AUSTIN, TEXAS - South By Southwest (SXSW) had to happen to me. The journey had to take place - though I'm still not sure why, I just knew it had to happen. Of the past 22 years of my life, music has consumed the last decade. It wasn't until after I picked up a guitar that I had a girlfriend. It wasn't until after I tuned into the radio that I found the tools I would later use to build relationships. And 3,000 miles, 5 days, 3 cases of Red Stripe and 100 bands later, I know that the past 10 years have only been a warmup.
For the past 18 years, Austin, Texas, has been home to one of the most highly regarded music and media conferences in the world. Though this article is a whirlwind of an overview, focusing entirely on the music side of the event, the statistics from 2003 speak for the overwhelming size of the conference. Music wise, more than 1,000 bands played and more than 50 venues were open to the more than 15,000 people in attendance. With a promise of bands, beer and barbecue, SXSW is the music lovers' drug of choice.
Wednesday, March 17
The Cooper Temple Clause was the first band I ever saw at SXSW and it is going to be one of the biggest bands of this year. Because TCTC was playing a private party hosted by BMG, the public was not around, nonetheless the art gallery it was held in was completely packed. This large crowd was an interesting environment in contrast to the little fanfare TCTC was met with on March 5 at the 9:30 club.
Regardless, if you enjoyed Bush, loved Oasis and have a special place in your heart for electronics, then TCTC offers something for you. Not to mention that vocalist Ben Gautry takes a staggering pincer-approach to vocals, lulling you with his haunting and mellow side at points and attacking you with straightforward rock at others. TCTC's stateside debut "Kick Up The Flames, And Let The Fire Break Loose," came out about a month ago and is a musical experience not to miss.
The action downtown that night took place at Emo's, one of the most active sites for music at SXSW. Featuring three separate stages, that night Emo's was set to accommodate an experimental showcase, a punk/metal showcase and a hip-hop showcase all within a 50-yard radius. The choice was difficult between Rhymesayers like Atmosphere and MF Doom, punk/metal choices like Pelican and the Bronx and experimentalists like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Secret Chiefs 3. In the end, experimental won me over.
For fans of Mr. Bungle, Mimicry record's showcase at Emo's Annex was the place to unleash your ear for avant-garde and innovative music. The California triple-threat of Santa Cruz's Estradasphere, Oakland's Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and San Francisco's Secret Chiefs 3 provided three hours of the edgiest and most eclectic music imaginable.
Estradasphere's four musicians blended the sounds of classical music, blue grass and metal to create an aural fixation as strong as crack.
Sleepytime, which describes itself as a group of thoroughgoing populists, took the stage and further fed the continuously malleable Play-doh that is rock by crafting one of the most interesting and confusing spectacles imaginable. The quintet - which includes two percussionists with full drum and bell kits, a violinist, a bassist and a lead singer/guitarist - pulled out all of the stops both musically and physically. Pulling music from every conceivable genre, and converging them into a blasphemous yet intriguingly rational soundscape, Sleepytime readied the environment, donning face paint, spiked collars and ludicrous coifs.
After a 30-minute wait, the Secret Chiefs 3, who are essentially Mr. Bungle minus Mike Patton plus a sitar and an extra percussionist, closed the evening out. If their self-description of a surf-rock/noise/arabesque amalgam fails to whet your palette, then do yourself a favor and catch them on tour this fall.
Thursday March 18
Fueled by six hours of sleep and the mucky gloom of an 80-degree, overcast Austin day, I headed downtown for another 17 hours of music and mayhem sponsored by my favorite pasttimes, alcoholism and barbecue. There were a number of standouts Thursday and, of the 31 bands I saw, those described below are the ones to watch out for.
At 2 p.m., in Friend's Bar on Sixth Street - Austin's rendition of Bourbon Street - the Dresden Dolls, the best band you've never heard, played. Luckily, on April 1 at the Black Cat backstage, Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione of the Dresden Dolls will be playing. If free beer equates to a million dollars for a poor college student, then free beer and the Dresden Dolls is priceless. The Doll's brand of cabaret, goth and punk mesh brilliantly with Palmer's tales of the bizarre, and Thursday was no exception.
If you like your metal ambient and you are not too fond of vocals, Pelican should never leave your record player. Playing its second set of the conference in a tiny bar to about 40 people, Pelican proved why the hard rock scene no longer views Metallica as relevant. These purveyors of all that is heavy have given Hydra Head records a new breath of life.
Head Automatica played the opening slot at Stubb's dance-pop showcase, which also featured the B52s and Junior Senior and for some unexplainable reason, the band is neither Daryl Palumbo of GlassJaw fame nor Dan the Automater, master producer, etcetera's full-time project. What might have been the band's first live performance outside of its circle of friends might also have been the finest performance at SXSW. Head Automatica's mix of bootie-shacking beats, hook-ridden vocals - who knew Palumbo could croon? - and a huge backing band made their upcoming, opening slot at the Recher Theatre outside of Baltimore the place everyone should want to be on March 28.
The final bright light of the day was Brooklyn's World Inferno Friendship Society, who closed out the Caucus Club's patio Thursday night, following a furious set by Philadelphia's An Albatross. World Inferno, a collective featuring a constant rotation of members is more like a carnival than anything. Presided over by Mr. Jack Terricloth, the atmosphere was surreal- the band's gauche colors were backlit, creating a kaleidoscope under the black Austin sky.
The attendance at SXSW is open to the public, so not only are some of the showcases free and all ages, but they also have free beer. The majority of the showcases cost money and there are a number of ways to get in. The venues at SXSW are accessible in three different ways: 1. Badges which range in price between $200 and $700 depending on when you buy them, 2. Bracelets which keep increasing in price and were $125 this year, 3. Paying at the door. None of these guarantee you access to a showcase - nor does celebrity as you will soon see - however, you do get priority in descending order from badges to bracelets to paying at the door. Being a poor college student, the $125 investment was merely a sunk cost in the end, but initially seemed like a knee to the groin followed by my livelihood being ripped from my back pocket. Ah, how shortsighted we can be at times.
Unfortunately my shortsightedness also came to light in my inability to pace myself. Friday and Saturday marked my last two days at SXSW, and because I
had not paced myself on either Wednesday-all that flying adds up-or Thursday I took some time on Friday and in the process, was offered a job, conducted an interview with the Secret Machines, went to two private parties, ran into music Âbermensch Matt Pinfield and ate lunch at the Four Seasons with an A&R rep, a band manager, one of his artists and two guys from a record label. But let's get off of my adventures in gourmet dining for free and get back to the music.
Friday, March 19
With driving pains up my shins, dry mouth and a horrible headache, I escaped my Austin residence and took the bus downtown to meet Syd Butler from Les Savy Fav downtown for lunch. Unfortunately I was late and Butler had already eaten. Thus, the Spin party was the only place to go. But who am I to complain? Not only was the DJ Ultragrrrl (Spin's own Sarah Lewitinn), but the music was awesome, the Suicide Girls were wearing little to nothing, idolize-able writers and rock stars were everywhere and, to top it all off, it was all the barbecue you could eat and Miller Lite you could drink. The Spin party was heaven.
While the Killers were the highlight of the party band-wise, the Bronx - which opened - and what I heard of the Hives later was damn good. Las Vegas' the Killers are Island Records' answer to Hot Hot Heat, and by God does it bring the dance! Make sure to check the band out at the Black Cat with Stellastarr* on March 29.
If Head Automatica was the greatest band at SXSW, the Secret Machines were in the photo at the finish line. Playing a sold out showcase that even Wayne Coyne - the lead singer of the Flaming Lips - barely got into (and yours truly had to grease his way through the back door), the Secret Machines personified where popular music ought to be going. The band approaches rock music through ambient instrumentations and catchy lyrics, and performed its set as a continuous line, never stopping and introducing itself only after the set climaxed in a roar of applause. The Secret Machines will be playing two shows with Blonde Redhead at the Black Cat on April 22 and 23.
Saturday, March 20
Saturday was my last day at SXSW, and my legs were still killing me. Thus, I decided to take it easy and intoxicate myself in the fruits of Emo's outdoor and indoor stages - and bars.
The first truly amazing set came from Murder By Death who played the Black Cat last week and will be performing at Macrock in Harrisonburg, Va., on April 2. Though it was the third time I had seen MBD in a week, it was by far its best performance on the whole. Adam Turla finally took control of the stage and lost control of himself, playing his heart out and bringing the crowd to a rousing round of applause after an explosive ending, the now traditional instrumental that ends where the first record begins.
The Dillinger Escape Plan was the third best set at SXSW and the afternoon showcase was packed with rabid fans waiting anxiously to hear new tracks and see the most innovative metal band of the past decade. DEP played its best set in recent memory. Stripped of the overwhelming light show it had been using over the past year, which included three D.C. area dates, the band was in top shape, even with drummer Chris Pennie playing a standard drum kit. The new record will be out this summer, according to vocalist Greg Puciato, and since DEP hasn't released a full-length since 1999's "Calculating Infinity," if you have not been waiting anxiously and you are a fan of heavy music, then smack yourself.
The last show on my journey took me to Coheed and Cambria, who, after a major label battle, appear to have signed with Columbia Records, though Equal Vision seems to be denying this. To any extent, if its new label was in the house, Coheed did not play to keep a contract; in fact, it was downright disappointing. Regardless of its less than exceptional performance, Coheed couldn't spoil a week as brilliant as the one I had in Austin.
Starting March 17 and lasting through March 21, musicians, publicists, A&R and journalists from around the globe headed to downtown Austin. With most of the activity circulating around Sixth Street and Red River, though flowing over much of the rest of the town, Austin was a powder keg of the hottest new sounds in music. Though I missed out on some of the biggest names (including the current kings of Glasgow's scene, Franz Ferdinand, Sweden's always fun the Hives and New York-by-way-of-D.C.'s the Walkmen), there was more to see than these three. More than I could have ever planned for or mapped out. Way more.
Sometimes you have to get lost to find the way. In six weeks, the most stable part of my life, school, will no longer exist. Needless to say things have been more than vexing recently and the fabled "right way" ever more jaded. So when I found myself boarding a delayed plane to Chicago from Reagan-National in a fit of hysteria, childishly hoping that the two-hour holdup would have no effect on my initial 45-minute layover before my connecting flight from O'Hare to Austin's airport, I knew I was getting myself into something amazing, but
I could never have expected this.
With two carry-ons, Thucydide's "Peloponnesian War" and some faith that everything works out in the end, I took the plunge into the decadence of rock 'n' roll, and I will keep on trucking until my theory or this life gets the best of me.
