In 2011, the Music portion of SXSW was extended a day to cross over with the final day the interactive event. This now gives Film, Music and Interactive badge holders the opportunity to check out the wares of one and other, as the Interactive badges show their signs of fatigue, giving Music badges a glimpse into their own future.
We spent much of the afternoon back at the Sounds Australia booth, where the convention centre was given a taste of what the Australian music scene has to offer via the annual “Block Party”. Luluc kicked things off quietly, sounding beautiful and building an impressive crowd. Henry Wagons followed, a man who should be the permanent representative of Australian music in Texas, with his usual comical banter, great songs, and plenty of Southern American country/western fare.
Big Scary sounded as great as always, and then the two hour lineup ended in a massive way – the loud, raucous energy of hyped Brisbane kids DZ Deathrays, who cranked their sound up to eleven (literally), making it impossible to avoid their heavy sound through the entire venue. This prompted event organizers to come and ask DZ to end their set – though they waited until the end of their song – far from a scandal and only a song or two out from the end of their set. Ultimately, the band saw this as a victory for their goals at playing loud music with high levels of energy. Amen.
As day became night it was time to hang out with the interactive badges and enjoy the sweet sounds of the Media Temple Interactive closing party at Stubb’s, which last year was headlined by the one and only Foo Fighters. Tonight the event was kicked off with Scottish Alternative Rock group Twin Atlantic, making their fourth appearance at SXSW (but their first time playing the iconic Stubb’s). Single “Free” was amongst their set, which shined bright for the genre and was perfect for fans of bands like Jimmy Eat World.
English rock group Kasabian still have yet to find the sort of success they have in the UK and Australia in the US and some 15 years and four albums later they continue to push for their moment in the American limelight. With their latest record Velociraptor! to promote, tonight they gave a high energy show the 3,000 strong crowd at Stubb’s – which, though smaller than the shows they’re used to, was much of what we’ve come to know about the band from their appearances at Big Day Out. Highlights included the epic bass in “Switchblade Smiles”, “Re-Wired”, “Vlad the Impaler” and “Fire”, which closed out the show.
The secret guest of the show was M Ward, whose style of music (think Bright Eyes) was well embraced by the international crowd (it would be hard to call a SXSW crowd “Texan”). “Watch The Show” opened up proceedings, and an early highlight was found in beautiful cover of Daniel Johnson’s “Sweetheart”. The well established performer, who we’ve come to know recently through his She & Him collaboration with Zooey, was in town to promote his forthcoming record A Wasteland Companion.
Judging by the tracks tonight, these are rather somber songs, as the title of the album no doubt suggests. As such, with the exception of a Monsters of Folk track (“Whole Lotta’ Losing”) and a rousing cover of “Roll Over Beethoven” which ended the set, it was a bit of a lull between two high energy performances. Nonetheless a fantastic performance, and being my first time seeing the singer/songwriter, it was a pleasure to experience the live show, with a full band in tote. “Poison Cup” and “I Get Ideas” were additional highlights of the set.
Closing out the night was Sweden’s Miike Snow, whose elaborate stage set up – something like a space ship covered in keyboards – had been waiting patiently through the entire showcase. Miike were in town to promote the new record Happy To You, which had been released the same day as the Media Temple performance. Judging by the performance tonight, it’s a pretty killer record.
Emerging slightly late to starship lights and loud, ambient noise, new single “The Wave” kicked things off, ahead of another new track and “Funeral”, “Pretender” and “Sylvia”. Another new track seemed to sound a little like “The Only Living Boy In New York” by Simon & Garfunkel – a surprising source of inspiration. “Black & Blue” was another favourite to make the cut, in the crowd-pleasing set, with “Devil’s Work” and “Animal” closing out the night, following another new track which sounded a little like Vampire Weekend. I for one can’t wait to hear the new album and can’t wait to see them back in Australia. Believe me, they’ll be bringing one hell of a performance.
A great way to end the Interactive portion of the festival and get things rolling for us music badges! But naturally, as these things often go, things had barely gotten started yet… the best was certainly still to come…
