Roy Kasten

Otis Gibbs

Saturday afternoon at SXSW 2009 started early this year, with the second of the 10th annual Twangfest and KDHX parties at Jovita's (disclosure: I'm a KDHX programmer and Twangfest volunteer), and Nashville-based songwriter Otis Gibbs, whose protest sing-a-longs, earthy folk and best beard at SXSW have more of a following in Austin that I would have guessed.

The small crowd at the outdoor stage bonded with the singer, which only made me wonder how the relatively unknown Minneapolis band Romantica would fare. Fronted by Irish-born singer Ben Kyle, the group plays sly singer-songwriter country folk, sly because no one expected Austin-born violinist and singer Carrie Rodriguez to sit in, and I definitely didn't expect the band to hit the noise, Americana-style, as hard as they did for their final number.
Chicago's Steve Dawson of Dolly Varden followed with a gorgeous new song "Obsidian," a pitch-precise George Jones cover and then duetted with friend Edward Burch, formerly of Champaign, Illinois, but now based in Austin. Both are strong enough singers and songwriters to hold a sun-soaked crowd with just voices and acoustic guitars.

Roy

John Henry and the Engine

Two of three St. Louis bands on the bill, Magnolia Summer and John Henry and the Engine, followed by turning up the volume, the former with a relaxed, electric set of numbers from Lines from the Frame, and the latter with organ, lap steel, and great harmonica from Henry. The cover of the Beatles "One after 909" featured three-part harmonies, and I suspect the band found the 14-hour drive nearly worth its one and only showcase in Austin. (Like a hundreds of bands before them, they had their van broken into in Tulsa, but fortunately only electronic devices were stolen.)

Roy Kasten

Brothers Lazaroff

Brothers Lazaroff were the third St. Louis band of the afternoon, and they had the tightest rhythm section, playing a short, country rock set of originals and a Townes Van Zandt cover, "White Freightliner," to close out.

Roy Kasten

The Deep Vibration

The final band, Nashville's The Deep Vibration, overcame the silliness of their name, with the best version of Dylan's "Shot of Love" I've ever heard (including the author's), and elliptical and intense blues and country structures, that singer and songwriter Matt Campbell sliced and bled with a cool razor of intelligence and wit. They played loud, loose, and beautifully, wrecking the small stage at the end: it was easily the set of the afternoon.

Jesse Hughey

King Khan and the Shrines Friday night at Emo's.

Two days after returning from Austin, my feet, back, ears, lungs, and liver have finally stopped throbbing in pain, but the memories--most of them great--will last a lifetime. Here are a few I didn't get to share while I was there.

Bands I Regret Missing: Delta Spirit, Awkquarius, Peelander-Z and Wavves (even though a friend texted me to report the band's set was "Bo-ring"). But most of all, Late of the Pier, whose crazy-ass CD I wrote about here and whose crazy-ass live show Pete wrote about here. In fact, I left Devo a bit early to catch Late of the Pier's 1 a.m. set at Aces Lounge Friday night, only to find a handwritten note explaining it was canceled "due to technical issues." But when life gives you lemons you paint that shit gold, so I headed to Emo's Main Room for King Khan and the Shrines. Which brings me to my next memory...

King Khan and the Shrines are amazing. Khan's stripped-down duo, King Khan and BBQ Show, was really fun in its own right. The full experience, though--with a fabulous horn section and flapper/cheerleader dancer--was astounding, even though I only caught the last few songs. For the last song, the punk/soul-brother invited about 20 people on stage for a riotous version of "You Got To Live Before You Die" that ended with his horn players wandering through the club in a free-jazz freakout while random people--some may have actually been in the band--started an impromptu drum jam.

Bands I hadn't planned to catch but ended up liking: Devo, Lucero, Those Darlins, Thera Malos, Past Lives

Bands I saw, and about which I don't get just what is the big freaking deal: Bishop Allen, Beach House, Thermals.

Worst accessory combination: Black leather vest, gold chain, eyebrow ring, silver hair and bald spot on a 60-something rocker.

Weirdest coincidence: Randy Newman's "You've Got A Friend In Me" played over the P.A. after two of my three favorite shows of the weekend, Big Boi's and Monotonix's.

Jesse Hughey

Japanther plus stage-diver at "Mess With Texas" Saturday in Austin's Waterloo Park.

Stage-diving is back.

Greatest moment: When Monotonix singer Ami Shalev had the "Mess With Texas" crowd sit, stand and dance on cue.

Worst moment: My very brief visit to Fuze. I wouldn't set foot in that shithole again if Tupac, Biggie and Ol' Dirty Bastard came back to life and put on a one-night-only showcase.

To badge or not to badge? That depends entirely on who's paying. The three best sets of my weekend were by Monotonix, Big Boi and Devo. Monotonix, at the non-SXSW "Mess With Texas" party in Waterloo Park, did not cost a dime. Big Boi and Devo required badges or wristbands. Neither, however, was sold out. Devo's was the priciest at $30, and Big Boi was $15. But Monotonix put on the most memorable set of the weekend, and it was free to the badge-less public as part of Mess With Texas. If and when I go without someone else paying for the badge, I'd probably just hit up free events and splurge on a big name or two if it was somebody I was really excited about. Most of the up-and-coming indie acts making the trip to Austin schedule as many sets as they can, including non-SXSW events that don't require credentials. I had just as much fun drinking cheap beer at Spider House, where I saw my friend Stephen Kirkham play with The Astronaut Suit, as I did at many official SXSW shows.

Q. Is Devo's "Secret Agent Man" a cover? A. Yes. Or no. There is no simple answer to that question.

Q. Is there such a thing as too much SXSW coverage? A. No way.

Going into SXSW this year, I was curious to see how the economic meltdown was going to affect the festival. I had heard that fewer labels were having showcases, and fewer journalists and label employees were attending. More people I know personally went down to Austin on their own dime, with no plans to buy the badge or wristband needed to attend many showcases and events.

Despite such ominous portents, the festival rarely felt different than it has in years past. The main drag, Sixth Street, still teemed with partying college kids and drunk denizens of the music industry. If anything, it felt like fewer people decided to pony up for the expensive admission free-pass, and instead preferred to pay money to get into a show - or just cruise around the many free day (and night) parties happening in Austin.

 

Annie Zaleski

The Pragmatic

The St. Louis music scene was well represented at SXSW this year. On Wednesday night, the Pragmatic suffered through some serious equipment problems - a laptop and keyboards refused to cooperate with each other - but turned in a solid set of its Rubik's Cube electro. The band is always a pleasure to watch live, mainly because each member is having so much fun onstage; this show was no different.

Annie Zaleski

Liz Anjos, The Pragmatic

At the Undertow showcase the following night, Theodore impressed a small but supportive crowd. Depending on nuance rather than drama for its emotional impact, the group's roots resonated from the heart. The highlight of its set was the "encore" -- the group had some extra time to fill, and so it unleashed a soul-twang beating and a hollering hootenanny that showed off its ability to cast aside restraint.

Annie Zaleski

Magnolia Summer

 

Magnolia Summer performed next, to the biggest crowd I've ever seen it play to at the annual showcase. The setlist focused on the more rock-oriented material from last year's Lines from the Frame and From Driveways' Lost View; the brisk, upbeat setlist was a good fit for this particular lineup of the band.

Rockwell Knuckles, Nato Caliph and Black Spade - along with recent Atlanta transplant Gotta Be Karim and DJ Trackstar on the decks - opened the Smoking Section/Nah Right party on Friday.

Annie Zaleski

Rockwell Knuckles (left), Black Spade (right)

Because St. Louis still seems to be seen as mainly a pop-rap town, it was nice to have some of our underground artists in Austin representing. Knuckles went onstage and did his thing -- "Livewire" and "See 'N' Say" were highlights - to a crowd that responded well to his rubbery-faced, movie-quoting style. Caliph's soulful flow recalled Nas, and his depth-filled lyrics brought a thoughtful edge to his set. Black Spade too suffered from some sample/equipment problems, but ultimately performed a set that was as playful as it was full of his airtight beats and lyrics.

Annie Zaleski

Nato Caliph

Gotta Be Karim, who recently relocated to Atlanta, also performed. The move South has helped him toughen his flow and rhymes; look for a release show in St. Louis soon, he told me.

And finally, John Henry & the Engine earned an encore from an appreciative outdoor crowd at Jovita's at Saturday's KDHX/Twangfest day party. The group's organ-bolstered rock certainly brought to mind Bruce Springsteen, but the Southern sensibilities and honest edge reminded me more of the Georgia Satellites.

It's always interesting to see how perfect strangers and out-of-towners react to our local bands - and this year, the city's finest musicians certainly represented St. Louis well.

Apologies to Teresajenee, whose Saturday night showcase I missed, and to Via Dove and any other St. Louis acts I didn't get to see in Austin.

Well that's over with. To complete my spiritual journey, I will now both provide my top-five greatest moments (Metallica excluded) and explore how non-SXSW revelers might enjoy their music, immediately or in the immediate future.

1. Ms. Janelle Monáe, of course. Her deeply, defiantly weird dystopian-diva routine is way more exhilarating live than on her Metropolis: The Chase Suite EP, wherein the lovesick-android-on-the-lam shtick gets a little distracting. More Suites are planned soon, though, and power-r&b smash-in-the-making "Tightrope" is a monster, so. See her on tour this summer opening for No Doubt, of all people, including stops at PNC Bank Arts Center June 26 and Nikon at Jones Beach Theater June 27.

2. Still Flyin'. Bay Area ska, absurdly catchy, absurdly vibrant, just generally absurd. At Union Hall April 3. They will bring spring with them if it has not yet arrived.

3. The Thermals. Still the best power-pop-punk band in business. In Texas at least frontman Hutch Harris was taken with performing shirtless, in tiny shorts, with "SLUT" written across his stomach. At Bowery Ballroom May 8-9.

4. Obits. This particular blog's crush/obsession with these surly-garage titans continues. Celebrating the release of the expertly grouchy I Blame You Friday night (March 27) at Bell House.

5. Micachu and the Shapes. Cheating here, as I didn't actually see this bizarre, inventive London crew in TX myself, but only because they're here the next three nights: Cake Shop tonight, Death by Audio Tuesday, Cake Shop Wednesday. Jewellery is the best, most bewildering art-pop record of 2009 yet.

Magnolia Summer played the Twangfest/KDHX party, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Austin. Here's "The Wrong Chord," from last year's Lines from the Frame.

Dallas' own Erykah Badu had herself quite the weekend, turns out. More eventful than yours, I'm guessing. Unless, that is, you somehow managed to...

• ...evade a stalker (as Unfair Park unearths this morning) and get delayed on your travels to SXSW.
  
• ...have your manager announce to the audience at your free SXSW Auditorium Shores performance--just before it was set to start--that you wouldn't be able to make it down because of "travel issues," as one source at the show told us on Saturday.
• ...have the crowd at said performance scatter and leave when it found out you wouldn't be playing (according to the same source)
• ...somehow, against all odds, make it to Austin in time to perform a couple of songs with your side project The Cannabinoids anyway, much to the delight of those fans who'd remained.
  
• ...perform a couple of shows in Austin, and none in Malaysia (as we'd wondered). And, not surprisingly, annoy a bunch of Malaysians in the process.
• ...perform alongside Common and Kanye West at Kanye's "secret" Saturday night show at the SXSW Fader Fort, as the above video shows.

And, let's not forget the fact that she just had a child a few weeks back. Clearly, this woman is a superhero.

If you are like most people reading about SxSW on every blog out there, it can be a bit overwhelming. But that is nothing compared to how overwhelming it can be to actually be at a festival where 300 bands are playing at every minute (how many stages does Coachella or EdgeFest have going at any one time? Three? Four? SxSW has HUNDREDS at any moment).

Well, the people over at Digital Music News came up with a way to see who really was creating a buzz at the festival this year. Twitter. They searched Twitter for the most talked-about bands related to the festival.

Who came out at number one? Metallica, who played a "secret" show at Stubbs on Friday night. It was secret in that everyone in the world knew they were there but "were not announced." Number two was our music editor's hometown boys Devo. Kanye West was third. And fourth was one of my personal highlights from the trip, The Hold Steady (I must admit The Hold Steady's show was one of two times I tried to Twitter about a band at SxSW, but AT&T sucked). Rachael Ray even made the top 10.   

Other bands getting top Twitter action included Black Lips, Silversun Pickups, Dinosaur Jr., Quincy Jones, Superdrag, Perez Hilton, M. Ward, Peter Bjorn and John, Glasvegas, PJ Harvey, The Decemberists, New York Dolls, and Tori Amos.

Patrick Michels

Yelle turned her Emo's performance into an all-out dance party on Saturday night.

Act: U-N-I, a backpacker hip-hop duo from Inglewood, California.
Where: Speakeasy
What It Was Like: Stumbling into a nice surprise. There's a high energy feel and definite grittiness to U-N-I's sound, thanks to beats that blend the backing tracks of modern acts like The Cool Kids and older, East Coast acts like Boogie Down Productions.
Verdict: Worth looking into further, for sure. The beats were pretty cool and the lyrics earicatching--"I B-boy stance, I don't Superman dance" got more than a few of U-N-I's audience members smiling. But if there's one thing working against U-N-I, it's that there's a glut of like-minded acts popping up both at SXSW and elsewhere. And though there's not necessarily anything new to the band's package, it was engaging enough to make downloading the duo's upcoming release, A Love Supreme, when it's released as a free download on March 31. After all, it's free.

Act: Gil Mantera's Party Dream, an over-the-top electro-synth pop/sex rock act from Youngstown, Ohio.
Where: Emo's Main Room
What It Was Like: Watching a Spinal Tap-like parody of ironic hipster dance acts. Frontman and band namesake Gil Mantera is a hell of a charatcer, commenting on how thankful he was that his parents didn't abort him as a fetus and generally trying way-too-hard to be obnoxious and subversive. It didn't really work.
Verdict: Nothing against the band's sound--it's danceable and catchy enough. But for the love of God, was this band unlikeable... I'm pretty sure the synth player spent less than ten percent of the performance actually playing his instrument. Instead, he posed and strutted through the whole thing, setting the tone for a band that thought way too highly of itself. It's entertaining for a few minutes, I guess, but boy did it get old fast--especially when the band's best song is nothing more than a remix of Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back". That said, maybe I just misread the whole thing. For instance, were it actually a performance art piece that stood to satirize everything wrong with the hipster set, I'd consider it brilliant. 

Act: Funeral Party, poppy-but-gritty synth-punk band from Los Angeles.
Where: Emo's Jr.
What It Was Like: Heaven after popping into Emo's Jr. to get away from Gil Mantera's set in the main room. And these guys weren't too bad, either. Past tours with Yelle and an upcoming slew of dates with Trail of Dead seem to further validate that belief.
Verdict: I liked it enough in a live setting--although I definitely didn't hear nearly as much synth at Emo's Jr. as you will if you visit the band's Myspace page. Live, it was flourishes of synth; over there, it's synth-based. Wierd because I kinda heard a more modern Black Lips live, and now all I hear is Shiny Toy Guns. Still, fun set.

Act: Efterklang, a seven-piece collective of musicians from Copenhagen whose music draws equally from chamber pop and traditional folk influences.
Where: Emo's Jr.
What It Was Like: Imagne if Arcade Fire, instead of bowing to the golden Boss, prayed to the altar of Sting, circa "Desert Rose". I swear that's a compliment.
Verdict: This was a great, distant, understated, movie score-like performance that kept the crowded Emo'S Jr. audience (a much bigger crowd than had been there for Funeral Party's earlire set) completely riveted. I don't own an Efterklang disc--nor had I ever really listened to the band before. But buying the band's latest? Now atop my to-do list.

Act: Yelle, the adorable French dance-pop star... who is everything you'd expect, given that description.
Where: Emo's Main Room
What It Was Like: Like a rave, circa 1994--but with bubblegum dance music leading the craze, not industrial music. Yelle, in her final SXSW performance, didn't have to work very hard to get her crowd engaged--it was willing from the start of her set, dancing as soon as the first note of Yelle's performance came pblasting through the PA system. And, by the end of her set, the dancing had only intensified. So too did the applause and aodration for the singer. The crowd was so enamored, in fact, that it demanded an encore--which Yelle was more than happy to offer up in return.
Verdict: Honestly, I'd always thought Yelle was a little too bubble-gummy for my tastes. But as she paraded around the stage like Jane Fonda hosting an aerobics workout DVD, it was tough not to find her act impressive. And while there's nothing new about her '80s-influenced sound, it still manages to be incredibly bouncy and danceable. Plus, the way she pronounced Austin ("Hell-o Aus-teeeeen!")? Say it with me: Awwwwwwwwww. Even in her space-age, shoulder-padded lycra get-up, she managed to come across endearingly. Gil Mantera and crew could leanr a thing or two from her...

Act: The Pack A.D., a pretty straight-ahead blues-rock duo of some hard-looking punk rock chicks from Vancouver.
Where: Habana Calle 6
What It Was Like: Easiest comparison? The White Stripes. But not just because The Pack A.D. is a duo, or because they're based in the blues-rock realm. Rather, it's because the frontwoman was pretty charismatic and clearly the better performer of the two, with a whiskey-soaked voice that sits somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Joan Jett on the vocal spectrum, and the drummer just seems to be along for the ride, hitting her kit as hard as she can. Also: The drummer wore a Storm Trooper mask through much of the performance.
Verdict: It was captivating enough--and in a small room like this one, where the band could quickly and easily interact and banter with its audience, it came off pretty well. Don't know hoow great it'd be in a bigger room, though. So, yeah, I'd probably check The Pack A.D. out again if it stopped through one of the regions smaller clubs.

Act: Bosque Brown, the honey-voiced Mara Lee Miller-fronted Stephenville Americana/folk outift.
Where: Habana Bar
What It Was Like: Nice enough, I guess. But nowhere near as nice as the band's performance at its Dan's Silverleaf CD release show. Blame the sound guy for that one, though. The P.A. was a little choppy.
Verdict: Just go buy Baby already. It's great.

Act: Pete Philly & Perquisite, a dutch hip-hop act with a live backing band.
Where: Buffalo Billiards
What It Was Like: Like watching a group of Dutch hip-hoppers trying to crack the lucrative Shwayze/G. Love & Special Sauce surf-rap market.
Verdict: Not really my thing. Just had a played-out vibe to it. Also, I really didn't go to Buffalo Billiards to see them; I wanted to see Solange and then maybe Black Joe Lewis. But Pete Philly ran late and then it took Solange over an hour to get ready and sound-check.The crowd--filled with Solange fans--justified it anyway it could, saying "This is her third show fo the dy, it's cool" and "She's a superstar. What do you expect?" Well, for one, I expect her show not to run over an hour late. Oh, and superstars don't open for Estelle. I left, pretty frustrated.

Act: Bobby Bare Jr., the alt-country performing son of country legend Bobby Bare.
Where: Maggie Mae's Gibson Room
What It Was Like: Like watching goofy Bare Jr. room straight through his excellent 2006 release, The Longest Meow.
Verdict: Very fun. Granted, after the Solange/Black Joe Lewis/Pete Philly time waste, I wanted to check out sure thing. And thoguh I'd never seen Bare live before, I knew I loved The Longest Meow. In person, it didn't disappoint.

Photo by Daniel Morrison

The Sunday night after SXSW never fails to be a weird experience. Although you are dog-tired, and back in your own bed, you can't sleep. A phantasmagoria of sights and sounds from the past few days runs through mind on a reel that seems to have no end.

You remember short conversations with old friends, most of whom you see too briefly to reconnect with, the hissing sound of ambient cymbal wash that bathes East Sixth Street nearly continuously for 100 or so hours, the peaceful interludes as you cross Town Lake on the Congress Street Bridge, the rickety racket of Austin's booming grackle population...

You remember the feeling of exquisite melancholy that comes over you as the sun sets on Saturday night and another SXSW is soon to come to a close. A few short hours after that and it's back to life, back to reality, as the old R&B song goes. You're out of the music bubble that is Austin for those four days in March, back among "the civilians" as it were.

Which is definitely a mixed blessing. While the civilians don't really speak your language, you are also removed from a less than healthy (to put it mildly) lifestyle of mediocre fajitas, Lone Star by the metric ton and six mile walks in the hot sun. (And Austin can be hot in March and seems to be getting hotter by the year. I don't think there has been a single cold or even cool SXSW over the past nine.)

Every year I say that this will be my last SXSW, and every year, once February rolls around, I start hearing the call.

Photo by clared23

"I've been drunk all around this town, from the downside up to the upside down...." So sings Scott Miller in "Drunk All Around this Town," which he calls "the most beautiful ballad I have ever written." That might not be true but it is a most apropos song for SXSW, and it never sounded better than it did Thursday night at Waterloo Ice House.

Like John Prine, Miller is not just a funny songwriter, although can be one of the most humorous out there. He can also come up with lines that are downright Zen - like "every winter will spring and every summer will fall" from "Loving That Girl is Too Hard on a Man."

And then there is "The Way," in which a hauntingly melancholy melody propels lines like "Midnight and I'm feeling alright, but my baby is tired. We drove down to a party in town, and I should of known I was gonna drink too hard. The windy road when I'm driving it home Every twist and turn. I've had enough of the way I was. Seems like by now its time to learn the way." The bridge from the song, in which he sings about how he's lost the way, kept popping up unbidden in my head throughout the rest of the festival.

Afterwards, Nick Gaitan, Miller and I retired to the back patio at the nearby Shoal Creek Saloon with a Chicago novelist and a woman from Indiana who fluently spoke a made-up language called Alfafa. You had to hear it to believe it, and I guess you sort of had to be there, but I haven't laughed as hard in a long time.