Hello my wonderful readers! So today is apparently St. Patrick's Day, a.k.a. "Hey America! Let's appropriate and tangentially celebrate another culture by getting wasted and beating to death the only three Irish phrases I know! ERIN GO BRAUGH, bro!"
(high fives random stranger wearing Celtics jersey)
Despite the above "joke," I don't think that St. Patrick's Day is all that bad. I just find it puzzling in the same way that Cinco de Mayo confuses me. I mean, it's an important date in Mexican history, but it's not that important. Why was May 5th appropriated, while the TRUE Mexican holiday of Diez y Seis de Septiembre remains untouched? Mid-September is awesome! The last period of time before the leafs fall and the weather gets too volatile. DOESN'T AMERICA WANT ANOTHER EXCUSE TO CALL IN SICK AND GET DRUNK ALL DAY?! Regardless, I totally forgot it was St. Patrick's Day until I was already dressed, so I had to improvise and came up with the following aesthetic change:
Do you like? I think it's a nice touch.
Anyways, on to the music. I spent the first hour of my day looking for a parking spot. Thankfully, the place I finally located was near-by the venue of today's free day show which featured Club Fonograma-approved artists Neon Indian and Matias Aguayo. I didn't get to see too much of Neon Indian, who God bless him is maybe the most popular person in Austin since Vince Young. The part of his set that I caught relied heavily on last year's outstanding Psychic Chasms, but it was interesting to see how much fuller his glo-fi sounds when surrounded by a full-band. I'd go more into detail, but I'll likely catch him tomorrow afternoon, so except a full report then.
But, I couldn't stay outside for long, because Matias Aguayo was playing inside of the day party venue. His show seemed to fill only about half the club, which was sad, considering that the line to see Neon Indian extended out the door. But those with the sense to see Aguayo were treated to a fine 30 minutes of top-rate techno. Opening his set with a trance-y, more frantic version of the phenomenal "Rollerskate," Aguayo established a thunderous tone that he maintained throughout the set. His breaks were accented with off-kilter beats and slide whistles, as he excitedly sorted through his equipment for the right button or sample to keep the flow going. From here, he tore into "Ritmo Juarez," whose cries of "RITMO!" transfixed this mix of hipsters and scenesters, soaking their ambivalence with a bit of fuerza, just in time for a rousing finale of last year's one-off single "Bo Jack," which is easily the most awesome techno song to use the Bo Diddley beat. Go ahead, find a better song. I DEFY YOU! I was able to catch up with Aguayo after his set, and he agreed to an interview for us, which should be up later this week. But for now, I need to sit down. I think this headband is cutting off some circulation...