A few of my favorite things (SXSW edition)

Actually, I mean new favorite things, for the most part. I'm still in Austin and, having drunk my weight in Lone Star and slept a total of about 10 hours over the past three days, pretty much ready to crawl on back to L.A. But my flight's stupidly not till 9 tonight, so I'm left to hang around vegan coffee shops and eat almond-butter cookies and debate whether to clean up my cowboy boots or leave on the serious layer of Texas dust they've acquired since Friday. In the meanwhile here's some of the most exciting stuff that happened this weekend (minus some unphotographable goodness like the show on Lamar Bridge on 3 a.m. Friday night/Saturday morning). So much fun!

New favorite spot to spend lots of money:

The Opera House. If I lived in Austin, this would be the most dangerous place. There's racks of fabulous vintage clothes and so many fantastic handmade t-shirts and, best of all, lots and lots of zines. They've also got a space for music and art shows, and supposedly there's a magical garden out back (along with some mysterious house that displayed one of the two most entertaining pieces of signage I spotted all weekend). The Smell's showcase was there Friday afternoon, and during the Mae Shi's set singer Jonathan got a new haircut. Then No Age had their set inside in the weird icicle-cave room, and Mika Miko played out in the big blazing sun. Yowza!

New favorite band:

Foot Village! Oh my god! A bunch of drummers all in a circle, but not like Venice Beach on Sunday afternoons (and not like the dorm room across from mine sophomore year of college either). Just four drum kits, three dudes, and one rad girl named Grace who sometimes hops off her stool and into the crowd to scream into a megaphone. Noisy as all get-out and so reminiscent of the first time I saw The Boredoms and had my dome blown like nothing else ever before.

Oh, and one of our runners-up for new favorite band: Ima Gymnist. Here they are playing the Todd P showcase at Miss Bea's (where I spent about 900 hours on Saturday and also caught the awesomely scary White Mice and the just-plain-awesome/totally beautiful Sian Alice Group, featuring Douglas Hart from Jesus and Mary Chain).

New favorite accessory:

Mika Miko sunglasses! Five bucks at merch table near you. Here I am modeling a pair while Randy clues me in on some secret stock tips. (I like the second photo better, but then we realized you couldn't really see the lettering on the shades. Vote No Age 2008!)

New favorite band, part II:

MONOTONIX!!!!!! It is tragic that I will never be able to articulate how fucking great this band is. They're from Tel Aviv and make scuzzy, trashed-out garage rock, and during their set at Beerland yesterday afternoon they ran all around the room, stealing bottles from girls' hands and spraying everybody with beer, climbing up onto the bar and generally raising hell. They're playing a buncha shows all around the U.S. this spring and you reeeeeeally want to go see them (check here for dates). In the meantime, a couple photos I took yesterday after the singer scooped up ice from the bar and poured it down the front of his pants, plus a YouTube clip of the band at SXSW 2007. (Dudes, how come everybody's so slow to post their videos from this year?? Grrrr!)

(The Mae Shi played Beerland too and there's not much new for me to say about them, but we love them lots so let's have another photo.)

New favorite old crush:

From ages 14 to 22 (give or take a few years), I adored Thurston more than almost anything. Then I got over it and occasionally found him so boring and annoying, despite the fact that I've basically halfway loved every Sonic Youth album that's come out over the past decade. Then I saw his newish band Northampton Wools Saturday afternoon and it was like, "Come back, Thurston; all is forgiven." Now he's my favorite giant all over again. Kind of wanker sometimes still, but ultimately unimpeachable.

Posted by Liz in Music
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