SXSW wrapup, part II

Friday, March 18, 2011 (afternoon)

9. P.S. I Love You, Austin Convention Center Dot Com Day Stage, 3 p.m.
The only real added benefit to having artist rather than general fan wristbands was access to the convention aspect of SXSW, so we started Friday at the downtown convention center. In hindsight, a walk around the trade floor should have been in order to see what freebies were available, but we instead opted for more music. A few stages in the convention center are set up for bands to play short sets during the day. Kirsten had seen a review of P.S. I Love You which caught her eye, so we found the stage and took a seat.

This was quite possibly the strangest combination of act and venue I've ever seen. The stage was set up at the front of a semi-darkened convention room, with folding chairs set up in front and a few scattered tables near the back. Like any meeting room, the modular walls, sterile carpeting and overly-air conditioned air provided a sterile, corporate atmosphere. The two-piece band came on and filled the space with distorted noise-rock (which proved to be somewhat surprisingly good). As each song ended during the short set, the final strains faded away to polite clapping, then dead silence from the audience. Even the usual audience rustle was swallowed up by the deadening character of the room. The front man didn't even try to inject any banter, making the juxtaposition between the sprawling fuzz sounds of guitar and drums with the complete absence of response from the crowd the most odd and interesting part of the entire experience.

10. Felice Brothers, Austin Convention Center Radio Day Stage, 3:20 p.m.
P.S. I Love You's set was also the shortest - about 20 minutes - we saw at SXSW, giving us time to walk next door to the much larger Radio Day Stage room to catch the end of the Felice Brothers. The few songs were heard were agreeable alt-country, and there was an actual crowd of people in front of the stage enjoying the show. The room wasn't without it's own oddity, as the back of the room , completely unlit, was populated by bodies sprawled on large provided pillows catching some midday rest, turning whatever was being played into their own personal lullaby.

11. Unicorn Kid, Latitude 30
The afternoon's destination was the Scottish music showcase, chosen solely because I've found several Scottish bands agreeable (or great) over the past few years. None of them were playing this particular show, but I figured completely unknown Scottish bands beat any other completely unknown bands so we headed over. Upon arrival, we discovered another very big positive the show had going for it – free food and an open bar. The space was nearly packed when we arrived around 4 o'clock, with Unicorn Kid up on stage behind a laptop. The bleeps and beats created a dreamy electronica which wasn't too far out of place for an early afternoon bar several shades darker and cooler than the sun-drenched street outside.

12. Popup, Latitude 30
I was more concerned with making my way through the line for the taco bar and then grabbing a couple of drinks than listening closely during Popup's set. The band seemed notable mostly for having an attractive lead singer in a short skirt.

13. Rachel Sermanni, Latitude 30
A petite girl in a sundress took the stage with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, radiating the nervousness of a student at her first open-mic night, but there was nothing small or unassuming about the sound once she started singing. Rachel Sermanni was one of our best surprises at SXSW – her voice, tentative and shy in the banter, filled the room once she started singing, nicely complemented by her guitar, which on some notes she played with a near-percussive style to fill out the sound. Sermanni made the crowd stop and listen, not always an easy feat at an event where everyone is thinking ahead to the next band, the next party, the next stop.

14. King Creosote and Kid Canaveral, Latitude 30
King Creosote is a Scottish singer-songwriter who, according to Wikipedia, has released more than 40 albums – all in the last 13 years. This fact seems more notable than anything else about this show, where he was backed by the band Kid Canaveral. He seemed like a charming bloke, a guy you'd want to see come out to sing in a dark pub when you're having a few pints at the bar. This afternoon, though, the sound didn't grab me the way Rachel Sermanni had. The performance was fine enough, but by this time the food had been put away, the bar had started charging, and we were already trying to work out how to start the evening. We stuck around for the end of the set and wandered out into the late Austin afternoon.