The 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival is shaping up to be the best yet, with cooler weather, lush green grass, a very solid lineup, and perhaps finest crop of food vendors ever assembled…This ain’t yer daddy’s “state-fare” of turkey legs and funnel cakes…We’re talkin gourmet, Austin-style goodness…even vegetarians have options….and so here’s the…

Taco Town Approved Grub at ACL Fest:

Hudson’s on the Bend
Hot & Crunchy Cone: Shrimp/Chicken/Avocado
NEW! Purple Pig Cone: braised pulled pork w/ purple slaw & horseradish sauce

Mesa Verde Grill
Quesadillas: Spinach Mushroom, Chipotle Chicken or Steak
Smoked Wings with Sweet BBQ or Mango Habenero Sauce

Torchy's Green Chile Pork taco

Torchy’s
Green Chili Pork Taco
Potato Bean Green Chili Taco
Trailer Park Taco

Wahoo’s
Blackened Fish Tacos
Grilled Chicken Tacos
Burritos: Fish/Chicken/Veggie

Moonshine
Fried Fish Tacos w/ Jicima
Lunar Burrito

Blitzen Trapper

• THURSDAY – 5pm – NPR Party @ the Parish
• THURSDAY – 12mid – official sxsw set @ Radio Room

One of the more vibrant and creative bands on the scene today, Portland’s SubPop sextet Blitzen Trapper combine great folk/rock tunes with warped sonics, skewed arrangements and sticky melodies.  They also put out one of the best albums of 2008. [website: http://blitzentrapper.net/ ]

Listen To: Jericho  (unreleased song from their Daytrotter Session)

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Cabeza’s SXSW schedule

The Mother Hips

• Thursday – 2pm – Habana Calle 6 (free)
  
• Friday – 1pm – Cheers (free)
  
• Friday – 6pm – Hotel San Jose (free)
  

Brewing their own fine blend of california soul-rock since the early 90’s, the mother hips have earned a devoted west coast following along with scattered deciples acros the globe.  We here at tacotown are among those that have worship their music.  Their harmonious rock songs and laid back vibe harken back the essences of the Beachboys, Neil Young, and The Band. They took some time off a couple years ago and have since reformed stronger than ever, marked by their latest release Kiss the Crystal Flake, 2 tracks of which were picked to be included in the latest Guitar Hero!  [myspace: http://www.myspace.com/themotherhips]

Listen To: TGIM from Kiss the Crystal Flake (2007)

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Listen To: Everybody Knows this is Nowhere  (live Neil Young cover)

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Cabeza’s Full Schedule Here > http://sxsw2009.sched.org/eboz

Data Rock

• Tuesday – 8pm – Speakeasy (badge only ass)
  
• Friday – 10pm – Austin Music Hall
• Friday – 1am – Emo’s Annex

One listen to the latest album from Bergen, Norway’s DataRock and you get it.. this is party music at its finest.. with retro dancefloor beats, shouty euro vocals, and that romanticization of 80’s American culture that fondles your inner childhood memories (think: revenge of the nerds, breakin’, rad).  I think their song ‘Princess’ could have been the defacto party anthem of 2008. its the kind of song you put on when you want to get pumped up for a night full of jager bombs and sweaty dancefloors. Their live show promises to be highly entertaining… with the band sporting their signature matching red track suits, and a designated hype/dance man running around to whip up the crowd..[website: http://www.datarock.no/]

Listen To: Computer Camp Love from their Self Titled release

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Listen To: Princess from their Self Titled release

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Cabeza’s Full Schedule Here > http://sxsw2009.sched.org/eboz

We are proud to announce that along with HearYa.com, Quinnstorm.com, and Tom Schraeder, Taco Town presents to you – Austin Stimulus Package 2009 Wednesday March 18th from 11am-2am at Paradise cafe’s new upstairs music venue.. (think: a smaller Parish).. A full 15hrs of live music, booze, giveaways, and more (sxsw is all about surprises).. We will be on hand with handouts! Sample jars of our signature green salsa, stickers, free hugs and $2 wet willys..

More Info can be found at HearYa.com and AustinStimulus.com [RSVP HERE]

note: we actually had some very ambitious plans to give out free tacos at this party from some of Austin’s finest taco purveyors, but the plan crashed and burned when we got word that it was not ok to give out free food when a restaurant is trying to stay open for lunch.. who knew? whale..we are happy to be involved with this cool event in any form.. and theres always next year.. so lookout for the 2010 World Taco Forum, where sxsw taco dreams are realized.

bask in the goofy glory:

TheButterRoom.com: It’s Ice – Phish [8/17/96] from The Butter Room on Vimeo.

Idgy Vaughn : Austin, TX
We caught her short set at Ruta Maya on Saturday and were drawn in by her delicate voice and tasty instrumentation (Austin mainstay Will Sexton accompanied her on a reverb’d out dreadnaught acoustic). Turns out her folky story-songs are autobiographical- in a nutshell: midwestern girl ends up working at a truckstop in Buda, TX; a customer finances her album after winning the lottery; instant success is marred by a bitter custody battle for her daughter that leaves her estranged from her family. Its the stuff country music is made of…KUT did a nice audio-story on her here>

Liam Finn : New Zealand
We had already attempted to catch Liam, the eldest son of Neil Finn (lengendary leader of Crowded House and Split Enz) Thursday at The Ale House – but like I said 10 times this weekend, “if you’ve heard of them, the line’s too long.” Luckily, we had another chance Friday at the Paste/Stereogum Party. Armed with electric guitar, drumset, two Line-6 delay pedals, and one talented female sidekick, Finn proceeded to floor the 200 or so in attendance. Great hooky songs (instantly Finn-like) that build into layered sing-along anthems. The drumset was probably his most impressive talent – pulverizing finales over looped grooves / I suspect the album sounds very different- which makes his live act even more a MUST SEE.

just 1 night down at SXSW, but here’s 2 very good bands we stumbled onto:

Afenginn : Copenhagen, Denmark
We caught them by chance while grabbing dinner at Rio Grande – the brisket taco’s were bland, but these bad ass gypsy pickers brought the Danish Sabør – very melodic and inventive klezmer jams. And their bass player is disgusting/

…

AND

…

The Aggrolites : Los Angeles, CA
It was nearing 1AM, and the Black Keys showcase had an absurb line outside, so we took a chance on the Flamingo Cantina – IMHO the most reliable venue on 6th street. The Aggrolites dropped our jaws immediately with their air-tight Ska/Reggae/Funk stew- like The Specials meets James Brown in East LA. They had this vato on the B3 just rippin it up…really impressive live band/

-cabeza

we like to do SXSW the cheap way around here.. even better yet – the FREE way.. you can catch us at numerous unofficial events this week. its all about doing your research and then getting out there in the mix, unafraid to poke around in search of the triumverate of slacker gold – free music, free booze, free food! here are some links that will help you do SXSW renegade style:

• Show List Austin – a list of non-wristband shows
• On the Cheap – an article about how to do SXSW Cheap
• SXSW Baby – free event listings
• Top 10 Free SXSW Concerts – from austi360

So I’ve always been a big fan of the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (jfjo) – mostly because of their bass player, Reed Mathis. He blows my mind, and not in a technical, Jaco-sense (though he’s got serious chops), but because he’s one of the few bass players that can tap into the soul and visceral power of the music almost at will. Melodies and grooves literally spill out of his hands like he’s got a fuckin T1 connection straight into the great pipeline of thick musical crude being pumped from the nucleus of all creation by God himself. In other words- the dude can fuckin jam.

Need proof? just download this classic JFJO Show from the Ole Point Bar in 2002 or stream this amazing Steve Kimock show w/ Reed on bass. Or peep this Reed Mathis tune, HOVER for some octave-bass goodness…

JFJO has always teetered on the outskirts of the party-festival jam scene, while also managing to gain some much-deserved respect as modern jazz pioneers and master improvisers…each camp has its pitfalls and purists to navigate. So, when Reed announced this week that he’d be filling the Bass role for San Francisco’s Tea Leaf Green- a semi-successful hippy jamband complete with hula hoops and patchwork- that’s when the grumblings began. The message boards sprang to life with jfjo fans exclaming their various opinions on Reed’s new gig. Posts like: “Plus, they’re no where near the level that Fred is on…..I would think he would get bored playing their generic, mediocre jamband music…”

SO leave it to Reed himself to set the record straight and impart some perspective on the situation. enjoy this:

Subject: My thoughts on the matter….
Posted by: “reedmathis23″ reedmathis23
Date: Thu Nov 15, 2007 3:23 pm ((PST))

wowsers!

here’s a few things i’d like to say:
Read the rest of this entry »