There is something about St. Vincent that makes her almost the perfect musician; cute, oozing talent both as a singer and guitarist and she composes just amazing hooks and songs. I have seen her three times now, Niki has seen her more. Her first album Marry Me (go buy it NOW!) was put on replay over and over and over.
Her new album, Actor (go pre-order it NOW!), comes out May 5th and she was at SXSW to start the promotional tour. This is typical of most acts at SXSW, they either have an album that just came out or is about to come out.
St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) played a handful of new tracks off the upcoming album and it was amazing to hear her new stuff. The Strangers had been leaked/released to assorted MP3 / Music Blogs for a while now and it was a taste of what is to come. Niki and I noticed that she is constructing her songs in a more traditional manner (verse/chorus/verse/chorus) yet making the melodies more exotic.
She has a great article over at Pitchfork that talks about how she sat down to watch movies with the audio muted and wrote soundtracks to the films. This process really shows with the film score like tracks. Great, Great stuff. Make sure to click on the videos to see the HD versions!!
The Mae Shi are an LA based band that is just insanely fun to watch and listen to. This video starts just as the band threw a parachute into the audience. I had an instant flashbacks to being in elementary school PE (I was probably 6 years old then) and the joy of playing with a parachute. Holding it up, rippling it with my hands and just having a great time with all my friends. 24 years later I find myself once again in the same joyful moment with music blaring and just having way too much fun. God I love SXSW.
Day Three has been officially dubbed Superdrag Support Day. We had three Superdrag shows on our schedule this day, and we hit all three. The coolest part was seeing how the band warmed up and changed the sets for each venue/audience. Good stuff.
Joey and Veronica arrived in the AM and we packed up to head over to the Pitchfork Party.
We rolled into Emo’s Jr. to catch the back half of the Girls set. Honestly, I can’t recall if I liked them or not, because it was a) the first band which mean you tend to be settling in and not really focus b) I knew nothing about them. Its tough to grok a new band when you first roll in. I know that I did not not like them.
We headed over to Emo’s (Sr.) to catch the Mae Shi. They rocked the house so hard. At one point they threw a parachute into the audience and we all held it up as the singer stood in the middle of it for the song. Really fun set.
I bailed a little early on the Mae Shi (sorry guys) to get a good up front spot for Little Boots. She totally reminds me of a Deborah Harry meets Goldfrapp. So much fun and she really has a great voice / stage presence.
After Little Boots, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart set up and played a solid set. They are a blend of East Coast Post Punk meets shoegazer. Niki loves them, and they are growing on me.
We left the Pitchfork party to grab the car and head down to Gueros on South Congress. We got there in time to grab a quick snack and then saw Superdrag play their first set of the day. The sound was aweful, but the guys threw down a good opener set.
We had an official lunch at Gueros (killer tex-mex) and then headed out to east Austin to some ones house for the After The Jump House Party. They had set up a stage for the bands in the front yard and had free Red Stripe for most of the afternoon.
The first band we caught was Super 400, a hard core country fried rock band. The three piece was amazing, especially the bassist. For the last song they had Jody Stevens, of Big Star, sit in for a song. Very, very cool.
A Brooklyn band, Cause Co-Motion was next up. Honestly, I really did not like this band. It was a typical East Coast Post Punk band with just no soul. They had a lot of energy and the bouncy douchey trust fund neon wearing 80’s wannabe hipsters loved them, but after a band like Super 400, it just didn’t stand up. Not every band can blow your mind I guess…
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart played a second set and this time I was more into them. I can see how they can grow on you and I need to check out their album.
Superdrag was the last band we caught at ATJ and their second set was really fun. Being that close to them with a small group of fans really is exciting and you could tell they had a ton of fun playing.
We then headed back to the hotel, dumped my video and pics (coming sooner or later) to the laptop and then we headed out to try and catch Silversun Pickups at Stubbs. Unfortunetly, Silversun was playing the super-secret Metallica show and the badge line was 200+ deep and it was going NO WHERE. We bailed and headed over to Pangea to set up camp.
We grabbed Veronica and was able to buy her way into the venue to catch the 3rd Superdrag show. They sounded amazing on the sound system (with a proper sound engineer) and blew the place up.
For the last set of the night we caught St. Vincent at Anotnes. Once again Annie blew our doors off. So good and I grabbed what appears to be some awesome video. I can’t wait to verify the quality and post it.
Its day four but I am looking back at day two to write this recap. I am coming to the realization that SXSW Music is a marathon. Something you need to train for and commit to. Once started you push yourself and your body to archive the end, enjoying the music, the experience but as the days go on your body begins to ache, your feet scream from standing on concrete slabs for hours on end and ears ring from deafening volumes. At the end, you are truly exhausted and ready to collapse. In hindsight, you loved every minute of it and as the aches fade and the pain becomes just an afterthought, you are ready for the next year.
At the moment, we are a fourth of the way there, knowing today is the last day and I am looking forward to the next 12 hours, but knowing that relief and the end is nearly here, but yet far away. In this state, I am trying to look through the haze of the days to recall exactly what happened on our second day, let’s hope I get the details straight:
For the first time in four years, Niki and I decide to check out the SXSW Music panels. SXSW is known for its live performances and showcases, but it is actually a for real conference targeted at music professionals. This includes panels, keynotes, presentations, showroom floor, etc. Niki caught the panel “Bloggers Are Now In Charge” and felt the topic was handled at a very high level and pointed out the obvious.
We then queued up for the keynote presentation by the legendary producer, musician, composer and visionary: Quincy Jones. His presentation was a rambling retrospective of his life and the music industry. He has some fascinating insights about how the world is changing, yet his scheduled hour presentation went nearly two and a half hours long. An extra hour and a half is a lot to lay on people that usually are scrambling from show to show. Unfortunately, we had to bail ourselves to catch a Superdrag interview.
We hit the tradeshow floor to catch Superdrag, at first we thought it was going to be a performance but it was a 15 minute SXSW TV interview.
Niki chatted up John Davis, the frontman from Superdrag, they have met and gotten to know each other over the years at shows and other performances.
We bailed on the conference center and headed over to the Speakeasy to meet my friend Jeff and to get into the Alternative Press party for free music, food and drink. The line was stupid long and after waiting 30 minutes we decided it would be better to just move on.
Next up was the Dizzy Rooster, where Niki’s drummer Josh, in their band Fate Lions, was playing with Josh’s other band Sunward.
Tim and Patsy met up with us and we headed over to the Mohawk to catch Richard Swift. Amazingly, we got to the venue early enough so that Tim and Patsy, who did not have badges, where able to pay cover and get it. Richard Swift rocked the joint and got the night off with a great start.
Bishop Allen took the stage and played a fun set. Apparently, they are the band featured in the move Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
Niki and I left Mohawk to head over to Stubb’s to catch Gomez and Andrew Bird. Gomez played a bunch of new tracks off their upcoming album and then Andrew Bird took the stage. Unfortunately, the venue was having a lot of technical difficulties, such as no monitors for the band so they had to struggle through the set. They still sounded amazing, but it is frustrating to watch a great band not able to perform at the level they usually achieve.
Back at Mohawk, the last band was marked as “special guest”. By this point enough tweets had flown around to state that Dinosaur Jr. was in fact the special guest. When Niki and I got back to the venue they had set up four Marshall full stacks, ensuring that Dinosaur Jr. was playing. No one else would have that many amps for a venue as little as Mohawk’s outside stage. As expected, Dinosaur Jr. owned the stage and the crowd.
I have a friend of a friend in the band Harlem Shakes so we headed over there to check them out. They are deeply rooted in the new post-punk east coast sound. Their sound is similar to the Vampire Weekend tip, but in my opinion way, way better.
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.
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.
Niki and I are buckling down for day one of SXSW Music. This will be our 4th Annual SXSW and my first to do the entire thing (interactive, film, music). I have been posting our SXSW Interactive experiences over at DevelopmentArc, so check it out if you are into the nerdy geek thing.
To follow the Awesomecon stream of things, we are going to keep the posts short and sweet, here are some highlights:
Had a killer juicy burger had Casino El Camino
Caught Here We Go Magic, TV/TV and Young Widows at Austinist’s Day Party at the Mohawk. Young Widows custom amps were first made fun of by our group then we were blown away by their rockness.
Headed over to the Paste Day party to catch Loney Dear, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, and Ben Sollee. Ben did things on a cello that we had never seen and his singing voice was awesome.
Back to the hotel room for a post and then off to the Fader Fort to check in. Later tonight, St. Vincent, M. Ward, Camera Obscura, Department of Eagles…
Niki and I will be doing a lot of tweeting for up the moment notes and thoughts about SXSW. Follow me at @jamespolanco and Niki at @NikiSaukam.
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