming" and "Music for 18 Musicians." Moore, at 49, is arguably the wisest elder of indie rock, his band Sonic Youth having cranked out some 16 albums since forming in the early 80's, while Reich, who is 72, is arguably the greatest living American composer, having influenced a subsequent generation of artists bridging classical music, rock, electronica, and even hip-hop.

The session began with a nice musical flourish, with guitarist C.E. Whalen taking the stage to perform a segment of Reich's "Electric Counterpoint."

Thurston then segued into the conversation with a recounting of Reich's bona fides, including his studies at Juilliard and early experiments with tape manipulation, and his studies of percussion -- with master drummers in Africa, and Indonesian gamelan performers in San Francisco.

Moore and Reich initially encountered one another in New York, as Reich for a time lived in the same building as Sonic Youth guitarist/singer Lee Ranaldo.

It was clear from this conversation that Thurston Moore is a dedicated aficionado of Reich's music -- a fanboy, if you will -- a fact made evident in numerous anecdotes, such as the stumbling upon of several Farfisa organs in the basement after Reich moved out of the building where Ranaldo lived.

Moore asked Reich whether these were the self-same organs used on his 1970 work "Four Organs." (They were! Further, Thurston assured Steve that they have been safely removed to Sonic Youth's studio and are being lovingly restored.)

Moore also enquired into several obscure films by Robert Nelson that Reich had scored, and a particular pair of 1960's headphones he had read about Reich rewiring, so they took separate inputs into each ear. Reich would respond with a good-natured laugh and a, "Wow, nobody asks me about that, and honestly, I have no idea."

Moore asked Reich about his early musical influences: early years -- Beethoven, Schubert and Sinatra; later -- Stravinksy, John Coltrane (who Reich saw perform at the Five Spot in New York), and especially drummer Kenny Clarke, who often performed with Miles Davis.

 

Other musical influencers included Phil Lesh, bass player for the Grateful Dead, who was a trumpet player when Reich met him in '62. Reich recounted that Lesh got him into the Beatles before "disappearing" in 1964 to visit Jerry Garcia (the rest is history). He also cited the poet William Carlos Williams, but said that his use of spoken word in his tape loop experiments and other pieces often "has more to do with the sound of the human voice."

The two here agreed that some lyrical settings work better for different kinds of music. For instance, rock 'n' roll sounds good in English and maybe German, but terrible in other languages, while bel canto opera music is most pleasing to the ear when texts are sung in Italian -- and relatively awful in English. Reich noted that "when you speak, the plosives (in the English language) lend themselves to percussive music," adding that he often uses speech as "a 'source' for making music out of."

The conversation turned to the topic of improvisation, where Thurston is quite accomplished both as a performer and cheerleader, while Reich confessed that a free improv group he had participated in years ago was "a complete waste of time... in six months, we didn't get any better than we were at the beginning."

Both men are musical pioneers, and challenged the notion of what can be construed as 'music'.

Reich helped to introduce African and Indonesian aesthetics, casting off Western music's focus on changing harmonies with a new attention on repetition. "Stay put harmonically, and create other energy we haven't heard before," as Reich described it. In Reich's music, the interesting part now comes in the subtle changes in his layers of rhythm.

On the flipside, Moore brought new layers of noise and distortion to rock, with bizarro guitar tunings on prepared guitars that turned harmony on its head. "You want to be a songwriter, but you want there to be freedom within that structure," said Moore. "A real elemental nature of music is having that freedom within the composition." Reich said he was particularly struck by the use of distortion and drone elements on Sonic Youth's 1998 album, Daydream Nation.

 

It's something of a travesty that both of these musicians -- and in fact many jazz, blues and avant-garde/experimental American musicians -- have the shared experience of being more popular abroad than they are at home, at least in the early going. "It's hard to make a living here in these United States," Reich said remorsefully. "It was easier to go to Cologne than to California... and everyone could come home with some money."

Thankfully, both now enjoy hero/idol status as they continue to produce relevant and exciting work. In the modern classical music set, Reich has been cited as an influence by Philip Glass; his influence can also be heard in the music of current indie rockers such as Sufjan Stevens and American Analog Set, and instrumental "post-rock" acts like Brian Eno, Tortoise and Godspeed You Black Emperor. There's also a pair of remix albums where current electronica artists take a stab at Reich's works -- Reich: Remixed. One audience member even stood up during the Q&A just to comment that all of the up and coming producers he knows in Detroit are tremendous fans of Reich's music.

Reich himself did not perform at SXSW, but he did curate a contemporary music showcase at St. David's Church the day before, that featured performances by the SOLI Chamber Ensemble. The conversation definitely whet my whistle for the upcoming Ojai Music Festival, which takes place back out in Southern California in June, where Reich will indeed be performing, on a program that includes "Drumming," among other works.

Thurston Moore did play at SXSW, with a band (Thurston Moore and the New Wave Bandits) that featured Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and other musicians who collaborated on his excellent new solo album, Trees Outside the Academy.

 

Before launching into the encore of his set Friday night at the Mohawk, a cover of the Velvet Underground's "I'm Not a Young Man Anymore," Moore waxed philosophical about the prospect of turning fifty years old this year.

If there were any doubts as to whether a fifty-year-old could still cut it as a punk, Thurston made some inroads into quashing them when he tossed himself into the crowd during the ensuing song.

I want to see Thurston and his solo band again.....it was fucking AWESOME.

pics of be your own pet, sunburned, blood on the wall, mika miko, no age, mick jones, howlin rain' and plenty of shots from my day job with saucony, at sxsw, can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamsaucony