The Recap

This year’s SXSW had a great line up. I planned on spending a lot of time sifting through new band MP3s to hit the best shows that wouldn’t be crowded, but I didn’t do as much pre-planning as I hoped. I relied heavily on recommendations of friends, and was pleasantly surprised to find that “tag along with Kent and Steve” worked out more than I expected.

I saw 31 bands in 4 days. I spent 34 hours consuming music. Much of it was new. A lot of it was good…. And electronic. Some was terrible. Almost all of it was with friends. Here’s the break down.

GREAT
Holy Fuck (really, they need to change their name) - I saw them last year and they were awesome. This year was the same. High energy, tight playing … of all sorts of random stuff like film. Good way to end the first night.
Girl Talk – I had never heard of this guy. He was in the middle of day showcase with Fujiya & Miyagi and others. He was great. One nerdy guy with a laptop, who essentially does super fun mash-ups. But unlike laptop musicians, he was super energetic and all over the place. I’m not sure his album is going to hold up, but I will give it a whirl.
Galactic w/ Lyrics Born, Gift of Gab & Boots Riley – This was part of the Kent & Steve plan that was randomly awesome. Galactic is a hippie jam band, which I usually loathe. But they played with 3 hip-hop guys doing vocals and it was super fun.
Buck 65- I love Buck 65 shows. He has a great stage personality. He’s interesting, smarmy and smart. This one had a lot of new material and a cute DJ that I had a crush on. He made great faces.
Ghostland Observatory – The band I showed up to see had cancelled. They are apparently a local dance-y electronic band that I will now seek out at every opportunity.
The Berg Sans Nipple – When Drumcorps ran me off, I hit this show and was so glad I did. Fantastic energy. 2 French guys with a variety of percussion instruments. I bought their album at the show (rare) and love it.
Kid Koala – This was probably my favorite show of SX. He had a ton of energy, and is super engaging, cute and funny on stage. Also, he had the best merch ever. I got bright yellow oven mitts with little robots on them.

GOOD
Menomena – Indie rock band I vaguely listened to while taking great interest in afternoon Bloody Marys. I will check out an album, but I won’t remember this show.
Nick Butcher – Ambient, quiet. Might check him out some more.
Peter Bjorn & John – I really like them, but their live show wasn’t overwhelming, and I couldn’t ignore my hunger. So I left for sushi happy hour.
Fujiya & Miyagi – Competent live show. Enjoyed it. Not sure I would make an effort to see them again.
The Big Sleep – Caught their very loud day show. Seeing them live makes me like their album more.
Kid Beyond – This guy’s technical and beat boxing skills were impressive. He was awesome to watch, though the music didn’t really grab me.
These Arms Are Snakes –The lead singer of this band is unbelievably pretentious. He stands out in a sea of pretentious bands who invaded from the coasts. This show was no exception. He got all pouty about having to stop playing. That said, they rocked loud and hard and had a ton of energy.
Yppah – Random band we caught while waiting for Kid Koala show. Seemed pretty good, and the album, which Kent is aggressively pimping after buying it post-SXSW, is great.
Amon Tobin – I am in the minority with my opinion, but I liked this show. It was a hard-core DJ set, which I listened to from a bench on the side. The last show on the last night is always tough. He didn’t play any of his recognizable stuff. But I don’t listen to much of his stuff so it didn’t bother me. I thought it was fun.

OK
The Panda Band – Generic indie rock that wasn’t offensive… or interesting.
Bonde de Role – Brazilian dance-y band that was trying to hard to be hip, and didn’t sound very good.
Daedelus – His live show wasn’t nearly as interesting or dynamic as his album.
El-P – Caught the end of his show. It didn’t blow me away.
The Pipettes- Their matching 50s outfits were cute, the music was saccharine pop. It was a good way to pass 45 minutes. I had a seat!
Diplo – Did a straight up electronic dance set. It was pretty good, though it could’ve been anyone.
Three More Shallows – Better than the crappy hip-hop I was trying to avoid at an inside stage.

BAD
Kiiiiii – Loud screamy Japanese girls who can’t play instruments or sing really. It hurt. I was glad when Brian showed up so he could chug my beer so we could leave.
CX Kidtronik – Misogynistic, unintelligible rap.
Bleubird – Nerdy hip hop. Promising lyrics, but ruined by all sounds wafting from the stage.
RJD2 – I saw the first couple songs… twice. Man should stick to turn tables. The live band hurt. The Rub – I don’t even remember why I marked them terrible.
CPC Gangbangs –This was a mistake. I thought it was a hip hop band I would like. It was bad Southern rock.
Flosstradamus – Another unintelligible hip hop group. There was a whole gang of them dressed quite ironically in brand new 80’s wear.
Drumcorps – This is where the “Kent and Steve” plan failed me. Super aggressive loud DJ remixing metal, and sometimes playing live guitar. He made good faces though.