Ape Mind Transcripts

Rolling Stone has footage of Iggy’s purported last stage dive. Fittingly, it was during “I Wanna Be Your Dog.”

FLYMF alum Stefan Schumacher is continuing to debut songs from his No Big Deal EP. Here’s his “first official diss song”: Blow It Our Your A**.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncS4CyTE5M

Stefan’s work for FLYMF included I Love My Dingy Poppers.

My thoughts on the 22 bands I listened to at this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival.

Slow Club

Even better than last year. This British duo practices a perfect mixture of stomping rhythms and gorgeous harmonized vocals. Rebecca Taylor is a powerhouse singer, projecting a lovable blend of brashness and glee.

The Right Ons

Another killer live act, this Spanish quintet oozes good times. They shake like the Stones of your imagination, held forever in youth and small-venue fever. Their tunes aren’t the most ambitious, but the guitar rock is tight, and it’ll make you move.

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The AV Club has an interview with singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, who puts out witty, literate and heartbreaking songs, one after another. (He is also a Judd Apatow bit player, which has made for some funny moments.)

Where: Tempe, Arizona, 1980
Dylan Era: Born-Again Bob

The Weirdness: Deep into his three-year fire-and-brimstone fundamentalist phase, Dylan found himself confronted by a hostile crowd of University Of Arizona students. They wanted to hear the hits—but Uncle Bob wouldn’t budge. He played nothing but his brand-new, Jesus-powered material. “If you want rock ’n’ roll, you can go see Kiss and rock ’n’ roll all the way down to the pit!” Dylan snarled from on high. Gene Simmons and Satan were unavailable for comment, but one can only imagine that both parties were pleased.

The Austin A.V. Club chronicles Bob Dylan’s best (worst?) onstage meltdowns.

This year’s South by Southwest Music Festival featured a ton of great bands. Between day parties and official night showcases, we managed to catch 27 bands in four days. Here’s the music we heard, from favorites to forgettables.

1. Sam Roberts Band
As the Canadians hanging out in El Sol Y La Luna told us, this group sells out arenas north of the border, but here they played to a bar full of fans. The music was definitely arena-worthy, with a huge wall of sound that was reminiscent of U2 or a good Bon Jovi. They closed their set with a monster guitar rave, and then topped it with their encore. A great show.

2. The She Creatures
The She Creatures claim to be from Venus, but their homeworld is really Planet Garage. The all-women band’s blue wigs and space silver bodysuits could be concept overkill with another group, but the group kept it fun with killer fuzz-rock songs like “Sexy Robot” and “She Creatures Invade.”

3. Slow Club
A British boy-girl band—he picked away on guitar, she banged on the drums, and both of them sang high, beautiful songs. It wasn’t all sappy stuff, though—they had some drive in their pocket, and could kick it up to a joyous, jump-along tempo. The crowd loved them.

4. The Golden Arm Trio
Set in a dark, cavernous jazz club, Golden Arm Trio bandleader Graham Reynolds led his group through a tribute to Duke Ellington. A piano, trombone, tenor saxophone, bass and drums all chimed in for a precise, beautiful set, full of small wonders and easy breathing.

5. The Peekers
We stumbled on this group at a day show while reconnecting with high-school friends, and they stood out above all the happy BSing. They had a perfect outdoor sound, with a bright organ, perky harmonies and a happy, skipping uptempo feel.

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Inspired by Alice Cooper, an all-black band from Detroit cuts a proto-punk classic, only to have it be ignored for 30 years. A little buzz from collectors and a demo tape pulled from an attic lead to a re-issue. Decades after their demise, Death is reborn.

The New York Times has a great article on the band, “This Band Was Punk Before Punk Was Punk,” and you can check out three of their songs at their MySpace page. The music is great—fresh and powerful, with a strong MC5 vibe.