LCD Soundsystem recap and pictures

A couple of days have pasted and the show is well done and over with. LCD Soundsystem is in route for Europe to tour the festivals overseas. The show was great! It will easily be at the top as one of the best shows this year for me. My favorite moments where when they played All My Friends and Someone Great. I was either in awe, dancing, or jumping up and down to the beat. I was drenched from my head to my shins in sweat after the show had ended. It was almost like I took a shower with my cloths on. Speaking of showers, it rained only once. I was pretty close to the stage, so the oval shaped canopy covered me from the one shower we got before the show even started.

The crowd was a mix. There where even some pre-teens, literally, they had to be between the ages of 10 and 13 yrs old. There where the usual college kids and people my age or older with grey hair. So it was a definite mixed crowd. There was a group of 4( 2 couples) next to me who where having a real hard time dealing with some rowdy college kids behind us. I usually just ignore someone who is bumping and dancing aggressively into me. I feel that's what happens when you are in the front at concerts. In the front row you will be pushed and bumped into, and you will get beer spilled on you along with smoke blown in your general vicinity. If you don't like it, go ahead and voice your position, but if there is no resolution to your personal conundrum, leave or move. That's how I see it. I usually will push back or just try to out dance someone...I'll just shrugged it off and I don't let it stop me from enjoying myself and the music. All I can say is, I had a smile 80% of time at the show.

This is Happening Tour 2010 set list:

-Us v Them
-Drunk Girls
-Yr City's A Sucker
-Pow Pow
-Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
-All My Friends
-I Can Change
-Tribulations
-Movement
-Yeah

Encore:
-Someone Great
-Losing My Edge
-New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down
-Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z cover)

As you can see they played alot of songs from all their albums...






I wish they would have played from the new album:
-All I Want
-One Touch
-Dance Yourself Clean
-You Wanted A Hit
-Home

Have a listen to the new album. I'm not sure how long LCD Soundsystem will keep it up and available to stream/listen for free, but check it out:

http://www.lcdsoundsystem.com/thisishappening/

Looking at the set lists you'll see three songs from the new album that where played on this tour...Drunk Girls, Pow Pow, and I Can Change. Unfortunately Drunk Girls made the list, but I like the other two songs from the album called Pow Pow and I Can Change. Pow Pow has a Talking Heads sound with a spoken word lyrics and playful sounds. I Can Change is an amazing song and it was great to see the band play it live. It has a beautiful electronic sound and a nice catchy chorus. I Can Change makes up for Drunk Girls for sure. I also forgot to write on the last blog post that I also didn't like the song Daft Punk is Playing at My House...I kinda like it, but I did cringed when I heard it started to be played. The crowd was really into it, but I would have rather Get Innocuous be played in its place. I read somewhere someone else was also unhappy that LCD Soundsystem didn't play Get Innocuous. O'well, you gotta compromise sometimes and go along with the masses.

Pictures of LCD Soundsystem from the show via my iphone:






A side note about the show is the opening act, Holy Ghost!...Now I've seen Holy Ghost! twice, and I wasn't expecting much except a pretty good deejay set to get me in the mood to dance. I was wrong. I had been hearing songs on blogs by Holy Ghost! that where really rocking like Say My Name, but it was a full band, not just two DJs. There set was really good. I can't wait to see more of them. They will be touring again or opening up for Chromeo at STUBB'S in August or something. Really shocking and rocking set by em. Here's a pic for proof it's just not DJs:



After the show, the party switched venues to Beauty Bar two blocks over on 7th street and Red River.



I was a sweaty mess so I wanted to go home to change into some dry threads to keep up with the kids. As I flew by Beauty Bar on my shitty bicycle, Donut( kinda like a donut tire on a car), I notice there was a horded line to get in to the after party. I figured two things, it would sellout and I wouldn't get in; or by the time it took me to get changed( so fresh , so clean), there wouldn't be a line and I'd get in. Well, I got in without a wait. I somehow was able to muster up the energy to continue dancing. For heaven sake, I danced on the same dance floor as Mr Murphy himself as Juan Maclean deejayed. Great way to end the night.

The Tejano Triangle

Rarities:
I could be wrong on this one, but this month has been full of extremely rare performances which are usually not seen in Austin or Texas unless it's associated with South by Southwest. I'm not saying they where all epic, which they where not, but they where fun shows that will probably not happen again or for quite some time...

-04/16/2010 Erol Alkan at Republic in Austin TX


-04/21/2010Yann Tiersen at Mohawk in Austin TX


-04/23/2010 Moullinex and Xinobi at Mink in Houston TX


Moullinex & Xinobi, and my weekend recap:
This last weekend gave way to the last of this month's rare performances which took place in Houston Texas. Both deejays, Moullinex( from Germany) and Xinobi( from Portugal), are briefly touring North America together...



Both artist are on or are associated with the label based out of Portugal called DISCOTEXAS. The irony and unusual association of the label's name cracks me up. I don't think of Texas when I think of Disco, and vice versa. Europeans and their ideas about Texas. It's the funniest, case in point below...



I discovered Moullinex and Xinobi via the Valerie and FRΞNCH ΞXPRΞSS( FΞ is partial based in Dallas Texas) blogs. I was so shocked and excited to find out about the Houston shindig. This whirlwind of emotions allowed me to justify a road-trip which it was truly worthy of. Xinobi was my favorite through out the night, and his track selections where more minimal sounding. The deejays did a tag team set for two hours from 12am to 2am in which they played a mixture of electro, house, disco, and minimal synthy pop stuff. I was pretty drenched in sweat, which is a positive sign that I was dancing and having a good time. Lots of others too where having fun, lots of smiling faces. I didn't see any standout dancers on the dance floor though. I remember just seeing a girl doing a really bad pop-&-lock robot seizure dance, kinda of interesting( in a "is she for real" kinda of way) to watch when your cooling off. The crowd fluctuated in size through out the night. On the club Mink where the event had taken place, I had been there before with a friend on her birthday. It seems Mink has carved out a little nitch in the dance music scene in Houston, kinda like Boondocks on Westheimer in Houston. I like the Mink. It's small( in a good way) and easy to find, but it needs more fans or ACs. I really think all dance clubs are poorly cooled or ventilated. I heard there was an after party at a place called Greenhouse( sounds interesting), but I had to meet up with my cousin and call it a night.

I figured since I was in the area that I should also visit la familia in both Houston and Victoria Texas. The drive from Austin to Houston, then from Houston to Victoria, and finally from Victoria back to Austin is what I refer to as my own personal Bermuda Triangle( The Tejano Triangle).



I call it this because some how I have managed to live in Texas forever, and I can't seem to leave this place these days. I'm lost. My situation in Texas is like I'm underwater underneath the halo lit ice caps of Antarctica; my body is transfixed and suspended in the vastness of the muted blue, green, and white murky ocean. I'm conscious and able to dream and still breath underwater, but my limbs are unresponsive and numb, so I can't move and just sift through the Antarctic slushy. I think Texas has warped my senses long enough. I just continue chanting and praying "there's no place like home" and "the grass is greener on the flipside." It's time for a long overdue move out this state( of mind). I'll digress about my mid-life crisis or my over dramatic panic attack.

Roadkill and wildflowers hypnotized me while I was in pursuit of my mother's happiness; it was her birthday. When I arrived in the Victoria area with gifts, my mother told me stories that provided new insight into her and my own psyche. One was about how her father was a peeping tom( unconfirmed) and how he wanted my grandmother to participate. He also vandalized my grandmother's car and stalked her during their divorce. The other story was about how my mother went to see Star Wars in the theater in 1977 after it came out in May. I was born in October and probably conceived around February, so I technically experienced Star Wars when it first came out in the theater too. Anyways, for my mother's early bird bday bonanza, I bought her Starbucks treats and dinner at Red Lobster. My mum loves coconut shrimp and Frappachinos. I also bought her the movie Avatar as a birthday present because she never saw it when it was in the theater. Her current condition of being in a wheelchair prevented me from taking her. She was extremely excited about the movie, so I definitely was the favorite that day.

The weekend ended pretty well. It didn't go completely as planned but things panned out.

One more thing. I just have to say, look at these cool fliers for some of Moullinex and Xinobi other tour dates, there so cool...

NYC


L.A.


This above Ninja flier is the coolest. 80's Ninja movies will be discussed thoroughly in detail in the next blog post. Til then, tootles