Wednesday morning dawns overcast and humid in downtown Austin. After 36 hours of stressing and running errands like a madwoman, I am finally here. I head to the convention center and pick up my wristband (priority passes that basically allow you into venues before the general public) and get my camera tagged for the press sanctioned areas at venues. Its official- I am official. SXSW Music 2011 had begun.
After looking for decent coffee (a necessity in the coming days), I get into one of the first of many queues for the week. I want a wristband for a specific venue and without it I won’t be able to get in, even with my general wristband. I am blocks away from the venue and a security guard confirms my suspicions – there is absolutely NO way I am getting a venue wristband, as I showed up too late. I try again with another venue and am denied again. So far, SXSW has already shunned me twice, but I tried not to let it spoil my day.
I wander downtown Austin a bit and get an idea of the general venue layout. With over 90+ venues spread out across multiple square miles, I know that I need to make a plan for the next few days. Heading back to the apartment that I am sharing with other industry people for the week, I start looking at the schedule and fleshing things out a bit. I leave early to head back across the river and back into the mayhem.
At 6 pm, the streets are packed. The fourteen venues along the Red River corridor are sporting queues for both badge/wristband holders and the general public, who are more than willing to shell out some significant cash at each separate venue to see a glimpse of the action. I grab some barbeque and stand in line at Mohawk, the furthest venue up Red River, and home to two stages, one indoor and one outdoor. At 7:45, the doors were opened and security was out in full force. After getting my camera gear inspected, I was let into the small, intimate venue that would be home for the night to some of the best electronica that I have ever heard. It would be the first of many venues I visit tonight, but a great place to start out. The indoor stage is small, low to the ground, and there was a small crowd of people milling about as the first act queues up his laptop and starts mixing his beats, kicking off the night in style.
Up first was Sodapop, the playful moniker of Anticon Records’ label manager Shaun Koplow’s DJ persona. Mixing everything from San Francisco underground rap to electropop of today, Sodapop basically curated a live, mixed version of Anticon’s general catalogue, including throwing in some new musical visions of his own. It’s clear that the label isn’t just his livelihood- it’s his passion and he knows it inside and out. With this bit of transparency, it was incredibly interesting to watch him shift from genre to genre, different styles with a fluidity of someone who knows the general electronic scene and wants to push those boundaries a little further that what we might expect. Throughout the night, Koplow would be spinning between the sets, a veritable palate cleanser with his general genre-bending sound. I plan on keeping my eyes peeled for this guy in the future, because the electonica genre is due for an overhaul and a revolution, and chances are that Koplow will be somewhere near the forefront.
Up next is a guy with a saxophone. Everyone looks confused, as this is an electronica showcase, but we go with it. Once he records and loops a few phrases, it all starts to make sense. It’s the genius of Asura and Anenon, a collaborative work of Ryan York and Brian Allen Simon. Brian Allen Simon, Anenon, is the founder and CEO of Non Projects and another visionary in the genre of experimental electronic composures, who is also multi-instrumental musician. The intricate loop of saxophone notes is then blended with piano and synth to create a hauntingly beautiful intro before drums and melodic vocals kick in to fill out the track and creates such a potent blend of ethereal tonations that it is sure to give you goosebumps. He continues along this vein, making the crowd sway and bop along with his beats, continuing to fill the room with sound. It’s like being dumped into a tank of noise- so many layers, so much complexity that it’s hard to keep track of it all. The resulting cohesive pieces are nothing short of vibrant musical imagery, passion in music form. It’s brilliant and bold and sets the standard for the night and gives me an idea of where he will take his fledgling label in the upcoming years.
Mixing the second half of this set is Asura, the creative alias of Ryan York. York has a background chock full of classical jazz, electronic, and modern classical education and experience and brings that to the table in his tracks. With an organic approach to his pieces, the simple sounds mixed in obscenely complex patterns take on a life of their own. Standing there, I felt like I was drowning amongst living, breathing beats, pops, and thumps. Live, he is dynamic, mixing completely improbable sounds. It’s mind-numbing and liberating all at once, a veritable experience of noise in its truest form. A favorite of mine was “Timber” featuring Ana Caravelle, another Non Projects composer, whose ghostly voice lends even more embodiment to the static, staccato base track being mixed by York.
The overall experience of these two was completely and utterly thought provoking and a little intense to be honest. I decided I needed a change of pace and wandered over to the Red Eyed Fly in attempt at catching Marques Toliver. I had heard through the grapevine that he was exceptional, and I wasn’t disappointed. Walking into the back of the packed venue, I could hear him crystal clear and all I could compare him to is Jason Mraz, but with a little more soul thrown in. Not only can this man belt it out with the best of them, he is incredibly vocally talented. He combines his amazing voice with lyrics that hit home with such a passion it makes your chest hurt. Playing songs off his upcoming debut EP, Butterflies Are Not Free, he captivated the crowd and myself with an intensity that was almost scary. If he keeps following the same path, guaranteed his songs will start showing up on wedding playlists and on popular television series here shortly. I only happened to catch a few songs towards the end of his set, but I am bound and determined to get my hands on the EP when it comes out to see what other soulful tunes lay in store for the masses.
After all of this electronica and soul, I wanted something a little different. Heading to Emo’s Annex, I caught the American Scarecrows set. I’m not much into folk rock at all, but they could probably change my mind on that. “Wild Hearts” is their first “single” off the still untitled upcoming debut album, and is downright brilliant. Along the same vein of Counting Crows with a tiny bit of folk and country thrown in, and you have this incredibly addictive band out of Burnsville, Minnesota. They were incredibly fun and brought out a healthy dose of talent- something I really wasn’t expecting from a band that is practically nonexistent on the internet. I am stoked to see what they bring out with on the debut, especially if the live sound was anything like their recorded sound. I could definitely see them playing Austin City Limits or Bumbershoot, possibly even Coachella in the next few years, and hope to see them next year at SXSW with a bigger fanbase.
Back at Red Eyed Fly, I managed to squeeze my way into the Summer Camp set. When it comes to lo-fi pop, they are probably one of my new favorite bands in the genre. Despite the technical difficulties, this adorably entertaining duo had the crowd singing and dancing along. Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey make up Summer Camp, with both of them doing a mix of vocals, and Jeremy playing the guitar, making the tracks simple and sweet. Vaguely reminiscent of Tennis and Spectral, if you’re into that vein. They were a perfect complement to the now slightly breezy, warm, almost summer night and I could tell that the festival was really finding its pace for the year. With their debut out this spring, their tracks “Ghost Train” and “I Want You” are both catchy and perfect for the upcoming summer season.
I decided to go a little more mainstream at this point and head down to ACL Live at the Moody Theater. I run and catch a pedicab across town (a godsend after wandering with 32 lbs of gear up and down Red River) to make it in time to catch DeVotchKa. Turns out the pedicab driver is a bass player in a band playing here at SXSW on Sunday night and invites me to come see them play (my flight leaves at 6 pm that evening). He gets me there just in time for me to make it into the photo pit before they come on.
If you’re like me, I never really got the hype around DeVotchKa. I could never really get into their tunes, could never really understand exactly WHY everyone claimed they were so great. I’m a connoisseur of gypsy styled music (I’ve seen Gogol Bordello a countless number of times), but just couldn’t seem to get into their sound. Seeing them live, I’m totally regretting not listening to them sooner. Celebrating the release of their fifth album, 100 Lovers, they rocked the Moody Theater. The Denver based band has been around for more than a decade and yet still hasn’t lost their touch- instead, it seems like they are gathering a bigger and better fanbase over the years and are still willing to adapt and change to meet the demands of the industry and their fans. With their success of the Little Miss Sunshine Soundtrack, for which they were nominated for a Grammy, they have finally found the time and funding to perfect their sound.
This was clearly apparent with their performance. They sounded polished, perfected, a little tighter than the last time I had listened to them (probably six years or so ago, when I first got into the gypsy scene), and seeing them live was damn near enlightening. They have put a lot of time and effort into making themselves who they are at this point. Live, they are a gypsy wedding band full of fun and contagious tunes and they not only bring forth a great sound, but some interesting elements to their live set. From acoustic bass to sousaphone, trumpet to accordion, viola to violin, Theremin to guitar- it’s all there. They are the proverbial gypsy band, through and through, especially with their extensive 2011 tour schedule booked. With a blend of Romani, Slavic, Greek, and Spanish influences, their folk cabaret style show is musically sound and visually appealing. They were the perfect opener for the night’s final act.
At 11:45 pm, the sound of bagpipes fills the Moody Theater. Flogging Molly comes out to a visibly excited crowd and plays one of the best live shows I have ever seen. If you’ve never seen Flogging Molly, you are sorely missing out. If you haven’t even heard of them, go Google them. I promise, I’ll wait.
With some of the best Celtic rock around these days, they kicked off St. Patrick’s day the right way. The crowd (drunkenly) sang along, the band really got into the show, and many of the photographers were dancing or singing along in the photo pit. The energy in the room was better than any other show I have ever seen, hands down. I have to say, the ACL Live stage was one of the better venues I got the privilege of shooting over the course of the week, and coupled with this amazing band, it was the proverbial perfect show. The lighting was amazing, the sound and acoustics were more than decent, and I had a blast. For an Irish girl to kick of St. Patrick’s Day with a Celtic rock band, I couldn’t have had a better first day. I had finally hit my festival stride and wasn’t quite ready to call it quits for the night.
Grabbing our gear, two other Seattle based rocktographers and myself trekked from the ACL theater all the back up to the Red River venue of Stubb’s in hopes of catching Duran Duran. However, the line was long and security told us that there was no way we were going to be able to get in to shoot. We stood around and listened for a bit (they actually were pretty amazing live) before heading back to our respective lodgings for the night.
Along the journey back you could hear the surrounding venues, clubs, and bars starting to celebrate the holiday. SXSW Music had just started and was nowhere near over.
(Look for the rest of my SXSW coverage coming soon!)
Find the artists here:
Anticon Records
Asura and Anenon
Ana Caravelle
Non Projects
Marques Toliver
American Scarecrows
Summer Camp
DeVotchKa
Flogging Molly
Duran Duran
SXSW
Check out more Day 1 photos here!
