Sezio

Miniature Tigers, Pepper Rabbit

Miniature Tigers bears a kinship with the animal for which they are named. Their sound is smooth and sleek with effortless, light harmonies that slowly sneak up on you. Hailing from the concrete jungle of Brooklyn, Miniature Tigers boast a well balanced brand of pop-infused punch with the occasional unexpected dance-y hook. Imagine Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes, scrapping with a new, fun playmate, Miniature Tigers.

SXSW : Heavy Hawaii, Writer, TV Girl, Lesands

San Diego was dominating the daytime roster at an eastside club called Cheer Up Charlie’s on Sautrday. It was a hot and dusty Austin afternoon and the streets were packed with people milling in and out of the dozen or so unofficial showcases happening around a few crowded blocks of the eastside neighborhood. Beer trucks crawled through the streets fighting crowds and wheeling in pallets of beer on hand trucks by midday trying desperately to restock supplies wiped out by growing crowds. On alternating stages at Cheer Up Charlie’s we had back to back to back San Diego cameos from Heavy Hawaii, Writer and TV Girl before headliners Diamond Rings and Austra took the stage later on.

Heavy Hawaii was first up with their lo-fi surf pop stylings. Their songs came across well in this fuller sounding live setup, and they had heads bopping in no time. Frontman Matt Barajas (formerly of SD’s Fantastic Magic) carried the tunes like “Teen Angel” with typical charisma and colorful hat/shirt combos.

Brothers Andy and Jayme Ralph took the stage next as the duo Writer. Their lo-fi rock sound always gets it’s fullest expression at live shows and Andy didn’t hold back with a crushing rendition of Miss Mermaid from their new EP of the same name (released March 10th). They ended their set with a down key acapella version of Barefoot Art, with only a tambourine to keep time.

TV Girl followed with a short set including tracks from their debut EP “If You Want It” and “I Don’t Care”. Some dude who looked like the effeminate, blonde, ponytail-sporting brother of Andy Samberg in a tanktop got down wildly to every beat of the set with apt encouragement from frontman Trung and other bandmates. They also dropped in a new song called “Sarah” for good measure, which they dedicated to a dude in the crowd who identified himself as Sarah for the occasion. 

Later that evening I caught San Diego dance-pop trio, Lesands, opening a stacked showcase for Bikini, Sun Airway, and Mount Kimbie. When Lesands opened the night with a pulsing version of Pretenders few people knew who they were, and unfortunately when they finished playing that night, the crowd loved them, but few people still knew who they were. One of the quirks of these unofficial parties is that bands who are playing official showcases, like Lesands, aren’t supposed to play nighttime unofficial showcases. So as a result bands at these shows were advised not to introduce themselves. Throughout the show, as Lesands was putting on one of the best shows of their young career, people kept yelling out “What’s your name!?” The movement in the crowd and the eager applause for this young band was proof enough though that they won’t need to be introducing themselves for long.

All photos and words by Andy Martin, view more here.

Faces On Film Perform at Habitat House

Mike Fiore took a trip out to San Francisco from Boston to pick up some construction work while his band Faces On Film took a break from touring. Nada Alic, whose Friends With Both Arms music blog is named after a Faces On Film song, convinced Mike to drive 8 hours south for a one-off solo performance in the attic at Habitat House. The drive proved to be worth while as 60+ people packed in the attic on March 2nd for a beautiful performance. Peep the VCR-style video shot by Brandon Tauszik, Chadwick Gantes, and Kenny Laubbacher below. Photo above by Chadwick Gantes.

SXSW : Portlandia, Smith Westerns

Flew in late Tuesday night to experience the hub of the music universe for a few short long days in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest. With my plans to catch some of the best acts from San Diego (some making their SXSW debut) when they come to Austin later in this week including TV Girl, Writer, Cuckoo Chaos, Lesands and Heavy Hawaii, I headed out to drop in on a few national and international acts in the meantime.

Grimes
On Tuesday night caught a young Canadian experimental solo artist Grimes, who channels electronic and pop styles from before her birth in 1988. Her virtuosic singing and tribal beats and loops transported the growing crowd. Next up on the same stage was a thundering and raucous set from Brighton, England’s indie-rockers, Esben and the Witch, recent Matador signees touring behind the recent release of their debut record Violet Cries (playing The Casbah this Monday, 03.21).

Esben And The Witch
Wednesday I caught a daytime set by new indie supergroup Mister Heavenly featuring members of Modest Mouse, Man Man, and Islands and some bass player named Michael Cera. In attendance was none other than ex-Sleater Kinney guitarist turned sketch comedy star, Carrie Brownstein, from IFC’s new hit Portlandia. I promptly went star struck and walked straight up and to her with lots of “we’re not worthy”-isms etc, major south-by faux-pas, creeped her right out in seconds flat. Ended the day with killer sets by James Blake, Smith Westerns and Small Black.

Smith Westerns

Small Black

Words and photos by Andy Martin.

Santa Barbara's Gardens & Villa

The boys in Paddle Boat mentioned the Santa Barbara-based Gardens & Villa to me last year, having played a house show with them while touring up the coast in early 2010. An email from our Indigenous friends in Los Angeles reminded me to give them a listen, and to say the least, I'm impressed. Here's two tracks off their forthcoming record, due out on Secretly Canadian this summer. Catch Gardens & Villa at The Casbah this Wednesday opening for Tapes n' Tapes or 04.29 at Soda Bar with Cuckoo Chaos.