There comes a time in any illustrious artist’s career where the river
risks running dry. While Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham) is still putting out material at a prolific rate, the relevance of it seems to be diminishing the quicker his output flows. To Oldham’s defense, no record he has put out in his career has been bad, but as 1999’s I See A Darkness and 2006’s The Letting Go were valued statements on lush, orchestrated song form and audacious lyricism, Beware is a safe record by his standards.
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Words and interviews by John Bohannon

Squeezing in interviews amongst the craziness at SxSW is kind of like trying to talk to your mom drunk on the phone in the 9th grade. Amongst all the drinks (on both the artists and interviewers end), we fall into blunt honesty due to our state, therefore creating an ideal interview situation. I had the chance to interview a handful of international artists — including The New Wine and Casiokids, who both traveled from the distant land of Norway — as well as the Tallest Man on Earth, one of the most captivating folk artists to grace the scene in years. Amongst those, Parker Griggs, mastermind guitarist behind new-psychedelia trio, Radio Moscow had very few words to say, but hey, he played the High Times party, so you get the picture.
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The Brazilian Beat is contributor John Bohannon’s monthly column.

There is an immense amount of international talent at this year’s SxSW music festival in Austin, Texas, so I figured I would do my good deed for the day and help lead you in the direction of some of Brazil’s greatest young talent. Not only is this a primer to the party you should be at Wednesday night (The Rio, where most of these artists are playing), it’s a guide even for those who can’t make their way down to the city of Austin. These are artists who need to be recognized and taken into consideration on a global scale. When you start to see music as international and not localized, we can get rid of our trendy preconceived notions and get down to the bare-bones of what makes us tick – good music, regardless of where it’s from. Take your first night and experience something different. (All artists below are at The Rio on Wednesday night, March 18, unless otherwise noted.)
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After hours of text messages, phone calls, and the typical Nashville rumor, it was obvious something was going down at the East Side’s resident club, The 5 spot. Their MySpace had it marked as a “secret show,” and word on the street was an illustrious Pavement reunion would be going down, and rock ‘n’ roll history would be changed. Not exactly the case. The original percussionist for the now 10-year deceased band, Bob Nastanovich, was getting hitched on Saturday in Nashville — and well, the so-called Pavement reunion was supposed to be somewhat of a private reception affair.
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This is the second installment of contributor John Bohannon’s monthly column, The Brazilian Beat. Check out the first installment here.

For this edition of Brazilian Beat, I figured I would introduce a Brazilian reading primer –- all the books I’ve discovered over the years that have led me in the right direction or helped expose me to the culture that surrounds Brazilian music. It’s important to understand that Brazilian music is very unlike any other music in the world; it’s the solid foundation of the country’s culture in a much more sincere, strong way than most others. Unlike the powerhouse English-speaking markets like the US and the UK, Brazil is very nationalistic in its approach, with most of its music grounded intensely in the roots of Brazilian history.
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