Category: Music

Catching up…

Wall Of Death – I’d never heard of these guys before and instantly dug the sound.

Woodsman – Some friends said to check them out and was not disappointed. Very very good. Wished I videoed some of it, but was too transfixed by the hypnodrone. Bought their album as soon as I had a chance too.

Holydrug Couple

Boris – I can’t add anything else other than WAAAARRRGGGHHHH. The possible high-point of the entire festival occurs when Atsuo of Boris stood up through the on-stage smoke – mallet held aloft like a victorious Conan – and then just bashed the hell out a gong as the tripping, high, drunk, tired audience cheered him on.

Black Mountain

Kaleidoscope [UK]

Man Or Astro-man? – a huge thunderstorm cut loose during Man… Or Astro’man’s set. I was at the very front of the stage looking out for the flaming theremin and had no idea what was happening outside the tent, but it seemed as if the entire festival jammed into the tent during their set and everyone: audience/band/everyone just went bananas. Fantastic set!

The Black Ryder – POURING rain during their set, but they sounded great. Looking forward to their new album quite a bit.

The Warlocks – haven’t seen them in a long time, but they also sounded terrific. George from the much missed Ojos Rojos is playing drums for them now.

Spectrum

A selection from day 1. Only a few of these clips are mine, I was too busy enjoying things to go into document everything mode.

Bass Drum Of Death

Lumerians

Tinariwen – they’re from Mali. Love the sound – Sublime Frequency fans should get in on this.

Tamaryn – loved the stage by the river with the bank as a natural ampitheater.

The Soft Moon – furious amount of sound from these guys.

OM

Silver Apples

Warpaint

The Raveonettes – I’ve seen them quite a bit over the years, but their set that night was one of the best. Highlight of the night.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Acid Mothers Temple – “Pink Lady Lemonade” is the new “Interstellar Overdrive”

There were two pre-parties in Austin on the Thursday night before the official festival began. Both clubs (Red 7 & Mohawk) had substantial lines to get in so easily switching back and forth was impossible. Happily, I did get to see All In The Golden Afternoon – their album Magic Lighthouse on the Infinite Sea is a fave around here.

I hadn’t seen the Rain Parade since 1985 and it was great to catch one of the few reunion shows. “No Easy Way Down” still slays.

The Austin Chronicle interviews Matt Piucci about the reunion.

Flavor Crystals were playing in the room right next door. Really like their sound.

This time courtesy of enigmatic German pop sensation Heino in 1971

This sighting courtesy of the Font Feed blog, who add:

Another rarely seen Mecanorma typeface can be found on Heino’s In Einer Bar In Mexico. The character shapes in Contest are created by elliptical counter forms cut out of curved square outer shapes. This is a great typographic choice as it reprises the typically shaped glasses of the German schlager star.

I knew that in the 1980s, Rugby font was available from Mecanorma as dry transfer lettering, but never knew Mecanorma’s name for the font family. I haven’t dealt with (or even thought about) dry transfer lettering in 25 years, but it was a somewhat easy way to get a good looking design. I’m damn pleased that this era of analog tech has been buried for good. The transfer sheets weren’t cheap, the letters tended to stick to them, and woe unto you if the letters were misaligned.

Armed with the font family name (really, “Contest” for this one?), I found a scan of the 1982 Mecanorma catalog (courtesy of Matt Howarth) and there it is: Contest font. Wonder how many of them Spacemen 3 went through while lettering those album covers.