AUSTIN — For a week every spring, Austin, Texas, becomes thecenter of the rock ‘n’ roll universe as hordes of music folk descendon the city for the South by Southwest Festival.
This year’s festival ran from Wednesday, March 13 through Sunday,March 17, as industry folk of all stripes rubbed shoulders withjournalists, musicians and fans in the city’s dozens of venues aseveryone rushed from parties to showcases to a two-day trade show.
Despitea lower-than-usual attendance and the unofficial nomenclature of thisyear’s festival as the “No Star SXSW” (due to a lack of high-profile,bonafide rock stars showcasing), the festival was an incredibleexperience for most of those who attended.
Sure, there’s networking to be done, plenty of swag to collect andcopious amounts of liquor to wash down heaping helpings of freeTexas-style barbecue, but more than anything, SXSW remains about themusic, with everyone scrambling to witness their favorite artists orhoping to catch the next big thing.
Tempo scoured this year’s showcases from Rio Grande to Red Riverand points beyond to bring you the best SXSW offered this year.Following are some of the greatest — bands to watch for in the yearahead and some old favorites.
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Invokingthe names of band member’s individual pedigrees — which include TheMurder City Devils and The Deathwish Kids — gives some indication ofthe direction this year-old Seattle supergroup is heading, but thesum of these parts resembles nothing more than X. And that’s hardly abad thing. Andrea Zollo is the perfect heir to the throne of ExeneCervenka and embodies the Queen of L.A. Punk’s best attributes in herprime — soulful songwriting, impassioned delivery and raw sexuality.Expect big things from this up-and-coming Lookout! act. They’re sogood, I had to see them twice to even believe it.
The Eyeliners
I’ve been a fan of Albuquerque’s Eyeliners for a few years now,but have never chosen to champion them until witnessing theirshowcase at Room 710. Though their Ramones-meet-Go Gos act was alwaysendearing and they always put on a great live show (guitarist Gel andbass player Lisa like to spin on their backs and play behind theirheads), there was just something missing. That problem has finallybeen redressed — lead vocalist Laura has stepped out from behind thekit to take her rightful place up front, and the result has improvedthe already great band tenfold. Lookout Donnas, these sisters areready to break out in a big way.
Mary Lou Lord
In addition to her official SXSW showcases, Mary Lou Lord took hermusic to the streets — literally — to play for passers-by at thecorner of 6th and Brazos. A small crowd — including a particularlydisheveled gentleman who every so often would mumble something thatsounded like “Melissa Etheridge” — gathered around the petiteBeantown busker to take in a selection of originals such as “HisLatest Flame” and covers rangingfrom Springsteen to Elliott Smith. Alas, Lord, who played for nearlysix hours, chose not to heed a request from someone for her excellent”Throng of Blowtown.”
The Shins
The Shins set at a Stubbs BBQ was certainly a delight for thesenses, auditory as well as olfactory. The delicious smell of sauceand pork wafted through the air as the Albuquerque quartet workedtheir way through a set drawn mostly from last year’s Oh InvertedWorld. Highlights included a hopscotch through “Girl Inform Me” and aversion of “The Celibate Life,” which was more aroused than the cuton the album. Conspicuously absent from their set was the single “NewSlang,” recently used in a McDonald’s commercial. It was probably bydesign — how can a Big Mac compare to a plate of ribs?
Bonkin’ Clapper
A better band couldn’t have been chosen to kick off the first oftwo Japan Night showcases on Friday and Saturday. Bonkin’ Clapperembodies the best aspects of Japanese rock — wild, frenetic,genre-shattering and delivered with intensity and passion. Leadsinger 70* is simply not of this world — indeed she rarely touchedthe ground throughout the band’s entire set, at times literallybouncing off the walls. This was by far one of the most incrediblethings we witnessed over the course of the weekend.
Clinic
Clinic’s gag of wearing surgical masks while they play representssome of the worst sort of art-school nonsense ever to rear itsportentous head. It makes one almost wish the Red Hot Chili Pepperswould show up and trot out their “socks on members” routine just tolevel things. The Liverpool band’s performance was one of the mosthyped shows at this year’s SXSW. Clinic delivered a competent, if notunderwhelming set, releasing their atmospheric, deep-freeze mixtureof Velvets and Krautrock, which just managed to drown out the ratherchatty crowd.
Bleach
Idon’t have a clue what the hell “Hadaka No Jyoo” means, but I’mfairly certain it’s not an endearing term. After watching these threeslight girls, who can’t weigh more than 200 pounds combined, I’m surethey could kick my big Caucasian ass — individually. Forget girlpower, these chicks unleashed 10 billion megawatts of pure rock furyon unwitting onlookers, a virtual tsunami of slapped-the-f**k-out-ofbass, hard-driven guitar riffs and primal screaming. These chicks aref**king pissed.
The Dragons
Austin may be The Live Music Capital of the World, but a scathingset by Diego’s own Dragons proved that America’s Finest City ain’tfull of slouches. I must’ve seen these guys rock The Casbah at leasta half-dozen times, but I don’t know if anything can compare to thestraight-up, no-chaser shot of rock they served up at Emo’s in aprimetime Saturday night showcase, where a crowd comprised ofDiegites who made the Mecca mingled with Texans and those from partsbeyond, all of whom joined the band in singing classics like”Loaded,” “Needs” and “Three Steps from the Bar.”
Major Stars
About 30 seconds into the Major Stars’ first song, Kate Biggar’sframe was peeling back and her hands were seemingly wringing everylast note and errant sound out of her guitar. The legendary Bostonband, who have been on tour with Acid Mother Temple, melted thepacked and enthusiastic room with Owsley-strength blasts of lysergicwhite noise, undoubtedly conceived somewhere in the uncharted,unexplored part of the brain where dimensions five through 10 can berealized and broken through.
The Moldy Peaches
Hailed as a band to watch in most rock rags’ 2001 wraps, the MoldyPeaches proved they’re worthy of the hype at SXSW. Though kitschy asall hell, their strange brand of spoken word, dirty kiddy tales andnaughty nursery rhymes, combined with a more-than-able live band, ismore than just a novelty act. They should stop selling themselvesshort and lose the clown suits, as their brand of humor maintains acerebral edge in no need of being amplified by jokey costumes.
I Am The World Trade Center
They’re called what? “If you’re wondering about the name, we’ll behappy to answer your questions after our show,” singer Amy Dykesexplained, intelligently handling the delicate matter of theelectro-pop duo’s controversial moniker. Instead of lecturing, sheand partner Daniel Geller fired all of their drum machine buttons atonce, and gleefully danced on stage to a snappy mixture of solidbeats and breathy vocals that calls both St. Etienne and the HumanLeague to mind. For the record, they have been using the name forthree years and are donating a portion of the proceeds of theircurrent record to the United Way of New York. More info is availableat www.kindercore.com.
Petty Booka
Anyone whose heart didn’t absolutely melt as Petty and Booka, twoukulele-playin, hula dancing beauties from Japan, sang, “UkuleleLady,” is in need of a defibrillator. Every second of the show, whichalso included covers of “I Fall To Pieces” and “Do You Wanna Dance,”was heart-rendering beautiful, the girls syrupy, sweet voices pouringdeliciously over the accompanyi
ng music, dueling ukuleles backed byupright bass and steel slide guitar. Their unabashed love oftraditional country and western, Hawaiian folk and rock is filteredinto incredible music you have to hear to believe.
Dressy Bessy
Sounding like the happy medium between early Kinks and classicperiod Archies, Denver hard-candy combo Dressy Bessy were easily thehighlight of the Kindercore Records showcase. Although the band weremaligned by a sound guy who should be sent to the minors (a problemfor all the bands), they managed to fight through it, taking most oftheir set from their new cavity-inducing LP, Sound All Around.
