Another year and another South by Southwest experience. I believe this was my 8th in a row. I had a great time and got to spend some quality moments with great friends. But in the end its about the music and I saw plenty of it. The first day started out at The Austinist party at the Mohawk. Anni Rossi delivered an OK set and then Toro Y Moi really impressed me with his looped reverb drenched vocals and 80's/beachy synths. The song Blessa is always a jam. This guy is headed for bigger things.
We then proceeded outside and caught sets by The Besnard Lakes and White Denim. I'm not really big on the Lakes they bore me and I really dont see what the big deal is. But fellow texans White Denim blew my face off like they always do. I love this band. If you ever have the chanced to see them gather up some friends, drink some beers and get ready to pee your pants in excitement. This three-piece plays blistering rock shows almost without a second of pause. The songs melt into one another perfectly and alll three guys are great musicians. You can hear, blues, punk and funk influences but they have a go for broke style that is all their own. Lead singer and guitarist James Petralli's voice is complex and powerful. He also has a great scream. I cant say enough about these guys. They're just a great cohesive band holding it down for Texas.
The night came and we started out at Stubb's to catch The Walkmen. I have been a fan of this band for a while and they are seasoned and extremely professional. It will only be a matter of time before lead singer Hamilton Leithauser loses his voice forever. He sings unbelievably loud and hard every show. They were accompanied by an 8 piece brass section which really enhanced the performance. Especially on songs like the beautiful Red Moon.
After this show we were gettin our buzz on and ready to party. Wednesday night happened to be a great night for hip-hop so we headed to Speakeasy to catch the Stones Throw Records showcase. We saw sets by J Rocc (who was a pleasant surprise spinning awesome soul and funk jams), Stones Throw founder Peanut Butter Wolf, and my favorite producer of all time Madlib. This show was packed and extremely fun. the set up was kind of wonky though with the stage/DJ booth right next to the bar. A great time was had by all.
The goal was to end the night at The Phoenix to see Flying Lotus. Mission accomplished. Flying lotus blew us all away with haunting futuristic beats and glitchy tripped out visual projections. It was a great show. He has great stage presence and converses with the audience well. I cant wait to see him again at Le Poisson Rouge on tuesday. about halfway through the show Flying Lotus cut off the beat and said "Yeah so all y'all can tweet Flying Lotus is killin shit right now." Thats about right. Highlights of the set were tracks like "Camel" and "melt" as well as remixes of Lil Wayne's "A Milli" and "I feel like dying." Fly Lo was also kind enough to give us a sneak listen to some new material. All in all. It was a great night.
here's a low quality video that will give you an idea of what the show was like
And that was my wednesday. SXSW is the best.
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