SXSW 2006 Austin, Texas
March 15-19, 2006
Grade: A+!
Website:
SXSaWesome!
PS: SXSW is a three part ordeal: SXSW interactive, which focuses on technology; SXSW film festival, and SXSW music festival. I attended only the music festival portion.
PPS: All band names/venue names which are bolded are links. Yes, all the Googling dirty work has been done for you.
Wednesday
I started off the day by heading the Red Eyed Fly. I caught the end of a set by two of the members of Castanets, which was pretty mellow and laid back, and was then lucky enough to witness and become exposed to the incredibleness that is Dengue Fever. These LA natives are incredible. Fronted by a little Cambodian, who might just be the epitome of cuteness, these guys fuse funky rock goodness with incredible Asian vocals. Uhm. They’re amazing. I’ll leave it at that. The next band to take the stage, Bright Channel, was from Colorado and, to be honest, cleaned the place out. Yawn. The band was completely stagnant and had near zero energy. Oh well. But next! The reason I came out-- the Octopus project! One of the best Austin bands around right now, the Octopus Project’s experimentalish rock is nothing to miss—in fact, the venue filled to its max capacity with people lined up outside. Great band, great show.
After this, my friend Thomas and I headed over to the Depraved Fan Girls showcase, which featured Charles Bissell of the Wrens, who put on an awesome set for all of us who had gathered. In the meantime, the drummer for the third band, Pompeii, had taken a seat next to me. Quite the chatterbug, he works at Yoga Yoga, is addicted to feeling clean (which is why he’s vegan and doesn’t drink or smoke—but not straight edge! Those guys are cultish!), hoped Morrissey would make an appearence at their show, and was utterly devastated that he was going to miss the Owen show since the showcase was running so far behind schedule.
The second band to play, the Hourly Radio from Dallas, also put on a good show, although like my friend the drummer said, “These guys look like hipsters.” Finally his band, Pompeii played their set. Fronted by the most emo kid I’ve seen in ages, the band also features two of the employees from my favorite coffee shop (let me just name drop here--Austin Java rocks) and a female celloist. They put on a solid show and the showcase in general was pretty awesome. I mean, please. There were free cupcakes! Delicious!
I actually spent Wednesday night laying low; I had originally intended to see Austin band Hurts to Purr and non-Austin artist Laura Veirs, but my friend Dave was having a party, so I ended up at his apartment instead. Sorry, Hurts to Purr and Laura Veirs! Oh well.
Thursday!
I started out the day about 2:00 at the showcase my friend Dave (mentioned above) put together with his other musician friend Taylor Davis at Austin coffee shop and comedy theatre the Hideout. It was actually a really great showcase, featuring solid, high quality acoustic sets. I saw the following artists: Sounds Under Radio, Sarah Sharp, Jason Weems, Wendy Colonna (who was AWESOME, FYI), Rachel Loy, Shwa, Johnny Goudie (who performed an awesome song about necrophilia that he wrote with Jane Wiedlin), PorterDavis (one of my favorite local live acts; these guys rock so much harder than their recordings), then my friends Dave Madden and Taylor Davis, both very solid acoustic artists.
Afterwards, I had intended to see VHS or Beta, but after walking a good portion of the way there, I decided the venue was in too shady an area of Austin and didn’t want to have to walk back alone in the dark, so instead I walked down to the Auditorium Shores stage (my favorite park here in Austin), where I saw Mr. Lif perform with special guest Akrobatik, followed by a set by Blackalicious, and although I know near nothing about rap, it looked like everyone was having a great time and that both acts were great.
I headed further south to the Continental Club where I was in for a very awesome lineup. The first act to take the stage was two-woman band The Moaners from Chapel Hill, Carolina, who played rock’n’roll and fucking rocked at it, to be honest. Very bad ass set. They were followed by Ian Moore from Bedford, Oregon, who played a delightful countryish set, and whom the following act, Tres Chicas were quick to flatter and praise. Tres Chicas, appropriately lead by three women and included a fourth woman on keyboards, and men on drums and bass, dominated in their own country rock kind of way.
After Tres Chicas, Chatham County Line took the stage, and they were incredibly awesome. An upright bass, acoustic guitar, banjo, and sometimes-fiddle-othertimes-mandolin quartet, they played unplugged and gathered around a central microphone. These guys were having the time of their life—and so was I. Their bluegrass country music loving was absolutely stupendous, as was the entertaining way the members would dart forward and back from the microphone to accentuate different instruments. These guys performed good, old-fashioned, delightful music.
Then Jake Brennan and the Confidence Men took the stage, and played a full set of songs that would result if Elvis had taken a time machine to the new millenium and proceeded to write dance rock. The music was kinda cool, and I would have loved to have grooved to it like the overtly enthusiastic unbathed, middle-aged, long-haired, roadie-looking man behind me had the band’s live presence and personality not chafed me to the bone. This band, from Boston, consisted of every type of person I hated in highschool. Jake Brennan was the pretty, poised, watch-me-now boy, with his the-ladies-love-me-so-I’m-cool wingman on lead guitar, one of those short, ugly guys who thinks he’s the shit and the greatest thing to happen to women since tampons and birth control who you just want to kick in the nuts for being such a cocky bastard (this kid posed for the woman taking pictures while he played. Three times. Then he tried to get me off, since I was standing in the front row scowling, but hell. I was there for the Minus 5), the friendly guy who you would be friends with if he knew better than to hang out with assholes but he doesn’t on drums, and that guy who apparently didn’t make enough of an impression of me for me to remember anything about keyboards. In any case, the band rocked out—but in that horrible, cocky, “I’m-a-god”, pre-planned kind of way. I just couldn’t get into the constructed set, particularly since I felt like they were playing down to me. We’re all supposed to be on the same, musicians and listeners, so what’s the deal? In any case, their set just made me sour, unhappy, and more tired. Yawn. Maybe I’m just a snob.
But then! Then the Minus 5 came on, and life was good. Very good. They played a number off of their, self-titled (okay, unofficially titled “The Gun Album”) which is a fun, quality album I told UMR I would review a long time ago and never did (but it’s good, I promise), all the while rotating out various guitarists since the official Minus 5 guitarist had a family emergency (or something). I was incredibly tired by this time, so most of the details are pretty hazy. Additionally, I felt like shit, which I’m partly blaming on the Confidence Men (probably unfairly). But then! Lo and behold! Leroy Bach came on stage! Yessir, ladies and gentlemen, the very Leroy Bach who devoted a number of his past days to that glorious entity titled Wilco. Let’s say I would have left half an hour earlier had he not come on stage. Very awesome. Then the band began playing tracks from the glorious album Down With Wilco, an album the then lineup of Wilco had heavily contributed to. Scott introduced one of the songs, saying, “Leroy originally played the piano on this track,” before launching into a full fledged version of whatever the song was (I think Days of Wine and Booze)—with Leroy on guitar, of course, this time. I heard through the grapevine that Leroy was in town because he’s currently playing guitar for Beth Orthan. Good for him! In any case, although I bowed out early due to exhaustion and sickness, from what I saw the set was amazing, and as we’ve already discussed, everyone should listen to the Gun Album.
Friday
This day was, well, incredibly awesome.
I started the afternoon by seeing a short (four song) Black Heart Procession set, which rocked, particularly because they played under a small tent and I was in the front row. Sweet deal.
Afterwards, I attempted to go to the No Depression showcase, but the line was massive and I hate lines, so instead I drove downtown to the Merge showcase at Austin barbeque joint Pok-E-Jo’s, which was great. I actually recognized a number of depraved fan girls from their showcase on Wednesday. I caught the Band of Horses and the Essex Green, both solid bands (although neither particularly stood out to me). Then Britt Daniels (yes, of Spoon fame) took the stage and played a few acoustic songs. While I’m not intimately acquainted with the Spoon discography, I recognized a few tracks from Girls Can Tell (okay, that’s the only Spoon album I know). Anyways, he played a shortened set since the event was behind schedule, but he was fun and a good time (please don’t take that sentence out of context).
I left (feeling like a conspicuous hipster since half the audience left with me), passing a couple of the members of Dengue Fever on the sidewalk who I would have chatted with had they not already been chatting with someone else. I went back home for dinner, came back downtown and managed to find parking again (I’m just that good), and, having a few hours to kill, I wandered down to Whole Foods, where I saw a couple of the guys from Black Heart Procession, who I would have talked to had my mouth not been full of delicious cookie. Mmmm.
After this, I headed up to the nighttime No Depression showcase, which was on the top floor of an Austin hotel, Capital Place, (I couldn’t help feeling I was in the complete wrong place as I walked through the lobby), but I had a great time once I got up there. I was a bit early, so I got a front, center spot, and downtown Austin and the capital was visible through the window behind the stage, so it was a really pretty set up. The first artist to play was Robyn Ludwick, who played a very, very countrified, decent set. But the next guy to take the stage, Nicolai Dunger was fucking awesome. A Swedish singer/songwriter, his band seemed to be a group of English kids he’d picked up somewhere—I mean, late teens early twenties aged kids, but they all knew how to fucking rock, and the whole set was awesome. I bought a CD, but haven’t had time to listen to it yet. Hey, give me a break. I’ve been working on this write up for a week now (and it’s gotten obscenely long).
Then, the apex of my SXSW, Eric Bachmann took the stage. Playing almost exclusively Crooked Fingers tracks, a good number from 2005’s critically acclaimed Dignity and Shame, but some from the older albums as well, and even some new songs. The set was awesome. Eric Bachmann is awesome. I managed to accost him after the show long enough to get my own copy of Dignity and Shame signed (yeah, I was that obnoxious fan for a few minutes), but it was totally worth it. I left the hotel knowing that nothing else could top that.
I was going to go to this Paste after party I’d won an invite to, but the email they sent me named three locations and no address, and it was all a big mix-up, and even the very friendly Paste journalist I met couldn’t help me out. Frustrated, I decided to just go home, although the Paste journalist (I’m horrible with names, or I’d drop one here) recommended the bands that were playing at Maggie Mae’s, adding that they were “tearing it up.” The bands that were playing Maggie Mae’s that night were: The Mendoza Line, Great Lake Swimmers, Phosphorescent, The Evangelicals, Shearwater, and Centro-matic.
As I headed back to my car, I found myself walking next to a group of guys who turned out to be the band Sailboats are White, who told me I should buy their album, which came out in May. “What kind of music is it?” I asked. “Kinda punk experimental,” one of the guys answered (that’s not verbatim, but it’s close). Not quite my genre, I admitted, “I don’t know, I just came from an alt-country showcase.” “We listen to alt-country too!” one of them protested. “Who’d you see?” “Eric Bachmann,” I answered. “We like Eric Bachmann! We were going to go to that! How was it? Did they play a lot of Crooked Fingers?” To be honest, after listening to their tracks on MySpace, I could definitely rock out to them (although less screaming would be cool, too). And taking into consideration their appreciation of music god Eric Bachmann, I had no choice but to give them a favorable mention here and lament that I didn’t get to see them play.
In any case, I ended up going home, getting drunk, watching Lady and the Tramp, and making out. It wasn’t a bad night at all.
Saturday!
I hit up the Porchlight Pop Fest, a Tight Spot Records event, which was going on at Mother Egan’s Irish Pub. The entire event happened to be way behind schedule, well, an hour and half or so behind. I showed up to catch the end of the Missing Tapes’ set. They were followed by the Oxford Collapse, who might have had the most entertaining moment of the whole week, when the drummer sprinted off stage, into a port-a-potty, and back on stage during a lull in his drumming responsibilties. Brilliant moment. These guys, from Brooklyn, were fun to listen to and to watch. Next up was the Air Traffic Controllers, a two-man band who rocked out crazy, jamming out two or three songs in their allotted thirty minutes. Very enjoyable.
They were followed by the a great set by +/-, a band fellow UMR-ite Yurij had recommended I see. They put on a great show, and I was certainly glad for the recommendation. At the end of their very solid set, they brought on a second drummer, and the pair of percussionists played perfectly. That was cool alliteration, but in more precise terms, they rocked out. It was awesome. I’m not saying the rest of the set didn’t rock, because it did, and +/- is great music. I’m just saying those moments particularly pleased the live music lover in me. +/- was followed by L.A. indie pop band Irving, who were awesome and played a great, thoroughly enjoyable show.
They in turn were followed by another L.A. band, indie rockers Silversun Pickups, who rocked. Seriously rocked. They were awesome. Awesome. The guitarist was having such a great time jumping around the stage that he fell over—and then finished the song on his back, before getting back to his feet looking rather sheepish. It was a good thing that the band’s super cute female bassist kept them on track, though, as the singer would have spent the whole show lamenting to the crowd about Friendster’s overwhelming loss to MySpace in the battle of ruling the internet. In any case, I bought the band’s EP, and they supposedly have an LP coming out soon. I also got conned into buying a t-shirt, as the overwhelmingly frustrating girl running the merch booth had no change and I only had a twenty (yes, that’s how I roll). She was also incapable of answering any of my questions. “Are the same songs on the CD and the vinyl?” I asked. “Uhm, no, only three of the songs that they played today are on the EP. The others are on the LP that’s going to come out.” Then when I asked what sizes there were in the guy’s t-shirt, she told me, “Oh, these are cut differently than the girls ones. They’re American Apparel.” Why yes, I go to shows, chances are I know that American Apparel owns the band merchandise scene and that I know the sizes and I happen to like the extra small men’s t shirts. After reasking my question, I discovered that no, they did not have men’s extra smalls. “Do you have mediums in the girl shirt, then?” I asked. “I wear a medium,” she told me.
On a kind of related note, I hate American Apparel t-shirts. Yes, their super softness is fantastic, but those shirts don’t fit anyone well, not even their models. Their small girl shirts fit everywhere but the chest, which it is about two sizes too small in, and I’m a very averagely endowed female. The medium is just really loose. Men’s smalls are huge on me, and the extra-smalls fit decently. But seriously. They’re a pain in the ass, and I know I’m not the only person who’s had this difficulty, as I’ve found many other people to commiserate with.
Anyways. Silversun Pickups were great. After their set ended, I picked up some dinner (once more, at Whole Foods. Mmmm, delicious! I had an hour to kill, so I went back to the top floor of Capital Plaza Hotel where I’d seen Eric Bachmann the previous night, and where I was greeted with a free Red Panda Records t-shirt—Cool! The band that played was a really clean, fresh band, Mascott, who played a really beautiful, low key set. Very good. Then I headed over to the Red Eyed Fly to see Canadian dance-rock band The Lovely Feathers, who put on one of the best shows around, where I had a great time. Sounds like their LP is finally going to be released soon (I think in April), which is great since it’s been recorded forever. After their set, which was only disappointing because there weren’t enough people around for a dance party to break out, I went to a number of random shows. I headed over to the Soho Lounge where I saw a couple of bands, the first a two man “Ramones-like... blend of acoustic folk-punk” band, The Femurs, from Seattle. It was nearly empty set, and seemed like quite a few of the spectators were actually friends of the band—from Seattle. That’s some devoted fans, huh? Coming all the way to Austin? Damn. They played a good set and really rocked out, switching drums and guitar twice during the show. It was quite a bit of fun. Next up was London the Mad Staring Eyes, a very solid (very loud!) rock band who, well, rocked.
Afterwards, I headed over to a dark, odd-smelling lounge, Lava Lounge, which was nearly empty, but had plenty of seating for me to rest my weary, weary feet, to see Glasgow band Cayto. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this band. Each song seemed to begin with a mellow, classical piano intro, suddenly capitulating into loud, hammered rock. Their MySpace actually describes them as “Intense punk rock music with strange song structures, classical and jazz leanings, lovely quiet bits and a wound-up clunking desperation victory feel.” Their MySpace also answers the question, “Are we good?” with, “Cayto’s music has no intrinsic merit. It’s only good if you say it is. A Cayto song happens when we ‘play’ the music (live or on record) and then you respond to it. If your response is joyful, Cayto are goooooood.”
I’ll let you judge for yourself, but I had a good time. In any case, you ought to give them a listen, just to give them a listen. It’s worth it.
So, that was my South by Southwest. It was great. Awesome even. Amazing. A summary of my favorite acts? Well, since you asked so nicely. (all are linked)
Dengue Fever,
PorterDavis,
The Lovely Feathers,
Eric Bachmann
,
Octopus Project,
Chatham County Line,
Nicolai Dunger,
Irving,
Silversun Pickups
By CHRISTINA!