| When you find yourself sitting on an airplane with a bunch of shaggy-haired hipsters, directly behind The Fratellis and beside a silver-haired writer for the Rolling Stone, you can only be en route to the most exciting music conference in the world, South by Southwest (SXSW). This year, SXSW had an enormously successful, albeit a little crowded, 21st year. The gorgeous and friendly city of Austin, Texas, was overrun by celebrities attending the SXSW film fest and scads of musicians and writers hailing from every corner of the world for a one week music marathon. Between official SXSW panel discussions occurring in the daytime and artist showcases occurring at night, unofficial gigs and after-hours parties kept the celebration going around the clock. Here are some of the highlights.
DREAMS COME TRUE
This year’s festival featured a remarkable list of jaw-dropping, legendary bands. Reunited and as tight as ever, The Stooges closed the conference with a short but incendiary set at Stubb’s. In attendance to watch Iggy Pop writhe like it was 1967 all over again was the cast of Lost, Kirsten Dunst and James Iha. Other seminal acts that performed include The Buzzcocks, Hoodoo Gurus, Deja Voodoo, Tommy Ramone (in Uncle Monk), Robyn Hitchcock and Peter Buck, Roky Erickson, Alejandro Escovedo, Sam The Sham, Question Mark (of the Mysterians), Public Enemy, Donovan and Thurston Moore. While Brian Eno didn’t perform, a cool installation of LCD screens flashing his artwork was on display at the Austin Museum of Art.
STAGE ANTICS
In between chunky spits onstage, Tim Rogers, acerbic lead singer of Australian rockers, You Am I, jokingly asked for blow from the stage when his band wasn’t blazing through a searing set. Similarly, both Panthers and 400 Blows put on remarkable rock ’n’ roll shows with an explosive energy that will keep them at the top of the list of rock bands to watch this year. Along with the Smalltown DJs and The Cape May, Chad VanGaalen was the third Calgary act slated to play SXSW, but sadly, he didn’t make it to the showcase. According to his videotaped footage screened in his stead, he said that he was denied entry into the U.S. after calling an inquisitive U.S. customs official a "douche hat." All punks in attendance were suitably impressed.
THE UNITED KINGDOM RULED
For every North American, there seemed to be two from the United Kingdom. There was an enormous contingent of buzz-worthy U.K. talent including the Damon Albarn-led super group The Good The Bad & The Queen, The Fratellis, Fujiya + Miyagi, The Cinematics, The Horrors (who dumped a trash can on the front row), The Young Knives, Bloc Party (who casually milled about the super-hip Fader/Levi’s party), Aqualung, Mika, Field Music, Mogwai, Tunng and the aptly named Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.
THE GIRLS RULED (AND MOST OF THEM CAME FROM THE U.K.)
Old-fashioned, choreographed girl groups ruled the conference this year. Fittingly, Mary Weiss (lead-singer of girl group, The Shangri-Las) sang to promote her debut solo record. Dressed in black and white polka dot dresses and wagging their fingers in choreographed numbers, The Pipettes (Brighton, England) wrapped everyone around their little fingers. Another sassy costumed trio from New York City, The Dansettes thrilled crowds with their old-fashioned R&B and soul. Hammersmith’s Lily Allen proved that she was worth every ounce of hype by putting on a strong performance peppered by repeated slags of British music mag the NME. In between songs, she angrily told a crowd of 1200 that she’d have never agreed to the showcase if she knew the "cocksuckers at NME" were sponsoring it. Another young English girl created another scandal. Reportedly soused and upset about getting dumped by her boyfriend, Amy Winehouse cancelled all but her contractually bound official gigs, which were apparently riveting performances. Also raising eyebrows were Feist-like songwriter Nicole Atkins, Stephanie Bailey (drummer for The Black Angels) and a solo Emma Pollock (The Delgados).
KILL ROCK STARS
Independent record label Kill Rock Stars proudly trotted out its intensely talented roster this year to the delight of industry crowds. Igniting a hot dance party on the floor in front of them, Erase Errata brought the house down on the last night of the conference. L.A.’s Mika Miko was one of the only opening bands to perform an encore. The emcee and turntablist duo of the Macromantics gave sharp, clever and hooky sets as did Two Ton Boa and Mary Timony. One of the more impressive performers was Marnie Stern, whose adept guitar playing paid respectful homage to guitar gods of the past.
BEST SURPRISES
Topping the list of unexpected surprises were Canada (a seven-piece chamber folk-pop treasure from Ann Arbor, Michigan), Snowden and Foreign Islands. All performed like their careers depended on it. Edmonton’s Shout Out Out Out Out easily brought down a house packed with music snobs. Also thrilling audiences were The Mae Shi (doing two costume changes in front of their audience), the Melvins, Japan’s Boris, Menomena, Blonde Redhead, Loney, Dear (repeatedly seen being closely followed by a camera crew) and Spoon. Keynote speaker Pete Townshend joined The Fratellis during the latter’s cover of "The Seeker." Another perk included hearing the debut of the new Queens of the Stone Age album at the Fader/Levi’s Fort headquarters.
PETER BJORN AND JOHN
Despite having two of their basses stolen, indie rock poster boys, Peter Bjorn and John proved that they’ve got an arsenal of hits behind them. Whistling their way through "Young Folks" and rocking through reworked songs on their re-released Writer’s Block, the swoon-worthy Swedish pop trio jumped in the air and on their guitars and putting on one hell of a rock show. During a radio interview, the band was asked if they mind having the "Young Folks" single define the band to the world. Bassist Bjorn Yttling deadpanned to the sleepy DJ, "well, that’s the purpose of a single, isn’t it?"
SMALL DISAPPOINTMENTS
Among those rocking harder on record than in person were The Apples in Stereo (who were flat-out boring, despite the crazy keyboardist in a lit get-up) and garage rockers Tiny Masters of Today (two young siblings backed by JSBX’s Russell Simins). Daniel Johnston (whose backing band hogged the spotlight for half a set while some of us watched Johnston seemingly battle a panic attack back stage) had too brief a set to truly impress. And Turbonegro forgot how to rock and turned outa verbose spoken word set. However, even the occasional disappointing performance did not cloud the overall experience of SXSW. Rubbing shoulders with people in the industry, being exposed to over 1,400 bands and experiencing stimulating panel discussions – all within one week – is about as close to heaven as rock ’n’ rollers get. |
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