@ZackTeibloom Interview a band about the recording process on their new album and you’ll hear the same shit over and over. Either they went for a grander production on the album with a big producer they can’t wait to name drop, or they insist they aren’t selling out and are going for a new direction, yadda yadda yadda who cares. Completely different story when I interviewed The Boxing Lesson’s Paul Waaclawsky and Jaylinn Davidson by the side of my car last week*. The story of their new album captivated me so much, that when anyone asks me what I’ve been up to this week, first I talk about Halloween, then I tell the story of Fur State. It’s scary good.
In 2004, The Boxing Lesson recorded an album** that they never intended on releasing. The album is full of dreamy synthesizers, acoustic guitar, drum loops and bizarre ”field recordings,” left vocal-free despite having lyrics and song titles for all songs. It was mixed on cassette for Paul and Jaylinn to take psychadelics, trip out and just blast it for their own enjoyment when no other music was deemed suitable. They listened to it non-stop for months and then hid the tape away in a closet for six years, afraid to ruin the only copy of the master tape. In August of this year, Paul was listening to Ariel Pink and thought “Wait a minute, I’ve made this album,” dug out the tape and was crushed to find it unplayable. He texted Jaylinn “OMG the tape is broken. I’m devastated!” Read the rest of this entry »
@ZackTeibloom There was no doubt in my mind Phish would be the show of the festival. To top them, it would take a hell of a lot more than Ezra Koenig coming on stage for an already superb Miike Snow show. It would take a super group of ACL performers like Wayne Coyne on vox/guitar, Grace Potter on vox/keys, Matthew Bellamy of Muse on lead guitar, Patrick Carney of Black Keys on drums, and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth on bass produced by Danger Mouse to top them. Good lord I want to see that band. By the way, I’m curious your ACL super group. Throw ‘em in the comments if you got a good one.
@ZackTeibloom I don’t think either of these Austinites would want to be compared to the other, but they do have more in common than being the two most famous bearded men in town. Brutally poor men who live for their art. For Leslie, living as a legend, living is the hardest part. And at this time last year, that was in serious question. Thax came to us from Chicago just over a year ago and is as vibrant as ever, reading poems for bands 5 nights a week and growing into legend status in Austin more every week. Thax sleeps on the floor of an art museum. Who knows where Leslie sleeps. I ran into each of them at various points in the festival, and both graciously agreed to video interviews.
@ZackTeibloom Day one and two of ACL crashing were a breeze. We had beautiful fake wrist bands that weren’t always scanning, but the “ticket help line” was like a highway into the festival. With no tolls. By day 3, I didn’t want to get out of bed. When I finally dragged myself out to make final fantasy football adjustments and get back to Zilker Park, everything changed. The “ticket help” line was now closed off at the end. And if that wasn’t enough, there was a cop (not a security guard) waiting at the end of the line. Yikes. It wasn’t crowded enough to waltz by, and I was going to need a little help. 
@ZackTeibloom Wayne Coyne is always in complete control of everything happening on and off stage in a Flaming Lips performance. Even if his spaceship veers a bit off course at times. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy wherever he chooses to fly it. I mean, tonight we had Wayne riding the shoulders of someone in a bear costume as he sang and later had the whole crowd acting like a cougar, cat, bee and locust (he wasn’t sure how we should act when we were locusts, but he got us to try.) The shenanigans and banter were as fun as ever, but I’d never seen a set like this. A set centered around Embryonic meant a real lack of electric guitar. Wayne barely picked one up the whole set. The only staples were “She Don’t Use Jelly” and “Do You Realize.”
@ZackTeibloom I was really hoping they’d be good. My name is John Michael follows @festivalcrasher on Twitter and asks us to see them every time they notice we’re at the same festival. Usually they get shafted with an early slot on Saturday and we’re still writing or crashing and haven’t gotten to see them yet. Thankfully, they had a mid-afternoon set and I was out of excuses. Time to give them a chance.
@ZackTeibloom Two things I never thought I’d see at an LCD show: 1) opening with obvious opener “Dance Yrself Clean” (they shockingly leave it off most set lists) and 2) Andy loving every minute of it (He has been strongly against them ever since Coachella. Both happened Saturday night.
