Show Recap: Thee Oh Sees & Ty Segall Band at La Zona Rosa, 09/15/12

It has been quite some time now that I have been hankering to see a full live set by San Fran based group, Thee Oh Sees. Time and time again I have missed them when they've come into town. The closest I've got to them live was their set on the Black Stage during Fun Fun Fun Fest 2011, which I was bartending right next to. But hearing them and actually watching them is two entirely different things. I did however check frontman John Dwyer in at artist check-in for SXSW 2012, which was pretty damn rad.

We arrived a little late, about halfway through Ty Segall's set, who I have seen twice before at the Mohawk Austin. While I was disappointed to miss most of my older favorites, we did get there in time to hear several of the songs off his newest album, Slaughterhouse, including "I Bought My Eyes" and "Muscle Man." The audience was raging; lots of moshing and crowd surfing. Perhaps one of the most entertaining moments of the night was an attempt by a female fan to jump on stage and give Ty a big sweaty kiss. He ducked away and shooed her off stage, crushing the poor girl's dream of a brush with a hit musician.

Thee Oh Sees entered the stage close to midnight and all hell broke loose. Now, La Zona Rosa, while a great large space, is not one of my favorite venues in Austin. Unless you're directly in front of the stage the sight-line is terrible, and the sound can sometimes be questionable as well. But, my friends and I made the conscious effort to get up very near to the front, and the occasional push and shove and sweat bath was totally worth it. For most of the show Dwyer rocked a badass clear, acrylic electric guitar and belted out his signature high and low voice alterations. They performed songs off Help and Warm Slime, as well as a couple off one of my favorites, Castlemania. However most of their performance came off their sixth studio album, Putrifiers II, including the ultra catchy "Lupine Dominus" and the 50s-esque "Goodnight Baby."

For the ending set, pre-encore, Ty Segall Band's kickass chick drummer, Emily Rose Epstein, joined Oh See's drummer Mike Shoun for an all-out drum fest. Garage punk band fanatics joined together to create one giant jumping wave and copious amounts of stage diving began. Afterward their encore was short-lived, but everyone left the venue blown away by the show overall. The only thing that would have topped it off would have been to hear one of my favorite toe-tapping hits, "I Need Seed"; but there's always the next show!

The Apple Radio Rumors

As if Apple did not have enough facets to its company name, it is now rumored that they will be delving into radio. This rumor comes following the rumor that Apple's big September 12th event will unveil the iPhone 5. Coming out with a new model of the beloved iPhone in addition to creating a new program has Apple fanatics swirling. It has also been reported that Apple is in already in talks with record labels to showcase on their version of web-based radio. Apple is statistically the largest music retailer in the world (Allaccess.com).

Is Apple About to Jump Into the Radio Business?

With this rumor surfacing, long-standing web-based radio program, Pandora, has taken a serious bashing in terms of stock. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pandora stock to a startling 18 percent drop from investors when the Apple radio rumor was leaked. Sources are unknown in the leak but big name news sources such as The New York Times have been abuzz with the news. The real debate becomes whether Pandora users will remain loyal to their radio stations, or if they will make the switch to Apple radio if it does indeed come to life. 

Pandora Stock Takes a Beating on Apple-Radio Rumor

However, the Wall Street Journal does point out that Apple has never really had a leg up when it comes to cloud services. There are many other stronger radio programs, which have become wildly popular in today's avoidance of actual purchase of music such as Rhapsody and Spotify. 

Perhaps the most important element of this possible unveil is timing. If Apple is smart, they will coincide it with the launch of another one of their highly anticipated products in order to gain hype around the potential new service. While this topic is all very fresh and new, continued news of the possibility will undoubtedly continue until Apple clears the air. At this time they have declined to comment, supporting rumors even more; but, an interesting topic still. Apple has virtually taken over every area of the music and technology fields - will they take over radio now, too?