Echotone is an Austin-made documentary about the Austin music scene, described by the filmmakers as a “cultural portrait of the modern American city examined through the lyrics and lens of its creative class.”
The film opens with its strongest material, blues rock bad boy Joe Lewis of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears delivering fish and sharing his two cents about being a musician in the Live Music Capital of the World. We get equally entertaining (and occasionally heartbreaking) tales and performances from others among Austin’s indie elite, including The Black Angels, Ghostland Observatory, Belaire, Sunset, Dana Falconberry and The Octopus Project.
Director Nathan Christ and his gang clearly know where to point the business end of a camera/microphone — the visuals and audio are absolutely gorgeous, but the film seems to lack a clear direction.
Read more after the jump!
The film opens with its strongest material, blues rock bad boy Joe Lewis of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears delivering fish and sharing his two cents about being a musician in the Live Music Capital of the World. We get equally entertaining (and occasionally heartbreaking) tales and performances from others among Austin’s indie elite, including The Black Angels, Ghostland Observatory, Belaire, Sunset, Dana Falconberry and The Octopus Project.
Director Nathan Christ and his gang clearly know where to point the business end of a camera/microphone — the visuals and audio are absolutely gorgeous, but the film seems to lack a clear direction.
Read more after the jump!
Echotone (or at least, the trailer I watched for Echotone) purports to be about the plight of the humble Austin musician pitted against the forces of development. As colossal condo skyscrapers rise in areas previously considered entertainment districts, what happens when yuppies move in next door to a decades-old death-metal dive bar? Sadly, this is a question Echotone never answers or even begins to explore. Development vs. live music tensions are only briefly touched on in the film despite the numerous examples Austin has had to offer over the past few years. (We get no mention of Unplugged at the Grove, the closing of The Backyard, the mess over on Rainey Street or even the noise level problems over at Guero’s Taco Bar or Freddie’s Place.) This wouldn’t be an issue if it didn’t seem the film was missing so much opportunity. Cameras capture one performer (Bill Baird) on stage being told by a sound guy he’ll have to end his set before midnight — a cutoff time required by sound ordinances enacted, in part, because of neighboring developments — but we’re never given the context necessary to drive this point home.
What we get is club owners talking about an apartment complex across from some of the city’s noisiest venues, even though today the apartment and the venue seem to be getting along amicably. (After all, lawyers and state senators may not want to live across from a noisy music venue, but scenester kids with deep pockets sure as hell do.) True, the cookie-cutter modern condos may not mesh well with the rugged badass aesthetic of the Red River District, but they do, however, do something that Echotone’s makers say Austin needs to work on: capitalize on the Austin’s untapped live music scene.
There’s also a brief anti-South by Southwest thread near the end of the film that feels out of place (particularly to someone who has a low tolerance for whining about the mega music festival). After an hour of hearing starving artists talk about only wanting to get their art in front of people, it’s strange to hear them lament the takeover of this live music paradise by outsiders.
Of course, neither condo rent money nor the millions made by SXSW actually go into the bank accounts of unsigned musicians, but even as a DiG!-esque tale about bands struggling with exposing their music to new people without “selling out,” Echotone falls short. There’s great potential, but we never really get to the heart of the discussion. What we do get is an easy-on-the-eyes juxtaposition of condo construction shots and artists performing in and talking about the city that is their home and muse.
Regardless, Echotone is absolutely worth watching; it’s loud and passionate and full of energy, it just wasn’t the movie I wanted it to be. Still, the group I saw the movie with was compelled to discuss further over beers after the screening.
There are important issues raised in Echotone and reminders about Austin’s most precious resource:
Regardless of its flaws, Echotone has its fair share of stunningly beautiful moments and is well worth the watch, especially for Austinites even remotely interested in local music culture. Echotone is showing for a few more days at the Alamo Ritz in downtown Austin. You can also download the soundtrack for free at Paste Magazine.
--Eric Pulsifer
What we get is club owners talking about an apartment complex across from some of the city’s noisiest venues, even though today the apartment and the venue seem to be getting along amicably. (After all, lawyers and state senators may not want to live across from a noisy music venue, but scenester kids with deep pockets sure as hell do.) True, the cookie-cutter modern condos may not mesh well with the rugged badass aesthetic of the Red River District, but they do, however, do something that Echotone’s makers say Austin needs to work on: capitalize on the Austin’s untapped live music scene.
There’s also a brief anti-South by Southwest thread near the end of the film that feels out of place (particularly to someone who has a low tolerance for whining about the mega music festival). After an hour of hearing starving artists talk about only wanting to get their art in front of people, it’s strange to hear them lament the takeover of this live music paradise by outsiders.
Of course, neither condo rent money nor the millions made by SXSW actually go into the bank accounts of unsigned musicians, but even as a DiG!-esque tale about bands struggling with exposing their music to new people without “selling out,” Echotone falls short. There’s great potential, but we never really get to the heart of the discussion. What we do get is an easy-on-the-eyes juxtaposition of condo construction shots and artists performing in and talking about the city that is their home and muse.
Regardless, Echotone is absolutely worth watching; it’s loud and passionate and full of energy, it just wasn’t the movie I wanted it to be. Still, the group I saw the movie with was compelled to discuss further over beers after the screening.
There are important issues raised in Echotone and reminders about Austin’s most precious resource:
- Without its creative class of artists (and small business owners), Austin is little more than a tinier, pricier, drier version of Dallas or Houston.
- A town built on music must find a way to make music a sustainable career for the people who make it, not just the suits who behind them. Bands are being paid today what they were decades ago — the only difference being that amount used to be enough to pay the bills. Now the vast majority of Austin-based musicians pull in less than $15,000, a tough wage to live on in a city where 2-bedroom cottages can fetch upwards of half a million bucks. (If that doesn’t make you want to go buy some merch, I don’t know what will.)
Regardless of its flaws, Echotone has its fair share of stunningly beautiful moments and is well worth the watch, especially for Austinites even remotely interested in local music culture. Echotone is showing for a few more days at the Alamo Ritz in downtown Austin. You can also download the soundtrack for free at Paste Magazine.
--Eric Pulsifer
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