Local Music Nation

Well, I’m tired and my face is as red as a lobster, but I still can’t help but smile at all the music I was able to see today. We started out with a series of interviews for High Voltage. I chatted with new band love Judah & The Lion and SXSW 2013 faves, The Virginmarys. It’s always a treat to get to know a band outside the hectic and noisy club.

After interviews we took a free car (thank you Mazda!) across town to Whole Foods. The Quantum Collective party, I must reiterate, booked some stellar acts. Today we caught Green River Ordinance, Great Caesar, and The Arkells – there was plenty of dancing. I unfortunately missed Wild Feathers, but that was in order to bounce across the street to the Waterloo day party to see Kaleo. My how this band has grown since I saw them last summer at Make Music Pasadena! Kaleo melts the heart and stirs the soul. The play both gorgeous falsetto heavy ballads and down and dirty rockers. It’s the dichotomy that really fascinates, but it totally works!

My evening’s schedule presented itself with quite a few tough choices so I made the decision to walk 20+ minutes from Whole Foods down to Shady Grove to see a late afternoon set from The Virginmarys. Amanda was such a trooper and came with me and we met up with a couple of friends to witness what had to have been the hardest rocking set ever at the outdoor burger joint. Sticks went flying as the UK band busted out a few new tunes from their forthcoming album, Divides, as well as some old favorites (sing: “hey girl, lay off my dead man’s shoes”). Afterwards, the band was gracious enough to give us a ride back downtown. My take-away from that adventures is that I’m very glad I’m not driving through Austin during SXSW.

After picking up some free food at the South Bites area (chips and guac, spicy pulled pork mac n cheese), I ventured to the church for what was my most anticipated set of the week – Judy Collins + Ari Hest. They opened with their duet of Ari’s “Strangers Again” which just filled me with such joy and nostalgia, it brought tears to my eyes. They have an album coming out and played many newer songs, but busted out a few of the oldies that Judy is known for.

More difficult decisions lead to an evening of sampling. And while no band quite reached the “Graham Bar” for new discoveries, I do have plenty of additions to my must see list. The most fun was probably had during Mainland’s set at The Sidewinder where dancing was an absolute must. From there we ran up the road to catch Drowners, but left after a couple songs (the place was packed) to make it to the McDonald house to see The Score and have an ice cream sundae. While walking up to the venue, the band starting playing the song I wanted to hear (“Oh My Love”) which I took as a sign that I was in the right place.  Due to some set time switches we wandered aimlessly for a bit before settling in at Ester’s Follies where we caught a promising new act from Los Angeles called Runaway Saints. The night (and the week) then ended with one of my recently discovered new favorites, Dreamers.

And that was all she wrote, folks. Another SXSW down. Tomorrow we’ll catch a few more bands to ease out of the madness, wait it out at our favorite cafe for some Mad Mud, and see what else Austin has for us after the masses depart.

Thanks for reading!

~ Kristen

Happy Birthday to me! Since I’d like to gift myself an extra hour of sleep, we’re going to keep this brief with a simple list of my day’s highlights:

• BMI Brunch – always the primo spot for food, networking, and music, this year brought eating with Jay Nash and Drawing North, sets from Tor Miller and Shawn Hook (among others) and of course running into…well just about everybody.

• The Quantum Party on the Whole Foods rooftop – after a failed attempt to get into the Key Bar, we eased on down the road to Whole Foods where I drank Mama Chia (win!), discovered a fantastic new LA band, The Heirs, and chatted with Gingger Shankar.

• 30 seconds of Blue October – because walking past the maxed out venue and only getting to see/hear a snippet of a song is better than no Blue October at all (and probably one of the best musical moments of my week).

• Bday Chai – Starbucks gifted me a free drink so I took it! The largest most delicious chai was the perfect pick-me up to get me though the day. It even came with a golden ladybug type creature which I will take to be extra special luck.

• Aussie BBQ – the two stages packed in tons of great Aussie acts. I was able to catch Tigertown and Drawing North before the impending storm put a pause on any outdoor music venues.

• Compelling singer-songwriters – I spent all night at a church or the ASCAP showcase sampling singer-songwriters and none of them disappointed: Matt Woods, James TW, Billie Marten, Jay Nash, Jake Bugg, Jake McMullen, and a surprise special set from Lapsley (the perfect way to end a wonderful day of music).

Can’t believe tomorrow is the last official day of SXSW!

~ Kristen

Thursday was more than just a little bit of a late start for me. Sheer tiredness and a completely nonsensical brain made me stop my recap last night and work on it this morning instead. If you happen to think it was a little long and rambling, I apologize but that is where my head was last night. Today I seem to have gone past that wall and entered a weird state of delirium. Everything just seems so funny to me and although I’m tired and sore, it doesn’t seem to matter as much to me today. Tomorrow might be different, but you never know.

I didn’t make it out of the hotel room until after 1:30pm but I thankfully missed the rain that came down earlier in the day. I started off at on the west side at the Cedar St. Courtyard for some breakfast tacos and Barns Courtney. There was a bit of a lull so the only logical thing to do is trek back to the east side and past the freeway to pick up the line skipper pass for the Rachel Ray party at Stubbs on Saturday. I told you, delirium. Anyways, from there it was back to the more central part of goings on for the Music is Universal party, which was conveniently located around the corner from our hotel. I caught the tail end of The Strumbellas, which included a song of theirs I know (always a perk) and enjoyed some free water, cold air, and space to sit and relax for a bit. The band I was really there for was DNCE and they were exactly the fun and high energy bit of silliness I was anticipating. It was nice to see a band and be able to dance just because it makes you want to move. It was a lovely late afternoon delight that made me feel less bad about not pounding the pavement first thing in the morning like Kristen.

I bopped over to the Westin to catch Flor because it was right next to the YouTube space where I was going to be later. Honestly, I think I was just thankful for a place with a couch to sit on that had air conditioning. Flor was good but I was anxious to get in to YouTube before any kind of crazy line formed and I couldn’t make it in for Lukas Graham. You never know with lines during SXSW. The fates seemed to be on my side because I walked right in and proceeded to get a spot right up front. Also unlike yesterday, no one seemed to be having any technical difficulties and everything was running relatively on time. Huzzah! Also scored some yummy snacks at Youtube which included a layer dip, corn salsa, and a chicken wing. Score for me. If I’m being honest, I had the corn salsa twice. It was that good. You know what else was awesome? The fact that I Lukas Graham played a 45 minute set and I was up front for it. I think he’s someone who is going to just blow up soon. The whole set was amazing and it’s something I’m still talking about hours after the show.

The one disappointment of the evening was hoofing it over to Rainey St. to see Wild Wild Horses at Javelina, and get there only to see the last song and a half because their set time was moved up without your knowledge. Bummer. But you know what? That’s just SXSW and some things can’t be helped. But there is almost always a shot at turning the tide. I walked over to Bar 96 to catch Audiodamn! again and this set was nothing like the other one I saw. They seemed to be loose, energetic, and chomping at the bit to put it all out there. I wish I wasn’t so tired and sore because I would have loved to stayed up front and stuck it out for the whole set but I couldn’t. I would like to think that their crazy awesome energy was enough to carry me back to the hotel room for a recharge. I mean, those guys were tearing up the place and everyone I saw seemed to be totally digging them. Kudos!

It was time for one last jaunt across the river to the Continental Club for Eli “Paperboy” Reed. He was enjoyable but not entirely what I had anticipated. As Kristen said, he had a Willie Moon vibe but I also picked up a bit more of a punk/ska thing too. But don’t quote me on it. I wanted to get back to downtown for The Young Wild and Mainland at Esther Follies but ended up at a party at the historic Arlyn Studio. At this point, it was pushing 1am and I just couldn’t hang anymore. But the studio had a wonderful vibe, lots of cool space, awesome vintage things, and plenty of comfortable seating. It was a lovely way to end my evening.

Every day of SXSW is somehow completely different and yet the same. It’s a weird paradox or vortex or whatever that we get sucked into here in Austin but it never fails that there is some kind of theme for the day. Today had two very distinct themes…. awesome parties (yay!) and some major technical difficulties (boo!).

We started our day at Volcan Gas Company to check out Audiodamn! but upon our arrival, we realized they were no where close to being ready to go and we were 15 minutes late in the first place. Not wanting to stand around twiddling our thumbs we walked down to the street to Pandora where we heard a rumor that they were giving away free Chick fil A. I can confirm that was indeed the case a the awesome Pandora party. They also had some swag bags if you participated in some fun little things but I didn’t participate in that because 1) I really don’t need more stuff and 2) I was too busy eating my free sandwich. Priorities.

As there was no music going on at Pandora, we wandered back down the road thinking that things at Volcan Gas Company would be up and running. We were wrong. So very wrong. Audiodamn! didn’t start playing until 40 minutes after their listed set time and from what I saw, the problem had nothing to do with the band. I felt really bad for them because they clearly wanted to play and get the show going. Sadly, they only played 3 songs. From what I can recall (it’s been a long day) the bass blew out during their second song. They finally got it working again but by that point in time, they only had time left for one more song because they had gone so far over time. Such a sad way to start things out. So, we had our first awesome party experience of the day and our first major setback.

From there we moved on to the YouTube Music House for some Banners. Let me tell you, that party had it on lock. It was air conditioned, which is important, but it also had juice, gluten free pastries, 6 different flavors of popcorn, free non-alcoholic drinks, seating, and an outside space. In addition to all those perks, there were trays of food that wandered around every so often. I sampled the sweet and tangy meatballs that came out in addition to some fresh home made guacamole. I did see some sliders and I’m bummed I missed them but I was too busy enjoying Banners while those came around. The set from Banners was really enjoyable and I hope to catch them again later this week. Sadly, it won’t include the awesome projection that was going on behind them during their set (and I never love projections, so this was clearly done well) but I think I can manage. Another point for another awesome party.

From there we went to see Everything Everything at Barracuda only to discover that once again, the band was no where ready to go. So we went around the corner to the Beehive Party at Swan Dive. There was some free swag including bags, t-shirts, mini shampoo and conditioner, some Kind Bars, and some other things. Although there was no food (Kind bars don’t count) it was still a pretty awesome party and Aurora was on stage and on time! There was a massive crowd for her and I didn’t feel like squeezing around but from what I could hear, I very much enjoyed her. Would love to see her again and really be able to see her. We went back around the corner to Barracuda and Everything Everything was still not on stage. They ended up not playing at all. What a bust. Kristen poked her head outside to catch some Grace Mitchell but I was too comfortable sitting at a picnic table to make the effort. Ah well.

From there we walked over to Rainey St. and caught some Grizfolk at Clive Bar. There was different levels of free swag for doing different things. I ended up with a carabiner and Kristen got a t-shirt. Swag from a party is always good but at this point, hunger was setting in. So down the road we went to the Reeperbahn burger party where we had the easiest check in ever and a free burger with fries. Zero complaints from us. Free food is always good!

From there, we meandered back to Rainey St. to Blackheart for Sara Hartman and Tor Miller. We were sure getting in was going to be difficult and every place we walked by that had a line we thought was where we were going but alas, Blackheart and absolutely no line. Zip. Zero. Zilch. No complaints here, just some mild surprise. I really enjoyed Sara Hartman and her energy. She was a lot of fun and very enjoyable. One of her songs reminded me of a Jack Garratt song lyrically and I internally amused myself with the idea of them getting together. Also, her drummer did some really awesome and unique things during her cover of a Jamie xx song. Tor Miller was someone I had been looking forward to seeing with a band. I saw him open up for James Bay last year in New York where it was just him and a piano in a very massive space. This is was completely different setup and surroundings so I was curious about the difference. He was just as enjoyable with a band as he was acoustically last year. It was cool to hear a song I was already familiar with (Midnight) with a different kind of arrangement.

By now I would have figured all the technical issues that seemed to be happening earlier in the day at various venue would have been resolved. Well, they weren’t. After walking over to Shiner’s Saloon for Mainland’s 11pm set we discover that they are a full band behind schedule. Instead of Mainland starting, a band from Munich called Kytes were just getting started on their set. They were an enjoyable band to listen to while I sat, relaxed, and did some decompressing. They were fun and I wasn’t mad to be there listening to them. Around 11:45pm/12am Mainland started playing. They were a high energy bundle of bodies and two of the guys decided to come off the stage and into the crowd during the second song. I wish I could have stayed and watched them longer but Rooney was playing down on 6th St. and there was no telling how crazy that line was going to be. There was no line. We walked right in and found some seating while we waited for whatever was happening on the stage to get off. By now, I was running out of gas so I managed to stick it out for 2.5 songs before I had to head back to the hotel and call it a night. I wonder what surprises tomorrow has in store for me.  

Firstly, I simply MUST point out how amazing Monday was. To enter Austin at SXSW time is like entertaining a magical land full of surprises where people are happy (albeit tired), food is free, and music is around every corner. Also, SXSW Interactive knows what’s up! I played skee ball, rode a Ferris wheel, took a nap in a pod, collected several cell phone card holders (my #1 swag goal), and had not one but two excellent and very free meals. Frank’s hot dogs for the win!

The day ended at my favorite SXSW venue, The British Embassy. It was like coming home. I melted a bit listening to Ciaran Lavery and grooved with The Crookes before passing out happy with dreams of the coming week.

Today we eased into what is officially SXSW music week. Here are my 3 biggest take-aways

1 – It now seems acceptable to don sleep wear to perform onstage. Lukas Graham and Declan McKenna both rocked the white tees and comfy shorts while all girl rock band, Hinds looked ready for bed in over-size t-shirts and what I would term sleep shorts. Bonus points go to the young McKenna for also sporting mismatched socks AND shoes…

2 – Sweet potato tots are a thing and they are delicious

3 – Lukas Graham is in very strong contention for best band of SXSW 2016.  I started off the day with Lukas Graham at The Spotify House and the Danes exceeded my already high expectations setting the bar very high for the week to come. Lukas’ vocal, endearing personality and surprising range of songs (think James Bay meets twenty one pilots w/ a dash of charming irreverence) all meld for a memorable performance that will be hard to beat.

Coming very close to the “Graham Bar” were The People The Poet who wowed with an acoustic set in the Convention Center and simply must be seen again in full band mode and Ben Hazlewood, a young and engaging pop artist from Australia.

I also quite enjoyed French rockers, Talisco, the aforementioned Declan McKenna (that “Brazil” song!), the always entertaining Soft White Sixties, and The McDonald’s Loft who scored a big win with their sundae bar and primo entertainment (I was able to catch Jared & The Mill and Bel Heir).

4 – Jack Garratt is a musical genius and must be seen as often as possible. He is even worth staying out until 1am.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow…

~ Kristen