It's a late start this morning. Through my own fault? Perhaps. Does it really matter? Probably not. The main thing is that we're downtown, fed and watered by 2:30pm. First stop is the Austin Convention Centre to poke around, lift up some door mats and do some cartwheels amongst the music industry's movers and shakers. There are some considerable presentations, speeches, and panels taking place throughout this gargantuan building, but just like everything in Austin this week, to be sidetracked is to suffer. Focus on the music my friends, we're almost half-way...
Today's afternoon priority is to catch Danish heroes Kashmir at Antone's on 5th. Set times are, of course, different to what we had planned for, so there's some time to kill. Fortunately the much-hyped Nneka is playing as we enter, and it takes only seconds to realise what all the buzz is about. From Nigeria via Germany, she's petite, has a great voice, and has the sex appeal of a real-life Marie Desalle. As cruel fate would have it however, her set is coming to an end, but even after only hearing her soul-infused reggae for 10 minutes, there's enough smiles and head-nodding around the room to suggest that this woman is on the cusp of something great.
Enter stage left two random A & R guys who pounce on me (or more importantly my "press" badge) and 5 minutes later I find myself hussled into the street speaking to Kasper and Mads from Kashmir. As it turns out, the band are in town for only a couple of days, playing 4 shows over today and tomorrow. It's their first time playing in the USA since 2001 - they have been over here to record and mix music - and having come off the back of four sold-out shows in Mexico, they seem excited about flogging their wares to the masses.
Yes, I have this effect on Danish rock stars. Pure and utter boredom.
Their set is tight, but at only 20 minutes it seems a little forced and very rushed. With in-set talking limited to "Hello we're Kashmir from Denmark", it's almost a little disappointing to seem in this way. But that is the nature of the beast, day-time showcases whetting the appetites of punters to entice them back for their full shows. The band are clearly very accomplished and work well together (to be expected, they've been together for nearly 20 years) but it just doesn't fulfill my mid-afternoon rock quota.
Back at the Convention Centre, the Sounds Australia booth - charming folks, plug plug, who have organised most Aussie bands' presence at SXSW - are having a mini acoustic session, and we arrive to have a cup of Australian chardonnay and we catch Sydney native Via Tania play a mini set in the stall. Playing her serene, breathy music supported only by her ukelele, it's a bizarrely intimate moment, considering the harsh fluorescent lights that unflatteringly illuminate everyone in the room. She plays to a substantial amount of people (SPA's photographer Kane Hibberd is spotted on the floor with his novelty-sized camera), and when Paul Dempsey follows her at 4:30pm for a cheeky little set of his own, there are close to 30 people hovering around, sampling free wine (the pies had all gone), blocking the German booth across the way, and generally, well, blocking everyone else's way.
Our hirsute Hibberd and the lovely Via Tania, working as a team.
It's 5:30, and time for something a little different. On the other side of town London's NBT's (Next Big Things) the xx are playing at a museum. Or on a hill. Or something like that. Anyway it's free and it's different so we join the queue and wait our turn. Until that takes too long and we jump the fence. We're outside the French Legation Museum (where the French diplomats came when visiting Texas back in the day), enjoying the sunlight, when the band come on. However being a long way from the stage, and sitting on some very uncomfortable steps, things are not looking good. And given the band come on half an hour late to play their minimal tunes it's difficult to get too excited about what's going on. Grateful for the change of scene, but there are places to go and things to do, so it's time to bail.
8pm at BD Riley's on 6th St, and Japanese popsters Caucus are tuning up. The 5-piece, on their first ever tour of the USA, play their own brand of lush pop, and despite their cuteness, there is definitely an underlying You Am I-esque attitude present in the band. It's a little difficult to concentrate with College basketball screening on like eight televisions throughout the pub, but Caucus play a solid, undaunted set. There's a sizable crowd present, although determining who's here for the band, the basketball, or the beer is a little confusing. Not as confusing as what's going on outside though...
The sun has set. It's night time on 6th St, and maybe it's a full moon or some planets have collided or something, because shit has gone pear-shaped. In the middle of the street we find a 12-year old boy preaching Jesus through a megaphone, surrounded by chanting - and, dare I say, angry - liberal youths. Something about being told that we're all going to Hell because we listen to rock music by a child, while reading signs saying God loves Cock, seems a little weird. Clearly I must be on my own though, considering the man next to me WITH A 10-FOOT LONG SNAKE AROUND HIS NECK doesn't seem to mind. So when two dozen Japanese teenagers in matching uniforms run and skip through the whole scene banging drums and supported by aging gangsters with Free Hugs signs, I find myself wondering what exactly is happening. Now I'm not passing judgement on any of these people, it is SXSW after all, but wow. W.O.W.
Melbourne band Love of Diagrams are at the top of their game these days, and even though they're performing Friday with Japandroids at the Levi's Fader Fort Party (1.30pm, FYI) and also at Saturday's Aussie B-B-Q @ Maggie Mae's, we'll jump the gun and shout from the rooftop that they are freaking sa-weet! Having only seen them once before, at Meredith Music Festival circa about 4-5 years ago, I wasn't expecting great things. However this set, performed in front the biggest crowd I've seen an Australian band play to thus far, is very solid. There is a terrible crackling emanating from the speakers, but this crowded rooftop bar is no doubt impressed. Watch this space.
At 10pm, over at Emo's, Oakland CA's Rogue Wave are ready to make (I hate to do it) waves. Perhaps it's something about the proximity of the Pacific Ocean that gives a certain sound, but west-coast pop never tasted so good. With a majority of the indie folk on the other side of town checking out M Ward & Zooey Deschanel's She & Him, the crowd is manageable but solid, so with the melody-driven pop of the five-piece providing the aural backdrop, heads bop and feet shuffle for the full 45 minutes.
Having witnessed the meteoric rise of Melbourne's the Temper Trap from overseas during the last couple of years, it is with great expectations and questions that I approach the Lustre Pearl, a badge-only venue on the south side of town. Can this band really deliver live? Will their snub of the official Australian showcases affect their egos (a la Wolfmother circa mid-noughties)? Will I be able to find the place?
My friends. This is the highlight. They fucking rock. The band's extremely danceable pop is unstoppable, and with one glance across the crowd, it's easy to tell that people are having a damn good time here. The past 12 months - beginning with SXSW '09 - have seen TTT's stock soar, playing sold out shows in Australia, UK, Europe and the States, high profile television slots, and releasing their ARIA-nominated Sweet Dispositions album to huge commercial and critical success. There is a sense of completeness present, with the band having now come full circle back to SXSW '10. They're grateful, we're grateful, and damn. Sooooo good. Playing Friday in the afternoon with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ the Filter Magazine Showdown and bouncing their way around the world over the next few months, this star burns brightly in the southern sky.
TTT Kicking it Melbourne-Styleee
Of course, a bump into Ana from Crucial Music is inevitable, and there she is. We drop a couple of fivers to the pedicab driver and hop back into town. Up Red River Rd to Elysium, where the Crystal Method are about to drop a DJ set of epic proportions. A long but fast-moving queue cannot dampen our spirits, and we join my main man Bunny Brown for an hour of bootie-shaking mayhem.
A sign of a good DJ is that he/she/they can make you feel like you're high on drugs, when realistically the the closest you've come to that is being insulted by a 12-year old with a penchant for religion. The Crystal Method (TCM to their mums) have exactly this effect. Their predictable 1 -2 - 1-2-3-4 build-ups are a little cheesy, but they've been doing this thing for 17 years now, and are in no mood to slow it down. And even if the fact that there are two 40-year old men with beer guts on stage pulling the strings is a little unnerving, there is no stopping the juggernaut, and it's all over much-too-quickly.
The final stop on this Thursday evening is Prague on 5th St, where The BellRays are ready to explode. The California natives are a little late getting on stage, but jump straight into their high-energy, balls-to-the-wall rock'n'roll. Singer Lisa Kekaula is on form, her stage presence undeniable, especially in the small underground bar. However a faulty microphone takes its toll, and she is clearly pissed about the situation. The rest of the band is on song, but this is Kekaula's band, and if she's upset, it's hard to hide it. The BellRays still rock out, but there's too much disappointment for this to be a truly great show.
And that's a wrap. Good times, great music. A Melbourne/LA vibe coming through this evening's festivities, and that snake. My God that snake.
In other news, after much will-they-won't-they talk, Muse have officially been announced for Friday night @ Stubb's, but with every man and his dog trying to get in, the question has to be asked: Would it really be worth it?
Tomorrow is Friday, we've reached the halfway point. If we've been mid-week thus far, bring on the weekend. Bring it on BIG.
