5. Antoine Reverb
psychedelic Alternative Pop (Guadalajara MEXICO)
http://antoinereverb.bandcamp.com/
Listen to the song Little Cabins/ Little Castanets off of A Revolt of Sorts. Its amazing.
4. ANR
Alternative Pop (Miami FL)
I really like ANR. I got their album Stay Kids and I’ve really been listening to it a lot for about a week. The title track Stay Kids is really great!
3. Ambition
Hip Hop (Halifax CANADA)
**Love this! Everyone should go and download his K.R.E.A.M. mixtape. The track Quite Like This is my favorite!
My Relationship with Donald Glover…
So, many of you may know Donald Glover as Troy on NBC’s Thursday night comedy Community, some of you may know him as rapper Childish Gambino, or maybe you just know him as that dude who had a hour long stand up special on Comedy Central about a month ago. My relationship with Donald Glover started way before Community, Gambino, or Comedy Central.
2007, the spring semester of my senior year in high school. I don’t really remember where I was or what I was even doing, but I remember being with my friends or one of my friends telling me to watch this video on YouTube called Bro Rape. This video quickly became one of my all-time favorite YouTube videos. I watched all of Derrick Comedy’s videos and was very impressed by these three hilarious dudes. That fall I started college and met a new group of friends. In this group the guys seemed to love Dave Matthew’s Band, Jack Johnson, and Family Guy, a typical “Bro”. I’m pretty sure I showed them this video, but I don’t think they found it as funny as I did.
A couple of years went by and Bro Rape and Donald Glover started to fade away in my memory. Fall, of my I guess my junior year of college (I’m a 2nd year senior now), I got home from work and was excited for the fall season premiere of Thursday night comedy on NBC. (I was a HUGE The Office fan) I had gotten home early from work and decided to watch NBC’s two new shows, Parks and Recreation and Community. My first thought on Community was “Hey! There’s a girl with the name Britta on this show. There has never been anyone with my name on a TV show before!” As I sat there watching the show and starting to love it, I couldn’t help but think, “who is this Troy guy? I know him from somewhere…” It probably wasn’t until the second episode when it hit me…. BRO RAPE! It was him! Little Donald Glover, who I spent the end of my senior year of high school and freshman year watching over and over again on YouTube! I couldn’t believe it, I was literally shocked that he had made it on to a NBC primetime show. Turns out he had been writing for 30 Rock before that. Then, he was on Comdey Central Presents… and I was blown away by his stand up. Him talking about Mr. Brown Farting, probably one of my favorite bits EVER. I was utterly impressed with this Donald Glover.
I had never heard of Childish Gambino until one day I was working, stringing racquets at the tennis shop I used to work at in Austin. My friend texted me and asked if I had ever heard of Childish Gambino. I replied with a no and he went on to tell me that it was Troy from Community. I was planning on putting off on listening to Donald Glovers rap alter-ego until my friend texted me one lyric… “I’m Michael Scott, yall bitches is just Phyllis”. Being a Office fan, I had to listen to him. I thought to myself, “He’s a great actor, hilarious comedian, obviously a wonderful writer, I’m sure he’s a pretty good rapper.” Pretty good was an understatement.
Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino is a lyrical genius. He’s not lying when he says, “Gambino is a mastermind.” I got his EP, then soon after I got I am Just a Rapper I & II and Culdesac. I literally could not stop listening. I missed him during SXSW and then when I went to get tickets to see him at Emo’s this summer it was sold out. I had already gotten my tickets to Fun Fun Fun Fest before the line up came out, because it’s the best festival in Austin, duh! But, for some reason I had some weird feeling that Donald Glover would be performing. As soon as I saw his name on the bill, I think I had a mini heart attack. Fun Fun Fun was awesome of course. Besides all the other great bands that played Gambino was probably my favorite and his stand up was too funny. (Thank God for his Comedy Central special, most of his bits that I had forgotten about were on there)
I had seen a video of Gambino performing Bonfire during Comic Con and I knew that his first major label album, Camp, would be amazing, just from that one song. When I first listened to Camp straight through, I knew it would be one of my favorite albums of the year. Camp really showcases Donald Glover’s talent. Most people don’t think that the whole actor/ rapper thing can’t really work out, but Donald Glover has just proven that theory wrong. There are the hard hitting songs like Outside, Backpackers, All the Shine, and You See Me. Then there are the slow jams Letter Home, L.E.S., and Kids. In the mix of the album there’s the hits like Fire Fly, Bonfire, Hold You Down, and Heartbeat. The album comes to a close on the song That Power, which is a perfect ending to Camp.
Then there’s the one song that I think is for the old Donald Glover fans. The ones that are the “Gambino Girls” and the “Black Nerds”. When I first heard Sunrise, it made me feel like it was written for me and all the other fans out there who have been following Donald Glover since his Bro Rape days.
There have been a few bands that I have discovered when they were tiny little dots in the music sphere and are now blown up, but my journey with Donald Glover is my most favorite. I think he’s one of the most talented people of our generation and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
***Also, I made the twitter @daily_gambino to share amazing Childish Gambino lyrics to the world daily. I think everyone should believe that Gambino really is a mastermind.
I’m Back!!!
Well guys, I know its been some time since I last wrote. These past few months I’ve been so busy with school and have totally neglected you guys and I apologize! The good news is I’m done with school, Christmas break has started, AND the 2012 South By Southwest 1st music list has been released! I’ve gone over it and its full of bands and artist that I already love! I’m sooo excited to find some new bands and can’t wait to share them all with you! Starting sometime at the end of this week I’m going to start posting my reviews for these bands. This year due to being so busy with school I’m going to be doing things a little differently. Instead of reviewing every single band I’m going to list them all with where they’re from and genre and then doing actual reviews on the ones that I really like! I wish I could try and review every band again, but being a senior PR major means that most of my time is being spent on projects. Anyways, lets start getting excited because there’s only 97 till SXSW 2012! YAY!!!!!
**Edit** The 2nd list just came out today, so now we have a HUGE list!
So, it’s that time of year again. The Austin City Limits Festival, better known as ACL. When 3-day passes sold out, like always, this year I was kind of sad. When the lineup came out, I was only sad that I would be missing Kanye West. When this years Fun Fun Fun Fest lineup came out I completely forgot about my sadness of not going to ACL, because I was 10 times more excited for Austin’s much smaller music festival. Last year I missed out on ACL because I had just moved and was broke. I got to see Band of Horses for their ACL TV show taping, and with all the stories I heard about Zilker being way too crowded and other complaints, I was much happier to go to this one, much more, intimate show. So why am I talking about ACL when I don’t even really want to go? Well the answer: to my surprise, one of my really great friends, is giving me a 3 day pass for free. Just a couple of days ago my bitterness towards Austin’s biggest music festival turned into pure excitement! I have to say, I’m still way more excited for Fun Fun Fun, but I’m also excited for ACL’s very SXSW influenced lineup. So without further adieu, here are the acts I will be trying to see for ACL 2011…. Friday Why all caps for Kanye?? Let’s just say that I am IN LOVE with Mr. West. I have been wanting to see him since I was a sophomore in high school, and now I finally have the chance, especially after his cluster fuck of a show during SXSW (its cool though, I got to see the one and only Puff Daddy instead). I will try my best to be in the very front, even if it means I have to miss Santigold, who I’ve seen, and sit through Nas & Damian Marley, who I saw their very first show together SXSW 2010, I will be up close for my boy YEEE! As for the rest of the day, I would really like to see Cults, I love their album! I wrote about An Horse for my SXSW blog this year, but I never got to see them, so that would be nice. I’ve known about Reptar for too long and I can’t believe they’re playing so they are a MUST! Fools Gold and James Blake I’ve both seen at SXSW, but they’re both really fun shows and James Blake is fun to look at. I love Outkast and missed Big Boi at South By, so I’m sure you will be able to find me there. Next comes the tough pick. Foster the People vs Cold War Kids. I love both of these bands. I’m thinking since I saw Foster the People’s set at Waterloo Records and I sure the crowd will be huge for them, I will see the beginning of their show and then run over to Cold War Kids. Friday as the best lineup by far! Saturday Saturday is pretty much my day to see all the acts I wanted to see at SXSW and didn’t have a chance to. Telekinesis, The Antlers, Young The Giant, City and Colour, Fitz and the Tantrums, and TV on the Radio all fall under that category. Thank you ACL for the convenience. Sunday My biggest problem for sun day is that The Head and the Heart and Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr are playing at the same time! These are two big SXSW acts that I missed, I don’t even know what I’m going to do, I guess I’ll figure it out when the time comes. Other than that, my whole day will revolve around Death From Above 1979. Words cannot describe how much I love this band! Ever since I heard the theme song for MTV’s Human Giant, I was in love. Some of my friends were really into them, so they gave me their album, You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine. I probably listened to that album everyday of my senior year of high school. After the riot they caused at SXSW this year, I know their show will be off the walls crazy, and I cannot wait to be there!!!!
Saturday SXSW 3/19/2011
Ohh the last day of South By South West. The last day is always so bittersweet. I’m sad that its over, but at the same time I’m ready for all these people to get the hell out of Austin and can’t wait to sleep, sleep, sleep. I got off of work and decided that since I had spent way too much money Friday night and that since I was gonna pretty much be by myself that I would go spend all day at the Fader Fort and drink for free. I hadn’t been to the Fader Fort all week and thought that since I had waited in line for 3 hours for the stupid wristband I might as well go. Plus James Blake, who I really wanted to see, and The Cool Kids, who I saw at my very first SXSW and just seen about a month ago, were playing. I was in the very front for James Blake and it was amazing. His slow dubstep is so moving and relaxing and looking at him make these sexy beats in front of my face almost knocked me off my feet. Oh and he’s soooo cute! He looks like a grown up Bieber kind of. He only played 3 or 4 songs which was kind of disappointing but I was still impressed. I really hope he comes back to Austin, because I will be there fo sho! After James Blake was some scream-o band and I went the farther back in the fort to where I couldn’t really hear and relax and have a few drinks before The Cool Kids. I was pretty much in the front for The Cool Kids and they put on a great show like always. In the middle of their set Asher Roth jumped on stage and performed a song with them. Many people probably don’t know this about me, but I love Asher Roth! I think he’s totally sexy in so strange way. When he came on stage I literally almost jumped over the barricade and tackled him, but I refrained myself the best I could. Next to the stage was Curren$y. I’ve never really listened to Curren$y but I’m always down to support some New Orleans rap. After Curren$y I went back to my spot in the back of the fort to wait and see who the surprise performer of the Fader Fort would be. Lil B was last on the official line up, but The Fader Fort is always known for having some big surprise guest. I ended up meeting and hanging out with Steve and Aaron of The Hood Internet, who are too great guys and found out that we have a friend in common, the one and only Neiliyo! They are really into Lil B so we went back up to the stage to see The Based God. I had never seen or heard of this Lil B character so had no idea what to expect. What. A. Show. Lil B is one crazy dude and I have to say, I really do dig his song Wonton Soup. #SWAG. Before Lil B went on, to everyones surprise, the one and only Sean P. Diddy Combs came out and introduced him. Lil B performed a couple of songs, went on a couple of rants, and then tried to sell his book as one of the best books ever written. By the end of the set more than half of the crowd was gone. In attempt to bring the crowd back to life Diddy hopped on stage and started singing his verse from Waka Flaka’s Oh Let’s Do This, which brought the crowd back to life. As soon as he got off stage the crowd went wild, chanting DIDDY, DIDDY, DIDDY! Lil B’s DJ then started playing the beat to All About The Benjamin’s and the rest is history from there. He played his two other classics, Mo Money Mo Problems and Victory. Lets just say all my dreams of being a kid in the 90s, growing up on Puff Daddy, came true in those maybe 20 minutes! Diddy then introduced Odd Future and they performed Yonkers and then that was the end of The Fader Fort 2011. After I left there I decided to head over to the Red Bull Party to meet up with friends. I was trying to find them in line but couldn’t find them due to the loudness and bad cell phone service. I ended up walking to the very front of the gate and walked right in with ease, real crasher style. Drinks were some what expensive and due to my brokeness I didn’t want to buy any. I was just turning around to leave when I heard the MC say “You might know him from the Fresh Prince of Bel Aire…” and before he even said it I knew who it was…. “DJ JAZZY JEFFFFF!!” I turned my little body around and ended up making it pretty close to the front. I couldn’t believe it, Puff Daddy and DJ Jazzy Jeff in the same night, no words. Towards the end of his set I was getting pretty tired and decided to say goodbye to SXSW 2011 and call it a night! Every year South By South West tends to top the year before, but this year was truly the best ever! I don’t know how next year will ever be able to top 2011!!!
James Blake
The Cool Kids
Asher Roth
Curren$y
Lil B
Sean P Diddy Combs
Friday SXSW 3/18/2011
All week I was looking forward to Friday. It was the day I was finally going to get to see the band that I HAD to see and was most excited for… Bombay Bicycle Club. I love these guys more than anything, I had been counting down the days since I first discovered them in about November to see them this week. My day started off by going to see Los Lonely Boys at Whole Foods. I’ve never really been a fan of Los Lonely Boys and they play probably every SXSW, but I was going to meet up with my friend. We stayed there for a little bit then it was time to go see Bombay Bicycle Club! As we were driving over there something happened to my car and it just died. We were right next to a bank or something and pulled in, parked it, and asked the security guard if we could leave it there untill dark and there was less traffic and he said that was fine. Then we started walking to the Red House. On the map on my phone it didn’t seem like that far of a walk, but once we got to the highway we figured it was too far and tried to catch a cab. Do you know how hard it is to catch a cab in Austin in one of the most busiest times of year? Nearly impossible. I called my roommate and he came and picked us up, thank god! We got to Red House and there was barely anyone there, which got me even more excited! We sat down at a table inside the bar to eat and drink and I noticed that Bombay Bicycle was sitting right next to us! I was freaking out! I wanted to talk to them but was way to nervous, so I didn’t. When I was up at the bar getting a drink the lead singer, Jack Steadman, was getting a drink as well, hearing this cute little London boy say “May I have a Lonestar, please?” nearly sent me over the edge! About an hour later the boys hit the stage and had what I would say my favorite performance of SXSW 2011! Ahhh they were sooo good! They played my favorites like Evening/ Morning and Autumn and others off I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose and their first album Flaws. Every song was fabulous and sounded almost as if I were listening to their albums in my car or room! I laughed to myself a little knowing that these guys are huge in Europe, constantly selling out shows, and here I was seeing them in Austin, TX playing for about at most 40 people. Amazing. After the show ended we heading back downtown wanting to go see The Smiles but ended up going to The Phoenix instead to see Das Racist. As I’ve said before, for me its not SXSW unless I see Das Racist. The showcase they were playing at was pretty much all rap. The first person we really watched was Kelley James and what a show that was. Here was this white, Ryan Bingham looking, dude playing in the middle of a rap showcase. But little did we know that Kelley James is quite the freestyler. He started randomly free styling about a frat- looking dude in the audience, it was great and gave me a good laugh. Next up came Dev and The Cataracs. Now I’m sure everyone has heard the song G6. Well, the girl singing with the Far East Movement is Dev. She’s a pretty good white female rapper. The Cataracs are two hipster looking boys who actually wrote the song G6. They are pretty bad ass DJs and make some sick beats and of course everyone went wild when they played G6. Finally came Das Racist. I first saw these guys back in 2009 when they were just two unknown dudes who sang some song about a combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Everytime I’ve seen them its been with a crowd of about 10- 20 people. Not this time, before the Wesleyan boys took the stage the crowd was chanting their name, then when they came on, most people around me were singing along to their songs. I couldn’t believe it! Just knowing about these dudes when they were not known at all to now hearing a whole crowd sing “I’m at the White Castle, I don’t see you, tiny ass hamburgers, tiny ass cheese burgers, tiny ass chicken sandwiches….” made my life. I even though I don’t know Heems, Victor Vazquez, or Ashok Kondabolu personally I feel like they are my babies and I just saw them take their first steps! Friday= The best day of SXSW 2011.
Bombay Bicycle Club!!!!
Dev
The Cataracs
Das Racist
