{"id":224,"date":"2011-10-23T19:48:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T19:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicurbanism\/?p=224"},"modified":"2012-11-10T03:47:50","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T03:47:50","slug":"losing-austins-weirdness-a-review-of-echotone-pt-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/2011\/10\/23\/losing-austins-weirdness-a-review-of-echotone-pt-1\/","title":{"rendered":"losing Austin&#8217;s weirdness: a review of &#8220;Echotone&#8221; (pt.1)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/ECH-Poster-AustinTheatrical-lyt2-v3-web.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-616\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/ECH-Poster-AustinTheatrical-lyt2-v3-web.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"525\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/ECH-Poster-AustinTheatrical-lyt2-v3-web.jpg 350w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/ECH-Poster-AustinTheatrical-lyt2-v3-web-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a>A 2010 documentary that just graduated from the film festival circuit to DVD,<a href=\"http:\/\/www.echotonefilm.com\/\"><em>Echotone<\/em><\/a>\u00a0captures the Austin music scene at a moment of transition.\u00a0 The film is a pleasure to watch and listen to, with great photography, fantastic sound (plus great sound editing, not something I usually notice), and an effective yet easy-going narrative style mercifully free of expert talking-head interviews and other clunky conventions of the rockumentary.<\/p>\n<p>Analytically, however, the film is a bit of a muddle.\u00a0 From a distance, its three themes are unassailable.\u00a0 First, Austin has a lot of good bands currently.\u00a0 Second, Austin is, as the city advertises, the \u201clive music capital of the world.\u201d\u00a0 (Well, I suppose someone could assail that, but why bother? Austin has more good live music in a week than you or I could see in a year.) Third, Austin\u2019s music scene needs protection from the rising costs of living, incompatible zoning, and residential complaints associated with the city\u2019s prosperity over the last couple of decades.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The First Echotone Teaser Trailer 1280x720 HD\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/8128785?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Echotone<\/em>\u00a0aims to document the overlap of these three themes: i.e., Austin\u2019s good new bands are part of the live music scene that deserves protection.\u00a0 But is that really the case? \u00a0The problem comes with the two concepts that the film uses, both on screen and in its marketing materials, to make its argument: indie rock and the creative class.\u00a0 I&#8217;ll address the latter in my next post; here, I focus on the\u00a0<em>Echotone<\/em>&#8216;s depiction of Austin&#8217;s indie-rock bands.<\/p>\n<p>An opening montage of Janis Joplin, Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan suggests the direct line of descent from these Austin legends to the current groups featured in\u00a0<em>Echotone<\/em>.\u00a0 But Joe Lewis, frontman of soul revivalists Black Joe Lewis &amp; the Honeybears, makes a crucial observation: \u201cThere\u2019s not even that many roots bands around anymore, though. Indie rock took over, man \u2014 college kids.\u201d\u00a0 In fact, Lewis\u2019s band provides the only exception to the film\u2019s predominant focus on Austin\u2019s current crop of indie rock bands.\u00a0 Viewers looking for the latest blues guitar hero or honky tonk sensation will likely come away disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, the ways Lewis is shown making his music \u2014 operating out of an established pop-music genre, bandleading a large number of musicians, working toward a record deal, submitting to professional direction in a promotional photoshoot \u2014 is held up as obsolete in contrast to the methods used by indie rock groups, like making recording studios out of bedrooms and vacant buildings, incorporating untraditional sound media, and handpainting their CD covers.<\/p>\n<p>(The racial correlate here is awkward, since Lewis seems to be the only person of color in the film\u2019s primary cast.)<\/p>\n<p>Not to put too fine a distinction on this, but Lewis\u2019s soul revivalism can be thought to fit into Austin\u2019s famed roots music tradition, at least insofar as both sustain live music scenes characterized by established genres and repertoires of classic songs that musicians seek to master in order to play with each other.\u00a0 Stylistic innovation is respected but not a primary concern; virtuosity generally comes from individual mastery, not rejection, of musical conventions.\u00a0 As Howard Becker (<a href=\"http:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/D\/bo6823453.html\">writing about jazz musicians<\/a>), David Grazian (<a href=\"http:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/B\/bo3625998.html\">writing about Chicago blues clubs<\/a>) and Richard Lloyd (writing about Nashville songwriters) have shown, scenes like Austin\u2019s roots tradition involve the collective, sociable interaction of musicians \u2014 in rehearsal, on stage, having a drink or sharing a joint afterwards, exchanging songs, and via the revolving door of membership (often just play-for-hire) in multiple bands.\u00a0 Through such quintessentially social activities, local styles and idioms develop, circulate among a scene, and are learned by new generations of musicians.<\/p>\n<p>Possibly, with its emphasis on individual expression and continual innovation, rock music stands apart from this social practice of creativity.\u00a0 And possibly indie rock (in the broadest sense, including electronic music, folk-rock, etc.) most embodies these modernist aesthetics of rock.\u00a0 But Austin\u2019s indie rock bands are a notable exception, at least until recently.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=DJSpa4PiP3c\">the Reivers covering Willie Nelson\u2019s \u201cBlue Eyes Crying in the Rain\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on their 1985 debut album, or Kathy McCarty recording an album of songs local iconoclast Daniel Johnston.\u00a0 Historically, Austin\u2019s independent rock groups embraced the city\u2019s roots heritage, since it\u2019s the musical source of the city\u2019s cherished ethos,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.keepaustinweird.com\/\">Keep Austin Weird<\/a>, as a glance at any picture of Willie Nelson will attest.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2012\/10\/22-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-226\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2012\/10\/22-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2012\/10\/22-1.jpg 450w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2012\/10\/22-1-300x273.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><em>Echotone<\/em>\u00a0has lots of on-stage footage by the new crop of indie rock groups, but more symbolic are its images of these bands\u2019 private settings and mental spaces.\u00a0 A memorable scene features the group Belaire playing keyboards in their van, jamming out a secret improv for themselves, the cameraman, and the film\u2019s audience (is it me, or is the level of self-consciousness in the van very high?), but not a paying Austin audience.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Belaire (clip from Echotone)\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RP0iu8pPUBw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A recurring visual motif (the film\u2019s favorite metaphor for indie rock\u2019s connection to its local environment) shows the duo Machine hiking through condominium construction sites, hunting for the perfect found sound to sample and mix later into their indie electronic music.\u00a0 Not that sampling field recordings is an entirely novel technique, but it remains a highly individual, idiosyncratic form of musical practice.\u00a0 The contrast with roots music is clear: you can\u2019t easily show a fellow musician how to incorporate your signature sampling style into the local style, can you?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/EchotoneSound.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-617\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/EchotoneSound.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"849\" height=\"476\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/EchotoneSound.jpg 849w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/files\/2011\/10\/EchotoneSound-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not clear whether the problem belongs to these Austin bands or to the film, which is visually indebted to the dreamy, solipsistic aesthetic of indie rock.\u00a0 Maybe Belaire actually moonlights as a shit-kickin\u2019 honky tonk group with a rousing version of \u201cJolene\u201d that the filmmakers couldn\u2019t license.\u00a0 Something like that would shoot down the preceding hypothesis.\u00a0 But it\u2019s worth remembering that in the sense I described above, indie rock groups in Austin are really no different than their counterparts elsewhere.\u00a0 And that may be the point: Austin\u2019s indie rock groups are no longer\u00a0<em>weird<\/em>in the sense of that uniquely local, collective tradition.\u00a0 If that\u2019s the case, then what does Austin really give them?\u00a0 A place to build a career in; a cool brand (or \u201cmoniker,\u201d as a local promoter calls it) to distinguish themselves from other bands; but relatively little of the stylistic influences, performative exchange and \u201cweird\u201d way-of-being that comes from participating in the city\u2019s venerable musical practice.<\/p>\n<p>[For pt. 2 of this review,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/2011\/10\/24\/creatively-exploiting-the-austin-scene-a-review-of-echotone-pt-2\/\">go here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 2010 documentary that just graduated from the film festival circuit to DVD,Echotone\u00a0captures the Austin music scene at a moment of transition.\u00a0 The film is a pleasure to watch and listen to, with great photography, fantastic sound (plus great sound editing, not something I usually notice), and an effective yet easy-going narrative style mercifully free of expert talking-head interviews and other clunky conventions of the rockumentary. Analytically, however, the film is a bit of a muddle.\u00a0 From a distance, its three themes are unassailable.\u00a0 First, Austin has a lot of good bands currently.\u00a0 Second, Austin is, as the city advertises, the \u201clive music capital of the world.\u201d\u00a0 (Well, I suppose someone could assail that, but why bother? Austin has more good live music in a week than you or I could see in a year.) Third, Austin\u2019s music scene needs protection from the rising costs of living, incompatible zoning, and residential complaints associated with the city\u2019s prosperity over the last couple of decades. Echotone\u00a0aims to document the overlap of these three themes: i.e., Austin\u2019s good new bands are part of the live music scene that deserves protection.\u00a0 But is that really the case? \u00a0The problem comes with the two concepts [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[43699,16,43646,43673,241],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-austin","tag-documentary","tag-indie-rock","tag-music-scene","tag-performance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/musicalurbanism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}