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SXSW Thursday: 12 hours, 15 bands, some mexican food
Posted at 9:45 AM on March 20, 2009
by Jim McGuinn
(2 Comments)
Thursday night at SXSW was a virtual smorgasboard of music. How do you like it? Hip hop from the Twin Cities - go to the Rhymesayers showcase. How about Australian rock bands - check out Aussie Sounds. Maybe it's the all-Japanese showcase that's more your taste? Or how about a bill of Sam Roberts, Delta Spirit, Black Lips, and Primal Scream, outdoors in a tree-lined courtyard with 1,000 of your soon to be closest friends? We hit all of that and more last night at SXSW, the annual pilgrimage of rock-topia here in Austin, Texas.
For me it was a LOT of music last night - 15 bands in 12 hours - some only a song or two, others sticking for entire sets - which tend to be more of the sampler platter variety - the typical setup for SXSW is that you play for 35-40 minutes, which enables the stages to continually turn over and stay roughly on time for hourly starts. A lot of credit to the hundreds of stage crew, sound people, organizers and volunteers that make the conference roll off with few major glitches.
There's also a fun game I like to play: It's spot David Fricke or Jon Parales - the editor of Rolling Stone and major critic of the NY Times - cause you know that if you are at the same show they are at, there's a good chance that next week's headline about who impressed at SXSW will probably include a band you saw. So far I've seen Jon walking frantically thru Austin's streets, but haven't caught him at any shows. I did stand near David at Port O' Brien - check for a mention in the next issue of Rolling Stone!
So the rundown of yesterday's festivities and bands for me:
BLK JKS: South African rock band, mixing TV on the Radio stylized funk with African influences that for once are truly authentic. Great drummer (which seems beyond obvious, given the history of drumming in the world).
Modern Shirts: Young band with some buzz, playing fairly standard issue indie rock. Might have some catchy songs that could sound great on the radio, but live some of these young bands just don't impress, especially compared with...
Janelle Monae: So far the best discovery of the festival for me. A strikingly beautiful woman with expressive dancing and jestures and a pompadour a la Little Richard, Janelle and her band somehow managed to find a bridge between a jazzy Nina Simone, the smoldering R&B of an Amy Winehouse, and the funky weirdness of Outkast. Based in Atlanta, perhaps a female Andre 3000 is an apt comparison, but with more vocal chops and just as much panache. I am very curious to hear her full length that drops this summer.
Amazing Baby: Another one of those young buzzy indie rock bands. And like the Modern Shirts, the record will sound great on the air, but these guys might need another 50 shows to get the live gig experience honed in.
Sam Roberts: I actually caught Sam twice yesterday, the first time totally by accident in that SXSW way. Walking back about a mile and a half from the Fader Fort to the NPR Music party, I heard "Brother Down," probably my favorite Sam song of his career, wafting in from a small bar - it was the Canadian Blast Day Party. And like my turn at Delta Spirit the night before, I got into the room in time to hear the last 2 minutes followed by "thank you, see you later" - grrr! But that bonus was nice, because when I saw Sam four hours later, it was a different set, and a different set of circumstances, under a clear and starry Texas sky with a huge crowd at Cedar St Courtyard. The band was electric and ecstatic, mixing taunt rockers with extended jams.
Peelander-Z: Japanese punk rock in costumes? I'm in! Stopping at one of the four different Emo's venues to ask directions, the doorman said "wherever you're headed, you must go see this first." And he was right. Human bowling? Handing their instruments over to fans they've never met? Passing out pots and pans and sticks to the entire audience? A woman in costume parting the crowd to pick up any stray beer cans and ceremoniously deposit them in the trash? Sure. The doorman was right.
Delta Spirit: Another bands I was teased by last time, I stuck for their entire set, which was on of the best of SXSW so far. Somewhere in that Band-loving universe along with Dr. Dog, the Delta Spirit comes on like their name describes, with a swampy gut bucket vibe and great harmonies on top of classic songwriting chops.
POS: From Cedar Street I hooked back up with Melanie over at the Rhymesayers showcase, at the opposite end of the festival. Wow. Twin Cities represented with a packed tent of fans who knew the hooks and gave it up to our hometown hero, who brought up Sims and Dessa to close out his set.
The Boat People: Australian pop - good songs... seemed younger and shorter than I expected.
Primal Scream: You never know what to expect from veteran acts, but The Scream totally brought it. Unlike Echo and the Bunnymen, who supplemented two original members with some new younguns, Primal Scream was nothing but the old dudes, and they've still got it. They might look like they are 55, but sound like they're 22. And a few of these young buzz bands could have learned a thing or two about how to rock a crowd. A perfect end to a great day and night of music from SXSW.
Jim McGuinn #sxsw
Comments (2)
Do you mean Modern Skirts instead of Modern Shirts?
Hooray for Janelle Monae! I saw her opening for The Roots and loved her. Reminded me a lot of Missing Persons but with more soul. She's the best kept secret from Atlanta. Good bands.
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