This year's SxSW Bittorrent

[Z-Corn]

You like Goldie Lookin' Chain!?

How very chav of you!

[LordMortis]

So I got around to putting the 2nd folder (which fits) on my mp3 player and so far... Not so much... The first 15 songs or so have been pretty sterile (no matter then genre, even including latin and hip hop as well trance and big bandy stuff) and it's all coffee house in a way that Tom Waits is coffee house, only without Tom Waits emotion and his playfulness and his hooks and such. It's almost as if Radiohead took over all of musicdom.

But I am sure somewhere in there I'll really dig on something the volume of music is just too big and I've seen a ton bands I've really liked playing SXSW in the past. I'm still in the A's on the shorter of the two volumes.

I really need to back date and fill in some of the SXSW collections of the past.

On the other hand, I heard an Eels song yesterday, an OO beloved band that has traditionally done nothing for me but this time I was really hip to Gone Man

http://www.google.com/url?url=http://po ... fMRXNXERfQ" target="_blank

[Isgrimnur]

I could never get the links to work with microtorrent through multiple attempts.

[Kraken]

Try a different client? Or maybe you need to open a port for that one if you have a firewall.

I guess I've auditioned about 150 songs now. So far...15 keepers and 39 maybes.

[LordMortis]

So far what will get a second listen...

A Classic Education
Ariel Abshire
Awesome Color
Balmorhea
Bastard Death Cult
Beats Antique
Big Don
Bonjay
Boom Pam
Boulder Acoustic Society
Brisa Roche

...To be updated later. Hopefully with ratings, commentary and deletions. Right now I'm just deleting stuff that doesn't grab me.

Even with the stuff I've been keeping for a second listen, Ive been less than enthused so far, but things are picking up at the letter F. Does F make for a good sounding band?

[Kelric]

I've only listened to 250 songs so far, but these are the ones rated 4 stars (out of 5) that I've gotten to so far. Most music gets 3 stars, so a 4 star is something I really enjoy and a 5 star is terrific. Some of these will probably get downrated on second or third listens, but for now I enjoyed my initial impression. Anything with an asterisk I already owned. Some of the music that I've listened to is from people I've already heard of, then I went through and have randomly picked bands based on their names - as you can see, I'm really only into the B's so far. Got a long way to go...

5 Stars:
*Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict A Riot
*Two Gallants - Las Cruces Jail

4 Stars:
Amanda Palmer - Leeds United - She's the singer from The Dresden Dolls. Doesn't sound too different in her solo work, either. Punk Cabaret.
Amplified Heat - What Went Wrong - Straight rock song.
Antennas Up - Don't Wait Up - Kind of a funk blend sound. I liked it.
Antler - Blood On The Moon - Makes me think of a cheesy eighties rock song, but, you know, good.
April Verch Band - A Riverboat's Gone/Bumblebee - Nothin' but bluegrass.
Au Revoir Simone - A Violent Yet Flammable World - Alternative chick singer. Might get downgraded upon future listens.
Austin Hartley-Leonard - The Shore And Stars - Typical singer/song-writer deal.
Austin Hartley-Leonard - Golden Opportunity - Much more of a country song for this one. Or bluegrass or Americana or whatever you want to call it.
Awol One - Agony - Rap. Might get downgraded upon future listens.
Balkan Beat Box - Bulgarian Chicks
Balkan Beat Box - War Again - You might want to check these guys out, LM, if you haven't yet, as they channel a little of the Gogol Bordello vibe. I dug it. Less so on the second song, but still good.
Balmorhea - San Solomon - Also on Mortis' list. Not quite sure what to label them.
The Band Of Heathens - Jackson Station - 'Roots rock' or indie country or Americana or whatever you want to call them.
Banda De Turistas - El Rogadero - Spanish!
Barbez - Strange - Weird prog rock music.
Basia Bulat - In The Night
Basia Bulat - Gold Rush - Female singer/song-writer alternative sound.
Beangrowers - The Priest - Indie rock song.
The Beauvilles - Snow - More indie rock.
Bedouin Soundclash - Santa Monica - White guy acoustic reggae band. If this doesn't scream 'stoners in college,' I don't know what does.
Bedroom Walls - No Wedding Cake - Indie rock stuff, might get downgraded.
The Belleville Outfit - Caroline
The Belleville Outfit - Time To Stand - Bluegrass/Americana stuff.
The Bellrays - Revolution Get Down - Rock n' roll, bitches. Makes me think of the Detroit Cobras.
The Black - Eshu Blues
The Black - Little Hits - Kind of a rockabilly, 1950's rock n' roll sound.
The Black & White Years - Power To Change - Indie rock, I guess.
*Bobby Bare Jr. - Valentine
Bobby Bare Jr. - The Heart Bionic - He's been discussed on this board a few times. Indie alt rock singer songwriter music....
Catfish Haven - Crazy For Leaving - Indie rock, though some of their other stuff gets a little country.
Charlie Louvin - Must You Throw Dirt In My Face - Classic country music. The girl leaves, the dog dies, the truck stops, etc.
Crown Royale - We Gotcha - Rap.
*Devil In A Woodpile - Beer Ticket Rag - Bluegrass, banjo pickin' indie country.
*The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism - Punk cabaret.
*Drive-By Truckers - Lookout Mountain - Southern rock.
Fatboy Slim - Wonderful Night - Typical Fatboy Slim stuff.
FemBots - My Hands Are A City - Indie rock.
*Flogging Molly - The Seven Deadly Sins - THE BEST DAMN BAND IN THE LAND!
Floyd Domino - Riff City - Swing music, I guess you'd say.
Girls Guns And Glory - Temptation - Indie country. Love this song. It belongs in a Quentin Tarantino movie.
*Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple - Gypsy punk, of course.
Ha-Ha Tonka - St. Nick On The Fourth In A Fervor - Indie rock/vocalists/countryish? Saw these guys lives last year.
Japanese Motors - Single Fins & Safety Pins - Indie rock, I guess.
Laika & The Cosmonauts - Rikki On The Loose - Surf music with some rock n' roll.
Leo Stokes - Honkytonk Heartache - Look at the name of the song. You figure it out.
*Nickel Creek - When In Rome - Indie country?
*The Noisettes - Don't Give Up - Rock. The Noisettes are awesome. You may have heard this song in a few commercials by now.
Novillero - The Hypothesist - Rock/Alt rock.
The Octopus Project - Music Is Happiness - Of course I had to listen to them for the name of the band alone. Rock? Electronica?
OK Go - A Million Ways - Indie rock.
The Real Heroes - We Can Do Better - Indie rock.
Reverend Glasseye - God Help You Dumb Boy - If you listen to their other stuff... indie country? They're like 16 Horsepower (Southern Goth?) except... not.
Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Aberdeen - They have a washboard in their band. And they rock it the hell out. Indie country.
Rock n' Roll Soldiers - Funny Little Feeling - Indie rock.
Roman Candle - Something Left To Say - More rock/indie rock/there is no difference between those labels but I use both anyways.
Runaway Planet - Burn The Clutch Out - Bluegrass.
*Scott H. Biram - Blood, Sweat & Murder - Indie country.
South Austin Jug Band - Dark And Weary World - Bluegrass.
Th' Legendary Shack*shakers - Agony Wagon - Indie country/rockabillyish.
Tia Carrera - J. Bankston Manor - A 33 minute rock instrumental.
*Two Gallants - Nothing To You - Indie country? Not really. I don't know. But I like them.
Two Ton Boa - Coming Up From Behind - Rock. This one has been stuck in my head for DDAAAYYYSSS.
The Vacation - Destitute Prostitutes - More rock.

[Kraken]

I've got 42 Keepers, 113 Maybes and 660 Unsorted out of the 1,060 or so that I started with, so that's about 250 deleted.

[Kelric]

I don't delete music. Why bother, I'm not exactly going to run out of storage space any time soon. I already know I'll never listen to all the music I own. 28123 songs, 74 days of music, 135.91 gigs. I still have more than 500 gigs of space on the hard drive. If two re-formats ago I had saved my Library, I'd have most of it cataloged by now (not counting the new stuff). Sadly, I did not, so less than 10% of it is rated at the moment.

[silverjon]

It's not about running out of space. Why would you keep something you didn't even like?

[Shinjin]

798 in the dump it pile
239 in the first pass 'like' pile

Next step - send the 'like' pile through again

[Kraken]

It's not about running out of space. Why would you keep something you didn't even like?

Yeah, the 250 songs that I deleted range from insipid to offensive -- I don't want to hear them again. I only have a 80 gig hard drive, though, and am chronically short of space.

[Kelric]

It's not about running out of space. Why would you keep something you didn't even like?

Because it is more effort to hit the Backspace key than to ignore it.

[hitbyambulance]

make sure you have a backup of your backup - my music-storage HD recently lost its partition information, and after much fretting, i was able to recover... some of it.

[Kelric]

make sure you have a backup of your backup - my music-storage HD recently lost its partition information, and after much fretting, i was able to recover... some of it.

Yeah, that worries me. I do have an old external drive that used to be my backup that I need to update. I also have my old internal drive that I need to buy an external casing for to use as my main backup since it isn't quite as old. I am a little paranoid about digital media.

[LordMortis]

I've heard a few of the Balkan Beatbox songs. They didn't really strike a chord with with me. Maybe it was just the time. I'll probably give them a try later. People have been telling me to check them out for a few years.

[Kelric]

I've heard a few of the Balkan Beatbox songs. They didn't really strike a chord with with me. Maybe it was just the time. I'll probably give them a try later. People have been telling me to check them out for a few years.

I've heard the name before, I had just never gotten around to listening to their music. Bulgarian Chicks is more Gogol than War Again, but even then they aren't that similar. They just rock the gypsy/eastern European influence, though I would have to say they don't seem to have the Klezmer edges that Gogol does.

Edit - I also, somehow, have one song from some group called Amsterdam Klezmer Band. They aren't at all punk but they still seem fun.

Second Edit - I've been totally digging The Black & White Years' Power To Change for a few days now. I'll take bouncy indie rock for $300, Alex.

[silverjon]

Kelric, do you listen to Geoff Berner?

If not, get on that STAT.

[Kelric]

Never heard of him. I'll listen to him now on Rhapsody and let you know what I think.

[Kelric]

I enjoyed Berner well enough, with a few of his songs being better than the rest.

Mortis, have you listened to Dash Rip Rock's Locked Inside A Liquor Store yet? Kind of a southern pop rock sound, but the lyrics amuse me.

[Kraken]

Mortis, have you listened to Dash Rip Rock's Locked Inside A Liquor Store yet? Kind of a southern pop rock sound, but the lyrics amuse me.

First time I saw you
You were running naked down the street
And I said to myself, I made a mental note
"Hey there's a little girl I'd like to meet."

Great stuff.

[LordMortis]

Mortis, have you listened to Dash Rip Rock's Locked Inside A Liquor Store yet? Kind of a southern pop rock sound, but the lyrics amuse me.

I have not. I'll get back in to it later. The desire to sift through the music comes and goes and it's mostly goes right now.

[Kelric]

Mortis, have you listened to Dash Rip Rock's Locked Inside A Liquor Store yet? Kind of a southern pop rock sound, but the lyrics amuse me.

First time I saw you
You were running naked down the street
And I said to myself, I made a mental note
"Hey there's a little girl I'd like to meet."

Great stuff.

I met you under the table
Honey more than a time or two
And I know that I want to
Get shitfaced with you!

Good times, good times.

[Isgrimnur]

I could never get the links to work with microtorrent through multiple attempts.

And for some reason, another attempt this evening works with no issues. I love it when a problem disappears for no good reason...

Ah, well, on to downloading a crapton(e) of music.

[Kelric]

As a further tip, LM.... apparently Balkan Beat Box was founded by some guy who used to be in Gogol Bordello as well as a guy from Firewater. If that doesn't get you to listen to their SXSW songs, I don't know what will. I'm interested to listen to more of their music but there are a lot of bands ahead of them in the list of things I need to discover. In the Gogol vein, Luminescent Orchestrii.

[Kraken]

2011 torrent is up

And has been since February, apparently. Downloading now.

[Kelric]

Slowly, oh so slowly, working my way through the 2010 stuff still via my iPhone and PC. And that still leaves me with all of the previous years, too. Yikes. Time to download 2011!

[Exodor]

Downloading now. This is probably enough music to keep me busy until the 2012 version is out.

[WPD]

Now I just need an office to go where I can listen to it all!

[Kraken]

Over 1100 songs this year, streaming in at record speed...it looks like I'll get both torrents in about 2 hours. I do enjoy auditioning them.

[mori]

I think the last year I dl'd was '07 or '08 ( I don't know since that hard drive expired), and I just dl'd '10 and '11. It seems to be a lot of alternative. I remember SXSW as being a lot more inclusive. Now it appears to be 85% alternative and Hip/Hop, and not good alternative at that. I also thought a couple of local bands that I really like (Trampled by Turtles and Four On the Floor) were going to be on the download but sadly they were not.

[LordMortis]

Ugh. I never even got close to last finishing last years torrents. And yet I'm sure I'll be trying to get this when I get home. As much as I've always wanted to go to SxSW, I'm finding that even though indie music is by far my niche. The indie music I love is almost wholly excluded from SxSW, usually grabbing about 3 or 4 spots out of a thousand. On the other hand if I am patient I can still find another dozen or more treasures I'd never find in the wild every time. I just don't know that I can sit through songs at 20 to 1 ratio looking for stuff I like. I tried doing it during walks last year but it actually made my walks in to a chore.

I need to find a better methodology for sorting through music. Ideally, I find and MP3 player where I can delete music without jacking it in to computer. That way I could sort through songs on the go, delete songs that don't grab me or have gotten worn out and not have to worry about record keeping.

I think the last year I dl'd was '07 or '08 ( I don't know since that hard drive expired), and I just dl'd '10 and '11. It seems to be a lot of alternative. I remember SXSW as being a lot more inclusive. Now it appears to be 85% alternative and Hip/Hop, and not good alternative at that. I also thought a couple of local bands that I really like (Trampled by Turtles and Four On the Floor) were going to be on the download but sadly they were not.

I'm not sure how you list alternative. I thought SxSW was all "alternative" it just happens that so much of it whiney or pretentious or fancies itself poetry or tries to be too clever without anything new or whatever. In short, most of it has no hook, no emotion, no fun factor, no energy, nothing for me really. That's fine, just not for me and my ADDlike patience for music that is not for me isn't there. I used to really want to go to SxSW and get lost in it. Now it's just too scary to get lost in stuff I don't care for. We need a huge festival like this that is more energy driven. Like the Hootennanney on a massive 100+ band scale, only it embraces all forms of energy music, not just rockabilly.

[Shinjin]

You know, I think that I'm going to finally write myself a little tool to help out with this. I have two PCs on a KVM, each with its own mouse. I think a simple app where I choose the folder filled with MP3s and start to play them, then use left click to indicate 'like' and right click to indicate 'dislike'. I'll be able to fiddle around with one PC and just use the other's mouse to sort through the music.

Without a tool like that I managed to wade through all of 2010 and part of 2009, before I ground to a halt on the manual process.

[LordMortis]

You know, I think that I'm going to finally write myself a little tool to help out with this. I have two PCs on a KVM, each with its own mouse. I think a simple app where I choose the folder filled with MP3s and start to play them, then use left click to indicate 'like' and right click to indicate 'dislike'. I'll be able to fiddle around with one PC and just use the other's mouse to sort through the music.

Without a tool like that I managed to wade through all of 2010 and part of 2009, before I ground to a halt on the manual process.

Is there a basic MP3 Player that can like/dislike and sort and move folders? I'd breakdown and get one in heartbeat.

[Shinjin]

Is there a basic MP3 Player that can like/dislike and sort and move folders? I'd breakdown and get one in heartbeat.

If you mean for PC, and you can get by with extremely minimal functionality, I'll make it available when I complete it

[LordMortis]

Is there a basic MP3 Player that can like/dislike and sort and move folders? I'd breakdown and get one in heartbeat.

If you mean for PC, and you can get by with extremely minimal functionality, I'll make it available when I complete it

No, but I may be able to make that work, maybe. I mean for a portable player. I never did MP3s until I bought a portable player for my car and headphones for walking. Now I love my (portable) MP3 player but it can't actually be managed portably and that sucks. If I could do things like delete SxSW mp3s on the fly or move them to different folders then I'd be cooking with gas, but as it goes I'd have to write down songs as I listen to them or don't listen to them and then mark them/delete them when I get to a PC with a proper connector. It's a PITA.

[The Meal]

Is there a basic MP3 Player that can like/dislike and sort and move folders? I'd breakdown and get one in heartbeat.

If you mean for PC, and you can get by with extremely minimal functionality, I'll make it available when I complete it

I'd use it.

[mori]

Ugh. I never even got close to last finishing last years torrents. And yet I'm sure I'll be trying to get this when I get home. As much as I've always wanted to go to SxSW, I'm finding that even though indie music is by far my niche. The indie music I love is almost wholly excluded from SxSW, usually grabbing about 3 or 4 spots out of a thousand. On the other hand if I am patient I can still find another dozen or more treasures I'd never find in the wild every time. I just don't know that I can sit through songs at 20 to 1 ratio looking for stuff I like. I tried doing it during walks last year but it actually made my walks in to a chore.

I need to find a better methodology for sorting through music. Ideally, I find and MP3 player where I can delete music without jacking it in to computer. That way I could sort through songs on the go, delete songs that don't grab me or have gotten worn out and not have to worry about record keeping.

I think the last year I dl'd was '07 or '08 ( I don't know since that hard drive expired), and I just dl'd '10 and '11. It seems to be a lot of alternative. I remember SXSW as being a lot more inclusive. Now it appears to be 85% alternative and Hip/Hop, and not good alternative at that. I also thought a couple of local bands that I really like (Trampled by Turtles and Four On the Floor) were going to be on the download but sadly they were not.

I'm not sure how you list alternative. I thought SxSW was all "alternative" it just happens that so much of it whiney or pretentious or fancies itself poetry or tries to be too clever without anything new or whatever. In short, most of it has no hook, no emotion, no fun factor, no energy, nothing for me really. That's fine, just not for me and my ADDlike patience for music that is not for me isn't there. I used to really want to go to SxSW and get lost in it. Now it's just too scary to get lost in stuff I don't care for. We need a huge festival like this that is more energy driven. Like the Hootennanney on a massive 100+ band scale, only it embraces all forms of energy music, not just rockabilly.

Is it all alternative? Listening to satellite radio and local stations, it is an all inclusive music festival and there is a huge variety in music. Maybe it is the people choosing the music for the downloads that prefer that type of music. I honestly do not know. Going through the "A's" artists in the last two years, 85% is the pretentious, no fun music you dislike as much as I do. If SXSW is as the downloads indicate, Austin does not need to worry about me coming to visit during the festival.

[Kelric]

Ugh. I never even got close to last finishing last years torrents. And yet I'm sure I'll be trying to get this when I get home. As much as I've always wanted to go to SxSW, I'm finding that even though indie music is by far my niche. The indie music I love is almost wholly excluded from SxSW, usually grabbing about 3 or 4 spots out of a thousand. On the other hand if I am patient I can still find another dozen or more treasures I'd never find in the wild every time. I just don't know that I can sit through songs at 20 to 1 ratio looking for stuff I like. I tried doing it during walks last year but it actually made my walks in to a chore.

I need to find a better methodology for sorting through music. Ideally, I find and MP3 player where I can delete music without jacking it in to computer. That way I could sort through songs on the go, delete songs that don't grab me or have gotten worn out and not have to worry about record keeping.

I think the last year I dl'd was '07 or '08 ( I don't know since that hard drive expired), and I just dl'd '10 and '11. It seems to be a lot of alternative. I remember SXSW as being a lot more inclusive. Now it appears to be 85% alternative and Hip/Hop, and not good alternative at that. I also thought a couple of local bands that I really like (Trampled by Turtles and Four On the Floor) were going to be on the download but sadly they were not.

I'm not sure how you list alternative. I thought SxSW was all "alternative" it just happens that so much of it whiney or pretentious or fancies itself poetry or tries to be too clever without anything new or whatever. In short, most of it has no hook, no emotion, no fun factor, no energy, nothing for me really. That's fine, just not for me and my ADDlike patience for music that is not for me isn't there. I used to really want to go to SxSW and get lost in it. Now it's just too scary to get lost in stuff I don't care for. We need a huge festival like this that is more energy driven. Like the Hootennanney on a massive 100+ band scale, only it embraces all forms of energy music, not just rockabilly.

Is it all alternative? Listening to satellite radio and local stations, it is an all inclusive music festival and there is a huge variety in music. Maybe it is the people choosing the music for the downloads that prefer that type of music. I honestly do not know. Going through the "A's" artists in the last two years, 85% is the pretentious, no fun music you dislike as much as I do. If SXSW is as the downloads indicate, Austin does not need to worry about me coming to visit during the festival.

I'd say 75% is alt/alternative/alt rock/indie rock/whatever fulls under those genres. The rest is a hodgepodge. I find ten or fifteen songs out of a hundred that I really enjoy, though of the other 80+ there are those that I like but just don't rate highly.

[Kraken]

I end up keeping about 20% of the songs every year. Virtually all of the rap, metal, pop, and whiny love songs get tossed on the first pass. Even though most of it's crap, there's a wide variety of crap.

[LordMortis]

Is it all alternative? Listening to satellite radio and local stations, it is an all inclusive music festival and there is a huge variety in music. Maybe it is the people choosing the music for the downloads that prefer that type of music. I honestly do not know. Going through the "A's" artists in the last two years, 85% is the pretentious, no fun music you dislike as much as I do. If SXSW is as the downloads indicate, Austin does not need to worry about me coming to visit during the festival.

My definitions must be off is all. When I first started hearing "alternative" being referenced in the late 80s, it meant alternative to mainstream music. It simply meant any band you won't hear of a pop radio station. I've never been to SxSW but I was under the impression that it was all small venue acts from around the world that had their own following but exist outside of mainstream music.

But yeah, Austin doesn't need to worry about me either. I used to really want to go badly, now I wouldn't have the patience to try and find the bands I want to see and I fear my "discovery" of new bands would be a really bad experience. I really, really like hearing new bands I've never head of live and being blown away by them.

But to each their own. This is obviously the big thing in independent music and I support that in theory. I'm just selfish and wish a not quite as big a thing happened that was more in alignment with the music I love... which is as eclectic as SxSW but focuses more hooks, emotion, fun, and energy in all of it's forms.