Bone Thugs and Phil Collins Simply Amazing

Forgot to mention how amazing it was to see Bone Thugs and Harmony reborn in Texas. I would say it was the best thing I saw that week -- but we'll have to save that for the book.

Official SXSW Pick: Twin Sister

Pay attention to this space. I was so enthralled with Brooklyn's Twin Sister that I'm still talking about them. Their mid-afternoon set had me stunned in my footsteps that I couldn't even choke down the free Magic Hat. I had to wait. Had to see this sober.

SXSW 2010 in Pictures and Tweets

If you're an avid reader here, you'll notice the lack of attention given to the W.O.W. Apologies -- I've been consumed with school and school and work and work. Come May I'll be out of this storm and regular updates will return.

I did get a few days of vacation to head back down to Austin -- for the Agit we kept a daily, almost minute-by-minute blog and all by my lonesome I amused myself with Iphone photos and tweets. I consider these little comments my most comedic and spontaneous, so I highly advise sifting through some of them. SXSW is after all a constant comedy of errors, but it's also the most euphoric four days of the year for me.

Two New TNV Tour Only Releases

I'll have to admit, that while I had an excellent, fulfilling time in Austin this year, SXSW sans the kids in TNV, was somewhat a drag. Europe (for the next two months and some change -- GO ATP Pavement), you are the lucky ones right now. You're getting to see one of the most incendiary live bands in the land. Where Times New Viking excel is from the stage. I just sat through a bushel full of start-up bands stealing the kid's flow. Believe it or not, TNV started all this -- or better yet -- Tom Lax re-started all this. TNV just became the mold.

Well, remaining as obscure-by-design as ever, the kids printed up some extremely rare and beautiful CD-Rs of unreleased mayhem, the beginning of their "really high DIY" series. The first, New Times Viking, culls demos and tracks from the Stay Awake sessions, including everything they recorded with Home's Andrew Deutsch in NYC, and elements of "The Fall and Dvorak." But "everything they do is a demo," you say? Not so, hearing their hits in the germ stage is somewhat euphoric. Matador would be right to bootleg this one. Little gems like the bopping, Clean-converse "Influence" and the eternal summer bummer of closer "Sing High!" are priceless really. The sign of a band with too many ideas and not enough understanding. The second collectible is Hello...We Are Times New Viking From Columbus, OH, a live show from where else, but their hometown. This is TNV in their element, and as a bonus it's said that guitarist Jared Phillips added a drunken extra track of shreds in the mix-down. What a wonderful concept. I'll take two Jared's on stage over the normal pap I'm subject to any day of the year. I'm sure if you hound them on their internet spaces, they'll budge and send over some of these. Have fun, Europe.