SXSW 2016: Let the Music Play

Happy Easter (it's 50 days long, you know)! Here I continue describing the events that transpired in Austin.

Read Part 1

Tuesday 3/15

SXSW Music has finally begun! At the start of the day I had only two things on my agenda: attend a live podcast recording in the afternoon and catch a free music showcase in the evening. To kill time in the early afternoon, and since I had a hankering for some Tex-Mex, I headed to a food court that housed Burrito Factory. Feeling sufficiently carbed-up, I walked through the grounds of UT at Austin, which was on spring break that week. I had seen advertisements on banners and the sides of buses about a special 90's-themed exhibition at the school's art gallery and thought I'd take a look. I entered the Blanton Museum of Art and spent some time looking at pieces not only from the 90's but also from ancient Greek, medieval, Renaissance and modern periods. I could have spent all day surrounded by awesome paintings and crisp A/C, but I needed to get to the Lustre Pearl at 3:30pm and I was cutting it close with my departure time.

Chain of mail

Page from the Crusader's Bible 

Annunciations (1967) by John Wesley

Hot and flustered from the 25-minute walk, I was aghast to see a long line awaiting entry to Dropbox Podcast Studio. I shouldn't have been too surprised, though, since that day's events were a lot more interesting than the previous. One of my favorite podcasts, Song Exploder, was conducting an interview with the Scottish synthpop band CHVRCHES and they were breaking down the making of their song "Clearest Blue". It was too little too late for me as the interior of the building was at capacity, though as a consolation they did broadcast the interview through the outside speakers. The noise from the surrounding festivities, however, made it difficult to glean anything from the interview. Of the little bit that I did pick up, it was interesting to hear that the band didn't think much of the song, less that it could be a single, and it's noteworthy in that it doesn't have a proper chorus like other pop songs.

View through the window of the Song Exploder episode with CHVRCHES

"Clearest Blue" by CHVRCHES

Seeking a break from the hustle and bustle, I went to the Austin Convention Center. There I discovered sign posts plastered with flyers advertising a free all-day outdoor event titled "Nordic Music Pop-Up". It was perfect timing because this showcase ended around 8pm, which was when the other free event I planned to go to started. So with two hours to spare I headed to the Austin Rowing Club off the side of the Colorado River and enjoyed some acts from across the pond. I got there just in time to catch the tail end of the Denmark dubstep duo Kill J.

Kill J

"Bullet" by Kill J

What followed was an explosive set from the Swedish rap queen Silvana Imam. At the end of her set I turned and saw many bystanders flock to the edge of the river with their cameras. As it turned out, we hit the jackpot in terms of time and location to see the tourist attraction of thousands of bats flying from under the bridge. Meanwhile, a random event manager was walking around with a big box handing out plastic Viking hats, so I naturally snagged one.

Silvana Imam

"Svär På Min Mamma" by Silvana Imam

Hoard of bats can be vaguely seen in the center; dude with Viking hat can be seen in the bottom left

The next artist was Swedish R&B icon Paul Rey. I wasn't too impressed, but he's backed by Quincy Jones so I guess that counts for something.

Paul Rey

"Good as Hell" by Paul Rey

The last official act of the showcase was Sofia Talvik, a Swedish native who picked up folk during her cross-country travels in the United States. Melding Nordic vocals with Americana twang, she perfectly brought on the still night as the twilight sun set behind her. Afterwards, a special bonus showcase featuring artists from South Africa began, but the music wasn't very engaging and I was ready for a change in scenery.

Sofia Talvik

"Big Sky Country" by Sofia Talvik

I headed to Sledge Hammer off of 6th Street for the first SXAméricas showcase, a festival within a festival highlighting great Spanish talent. Since it was an official SXSW event I could only enter with a badge, wristband or guestpass, and thankfully the latter was just a matter of signing up to an email listserv (this proved useful as SXSW would send a message every morning with all the free events that passholders can partake of that day). The first act I caught was the Chilean electro-rock band Wentru, whose Café-Tacuba-meets-Belanova style I really dug.

Wentru

"Y Que" by Wentru

Next up was the Ecuadorian pop-rock band Los Dectectives Helados. Unfortunately, only two of the guitarists were present to perform as the rest of the band experienced complications in arriving to Austin. They nevertheless played a nice chill set.

(Part of) Los Dectectives Helados

"Saturno" by Los Dectectives Helados

Afterwards, the clock struck 11 and I figured I had enough for the night. So I closed my one-beer tab and walked a couple of blocks to catch one of the last buses home.

Wednesday 3/16

After three days straight of walking 10 miles around Austin I figured I could use some of my vacation time for sleeping in. Besides, there was only one artist that I was interested in seeing that night: Pensylvannia rockers Beach Slang. So I took it slow that morning, checking emails and keeping tabs on my graduate school work. For lunch I had some leftover pulled pork from Saturday along with two Shiner tallboys. At 4pm I started making my way to the bus stop and didn't expect anything out of the ordinary, but my usual 40-minute ride turned into a 70-minute one as we hit rush hour and road blockages. Beach Slang wouldn't go on till 10pm, so this was but a minor upset.

I made my way to Red River Drive in the hopes of making the line to get in to Cheer Up Charlie's, but they weren't going to let anyone in without SXSW credentials before 7:30. So with about an hour to kill I went across the street to Stubb's and got a delicious chopped beef sandwich at the pick-up window. I looked to the side at the astronomically long line for the NPR Music's SXSW Showcase and figured I picked the right place to make my obligatory line.

Wandering the surrounding blocks I chanced upon this tented venue on the corner of Red River and 6th. It was hosted by the Des Moines Embassy and had graffitied on the side tarping the names of many random bands for every day of the week. I was drawn by the bombastic rock that I heard and decided to check it out. Entering by simply flashing my ID, I enjoyed a loud and heavy set by the San Francisco punk rockers Down and Outlaws.

Down and Outlaws

"All is Well" by Down and Outlaws

Their set ended at 7:30 on the dot and I jetted back up to Cheer Up Charlies only to be met by a line about 50 people long. I wasn't so worried about the number of people as I was about how slowly they were letting us in. After about 10 minutes of waiting a guy walked up by me and seemed torn in his decision to make the line or not. He told me he wanted to see Beach Slang and asked if I thought the wait was worth it. I responded that I was also looking forward to that band but that I didn't know what the outcome of the wait would be. He decided to weather it as well and see what happens. His name was Kyle and it turned out his girlfriend Carmela was already inside as event staff, but even she couldn't let anyone jump the fence.

After nearly 45 minutes of standing we finally started to inch along and as we neared the entrance we got our cash out in case they asked for cover. To our surprise, they just asked for ID and we got in for free! In a celebratory state of mind, I joined my two new friends to the bar and I got a Tecate as we waited out the other acts. The first one we heard was the dreampop Day Wave. They played an entrancing cover of "Ceremony" by Joy Division / New Order, which Kyle and I allowed to wash over us in all its shoegazing glory.

Day Wave in front of a big crowd

"Ceremony (Joy Division / New Order cover)" by Day Wave

After the set ended, the three of us made our way forward into the space left by people heading to other venues. Since the night was sponsored by JanSport, some volunteers took the stage and started throwing backpacks into the crowd! We were too far to be able to reach any but we made it our aim to get closer in the next transition. Alex G, a musician I had heard about in passing but had yet to check out, took the stage and started playing what sounded like Pinkerton-era Weezer enveloped in noise rock. It didn't do much for me in a warm and stuffy outside venue, but I made a note to give them a chance through the earbuds.

Alex G (on the left)

"Kicker" by Alex G

Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for... BEACH SLANG! We made it all the way to the second row and Kyle was even able to grab one of the backpacks that they threw that time round! Since it was bigger than either of them wanted, the couple deferred the backpack to me and I thanked them profusely for the offer. As the band started setting up we could see the slew of band pins on the frontman James Alex's jacket, The Beatles and Big Star and the like, and I was reminded of the blog post Kyle recounted reading describing the band as a marriage of the Replacements, Goo Goo Dolls and the Psychedelic Furs. That was made all the more apparent with their opener "Throwaways" which they announced by saying, "We're here to punch you in the heart." Needless to say everyone got into a headbanging tizzy.

Beach Slang

"Throwaways" by Beach Slang

Unfortunately, there was a college frat boy at the front of the crowd who was obnoxiously trying to start a rough mosh when everyone else around him didn't. It got to the point where security had to point the guy out to stop and Carmela, having enough, slipped out from the masses. Kyle and I joined her and we watched the rest of the show from the safety and obscurity of the back. After downing a Lone Star at the end of the show, it was 11:15 I was torn between catching the bus and making more out of the night. I opted for the latter and while Carmela went to catch Ra Ra Riot at Austin City Limits I joined Kyle at Barbarella where they were hosting Emo Night, being intrigued as to what the name entails. After paying the $5 cover we met with his friend Derek at the bar and proceeded to watch 00's pop-punk music videos on the television screens. Across the bar was a packed dance floor with everyone fist-pumping to their teenage anthems. While I sipped a Sierra Nevada IPA, we joked how interesting a scene it was having the locals convene to sing along to Paramore ("Misery Business"), My Chemical Romance ("I'm Not Okay (I Promise)") and Taking Back Sunday ("You're So Last Summer") in an escape from all the live music invading their town.

"You're So Last Summer" by Taking Back Sunday

As I was finishing a Dos Equis, Kyle offered to drop me off at my place since he was already heading in that direction. Having grown to trust this once stranger after an epic night of musical excitement, I thanked him for his generous hospitality and followed him to his car. We picked up Carmela and drove through the night with the soundtrack of 90's emo à la Sunny Day Real Estate ("Seven"), American Football ("I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional") and Texas is the Reason ("Blue Boy").

"Blue Boy" by Texas is the Reason

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I think that's enough for one post. Two more days of music to go!

What's the word, right, I forgot,
Kelvin

Read Part 3