AWESOMECON

For those unfamiliar with SXSW music, during the day many sponsors, blogs, labels and fans put on shows that run from 12pm – 6pm+ at various venues and locations.  At night, SXSW puts on official showcases at featured venues from 8pm – 2am.  This cycle of shows occurs Wed. – Sat. Yesterday’s first Awesomecon SXSW adventure post covered our day parties, this is a recap of the showcases that we caught:

• Niki, Joey and I headed over to the Levis Fader Fort, a huge complex mini-festival that is free to people who RSVP’d.  We had to wait in line for around 30 minutes to get our wristband that will give us access to the party every day until Sunday. Inside was free SoCo and Budweiser.  Not bad, free beer and music.
• We hung around a bit to try and catch Little Boots, but decided that we should head over to the Central Presbyterian Church (an official showcase venue) to catch the 4AD show.  We will catch Little Boots Friday at the Pitchfork party.
• Bailing on the Fort was a good call because the line of people outside of the venue was terrible.  Luckily the badge line (people who paid for the conference) got in quick and easy, and we scored a seat about 8 rows back.  Unlike all other venues, the church provides seats.  Our bodies thank you.
• First up was Anni Rossi, a Violist/Singer.  A guy next to me described her as a Regina Spektor meets Joanna Newsom.  Pretty good comparison.
• Next, was M. Ward playing an acoustic guitar set finishing with a song on a grand piano.  Great show, and he is just an amazing guitarist.
• Department of Eagles stepped up to the plate and rocked a great set with a full band.  We noticed a trend of people (m. ward, dept., young widows) are all using loopers (real time looping samplers) to build their song.  Andrew Bird (who we plan to catch tonight) really was one of the first to take real time looping to the next level in the Indie world.
• The last set we caught at the church was St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark).  We are HUGE fans and she played 4 songs off her new album.  I have only seen her as a small act with a 3 piece, this time she had a full on crew of people playing woodwinds, violin, keys, bass, guitar and drums.  She was amazing as always, and we can’t wait for her new album, Actor!
• Since Niki and I have seen Camera Obscura many times (we do love them) we felt it was better to check out a band we have not seen live.  We headed over to the Buffalo Billiards to catch School of Seven Bells.  We happened to be the last set of the badges let in (w00t!).  Billiards is the worst venue for on time shows.  Seriously, every show we catch is always, always late.  School went on almost 45 min. late.  They are a shoegazery blend of Cocteau Twins meets the guitars of Kevin Shield’s My Bloody Valentine.  Very, very pretty.
• Because the show was late and the line was long at the next venue we called it a night with a Best Wurst and all was good.