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SXSW Sat night highlights

Posted at 3:17 PM on March 27, 2009 by Jim McGuinn

Saturday at SXSW is usually a tough day for me. The first night it's no problem to get in to town, check into hotels, pick up the badge, grab some grub, and head out into the rock night to catch a bunch of bands and down a bunch of Shiner Bock, roll into bed at 3am and be up at 8am to get back on the horse. But by the 4th day of this, the crowds, the lines, the walking back and forth all over Sixth Street, and the noise just combines to wear you down. So I always like to get away from the conference and check out some food or some of the 'real' Austin.

This year a few buddies and I drove 45 minutes out to Spicewood, TX for some insane Bar-b-q at a place called Opie's. Tremendous eats. Then later in the afternoon I wandered down to South Congress, an area in Austin that is filled with hip boutiques, boutique hotels, diners, flea markets, taco joints, and a whole bunch of free/non-SXSW badge music venues, some that exist all year round, and some that throw special shows because there are 1900 bands in town, many of which are looking for more gigs.

I made sure to stop in at Yard Dog, which is an art gallery that specializes in showcasing folk art by musicians. Not only did I see some incredible music related art by the likes of Lamar Sorrento, Tim Easton, and others, but behind the gallery they had set up their annual Bloodshot Records showcase, and I caught a set by the patrol saint of both Yard Dog and Bloodshot, Jon Langford, of the Mekons. From 1977 when the Mekons formed to today, Jon Langford has been one of the most articulate exponents of rock and roll in history. Do yourself a favor if you've never seen his work or heard his music and check him out for yourself.

After Yard Dog I wandered over to Pizza By The Slice, who also host one of the best free day parties at SXSW. I just missed seeing Jason Lyttle (x-Grandaddy) but caught some great music by Earlimart, and picked up a slice and cool t-shirt. From there is was a block down to the Continental, one of those classic Texas roadhouses, where Mojo Mayhem was in full swing. Mojo Nixon of '80s MTV fame ("Elvis is Everywhere," "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin'," etc) was on stage, wrapping up an afternoon of bare bones psychobilly with his usual verve and panache. He acknowledged his own decline from the stage ("I know what you're thinking... Mojo - you are fat, old, and still drunk - and you're right!") and led the crowd and random go-go dancers thru a set that proved he could still outplay most of the young'uns assembled for SXSW. Gotta love the Saturday afternoon shows at SXSW.

Saturday evening kicked off with one of my favorite discoveries of the weekend - a band from LA called The Afternoons. Think a slightly less unhinged Arcade Fire perhaps, but including trumpet, multiple drummers, keys, and a opera singer, combining to create a wall of sound that left me thinking these guys won't be unsigned for long. Add in a cover of Brian Eno's "Needle in the Camel's Eye" with all seven bandmembers singing in harmony and I was sold. As much as I loved The Afternoons, I wasn't that into The Happy Hollows, who followed and tried to make angular post-Blondie new wave work. For me, it didn't.

After a trek from one side of the conference to the opposite (about a mile and a half walk), I made it in to Stubb's to catch the return of PJ Harvey. Stubb's is a weird venue - it's basically a dirt field, with capacity of around 5,000 standing, and it's where Metallica had played the night before, the Decemberists before that, and where two years ago Iggy brought the Stooges back to life for a mind-blowing set. It's also where some bands drown in the bigness of it - MGMT and Santogold left me wanting last year, though I've seen each perform great sets in other venues. This night it was PJ's turn, and while she looked great all in white, and her band behind her led by John Parrish grooved on Television-like guitar interplay, the new songs struggled to connect in front of a large crowd. Maybe if she were playing a smaller venue it would have worked, but late on Saturday night it's too much to ask a fairly exhausted festival crowd to dig into 45 minutes of brand new without throwing us a bone of something familiar from her back catalog.

From Stubb's it was on to see if Janelle Monae could live up to the now raised expectations. From the first time I saw her on Thursday afternoon to Saturday, she had become a buzz artist at this year's SXSW, and her combination of R&B, jazz vocals, and the mutant Outkast-style funk seemed like one of the stories that was going to be talked about when this year's SXSW is post-mortemed. Unfortunately, her set was marred by horrific sound, feedback, and a long delay to even get started. Despite all this, she literally threw herself into the crowd - figuratively and literally, being passed overhead for a good 50 feet when the sound issues plagued her set. It wasn't the hoped for coup de'grace coronation, but one still felt leaving her set that this will be an artist to be reckoned wtih when her album drops later in '09.

For me, that was enough. It was 1:30am and I was toast. And had a 7am flight to catch back to Minneapolis. Hope this blog was helpful, and can't wait to play some of the best bands Melanie and I saw for you on the Current this year.

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