SXSW 2019, Day 2 w Weakened Friends, Dentist, Bad Bad Hats, illuminati hotties, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Stef Chura, The Upside Down, and Tallies

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers

Not Quite a Recovery Day

I think I took it ever so slightly easier yesterday. During the morning, I edited pictures and wrote a typo-filled post. I, in fact, ate three legit meals, did a lot of walking, and still managed to catch 8 bands. Haven't had the reserves to make it to a 12 AM or 1 AM set yet, but I think I'm doing ok.

After eating my Texas-shaped waffle at the hotel's breakfast and finishing my morning work, Rosi and I started walking down the hill towards the Convention Center. About halfway there, I realized I forgot my badge; so we humped it back up the hill to grab that. Once we made it downtown, we checked in with the press office about scheduling interview space; and it felt like, maybe, we're a little bit smaller of an outfit than they typically deal with for those types of things. They suggested we find unofficial locations for that stuff, so Rosi and I vowed DIY4LYF.

We went our separate ways, and I headed over to Barracuda to welcome our besties in Dentist to town. I walked in for the last few songs from Maine's Weakened Friends, and I was happy to catch some of their set. Their album Common Blah is excellent, and you should check it out.

Weakened Friends

Dentist played the outdoor stage. They brought it as always. The early crowd wasn't huge, but a good percentage of those in attendance approached the band to ask when they could see them again this week.

Dentist

From there, it was across the street to The Side Bar where I ran into NJ's Well Wisher. We took in the set from Minnesota's Bad Bad Hats. Lead singer, Kerry Alexander, charmed the crowd with her Midwestern warmth. She and the rest of the band also charmed with their personal and engaging indie pop.

Bad Bad Hats

L.A.'s illuminati hotties are one of the bands I see all over the schedule here. I really enjoyed last year's Kiss Yr Frenemies, and the feel of that title pretty much sums up the feel of the band on stage. Sarah Tudzin doesn't take herself too seriously even if there are some deeper emotions buried within the humor of her songs.

illuminati hotties

Break time. I walked over to the "Registrants Lounge" tent and grabbed a sofa and a vanilla Coke. I decided I'd walk to find some tacos or a burger from P. Terry's. After going about 15 minutes, I realized that I'd left my glasses on a table back at the tent and had to double back. That was the theme for yesterday, I guess. Ended up eating barbecue, which is never a bad thing.

After getting cleaned up and rested, it was down to Beerland for Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. I love both of Shook's records, and -- through Matt Chrystal -- she's become kind of a friend of the site. Unfortunately, circumstances never line up properly for me to catch her when she comes to our area; so I was super excited to see her here.

Sarah Shook

Really enjoyed that set. Sarah Shook is absolutely the real deal and one of the hardest-working people in the biz. You might be one of those people who says you don't like country music, but don't deny yourself this.

I stuck around Beerland for the set from Detroit's Stef Chura, and she wins the title for my discovery of the day. Chura has a unique voice and uses it to deliver some edgy indie rock. Check out last year's Messes.

Stef Chura

I dug out the SXSW GO app to see what was happening at 11, and I saw that Tallies were set to play The Main right around the corner, so I hoofed it over there. I walked in, and The Upside Down from Chongquing, China were about halfway through their set. Dream pop, lyrics in Chinese, their first trip to the States. What a cool set to just stumble upon.

The Upside Down

Tallies' self-titled album is one of my favorites so far this year. It displays influences from The Smiths, The Sundays, and Tallies' Canadian paisanos, Alvvays. Singer Sarah Cogan's vocals weave in with the jangle of the guitars in that way that I always love so much.

Tallies

I was pretty much done at this point, so it was back up the hill in the drizzle for some photo editing and then bed. Already fueled up with my Texas-shaped waffle this morning, and it's almost time to get back after it.

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Years, 2018

Album Review

So, I've been taking a kinda sorta break here. I don't know. I needed a breather to sort through some stuff, I guess. It's been great, actually. I'm still going to shows, taking pictures, listening to new music, and writing about all that when the spirit moves me. I've also been exercising and making an effort to get out of my CDMHQ hidey-hole on a regular basis.

But I do want to take this site back towards its roots a little bit. Back towards that time when I would do things like the "Sunday Run Album Review" and discuss at least one new record a week. To that end, I've given myself the assignment of writing about a record every day for the next seven days. Here it is, late in the afternoon on the first day of my challenge; and I'm just getting started.

I decided to focus on releases that I've been spending a lot of time with this year. First up is the excellent Years from North Carolina's Sarah Shook & The Disarmers. Matt Chrystal turned me onto Sarah Shook last year when he interviewed Shook just before her band's show at Union Pool (a show which took place exactly one year ago to the day, as a matter of fact).

In that piece, Matt said of Sarah Shook and The Disarmers' debut Sidelong:

"Sidelong is not just good a good country album. Sidelong is just a great album.

The album has all the components of a classic. It's solid from beginning to end. Each track can stand on its own; yet, once you hit play or drop the needle, you are not going to want to stop it or take the album out of rotation. There's a familiar feel to the songs as if you have known them all along yet there's a breath of fresh air as Shook's authentic sound blends her confident voice with thoughtful storytelling and a plethora of biting one-liners.

Shook speaks the universal language of heartache, hard living, and hard drinking, which makes for a near instant connection with the listener; and she has a unique talent for songwriting and storytelling where those themes are presented from different perspectives even within the context of the same song."

With Years, all of those elements are there. Shook writes and delivers songs so naturally that even a chorus that starts with a familiar phrase like "I need this shit like I need another hole in my head" comes off not as a cliché but as the dismissive kiss-off that it is.

It's not really a PhD-level bit of analysis to say that Years is a break-up record. On songs like "Over You" and the title track, Shook's low warble conveys the sense of exhaustion and resignation that comes from sticking it out in a relationship for too long. On "Good as Gold" (one of the best tracks of 2018, by the way) and "New Ways to Fail," we can hear in Shook's voice a tone of defiance as she decides she's fed up with someone's mind games.

"The Bottle Never Lets Me Down" and "Damned If I Do, Damned If I Don't" are both told from the perspective of someone who won't take responsibility for their own actions. The latter is a little more light-hearted in tone, but the songs each touch on the theme of laying blame or guilt on someone else for stuff you did to yourself.

All of the songs on Years are tight and laser-focused. The band's precision puts attention squarely on Shook's words. Sometimes, those words are biting. Sometimes, they're self-deprecating or sad. But they always feel real.

Years is out now on Bloodshot Records.