popwreckoning

So I survived my first year at SXSW. I learned that it is possible to live off a diet of alcohol and Zone energy bars. I learned that it is almost ridiculous to make a schedule for SXSW and the best things happen when you are being spontaneous. I learned if you act important enough, you can get into almost anything–backstages included. I learned it is possible to get sunburn in Texas even if you had spent most of your time inside venues. I learned that it is a good idea to carry a power strip, water and batteries in your bag. With all these lessons, I think it is safe to say with all these lessons that my trip to Austin made up for my skipping a week of classes.

I can’t wait to go back next year. By now you’ve seen many of my individual show reviews from the debut of Tinted Windows to the possible finale of Explosions in the Sky. Soon you’ll start seeing some of the many interviews that Joshua, Jessica and I conducted at the festival. But before the interviews I wanted to share a segment I like to think of as “SXSW Scraps”. Essentially, the PopWreckoning team saw a lot of shows and took a lot of photos. I didn’t think I could do some of these bands justice with full reviews, but I still thought we should share the photos.

In “SXSW Scraps” you’ll find many band photos. Jess and I caught some of Omaha’s Beep Beep in the Radio Room. Then Josh snapped a few shots of Brooke Waggoner, who played piano as a part of a mostly string quartet. I saw legendary Daniel Johnston in the equally legendary Emo’s. He had security on either side of the stage and he was tone deaf, but he was classic. Josh caught some of The Elms.

We all made sure to see Kevin Devine play an electronic set with The Goddamn Band. The new songs sound brilliant and we were beyond impressed. I wandered off on my own and caught The Kin play on the top floor of a hotel. It was really sweet when the guys went out into the middle of the audience and made everybody gather around for a ballad. At a small bar called Jackalopes, several of us PopWreckers gathered around a too-small stage for Kitch and the catchy Miniature Tigers. Another time, I found myself at some harder rock shows featuring Louisiana’s The Vettes and Mother’s Anthem, which you may know better as a side project of Blue October‘s guitarist.

I caught some of my favorite artists that I learned about from TV commercials: Landon Pigg and Lights. I also found myself checking out some of my favorite aussies, Youth Group, whom I became familiar with through their cover of “Forever Young”, which they did play. If you haven’t had the chance to check out Von Bondies, I recommend you do. Though they have a male lead singer, they have two rocking females in the group. Finally, Josh and I snapped a few shots of the phenomenal New York Dolls. I felt a little out of place without a leather jacket, but I’m glad I got the chance to see these rock legends.

In addition to leftover band photos, we snapped a few random shots and pics of the street. In these photos, I’ve included a picture of the fascinating port-a-potties, which Austin is kind enough to designate for males and females. In the Convention Center, we found a pile of legos and people were pretty crafty with what they made of them. You’ll see the busy 6th Street that was filled with people, vendors and even more bands that couldn’t fit in the venues. The streets were pretty wild. One day, while I was waiting in line, a pillow fight broke out. That’s right. A pillow fight. Feathers were everywhere. Here, you’ll even find your PopWreckoning editors walking to the festival. Finally, you’ll find a few pictures of our unofficial mascot Gig Pig. Basically, we have a little pig figure that we took to shows and a few bands played around with.

So here they are–these are the leftover photos, or the scraps, if you will. Enjoy.

SXSW: website

In the show “Keys to the VIP”, a panel of four “pickup experts” sits back and watches as two guys are sent into a club and given seduction challenges. They might have to just get a sexy picture with a girl or they might need to get a phone number; stuff like that. If you haven’t seen it, it’s because it’s a Canadian show that plays on the Comedy Network (Canadian version of Comedy Central [Ed. note: similar to the US' "The Pick Up Artist"]). The beauty of watching the show is that every contestant who knows what he’s doing has a clearly defined style – or, dare I say, art – of seduction. Some of them are smooth and sexy, some are brash and aggressive, others are sweet and charming – whatever they know their strengths are, they play to them. As one of the members of the panel, Alen, writes about seduction on the Comedy Network website, “Your job is to capture a word in your target’s mind. For example … does she think you’re funny, mysterious, outrageous or sweet?”

In music, the best bands have the same effect on listeners. For example: The Beatles = poppy, happy, colorful; The Rolling Stones = bluesy, exciting, sexy; The Velvet Underground = arty, druggy, cool; and such. On King of Rosa, The Dead Trees deliver song after song of sturdy, hooky songwriting, but the band never settles on one solid identity and the listener is never given that word to hold on to. No, that doesn’t make The Dead Trees so good that they defy classification, in this case it means that their art needs finesse.

The first two tracks, “OK Standby” and the single-worthy “Shelter” are both based on a great repetitive bluesy riff. This presents the band as post-garage-rock-revivalists (don’t ignore the “post” bit, nothing here sounds like the Von Bondies or anything of that ilk) until the Elliott Smith-esque piano waltz “My Friend, Laura, She Never Asks” dismisses that notion. It’s a great song, but it destroys any unified feel the album could have had by just being too different from the tracks preceding it. The same could be said about every track that follows it. There’s nothing wrong with being eclectic, but when no clear voice emerges, what you have isn’t eclecticism but an identity crisis.

Even with the lack of an identity, the quality of the writing is still impressive. “Killer in Me” makes the band sound like an American version of British Sea Power while the moody “I Here, I Want” could pass for classic Pavement (albeit much cleaner) right before the neo-British-invasion-style “Loretta” shreds shit up. The band even tries the quieter, acoustic-er approach on “Let Me Sleep” and “New England Skies”. There’s no point on the album where they do not succeed at the style they’re attempting.

While the best bands and albums manage to fuse various influences into a congruent and definitive style, on their debut album, The Dead Trees play musical dress up, imitating different heroes on every song. While the performance is convincing and more than enjoyable, The Dead Trees need to grow a personality before anyone is going to take notice of them.

King of Rosa is available now from Milan Records.

Tracklisting:
01. OK Standby
02. Shelter
03. My Friend, Joan, She Never Asks
04. Killer In Me
05. Instrumental
06. I Have, I Want
07. Loretta
08. Let Me Sleep
09. Twin Cities
10. New England Skies

The Dead Trees: website | myspace

Written By Marc Z. Grub