Howdy y’all! Ok, so it’s been a little while...

Apr 04

Howdy y’all!

Ok, so it’s been a little while since South By Southwest, but life’s been hectic (I haven’t even unpacked) and blahblahblah. Hopefully I can make it up to you with appropriate assloads of good tunes from bands who played at the Austin-based annual proving ground for bands we call SXSW.

Those tunes come in two chunks:

A mixtape made of bands I saw, or otherwise felt their presence, while at SXSW
A compilation of the top tracks I hadn’t previously heard from the unofficial SXSW torrent

My own experience at SXSW was a bit out of the ordinary — I spent the vast majority of the time holed up in a corner of our demo space working away. I did get to see a few bands, but unlike past years I didn’t have a chance to really discover new music. Sad. Thankfully I did get to see some friends and meet some famous-ish blogfriends and designers, which made the whole experience worthwhile.

Luckily, through the magic of the interwebs, I can do my music discovery by digging through a multi-gigabyte mass of music. Last year I made it through all the thousand plus songs, but you’ll have to forgive me this year for only getting through a little over 400. I put the torrent playlist on random, and it wound up spitting out a lot more loud rock gems than anything else. Hope that’s ok with you :)

Ok, enough chit-chat, let’s get to the music!

<3 / ∑>

1. Wallpaper - “T-Rex”

I was actually intending not to see Wallpaper while at SXSW (I go to almost every show in SF), but it seemed unavoidable. First I ran into them on the street as they were about to go all funky dinosaur (wear a dinosaur mask, play saxophone, make it rain — yes, really) on some unsuspecting people in line for shows, then I found myself with badgeless friends and spotted a tweet for a free Wallpaper show across the freeway with free beer. Sold. We danced our asses off, and even got some metalheads to get down with the jams. Speaking of jams, they’ve got a new track out for free that’s DEFINITELY worth your time.

2. Hesta Prynn - “Can We Go Wrong (RAC Remix)”

Longtime readers know I love me some Hesta, but surprisingly enough this was my first show. It won’t be my last. She absolutely slayed, and had a really freaking cool dress(?) on.

3. Fitz & The Tantrums - “Breakin’ The Chains Of Love”

LA’s Fitz & The Tantrums have only been around a short while, but have almost instantly joined the elite of the white boy soul movement. This was my first time seeing them live, and they truly delivered. I also got my hands on their forthcoming full-length while I was down there, and all I can say is wow — not a bad track on this record. Watch out suckas!

4. Magic Wands - “Black Magic”

Big thanks to my friend Austin for being willing to have our meeting at a show — I desperately needed to get out of the office and had two wristbands to a private daytime showcase that featured Magic Wands. Already a fan, I gained a ton of respect for this trio for rocking straight through any musicians nightmare (and par for the course at SXSW, where venues vastly outnumber competent sound engineers) — pedals broke, guitar cables went in and out, and they had to play to a tiny group of hand-selected folks earlier in the day than they’re used to waking up. They got through it totally unphased by anything, rocking the crap out of guitar solos that the audience had to imagine they could hear.

5. Chew Lips - “Play Together”

File this one under band I heard a lot about and wish I had gotten to see. There are definitely tones of Little Boots, which I understand the live show also echos.

6. The Golden Filter - “Thunderbird”

Yes, I know this track has been on past mixtapes, but the force with which they played it live compelled me to pick it again over some of the other tracks on their wonderful debut album. I first saw this band at SXSW last year at a HypeMachine party and was blown away. This year they stepped up the energy even further, sending swirling synth sounds through the audience, accented by double drums and Penelope’s airy-yet-stunningly-powerful voice leading the crowd in chants and dance.

7. Bear In Heaven - “Lovesick Teenagers”

Another band I didn’t actually get to see, but man did I hear about them a lot. Even Metric was all about them!

8. Miike Snow - “Silvia”

The last time I saw Miike Snow, I was dancing my butt off with some friends in a small bar shortly after moving to SF last summer. Now they’re selling out far bigger venues and headlining the KCRW showcase at SXSW. Well deserved. Heck, even Mark Ronson was hanging out for their set. That said, I can’t totally agree with the changes they’ve made to their set — it seems like they’re incredible songwriters trying to also be great musicians. Most obvious example: the lead singer now picks up a guitar and attempts to shred when he’s not singing, overpowering all the delicate intricacies of the electronics that make Miike Snow what they are. As my friend Kron kept repeating “Put the guitar down!” It was still a great show, but I’d love to see them again without the guitar. (Big ups to my friend Brad for this epic 9 minute version)

9. Surfer Blood - “Take It Easy”

File this under didn’t see at SXSW because I’ve seen them and was going to see them again shortly. Thankfully, I did get to see them on Friday in SF. They still look ridiculously young, but they are definitely more comfortable with their songs and themselves than on their first tour. I also have to give them a virtual fist pound for giving out their hotel room info on Twitter and telling folks to come get free beer.

10. Tanlines - “Real Life”

Yet another I didn’t see but wish I had.

11. Ozomatli - “Can’t Stop”

From an informal survey of friends from around the globe, I am the last person in the world to see Ozomatli live. As promised, they delivered a really high energy performance. They were victims of the SXSW sound curse as well, though, as their microphones cut out with about 10 minutes left in their set. Being the pros that they are, though, they didn’t skip a beat in grabbing the nearest drums and horns and dancing out to the middle of the audience, leading the audience in impromptu song and dance. Awesome.

12. Get Busy Committee - “I Don’t Care About You”

Another group I wish I saw. Unfortunately hunger had the trump card and I wound up sitting down to dinner for the first and only time (seriously — one sit-down meal the whole week) while these dudes jammed.

13. White Denim - “I Start To Run”

White Denim was the first band I saw this year, and I think it was technically still during the Interactive (tech) part of SXSW. They ALWAYS put on a great show, so of course this was no exception. The audience was another issue, though — the mix of nerds and local drunk pseudo-punks didn’t exactly mesh, making things a little awkward for everyone.

14. Lissie - “Little Lovin’”

Hoooooly crap. I think I fall a little more in love with Lissie every day. First she put this track out on a wonderful EP. Then she did a killer Yours Truly session. Then I saw her at SXSW, putting on easily the best show I’ve ever seen in a church (plus she apologized to me on Twitter after Jakob Dylan & posse kicked me out of my seat). Then she covered (probably not a strong enough word) a Lady Gaga song, turning into a musical masterpiece. Wow.

15. Sleepy Sun - “New Age”

This was my first show of the music side of SXSW, and it was a helluva way to kick things off. Not only is the band incredible, they also brought about a dozen kids from the Austin Children’s Choir on stage to accompany the second half of the set. Just to cap things off, they closed their set with a riotous version of The Guess Who’s “No Sugar Tonight.”

16. Local Natives - “Wide Eyes”

Another band I didn’t see at SXSW, but didn’t intend to — I’ve seen them so many times I didn’t feel compelled to compete with the throngs of fans who clamored for every opportunity to see them. That said, I would see these guys every night of my life if I reasonably could.

17. Rogue Wave - “Lake Michigan”

Rogue Wave was the last (and most unexpected) band I saw. They played after The Middle East around noon my last day in a big room in the conference center. They played a lot of their new stuff (which is ok) and closed with this classic (which is awesome). It was a nice way to ease out of SXSW.

18. The Middle East - “Blood”

I was ready to chalk these guys up as “most disappointed to have missed” until I was on my way to see my CEO’s panel and saw that they were about to play to a big, largely empty room in the conference center. Score! I swung open my laptop to do work (as I was planning to do at Ian’s panel) and was both soothed and mightily impressed by their smooth sounds.

19. Dark Dark Dark - “Bright Bright Bright”

I had made a note to myself not to miss this band at SXSW, and yet still managed to. Very sad. I’m hopeful they’ll make their way out west soon.

20. Marina And The Diamonds - “I’m Not A Robot”

Sadly, I missed this band as well, but at least they were the last folks I saw as I checked out of my hotel (Lemmy from Motorhead was the first person I saw when I arrived). Someday I will get to see them, and it will rule. Someday. In the meantime, I’ll just keep singing along…

Bonus Tracks!

I’m not going to break these down or put them in any sort of order, but here are the my top tracks I had never heard before from my sampling of approximately 2/5 of the SXSW artists.

And So I Watch You From Afar - “Set Guitars To Kill”

The Coal Porters - “No More Chains”

Cosmo Jarvis - “She’s Got You”

Diamond Rings - “All Yr Songs”

El Ten Eleven - “Hot Cakes”

The Ghost of A Thousand - “Bright Lights”

Hieroglyphics - “Proper Aim”

High On Fire - “Frosthammer”

Le Loup - “Forgive Me”

Lost In The Trees - “Fireplace”

Magic Magic - “Sleepy Lion”

Neon Trees - “Animal”