Over four days I was inundated with enough stimulai to keep my little ADD self fully satiated. Going in I wasn’t really sure what to expect other than late nights and lots and lots of music. While both proved to be major themes it was the little things that really made SXSW a wonderful experience.
Little Thing #1: The variety of venues
For those of you who aren’t familiar with Austin let me tell you it is a town that sincerely and rabidly supports live music. There is a concentration of venue space that is astounding and during SXSW even the Whole Foods (the best Whole Foods in the entire world if you ask me) hosts shows. Even though the venues vary widely when it comes to quality each definitely had it’s own quirk factor. It is because of the existing live music culture that permeates Austin that a music festival of this magnitude is not only possible but really enjoyable. My favorites were:
The French Ligation Beautiful outdoor park with Austin skyline in the background was a lovely setting to see The Antlers. If Saturday hadn’t be horrendous I would have loved to see Frightened Rabbit here as well.
The Longbranch Inn Quirky to a T. With the best tie dyed taxidermy I have ever seen. It was, hands down, the best place to catch Grooms, The Beets and Sisters.
Little Thing #2: Familiar bands in a new context
There were a lot of local-ish groups that made the trip down to Austin as well and it was nice to be able to watch them perform in a whole new context. The mounting time on the road seems to have improved the Free Energy fellas’ comfort on the stage. Lead singer Paul’s voice was a little more ballsy and fit the rest of the group’s rock energy.
Bridges & Powerlines were incredibly tight,proving there is real potential in them thar guitars. It was fantastic to see Drink Up Buttercup pull people in from other rooms during their show at Purevolume. They are rapidly accelerating towards mass awareness and their harmonies and playing are improving in lock step. Finally, Dinosaur Feathers played a whole slew of shows and debuted new material all to really enthusiastic audiences.
Little Thing #3: New Discoveries
As you wander form showcase to showcase you can’t help but get sucked into new acts. The amount of music available at all hours is pretty much a music junkies dream. Hearing Explode Into Colors in the open lot near Cheer Up Charlies was spectacular. This high energy dance rock group hold nothing back and their mixed bag of influences sucked me in immediately. Props to them for also continuing on to MtyMx gathering in Mexico. Tobacco is insane. Literally pulled me in from off the street with some gritty, sorted, funky beats. I only got a small taste but hopefully they’ll be through Philly to support their pending album (featuring Beck which isn’t half bad).
Little Thing #4: The Clear Mobile Network interviews
While I was in Austin I did a few interviews for the Clear Mobile Network live TV coverage of SXSW. What I didn’t know going in was that the studio was a giant plexiglass room on the back of a truck that would drive around Austin while I did my interviews. It was a surreal experience. During one hard right while Matthew Perryman Jones was singing all the mics fell over and while stopped at a stop light a woman got out of her car to take a picture of me, Jared Mees and Megan Pierce of the Grown Children. Thankfully the interviewees were most excellent (stay tuned for extended write ups) and on the whole it was a pretty unique experience. [see the view from the couch]
Little Thing #5: The People
The absolute best part of SXSW was meeting so many people with whom I’ve tweeted, gchatted, emailed or spoken with over the phone but hadn’t yet met in person and spending time relaxing and hanging out with my extended music family. To now have had in person conversations with some of these folks as well as made some silly music centric memories with them made the week spent in Austin one I will not soon forget. Already looking forward to next year.
Tomorrow I’ll post my reviews of the best shows I saw at SXSW 2010.
It Gets Your Body Movin’ – Suckers (Live at sxsw 2010)