The archived ramblings of my time as a world traveler up to my current life in Washington, D.C.SXSW wrapup, part III
Friday, March 18, 2011 (evening)
15. Agesandages, Rusty Spurs, 8 p.m
The music schedule for SXSW sprawls early into the interactive portion of the fest, but the focus turns completely to music starting on Wednesday. The full days and nights can take a toll, as Agesand ages demonstrated. Whatever they'd been up to the first couple days of the festival had clearly taken a toll – in the spaces around songs, all of the members slumped, and one of the singers had a sickly sheen indicated he was either horribly hungover, about to get horribly sick, or in some horrible boundaryland where the two overlap.
They found some hidden reserves of energy once the music started, perhaps understandably given their songs. Full of handclaps, Agesandages blended the vocal harmonies of 70's family rock with modern indie pop. A very fun show, even if the band members occasionally looked like their batteries ran out as soon as the music stopped, only to energize again with the opening strains of the next number.
16. The Diamond Center, Black and Tan, 8:40 p.m.
The two venues – Rusty Spurs and Black and Tan – were connected and the set times slightly staggered, so we pushed through the crowd to catch the end of whoever was playing. We caught the final song or two; what we heard was something like trippy jam-band music played by a Southern garage group.
17. Dolorean, Rusty Spurs, 9 p.m.
Back on the other side of the hallway, Dolorean played songs which sounded like a Southern garage group playing Southern rock. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy or unique to their sound in a genre I'm not really a fan of, and we left early.
18. Yellow Ostrich, Antone's, 10 p.m.
I'd marked this show on the SXSW schedule as soon as I heard their single “Whale,” and was intrigued about how the live show would work when I learned the band was essentially one guy, Alex Schaaf, making music with loops and recording multiple tracks. For SXSW Yellow Ostrich swelled to three members, with a drummer and bassist joining Schaaf on stage. The sound still swelled beyond the three, as Schaaf layered and looped the sound with an impressive array of pedals and a Mac laptop in the center of the stage. The reliance on technology became a liability as the drummer started the opening beat for “Whale,” Schaaf went to the laptop and looked stricken. As the beat kept going for at least a couple minutes, Schaaf kept desperately trying to get something to work on his laptop, before giving up and going to the microphone for a (relatively) stripped-down version which still worked well. The long delay showed his relative inexperience on stage; a veteran would have given up long before and gone into the song without the full complement. Even so, there was a lot to like among Schaaf's inventive songs.
19. Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!, B.D. Riley's, 11 p.m.
One of the rules I set for myself going into SXSW was not to wait in lines. If I couldn't get into something I wanted to see, there would always be other acts worthy of my attention at the same time. The only time this came into play was for this timeslot; after Yellow Ostrich we'd planned to see the hugely-hyped Yuck play in a venue around the corner. But the line stretched half a block, and even our wristbands put us well back in the priority list behind a number of full-fledged badge holders. So after about five minutes we moved on to Plan B.
From the start, Tiger!Shit!Tiger!Tiger! had my vote for best band name at SXSW. I had absolutely no knowledge of the band beyond the name, but we went to check them out figuring it would likely either be a very good show or a very bad one. The band turned out to be a very loud pop punk outfit, playing in the corner of a packed Irish pub. So packed, at first we listened to the set from the sidewalk through the open windows before we managed to make our way inside. The front of the pub was packed with revelers watching the band exuberantly make their way through a set which included not only the wall of noise but also antics from the lead singer, including jumping up on tables and singing half a song laying on his back after diving into the middle of the dance floor. It was the exactly the type of moment I wanted from SXSW, stumbling onto an unknown band playing a very good set.
And in another only at SXSW moment, the back room of the pub was almost entirely empty, except for a half-dozen people at the bar watching basketball on TV. It looked like the regulars were studiously ignoring the manic demonstration taking place in the front room of their bar.
20. Wye Oak, The Parish, 12 a.m.
Our main goal for the night was to see Wild Flag at the Parish, and we got there early enough to catch Wye Oak. The duo's set was strong, with elements of folk and alt-country, but yet again I found late in the night my aching feet got more of my attention than the band.
21. Wild Flag, The Parish, 12:45 a.m.
By the time Wild Flag came on I'd found a seat along the wall to catch our final set of the night. The all-female group, made up of former members of Sleater-Kinney and other bands, had earned a ton of hype coming into SXSW. The band had been together less than a year and had only released their first studio records in the days before SXSW, but the experience of its members gave it the polished chemistry of a long-established act. The heavy guitars and drums filled the Parish's large room, and as the final chords died out we decided the show was just the right end to the night.
15. Agesandages, Rusty Spurs, 8 p.m
The music schedule for SXSW sprawls early into the interactive portion of the fest, but the focus turns completely to music starting on Wednesday. The full days and nights can take a toll, as Agesand ages demonstrated. Whatever they'd been up to the first couple days of the festival had clearly taken a toll – in the spaces around songs, all of the members slumped, and one of the singers had a sickly sheen indicated he was either horribly hungover, about to get horribly sick, or in some horrible boundaryland where the two overlap.
They found some hidden reserves of energy once the music started, perhaps understandably given their songs. Full of handclaps, Agesandages blended the vocal harmonies of 70's family rock with modern indie pop. A very fun show, even if the band members occasionally looked like their batteries ran out as soon as the music stopped, only to energize again with the opening strains of the next number.
16. The Diamond Center, Black and Tan, 8:40 p.m.
The two venues – Rusty Spurs and Black and Tan – were connected and the set times slightly staggered, so we pushed through the crowd to catch the end of whoever was playing. We caught the final song or two; what we heard was something like trippy jam-band music played by a Southern garage group.
17. Dolorean, Rusty Spurs, 9 p.m.
Back on the other side of the hallway, Dolorean played songs which sounded like a Southern garage group playing Southern rock. There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy or unique to their sound in a genre I'm not really a fan of, and we left early.
18. Yellow Ostrich, Antone's, 10 p.m.
I'd marked this show on the SXSW schedule as soon as I heard their single “Whale,” and was intrigued about how the live show would work when I learned the band was essentially one guy, Alex Schaaf, making music with loops and recording multiple tracks. For SXSW Yellow Ostrich swelled to three members, with a drummer and bassist joining Schaaf on stage. The sound still swelled beyond the three, as Schaaf layered and looped the sound with an impressive array of pedals and a Mac laptop in the center of the stage. The reliance on technology became a liability as the drummer started the opening beat for “Whale,” Schaaf went to the laptop and looked stricken. As the beat kept going for at least a couple minutes, Schaaf kept desperately trying to get something to work on his laptop, before giving up and going to the microphone for a (relatively) stripped-down version which still worked well. The long delay showed his relative inexperience on stage; a veteran would have given up long before and gone into the song without the full complement. Even so, there was a lot to like among Schaaf's inventive songs.
19. Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger!, B.D. Riley's, 11 p.m.
One of the rules I set for myself going into SXSW was not to wait in lines. If I couldn't get into something I wanted to see, there would always be other acts worthy of my attention at the same time. The only time this came into play was for this timeslot; after Yellow Ostrich we'd planned to see the hugely-hyped Yuck play in a venue around the corner. But the line stretched half a block, and even our wristbands put us well back in the priority list behind a number of full-fledged badge holders. So after about five minutes we moved on to Plan B.
From the start, Tiger!Shit!Tiger!Tiger! had my vote for best band name at SXSW. I had absolutely no knowledge of the band beyond the name, but we went to check them out figuring it would likely either be a very good show or a very bad one. The band turned out to be a very loud pop punk outfit, playing in the corner of a packed Irish pub. So packed, at first we listened to the set from the sidewalk through the open windows before we managed to make our way inside. The front of the pub was packed with revelers watching the band exuberantly make their way through a set which included not only the wall of noise but also antics from the lead singer, including jumping up on tables and singing half a song laying on his back after diving into the middle of the dance floor. It was the exactly the type of moment I wanted from SXSW, stumbling onto an unknown band playing a very good set.
And in another only at SXSW moment, the back room of the pub was almost entirely empty, except for a half-dozen people at the bar watching basketball on TV. It looked like the regulars were studiously ignoring the manic demonstration taking place in the front room of their bar.
20. Wye Oak, The Parish, 12 a.m.
Our main goal for the night was to see Wild Flag at the Parish, and we got there early enough to catch Wye Oak. The duo's set was strong, with elements of folk and alt-country, but yet again I found late in the night my aching feet got more of my attention than the band.
21. Wild Flag, The Parish, 12:45 a.m.
By the time Wild Flag came on I'd found a seat along the wall to catch our final set of the night. The all-female group, made up of former members of Sleater-Kinney and other bands, had earned a ton of hype coming into SXSW. The band had been together less than a year and had only released their first studio records in the days before SXSW, but the experience of its members gave it the polished chemistry of a long-established act. The heavy guitars and drums filled the Parish's large room, and as the final chords died out we decided the show was just the right end to the night.
