One of the best things about going to really cool concerts is going to really cool concerts with your friends. I was lucky enough to have my buddy Tara in town last week, along with Marissa, who is now one of my BFF's as well. (Best Friend Forever, you sicko.)

I caught up with Tara and Marissa at the British Rock Showcase at Fox and Hound on Thursday evening. I was a little apprehensive about the venue, because the Fox and Hound in Lubbock is a notorious gathering place for people-whom-I-don't-necessarily-like. The Austin counterpart pleasantly surprised me, though. In fact, two of the best shows that I saw last week were at their outdoor stage, which was then deemed "the magic stage". Fun.

I entered the fenced-off stage area to the shimmery, Coldplay-esque sound of Aqualung. (Now, I hate it when music reviewers describe a band's music by comparing it to a more famous band's sound. I just did that, so now I see that sometimes it must be done. Suck.) It was beautiful, haunting, keyboard-heavy music. So haunting, in fact, that after several songs we all agreed to go off in search of music we could dance to, man.

We ended up at Bigsbys, a very strange little venue in the middle of Sixth Street that quite possibly should never host a show again. The setup was uncomfortable, the sound was cranked so loud it hurt, it smelled like B.O. Alright, every venue I went into last week smelled like B.O., so I guess I can forgive them for that. First was a band called Midnight Movies that turned me off with their snobby stage presence. Just because you have a girl drummer/vocalist who's hot in an Anorexic Rose McGowan way doesn't mean that you are cooler than your audience, okay? Tara and I agreed that we might have really enjoyed their lethargic art rock with an attitude back in high school, though, so that's something.

Kelly Willis was on next, so we dug in our heels and toughed it out. She finally appeared, backed by Fastball, of all bands. It was an interesting combo. Kelly belted out a few beautiful songs; we enjoyed them, despite being packed in like sardines behind a very, um, unshowered man. Afterwards, we fought our way out to fresh air and sat on the streetcurb to people-watch for a bit. One more pitstop at an unfortunately canceled Irish showcase and we were on our way back to Fox and Hound for more of the lovely Brits.

That's when it happened. That's when I found my first Favorite Band Ever of the week.

Are you ready for this? I'm serious - you might love them. You might love them so much that you buy all their albums, and then memorize all the words, and then quit your job and sell your house and your possessions to hitchhike cross-country(s) while following them on their next tour. I'm just saying.

Athlete.

The SXSW website describes them as "recalling Beta Band, Granddaddy, and Steely Dan …". Yeah. Ix-nay on the Steely Dan thing, I don't see that at all. What I do see, though, is the cutest, most bounce-around in your shoes, fun-loving band that I've seen since ... since The Thrills. Again, just like the night of The Thrills, I wasn't expecting it at all. I was just standing there in the crowd, noting how funny the drunk English fan-boys dancing around in front of us were when it hit me. New Favorite Band alert! New Favorite Band alert!

I danced around, goofy smile on my face. I chanted along with the band's song Westside: "Wherever you look you can see that everbahdy wants to be paht of the rahk scene". My jaw dropped in complete amazement when the keyboard player coaxed these amazing spaceship-landing sounds out of this little walkie talkie looking thing, waving his hands around it without ever touching it, looking kind of like Mr. Miyagi on LSD. (Brad tells me that this little thing is called a Theremin. He is the smartest BF ever.)

There's nothing more I can say. Buy their music. See their shows. Go now, and love them.

After Athlete, my feet and my ears were worn the frack out, so I joined Marissa on Fox and Hound's fire escape while Tara watched The Cooper Temple Clause. As the SXSW website says of TCTC, "It was the electro-rock apocalypse you could dance to: Primal Scream disembowelling Oasis with flick-knives during a meteor storm on Mars."

Yes. What he said. I was way too tired for it, though, and the evening was over soon after, around 2:30 a.m.

Man, I can be incredibly verbose, huh? I believe I will close this installment of SXSW, Devirginized and prepare for the next. The Rock Stops right here, ladies and gentlemen, but just temporarily.

Lucy loves you |