SxSW Journal – Day Two, 03.19.09

Smart people take cabs into downtown. Or they get there early enough so that they don’t have to deal with the traffic surrounding SxSW. Actually the cool people live in that part of town and only need to ride their bikes a couple blocks. But damn me living in north Austin and getting a late start to the day. Now because of my totally lameness it takes me 45 minutes of driving in circles to find a parking spot. When I say late start I’m talking 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and downtown is already jumping off.

After the ridiculously long walk from my car – ok I’m just complaining, it really wasn’t that long – I see that lines have already formed outside several key hotspots. For those who have never been to SxSW and/or are not familiar with my beautiful city, let me paint the picture. The heart of downtown Austin is the Sixth Street District. This stretch of bars transitions to the Warehouse District (because it’s converted warehouses) on one end, and the Red River District (because it’s on Red River Drive) on the other end. When put them together you have several city blocks (miles maybe) of bar, after bar, after restaurant, after nightclub, and pretty much all of them equipped to host live music. For SxSW, and almost every weekend night of the warm seasons, barricades are put up to allow folks to wonder in the streets freely and stumble from spot to spot. These times it’s nothing but flocks of scenesters, hipsters, hippies, punk rockers, frat boys, sorority girls, indie kids, and the aging but young at heart.

For SxSW you can add hordes of musicians to those that are filling the streets. Everywhere you turn you will see them lugging their equipment off to their next gig. For example I say it as no joke, I’ve almost been trampled by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart twice this morning with all their instruments in tow.

My newfound admiration for local band Ume brought me to a party presented by Austin music blogger Covert Curiosity and media company Bull Moose at Aces Lounge. Ume takes the stage for one of their signature heavy performances. I’m kind of loving this band right now – mostly because they remind me of the ’90s alt rock that I grew up on, but also because I think I have a little rock star crush on front woman Lauren Larson. Not the type of crush that would force bandmate (and husband) Eric to go upside my head with his bass. It’s more of the type of awe that everyone should look at Kim Gordon with. Lauren is a virtual woman possessed when she performs. The petite beauty turns her timid voice into a howl during songs like “Pendulum” while wildly whipping her blonde locks around in every direction. Eric on the other hand is a literal shoegazer barely lifting his head from the ground as Jeff’s punk tainted drums add the rage factor. They end on “The Conductor,” a rapid thrasher that would get anyone banging their head.

After Ume I decide its time to head over to Peckerhead’s, which is the location for a party from My Old Kentucky Blog. Despite the fact that I hate Peckerhead’s setup for live music – two narrow rooms with stages elevated not more than five inches – I stick through mediocre bands like Dark Meat and Mega Faun, and a more fun band in The Grates thanks to lead vocalist Patience Hodgson’s constant jumping and ribbon twirling. The draw of the show was Fleet Foxes’ J.Tillman who performed some of his acoustic solo tracks between giving everyone laughs in joking with an equipment hand to get the fuck off “his stage” and spoiling the end of the SpongeBob movie.

Last up for this shindig was the band I was eagerly awaiting, The Rosebuds. The husband and wife team of Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp looked the ideal North Carolina duo; Ivan decked out in slacks and suspenders, Kelly in a homemade dress. After introducing herself and greeting those at stage front, Crisp revs up the keyboard and the band hits some of their great songs off Life Like. Sometimes straight up indie rock, sometimes dance oriented, The Rosebuds performance was pretty phenomenal. In a very memorable moment the band played “Nice Fox” in pure sing along fashion with everyone in the place joining in. At the end, just as genuine as the set began, Crisp again shakes hands and thanks those in the front for participating. The artist/fan interaction is one of the great things about SxSW.

The night was upon me and it was showcase time. Tonight it would be some jumping around beginning with The Parrish’s lineup of singer/songwriters. It also became time for a new discovery as I was introduced to the music of Anya Marina, who played with nothing but an acoustic guitar and an iPod providing her backup music (“that’s what happens when you sign to a super indie, you can’t afford back-up band”). She also became the latest female popster to cover a hip-hop song as she did a delicately beautiful version of T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.” Following her was former Damien Rice main squeeze Lisa Hannigan who looked extremely elegant and comfortable taking front stage for her own songs.

To completely change up the mood I then headed to the Emo’s Annex tent for some dance music. In a show of what a difference a year makes, there was a line and groups of people not even waiting to get inside to start partying to the DJ set by N.A.S.A that was pounding the whole block. At last year’s festival I saw N.A.S.A. play to an almost empty Stubb’s, but that was obviously not the case here. Once inside I was surprised by the dancing martians rocking out with the duo. Some bikini-clad bootyshaking martians, others were blazer wearing breakdancing martians. I guess when the musicians are stuck behind turntables something needs to happen on stage. (Note to Ladyhawke: get dancing martians to spice up your show!)

After another long day it was midnight, and as with The Decemberists last night I began to feel the hurt. What made it worse was the set change and sound check for Little Boots took a ridiculous amount of time, and she didn’t take the stage until a half-hour past her scheduled time. With my enthusiasm dwindling I stuck around for only three songs. Again giving the act the benefit of the doubt, if it was earlier in the day I probably would have stayed longer. Little Boots looked amazing and sounded wonderful. But it was evident that I wasn’t the only one annoyed by the long sound check. It took until that third song for her to finally kick some life into the crowd. Plus she had some cool electronic gizmo next to her mic blinking with the beat. I totally need to find out what that thing does. Seriously if anyone knows what that techno thingy Little Boots uses during her performance is, get at me.

More important than the ache that was pulsating in my legs, was the Handsome Furs playing the Sub Pop showcase at 1:00 am. So I left Little Boots behind and raced to the Radio Room. It took no wait to get, but in cutting it so close the crowd had already packed the stage. The Furs were the third husband and wife combo I saw today, and pretty much they were the most high-energy performance of the day. I don’t know how anyone could be this wired that late at night. Maybe it was their very evident drunkenness, or the making-out on stage, or the sound that was turned up to ear bleeding levels, but these two did not stop moving once. Alexei Perry jumped around the synths like she was on a pogo stick and Dan Boeckner swung his guitar like he was literally wielding an axe. Pulling from both albums, the biggest audience response came from their current single “I’m Confused.” Damn, good song there.

Closing time for day two of SxSW. The walk to my car feels extra long thanks to the pain shooting through my feet, legs, and back; not to mention the loud ringing in my ears (thank you, Handsome Furs). I am exhausted. Very exhausted, and there’s still two more days to go.

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