SXSW Day 2 (Thursday): I Guess I’m Gloating


All Photos by Clint Miller

We started day two with a mad dash through traffic to make it to the I Guess I’m Floating day party in time to catch Oh No Oh My. We made it moments after they began their set, and they went on to play all my favourites off of Dmitrij Dmitrij plus a new one. It was a really good first set of the day.

Next up was a band called Arizona. I have no idea how I have heard of this band, but for some reason the name sticks out to me. They turned out to be great, with some serious guitar jams. The lead singer had a really unique, weird voice that added an interesting dimension to their sound. Check it:


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Ohmpark’s Top 20 Best EPs/Short-Length Albums Of 2008

I decided to do something a little experimental this year with my best EP list. When I was comparing very short “full-length” albums to longer albums on my best LP list, I kept wanting to hold the time duration against the shorter album. Also, it seems the difference between EPs and LPs can be a bit arbitrary sometimes, so I decided to just draw a line completely based on album length to split up my best album lists. This list, then, is the best of all albums less than 35 minutes, regardless of what the record is labeled. I’m happy with the end result, as I’m able to really highlight some extremely worthwhile briefer albums and it made the competition on this list a lot tighter. When you really think about it, any classic album this short feels like it is in a different weight class. I want to give an honorable mention to Cynic‘s Traced In Air, Parade‘s Ghosts, and Mount Eerie with Julie Dorion and Fred Squire‘s Lost Wisdom because all three were awesome, but here are the 20 best albums under 35 minutes:

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A Random Mp3 Trilogy


Oh No! Oh My!

I just got finished listening to Oh No Oh My‘s new EP Dmitrij Dmitrij and it was pretty damn awesome. This was my first exposure to this Austin, TX band, and they are upbeat, poppy, and sound really, really good. I highly recommend checking it out. Cable And Tweed has been touting this band for a while, so thanks to Rich for the tip. Here is the single that is making its way across the blogosphere:

Oh No Oh My : Be A Star

Buy Dmitrij Dmitrij: [MP3]




I’ve been listening to the new Tobacco album a lot lately, it is such a chill jammer. It is a shame this album came out so late in the year, because it could have been the ultimate summer album. Anyway, instead of giving you another track from that, I’m going to go old school and give you a track from Tobacco‘s band, Black Moth Super Rainbow. As a bonus, the song is remixed by The Octopus Project:

Black Moth Super Rainbow : Drippy Eye (The Octopus Project remix)

Buy Fucked Up Friends: [MP3] [CD] [LP]

In a case of can’t-tell-if-it’s-ironic-or-not, Tobacco has hired the star of those anti-smoking “truth” commercials, Derrick Beckles, to direct and act in his music videos. Here are two to check out:





Au

Emusic is giving away a sampler album for CMJ 2008, going down in New York right now. To close out this trilogy, I give you a track from it called “Sleep” by Au, the closer of their amazing album Verbs. While many bands have been doing more conservative takes of Animal Collective this year (seriously, I can’t finish El Guincho‘s album without being bored, even though it sounds nice), Au takes the aesthetic and goes completely in a psychedelic direction that is fast becoming a favourite of mine from this year. David already talked about them a bit and dropped some tracks, but here’s one more (and go get this thing right now!):

Au : Sleep

Buy Verbs: [MP3] [CD] [LP]