With the explosion of Twitter in our everyday lives, it’s entirely possible to feel like the trip down to Austin for SXSW is unneccesary, because everybody down there live-tweeted the hell out of the past week. And if your aversion to foot pain, rampant dust, large crowds, and exhaustion outweighs the excitement of seeing 67 bands in four-and-a-half days, following the hardcore travelers’ exploits from an air-conditioned space is probably the right move. However, for the music-loving faithful, for whom over-stimulation is no problem, SXSW reaps plentiful benefits, regardless of whether or not you get into that secret Prince or Justin Timberlake show. (I did not.)
For all of the long lines and occasional displays of elitism, most everybody was down in Austin for the same reason: to see great music and this was a great opportunity to check out those bands whose names I’d only heard cursorily to see if they were worth the recommendations. Some were worthwhile (like The Coup and OBN IIIs) and others were not (like Mac DeMarco, Vietnam and Naomi Punk. Jesus.)
SXSW gives us a chance to see acts that rarely ever come through the area, either because they live in places like Ireland (Ash) and China (Carsick Cars) or because they’ve neglected or avoided D.C. on their tour stops. That is wherein I watched Thee Oh Sees from San Francisco three times in three days. To anyone who does not believe in the power of live music, might I recommend seeing Thee Oh Sees three times in three days? That alone was worth the trip down to Texas. Yes, I missed acts that I also wanted to see like Mykki Blanco and Big K.R.I.T., but I got to see the best live band in America—who will probably never return to D.C. after their 2009 show at the Black Cat. To recap that unfortunate night, some genius spit whiskey in singer/guitarist John Dwyer’s eye and an unfortunately high number of audience members did the standing still.
But DCist would not send me down to Austin to gorge on Lone Star and tacos if there wasn’t some benefit to you. As such, here are the sixteen* acts that I saw down in Austin that will be making their way up to the area in the next couple of months.
2009’s must-see buzz act and garage rock-resurgence forerunner seems to have calmed down (Nathan Williams has managed to keep the same band for at least two years, now and didn’t seem anywhere near as drunk as he did four years ago) and hit a comfortable groove with his gritty surf-rock tunes. But while the band is certainly competent, none of the songs were terribly memorable.
Wavves plays on April 13 at the Rock & Roll Hotel with Fidlar and Cheetahs. The show is sold out.
It probably goes without saying that this band was considerably better this year than when I saw them play while massively hungover last year. But in addition to not suffering from nausea and pounding headache, the aggressive surf-punk band with songs about not wanting to go to rehab and drinking cheap beer also have a year of touring at their back and that has helped them become a more dynamic presence.
Fidlar plays on April 13 at the Rock and Roll Hotel with Wavves and Cheetahs. The show is sold out.
Don’t let the weird name turn you away—this band is unbelievably fun. For one thing, they have four guitarists, and two of them will not hesitate to shred in the sort of Guitar God-style that had everyone raising and shaking their fingers. The Nashville band had so much fun, it was contagious. They jumped into the crowd, joked around pleasantly with the sound engineer and played the sorts of fast but full-bodied songs that made us remember why we loved bands like Titus Andronicus.
Diarrhea Planet plays on April 3 at Casa Fiesta.
I caught Bleached last year and promptly forgot about their songs, dismissing them as a less depressing but also less memorable version of Best Coast. However, the Clavin sisters have come into their own and the songs off of this year’s release, Ride Your Heart are a more solid collection of harmonies and sunny surf rock guitar that translated into truly enjoying their live show instead of yearning for the lost days of their previous band, Mika Miko.
Bleached plays on April 18 at DC9 with Hunters and Priests.
Prior to their set, the drummer from one of the other bands on the lineup referred to Allah-Las as the most aesthetically pleasing band she’d ever seen. The other woman privy to that recommendation took one look at the band, and nudged me, quipping, “Aesthetically pleasing…got it.” However, I think the drummer was referring more to the low sultry vocals and the lovely but contained late sixties’ psychedelia of their guitar riffs. It didn’t make for a very exciting set, but their recorded tracks are sexy and haunting.
Allah-Las play on April 6 at the Black Cat with the Black Angels and Elephant Stone.
Hearing that Thurston Moore is leading a project immediately gives it an automatic stamp of approval, but Chelsea Light Moving isn’t like a watered down Sonic Youth. “Sleep Where I Fall” sounds like it could’ve been a lost track from Rather Ripped, but many of these songs are considerably heavier and sludgier, drawing more from metal than from the noise from whence Moore came. Everyone was already sold by the time they ended with excellent shouty old punk-sounding “No Go.”
Chelsea Light Moving plays on April 4 at the Black Cat.
In the middle of the morass of untested buzz bands, it can be refreshing to see a pop act who has already proven her mettle on the stage. Solange performed choreographed dance moves with her backing band, blew the audience away with her songs off of True and even pulled out her slowed down and funked out cover of Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness Is the Move.” I was legitimately moved and the rest of the crowd was also caught in her glow.
Solange plays on May 11 at the Sweetlife Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Before starting their set with a Guns ‘n’ Roses cover, Pissed Jeans singer Matt Korvette told the audience that the Foo Fighters would be playing a set down the street with David Bowie and that we still had time to leave. He was sort of accurate on that account—Dave Grohl did play a four-hour set with a litany of special guests that were not Bowie, but staying to see Pissed Jeans’ set (which Korvette warned would be the wrong choice) was a very good decision in a week where it’s very easy to retroactively regret concert choices. The fury of their set was only matched by how much fun they were having.
Pissed Jeans plays on April 12 at the Black Cat with White Lung.
Every year someone or another sets up shows on a bridge off the beaten path after all the official shows end, which due to city sound ordinances, inevitably get shut down by the cops. Before the police arrived, Parquet Courts burned through some of the highlights from Light Up Gold at breakneck pace to a hefty group of raucous viewers. However, I got the impression that these viewers were being raucous solely for rowdiness sake. The vocals went out during “Master of My Craft” and unlike our local crowd, the wild moshers didn’t know to yell out any of the words. So, congrats, D.C., we were more well-informed and while dancing like epileptics, actually knew that “Socrates died in the fucking gutter.”
Parquet Courts plays on May 25 at the Black Cat with Total Control and UV Race.
“Last time I was at South By…it was like an eight. But I’m doing bigger and better things, so let’s take it to a 12.” Lamar has been coming to Austin for SXSW for the past few years but off the strength of good kid, m.A.A.d. city, (which a few of us put as our favorite album of 2012), he rose to one of the must-see acts of the festival. He didn’t disappoint. He was filled with energy and had the entirety of Stubb’s throwing three fingers in the air as he bounced across the stage.
Kendrick Lamar plays on May 11 at the Sweetlife Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
You might recognize the name Mikal Cronin, because he plays bass with the inescapable Ty Segall. Segall wasn’t present as Cronin’s rhythm guitarist this year, but he was still very much a hot ticket act. He played a lot of songs from his upcoming album, MCII, which are pounding rock songs, but often focusing less on the hardcore influence and more on the melodies.
Mikal Cronin plays on June 21 at Comet Ping Pong.
Nobody can deny Marnie Stern’s considerable talent on guitar, but plenty of people can deny that she’s a live act worth seeing. On previous visits to D.C., she has noticeably skipped the sound check and talked at length about her lady bits while giving us plenty of virtuosity but not much in the way of songs. Guess what, folks—she finally has songs. This is the best Marnie Stern set I’ve seen and the first show of hers where I can recall things like sing-a-longs and memorable tracks that remained in my brain after the set ended.
Marnie Stern plays on May 9 at Black Cat.
This was one of the happiest accidents of the whole festival. The rousing voice of Faye O’Rourke ensnared me upon entry with its classically beautiful tone. Then the rest of the band kicked in their own voices for five part harmonies reminiscent of Chicago. The songs were haunting and occasionally mournful but extremely full-formed, recalling other American bands from the ’70s like Fleetwood Mac and CSNY. Then I overheard that none of them are older than 21 and had been performing together since they were rather young teenagers and was even more impressed.
Little Green Cars play on March 20 at DC9.
Thao Nguyen has long since shown that she can rock out with the best of them, often by sheer force of will. However, she’s expanded her repertoire to include not just sharp lyricism, but a rack of stringed instruments ranging from banjo to mandolin to slide guitar all of which she plays admirably well. Get Down Stay Down is possibly the worst band name ever but that’s exactly what Thao and her band did. With cowboy boots a-marching and a synchronized hand clapping, Thao brought down the house with songs like “When We Swam” (and an impromptu Ludacris cover), a feat particularly difficult to achieve at 1:30 a.m.
Thao and the Get Down Stay Down play on March 20 at the Black Cat.
METZ probably wins the award for sweatiest band of the festival. Yeah, it was over 80 degrees at the outdoor stage at Mohawk, but singer/guitarist Alex Edkins worked up his sweat. He dove around the stage, turning beet red as he screamed into the microphone as if he still had not exorcised all his demons four days into the festival. This was the best set of hardcore I saw all week by virtue of the actual songs, rather than the impressive aeronautics of the crowd.
METZ play on April 18 at Rock & Roll Hotel.
Is it shocking that I’ve never seen Frightened Rabbit? Maybe not, since they sell out every show they ever play in the area. I often hear them lumped in with other loud Scottish bands like We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad, but it seemed that Frightened Rabbit focused less on dynamics and more on the melodies that powered the loud songs. The biggest problem with the set was that it started roughly 20 minutes late and I didn’t get to see more. C’mon guys, how hard is it to set up after a dude that only has to break down a sampler and a MacBook Pro?
Frightened Rabbit play on April 7 at 9:30 Club with Wintersleep. The show is sold out.
Admittedly, they had the unenviable job of playing before Thee Oh Sees, but they also had the misfortune of being a lackluster act. Noisy swirling guitars is usually a winner for me, but the sound was stagnant and the show was apparently only awesome if you were a part of the “crucial pit” that developed in front of the stage. I was not in the “crucial pit.”
Destruction Unit play on June 18 at DC9 with Merchandise and Milk Music.
*Local acts America Hearts, Bella Russia, Shark Week and Kid Congo Powers and the Pink Monkey Birds also have upcoming shows in the area, but I saw them all at a show that I helped organize.
