Velvets Fan

Following on from my previous post about SXSW Interactive, I'm now jotting down thoughts about my first SXSW Music. After a 2-day trip to New York after Interactive, I arrived back in Austin for the Music festival on Wednesday, March 17. I was ready to relax, after a hectic week that included being on stage at the Paley Center in NYC.

After getting my first taste of the vibrant 6th St, or 6ixth St as it was stated on some signs, I went to Stubb's on Wednesday evening for the NPR party. My favorite band there was The Walkmen, who I also saw at the Digg show at the same location the week before. But I didn't last the distance and see all of the bands, as I was very tired after the travel.

At Stubb's I snapped some furtive pics of my music blog heroes, NPR's All Songs Considered team.

On Thursday I went to my one and only panel, about Miles Davis. I ended up dealing with a RWW business matter all through it, and then I didn't manage to get up in time for other panels throughout the week! So much for the panels.

Music highlights for me on Thursday were Sondre Lerche on the Day Stage (he played solo and I really liked his enthusiasm and guitar work) and Melissa Ferrick in the evening at the laid-back live.create.lounge.

One of my bug-bears about SXSW Music was the extreme volume that some bands played at. On Thursday I saw Cymbals Eats Guitars, an interesting new band that I discovered recently. I was looking forward to seeing them play, but I had to leave after a few songs because they played so loud. A lot of other bands at SXSW played ear-splittingly loud too, but I don't understand why. It means you can't really hear the music, all you hear is screech and noise. Yes I know that my favorite band of all time, The Velvet Underground, also used to play extremely loudly - but they did it mainly to be provocative (I would've found a way to save my ears with them too). For the current generation of bands, why do they want to damage their fans' ears? Play loud by all means, but not so loud that it distorts the actual music.

Cymbals Eat Guitars - dudes, turn it down!

On Friday I got up late and saw the likes of Diane Birch and Jakob Dylan play on the Day Stage. The highlight of Friday was seeing Band of Skulls at the lovely Beauty Bar/Palm Door venue. I'd seen them at the PBS party the week before and this was a slightly heavier version of the same show. This band, a three-piece, plays hard but with melody and structure. This is my favorite pic that I snapped on my iPhone, just before the show, of the tall woman bass guitarist heading on-stage. It's blurry but beautiful, I think.

Saturday turned cold and windy suddenly. I went to the Seattle party in the afternoon dressed in my light jacket, but had to return to my hotel afterwards to put on my heavy jacket. In the evening I had plans to get into the famous Antone's bar for the Alex Chilton of Big Star tribute. I got in before the first band all right, but the venue was rather tiny and the amplifiers way too loud. There was literally no escape from the tsunami of sound, so rather than go deaf that evening I wandered out after the first act (a pretty bad David Bowie wannabe from Bristol).

I then went to the Central Presbyterian Church (an actual church) and saw The Watson Twins, a couple of beautiful brunettes who sang sweet harmonies above a melodic, grinding organ and guitar. A bass and drums rounded out the band. I was impressed by the twins' original songs, but also a cover version they did of Sade's 'Sweetest Taboo.' After the show, I bought their latest CD and complimented one of the lovely (and tall!) ladies about that cover. They signed my CD and I left with a smile on my face.

I then briefly checked out Titus Andronicus at Red 7 off 6th St, but left after a couple of songs. While normally I like a fair bit of heavy guitar music, by that stage at SXSW Music I'd had enough of aggressive guitar rock. A lot of the bands at SXSW seemed to be thrashing about on-stage, or flailing on their guitars. Virtually every place I passed on or about 6th St had the same thing, bands trying too hard to play 'crazy' rock. So that, along with the deafening sound in a lot of places, had worn me out.

I would've killed for a great acoustic show at that point, tbh. Instead I found that even the Church had turned the amps up, when I returned there.

I walked past Antone's again, at about 11.30, with the faint hope of getting in (with ear plugs in my pocket) and seeing the Big Star tribute. But the line was expectantly long, so I called it a night.

The wonderful Band of Skulls

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed SXSW Music, although next time I will prepare myself better. I could've done a better job seeing more diverse types of bands and I didn't take advantage of some of SXSW's features well enough (e.g. I only discovered the express line badges on the final day). Partly that was due to the information overload of SXSW, but partly it was due to me not preparing well enough. And I totally missed Muse, one of my favorite bands!

As noted above, next year I think something should be done about the extreme volume some of the venues play at. It's not fun or musical, just uncomfortable and dangerous for our hearing.

I'd also probably not want to go again on my own - I think I was expecting a few Interactive folks to stay for Music, but none of my friends there did.

On the positive side, I really enjoyed Band of Skulls, The Watson Twins, Sondre Lerche and several other acts that I never get the chance to see at home.

Also I loved walking up and down 6ixth St, with the fesitval atmosphere, yummy Chilli dogs and pizza (special shout-out to Death Metal Pizza!), and colorful crowd.

Austin is a wonderful, vibrant town. I got to see some of the more local flavor today (Sunday) when I checked out Domy Books and then the cafes and cute shops in the South Congress St area. I'll definitely be back!