With Coachella a day away – or a week depending on which weekend you go – music festival season is finally here. With thousands people and bands flocking to fields and parks and cities through October, these festivals can be incredibly fun or a complete disaster. To prevent any misfortune befalling a fellow music lover, CU Independent has compiled some tips to make sure you have an amazing festival experience. 

Make a schedule ahead of time and don’t stick to it.
There’s usually four or more bands playing at any given time during a festival. Are you going to see Coldplay or Kanye West? Are you going to make it all the way across the festival from M83 to Nine Inch Nails in five minutes or should you leave the first set early? Planning out your day ahead of time will prevent you missing something you really wanted to see but just didn’t know about. The best moments in life are the spontanous ones, and that goes double for music festivals. You’re only obligation is to have fun and see something amazing, so make that your priority over you’re neatly prepared schedule–or more likely the one your scrawled on your hand.

Dress accordingly
Nothing is more annoying then the girl wearing heels and a skirt in the mud or the guy in a sweatshirt when it’s 90 degrees out. The outfit that has gotten me through three Austin City Limits is the following: jean shorts, a v-neck tee, a sweatshirt or waterproof jacket for night/rain, a bandana to prevent from dust/sun and your old Converse All-Stars. You’re going to be outside for roughly 12 hours so be smart about what you wear. Dress not to impress but for comfort, and always bring a jacket.

Bond with the crowd
Music festivals involve a lot of waiting. A lot of waiting packed into a crowd of thousands and there’s a good chance your personal space will be invaded. Don’t make it awkward. Bond with the crowd. Start up a conversation, share a drink or dance with a stranger. At the very least you and the people around you like the same band, so go from there and make some new friends.

Pack smart
Bringing a small backpack to a music festival is smart. Bringing a giant bag you have to lug around is dumb. Pack some essentials for the day: a water bottle, a protein bar, lots of cash, your camera and sunscreen. Don’t bring a bunch of extra stuff “you might use” or “just want with you.” You’ll thank yourself later, and the more stuff you have, the more stuff you could – and probably will –  lose.

Other tips

• The port-a-potties by the kids area are always the cleanest
• Don’t get wasted at noon when it’s super hot out, you will regret it
• Drink more water then you think you need
• Carry extra cash
• If you’re going to bring something prohibited, place it in your bag under food which is also usually prohibited. 9 times out of 10 security will get distracted by the food and not search the rest of your bag.
• Have an amazing time!

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

At this CWA panel, four panelists discussed the crisis with North Korea, how domestic policy influences foreign policy, why the real threat is between North and South Korea and more.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

SXSW is an amazing event. It is an event where bands that normally sell out 1,000-seat venues can play an intimate show for a couple hundred people and where bands that normally play to empty bars can perform for national press, industry people and get on the same bill as their musical idols. It’s a dizzying, maddening week of music, parties and celebration of the industry, but it also has a darker side.

In what I can only describe as exploitation of musicians and fans, SXSW has a sinister part in its structure that borderline ruins this amazing place. For example, the hierarchy of badges, wristbands and RSVP’s to events seems to break down at every turn.

How it theoretically should work is badges (for industry people and press) get priority, then wristbands (for locals, others) and then RSVPs. How it ends up working most nights at venues is badges get in (with a long wait), wristbands won’t get in unless maybe you’re at the front of the line and RSVP means nothing. At the Warner Sound party I attended one night, they had a Facebook page to RSVP for the public and some of the people in the wristband line had been waiting for hours. I got in no problem, but shortly after me, it was one-in-one-out badges only. At another venue where Iggy and the Stooges were playing, the venue decided to wait until doors opened to tell the hundreds in the wristband line that it would be “badges only” that night. From personal experience, I found out that even the artist wristband gets you no priority. The musicians who just want to see their fellow musicians at a festival created for them have to wait at the back of the wristband line with the locals and fans who are disregarded in favor of press, industry labels and the wealthy. So much for fostering a community that celebrates artists.

Another darkside is the pressure and, in some cases, the exploitation of musicians. Turn your head in any direction on 6th Street and a band is playing. That’s great for the fans, but with so much going on all the time, I would estimate 60 to 70 percent of these artists get lost in the noise. No one remembers them in the following weeks. Not to mention the bands who are still playing to empty bars and sleeping in their vans or the bands like Marina City, who got swindled out of money by a shady booker and arrived from Chicago to find their gigs had been cancelled. There’s also an incredible amount of pressure, with most bands playing at least two or three shows. Foxygen had a meltdown on stage and Frightened Rabbit seemed honestly disappointed at having to play a 25 minute set to uninterested people at the overly posh Warner Sound party. The reality of this place ends up being a lot more grim than the potentially career-changing opportunity musicians may view it as.

I guess this is what happens when a conference originally formed by an alt-weekly to celebrate indie-music turns into the biggest industry stunt of the year. One where your brand matters more than the band. One where Myspace is throwing secret shows and Justin Timberlake is rumored to be at some party, and no one cares about the great unsigned band from Germany or New York or even Austin playing at the bar across the street because this other venue with a two-hour wait has free cotton candy and The Flaming Lips.

Amazing things can and still do happen at SXSW. But when you see that chaos and commercialism and the disregard for musicians that make it all happen, you can’t help but ask, “What’s the point?”

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

THURSDAY

Thursday began with an unexpected, fantastic free show. One of the best parts about SXSW, and sometimes the most frustrating, is that there is so much happening at once, and often it’s the unpublicized, no-badge-needed events that are the best. So, when Amanda Palmer tweeted there would be a ninja gig — e.g a free spontaneous show she generally does in most cities while touring — it was instantly a must-attend.

In a way only Amanda Palmer can achieve, a venue was found and a show was hobbled together for the eager fans waiting outside in just five hours. Held in the old and beautiful Scottish Rite Theater, it featured Palmer playing a grand piano, multiple bands that she had connections to, or in a couple of cases just met, Jehane Noujaim, her husband Neil Gaiman and some amazing and inspiring music and conversation.

SXSW is all about the intimate shows where anything could happen, and that’s exactly what Palmer’s performance was. A dalmation statue was found backstage and became the gig’s mascot — named Pongo — and a young band was able to play because the drummer’s dad knew Gaiman and asked if he knew of any shows. This was a one of a kind event only possible in a Palmer-curated SXSW world.

From there it was back downtown to the Warner Sound Party. Held in the lobby and outdoor area of The Belmont, this felt like everything Palmer’s gig was against. Brands were plastered everywhere and industry representatives really seemed to care less about the music and more about getting drunk and name-dropping. That didn’t stop the musicians there from putting on an entertaining show.

Guards was the opening band. With a mix of chill rock and power-pop, infused with catchy hooks and psychedelic undertones, this New York based band instantly set themselves apart from others and managed to prove they were more then just kids cashing in on the current vintage trend in music.

After Guards was Surfer Blood, a young band from Florida that blew minds with their debut “Astro Coast.” Though the boys look like they’re still in high school, they are able to mix early-2000′s pop-rock with old school surf rock into something simultaneously catchy and edgy. With clean guitar, stuck in your head forever melodies and lead singer’s, John Paul Pitts, great stage presence — at one point demanding attention by walking through the crowd — this band was able to pack huge energy and talent into a short 30 minute set.

Following Surfer Blood was Atlas Genius, who managed to have a much cleaner set then they did Tuesday night and even got the apathetic crowd clapping and cheering. Following them was dark and dreary Frightened Rabbit, the Scottish band who’s gotten buzz the last few years for their melancholy folk-infused pop-rock. They seemed a little unhappy about the short set time — under 30 minutes — and couldn’t seem to find a rhythm as they went through a few new songs and made the unfortunate choice of ending on a long drawn out ballad which intrigued almost no one.

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FRIDAY

The first stop on Friday was the Tumblr house. All throughout SXSW different spots have been turned into venues, including some houses. Thrown in the backyard in a small house by the Colorado River, this showcase was a nice relief from the overcrowded venues in the middle of 6th street. The line up included Ducktails, Peace, Shout Out Louds and Ra Ra Riot.

Ducktails, with their chill wave psychedelic sound provided a great soundtrack to a warm afternoon in Austin. From their clean guitar to perfectly timed synths and keyboard, Ducktails showed that they deserve more then being under the radar like they have in the past few years.

Peace, an up and coming English band, kept the psychedelic vibe going, and managed to create a vintage sound that made the party feel like it was being thrown in 1994. It was the perfect blend of the songs these boys probably grew up on and what’s happening with indie-rock now. The singer, however, was less then impressionable, and just mumbled intelligible words with a heavy accent in between songs.

Shout Out Louds,  a highly publicized band, sadly gave an almost forgettable set. Their music was standard indie-pop-rock and while they got the crowd jumping and moving with their upbeat catchy tunes, there was almost nothing about them that stands apart from the dozens others like them playing this week.

The headliners, Ra Ra Riot, put on an energetic and well-crafted show. With the lead singers almost falsetto vocals, delicate and well-placed violin and drum beats that you couldn’t help but dance to, this band’s talent burst through every note. They even overcame some less then great sound quality to get the crowd dancing and singing along to every song.

After the Tumblr house it was off to Auditorium Shores, a great outdoor space on the other side of the river. SXSW offers a lot of free shows for the public, and that night it was The Flaming Lips playing to a packed field.

The band decided to do something “radical” as singer Wayne Coyne said and premiered a slew of new songs and stage show. What ensued was not what most of the concert-goers were probably expecting, but then coming into a Flaming Lips concert with expectations is probably a bad idea.

For forty-five minutes The Flaming Lips played a series of overly-long slow songs full of ambient and ethereal synths, occasional kick-drum and Coyne’s vocals randomly spurting out lyrics with heavy reverb. He was wearing a series of large tubes which lit up, making it look like lights were shooting through him, and was cradling a giant plastic baby. At one point, Sarah Barthel from Phantogram came on to provide echoey, noise-like vocals, done while Coyne pulled her hair, which he insisted she made him do. In addition, a new trippy-as-ever light show and background display was revealed and naked girls in giant plastic balls floated around.

The band eventually got to the songs people came to here, but you have to respect The Flaming Lips for being themselves and continuing to do whatever the think is art, even when it’s strange and almost boring and they can feel the audience’s patience wearing down. Unveiling something so experimental and unpolished at SXSW is a risk, but you could tell that Coyne and crew didn’t care. They are The Flaming Lips and they are going to whatever they want as musicians.

If you missed Part 1 of SXSW, check it out here.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

South by Southwest in Austin is a whirlwind of musicians, filmmakers, geeks and fans all vying for attention. At any given moment, there are 10 parties, some “secret” show and an amazing panel going on, plus free food and beer. CU Independent‘s Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones is down in Texas for the festivities, and we’ll be posting her updates from the SXSW 2013. 

TUESDAY

Tuesday was the last day of the interactive portion and the first day of music. Downtown was a mix of exhausted techies, bright-eyed musicians and fans ready to take over. The festivities started with a “Conversation with Nick Cave” with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, a longtime figure in the indie music scene, and Larry Ratso Sloman.

The conversation followed the typical biographical approach, as Cave touched on his beginnings in rural Australia to his move to London and Berlin to began a music career. He discussed his heroin addiction, his bouncing around from place to place and the characters in his songs.

More about the Nick Cave talk can be found here.

The SXSW-ers soon came out and by 7 p.m., 6th Street was packed.

It was the IHeartRadio Party where Macklemore, Atlas Genius and Tegan and Sara provided the perfect kick-off to a week of music.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were billed as the headliners, but played early — around 9:30 p.m. — before heading to another venue (most musicians play over two shows a day). In this intimate setting and the general intimidation of playing at a festival so famous, Macklemore was able to shine. He threw all his energy into his rhymes and had the crowd dancing and singing along, especially to the rowdy “Thrift Shop,” and heart-felt “Same Love.” For his last song, “Cant Hold Us,” both Macklemore and Ryan Lewis jumped into the audience, and Macklemore even swung from the rafters.

After them was Australian new-comers Atlas Genius. The crowd was less kind to them as they had the unfortunate timing of being billed as the middle act. SXSW is a proving-ground, and it seems at least at this show, Atlas Genius fell flat. After a technical delay, the band began, but poor sound and a lack of energy plagued their set and most partiers just seemed anxious for Tegan and Sara to come on stage.

After another delay, Tegan and Sara came on and apologized by bursting straight into fan favorite and big hit, “In Your Head.” The duo’s music is so poppy and adorable, just as are they, that almost instantly all grievances were forgotten and the inebriated crowd fell in love.

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WEDNESDAY

Wednesday began with a panel about Amanda Palmer entitled, “The Anatomy of Amanda F**king Palmer: An Inside Look.”

Palmer discussed her desire to better connect with fans and be part of the community. She said she went out on her own due to constant fights with the record industry and to prove that things like running websites and online community was worth their money.

“I remember having outstandingly confusing arguments with Road Runner Records,” Palmer said.

She said she loves the direction music is going, and even though it requires work, like producing and distributing a record in the three months after her Kickstarter campaign ended plus planning a tour, she is amazed by funding possibilites in music now.

“It is a fucking zeitgeist what is happening now with art and funding,” she said.

The talk ended with a Q&A and Palmer treating the crowd with a performance of her “The Ukelele Anthem.”

After Palmer was the Canadian Blast BBQ kick-off, which was both delightful and odd. With free barbecue, shade and music, the event was ideal. Somehow, the idea of eating barbecue provided by Canadians while a Toronto musician named Daniel Romano did his best Johnny Cash impression just seemed confusing — but then again, the food was good, the live music wasn’t bad, and that’s really all one could want at SXSW.

The first stop of Wednesday evening was Japandroids at Mohawk’s who were opening for Iggy and The Stooges. The Canadian punk-rock duo ripped through their short set with blasting guitar and deafening drums. They were one of the best bands of 2012, and it showed. They even provided comic relief to the crowd, as their sound guy was actually missing for the first 10 minutes.

“Hey Louis, remember when we said we were gonna get to play with The Stooges like six months ago and everyone freaked out?” guitarist Brian King said through a mic. “That’s happening, like, now. So if you could come do sound for us…”

After Japandroids it was over to a church where Billy Bragg was playing. With no line outside, there was no indication that a concert was happening there, but after some exploring,  a room of little old ladies serving beer to badge holders who were waiting to enter the chapel was found. Billy Bragg and church may seem like opposities, but there was something amazing and surreal about Bragg standing where a priest does while the crowd watched seated in pews. He played a lot of newer political folk songs, delved back into his youth, and ended with “the most religious” song he knew, a cover of Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’ Changin.”

Post this borderline-religious experience, it was down to 6th street to see another great band from the last year, Diamond Rugs. Composed of members from The Black Lips, Dead Confederates and Deer Tick, this band is all about rock n’ roll and having a good time, which is exactly what they did. The crowd was dancing and hollering while the band was chugging beer and pounding out guitar solos in what was one of the funnest, rowdiest sets of the trip thus far.

Stay Tuned for Part 2

Contact CU Independent Editor in Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

South by Southwest in Austin, Texas is a 10-day festival with film, music and interactive portions. For upcoming filmmakers, start-ups and musicians, getting to be a part of it can be a career-changing opportunity. Boulder-based band and CU alums West Water Outlaws will get that chance this week as they head south to be part of the madness.

The band formed during their time at CU with Blake Rooker on vocals, Will Buck on guitar, Vince Ellwood on bass and Andrew Oakley on drums after Rooker walked into the wrong class.

The West Water Outlaws. (Photo Courtesy of Kyle Day)

“I knew Vince and Andrew since high school through various connections,” Rooker said. “I met Will in the dorms. We met again in a class. I actually walked into the wrong one, it was pretty silly, but he saw me and was like, ‘Hey do you still play?’”

After another guitarist missed a show in their junior year, so Rooker called Buck and that was the start of West Water Outlaws.

After making connections on trips down to Austin, the band got lucky enough to book one show at SXSW, which led to them eventually getting a slot every day, officially or otherwise. They hope to generate interest as well as future opportunities at the event.

The band, which plays a mix of blues and rock, says they owe their sound and genre-blending to the eclectic mix of music in the Boulder-and-Denver music scene.

“All the great stuff that comes through, we play a lot of genres and there’s a lot of influence,” Rooker said. “There’s good reggae that comes through, good stuff in every genre that comes through Colorado and Denver/Boulder and all of that influences us. Especially local stuff, too, everybody’s around and all pitch into the pot.”

Rooker said the local support has allowed them to keep growing and work towards opportunities like SXSW.

“There’s really great nights and really slow nights and stuff like the Boulder Theater and the Fox Theatre and all the people who’ve really supported us in those spots really keeps us going,” Rooker said. “Its fuel to the fire to keep going and try to see how far we can take this.”

While Rooker said the band has no expectations for SXSW, they do have the goal of networking and adding some “fuel to the fire” for the spring and summer, which will bring a new record and a bunch of shows. Overall, the West Water Outlaws is looking forward to the venues, music and overall experience of SXSW.

“I’ve heard a lot about it, but no one can give me a definitive answer of what it is or what it’s like, you just have to experience it,” Rooker said. “I’m excited for that.”

West Water Outlaws plays at SXSW on Friday and various other Texas venues throughout the week. See their tour schedule for more information. They’ll play again in Boulder on April 6 as part of a benefit concert at Macky Auditorium.

Check back for more coverage of SXSW this week at CUIndependent.com.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

CUPD has found a dead body in Libby Hall on campus this evening.

A CU-Boulder police car sits outside Libby Hall Tuesday night after a body was discovered. (Ryan Tibbitts/CU Independent)

A tweet was sent out by CUPD around 9 p.m. that stated: “CU #Boulder police investigating death in Libby Hall. Call at 8:28 pm. We don’t believe there’s an ongoing danger to campus.”

According to a CUPD news release, CUPD did recieve a report of a death at Libby Hall.

“A deceased male was found in a residence hall room,” the release stated.

Spokesperson Ryan Huff said this death poses no threat to campus.

“The federal Clery Act requires us to alert CU affiliates when we believe there is an ongoing danger to the campus,” Huff said. “We don’t believe there’s a threat to campus.”

CUPD detectives and the Boulder County Coroner’s Office are investigating the death.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.

One-man wonder-band Kishi Bashi brought his violin, voice and loops to a sold-out crowd at the Bluebird in Denver on Tuesday night.

New solo artist and former Of Montreal member, Kishi Bashi has garnered a lot of recognition for his impressive debut album 151a, and that buzz showed as the packed crowd went wild when he walked on stage, never letting up from constant claps and cheers through the almost hour and a half set.

Known for live-looping his sounds, Kishi Bashi – who’s name is actually Kaoru Ishibashi – plays live violin notes and vocals lines, and then plays them back while playing something else on top, making it sound like he has a whole orchestra accompanying him. It allows for experimentation in what would otherwise be straight pop songs, and seeing it is truly awe-inspiring.

Ishibashi was full of energy, bouncing around the stage and bantering with the audience. He knew when to get serious though, such as on the balled “Atticus, In the Desert,” which proved his classically trained violin looping was no gimic. “I Am The Antichrist To You,” one of Ishibashi’s longer and slower songs was oddly a bigger hit with the crowd then his actual “hits,” which had the crowd slack-jawed at the beauty of Ishibashi on a dimly lit stage belting out a love song in falsetto, with just his perfectly played violin to accompany it.

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However Ishibashi didn’t do everything by himself. Success means being able to get help, and Ishibashi had two band members on stage, a banjo player and drummer –who used a fibula bone as a drumstick– to help on the more complex songs. The audience clapping beat actually provided the rhythm for a few songs, adding in the collective experience of this unrepeatable performance.

Of course Ishibashi played the hits, “Bright Whites” and “It All Began With a Burst,”which pleased the crowd, but what made this performance special was how he deviated from the expected script.

Ishibashi mislead the audience at one point, saying he was going to play a song he wrote in a “Van Morrison cover band,” instead bursting into a crazy cover of “Sail Away” complete with a giant balloon thrown into the crowd and a violin/banjo duel. When he announced in the encore he was going to do a cover, the audience cheered, expecting a cover of Beirut’s, “A Sunday Smile,” which he played for NPR and elsewhere, but instead they got a cover of U2′s “With Or Without You,” complete with a beatboxing interlude.

Ishibashi’s skills on the microphone continued with a equally baffling and hilarious cover of “Just the Tip.” He even stopped halfway through that one to mimic the crowd’s confused faces, asking if he should just “move on to bigger and better things,” but the crowd chanted for him to continue. He also premiered a new song, “Philosophize with it! Chemicalize in it!” which he wrote for a Japanese cellphone commercial and is on the charts over there. He joked that the Japanse “have a hard time with the title,” which is a mouthful, and announced the single will be on his upcoming EP.

He left the jokes aside as the show came to a close, ending on the beautiful “Manchester” and sending the concert-goers into the Denver night with a new understanding of how music can be played.

Contact CU Independent Editor-In-Chief Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.