Urban Outfitters

Mississippi’s Colour Revolt kicked Saturday off playing to a crowd that made sure to make it just for them. They were heavy on guitars, heavy on shouts, and heavy on intense, driving rhythms in a Southern Rock vein.  It wasn’t music blinded by rage, it was lyrically smart and aggressive all at the same time.  They were definitely a nice addition to the day’s lineup.

I was glad to see the highly recommended Sian Alice Group because I missed them once before. Lush orchestral compositions featuring Sian Alice’s voice at the center resulted in a collaborative vibe that made me feel as if I was witnessing an event rather than a rote performance of a set list.  The drums were often enhanced with mallets or shakers to create a tribal sounding beat with a soft melody glaze on top.  Overall, it was very pretty and enveloping. 

With a name like Holy Fuck you might expect something other than an improvisational, electronic group.  Two drum kits and a table full of synths and pedals created a spontaneous collection of danceable noise that was totally impressive.  Their set was almost entirely instrumental (technically, there were two songs with blown-out vocals) but with enough blips and glitches to keep things space-modern.  Occasionally their arrangements creeped into a funk place but then quickly moved into whooshing builds and “Body Movin” beats.  This group was a surprise hit for me.

It’s hard to believe Plants and Animals aren’t U.S. of A-ers, what with all their twang and 70’s inspired/alt-country indie rock.  I knew I already liked this group of Canadians, but I didn’t know how much until I saw them at the in-store.  Lead singer Warren Spicer’s croon is capable of channeling Dylan or Petty. Choruses sung by all three members elevate and change up the pace of songs, going from fast and loud to soft.  The vocal agility of all three members is clear in these change-ups.  The one wish I have is that their recordings encapsulated the life and freshness that was showcased in their performance. 

I love the Radar Bros. I’ve loved them for years and years. Like, a really long time.  Which is why I’m thrilled they updated their sound for 2008.  They’ve pressed ahead, leaving their older, ultra quiet, wide-open prairie soundtrack behind in favor of more obvious and up-front pop songs.  It’s a welcome change, and one that became even more apparent when they threw in oldie-but-goodie “Rock of the Lake” from a previous release.  Love you, Radar Bros!

Murs got real. No shuttershades or bling, from his place on stage he just talked to people about life. This longtime underground rapper and producer was a great ending to a tiring but amazing few days.  SXSW 2008 was a BASH!  Thanks to the Austin store friends who made everything happen, and to Dryw for setting up such a delicious smorgasbord of talent.

Though I was feeling a bit tired from the previous nite, I was excited to experience today’s lineup.  It was expected to be out of control and did not disappoint. Port O’Brien was a good way to ease into the day; Van Pierszalowski’s singing had a comforting, warm and personal touch. His voice struck me as sounding like a young Jeff Tweedy before all the cigarettes.  Everything wasn’t all downbeat; their songs were punctuated with boy-girl unison shouts.  All in all, Port O’Brien was a pleasant mix of alt-country and acoustic folk. 

Le Loup’s many members (seven of ‘em in all) drew a nice crowd to check out their fun, glitchy space pop in all its handclap glory.  They utilized all portions of the stage, while banging on the ground, mic stands, and playing other member’s instruments.  Begging a comparison to Arcade Fire’s live act, their dynamic arrangements utilized a not-so-ordinary French horn and banjo combination.  Overall, the band came off as a group of good friends who could double as a traveling choir.  In fact, ring-leading main vocalist Aaron Estes got off stage and faced his band, like an orchestra’s director, as they explored different noises and sounds to add more diversity to their creative bombast.

Bodies of Water – Secretly Canadian holds a special place in my heart, and this member of their roster only adds to my fondness.  Soaring choral hymns lifted up the audience backed by dual drum kits, creating a rich sound that reminds me of the soundtrack for galloping into the sunset or the end credits of one of the Kill Bill volumes.

This afternoon we were saved yet again by the Ice Cream Man in his Yaris mobile, the building crowd all had an ice-creamy treat to chill them out a bit in the 90-degree heat. 

Even in all that heat, YACHT (above) was able to make it to their time slot to really kick things up a notch.  Jona performed with Clair, his co-conspirator on many projects, making music that was tech-pop fun with laid back vocals.  Hilarious and energetic, he started every song with his backing track and jumped up and around, into the crowd, getting people all riled up as they kept pouring in. 

MGMT was amazing, but stating that’s a little like preaching to the choir.  Within a matter of 30 minutes after YACHT’s set, our outdoor performance space was maxed out. Some were shut out, so they lined the fences around our event, climbing trees to see in.  There were technical difficulties that delayed the show that, combined with the heat, prompted some heckling from the audience. All was not lost though, when the ultra-cool crew finally strolled out to the stage and began the first lines of “Weekend Wars”, a Ziggy Stardust-like, out-of-this-world tune.  Their innate coolness was only reaffirmed by the large amount of media that came out to cover them and the wild response they got from their fans. Displaying a bit of the spirited prankster after the first song, lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden turned to the audience, waved, and pretended like they were done for the day.  The show could have gone in any direction, which was kind of like their music.  It was hard to pin down, because their post-modern stylings drew from plenty of influences.

Despite some early, sloppy mistakes with drums and faltering transitions, once they got things rolling it was clear that they possessed pure talent. Their ironic hit ballad about dating models and doing drugs, “Time to Pretend,” came next as it slipped into a cacophony of noise and then emerged again with a melody into the next song.  They were all over the place, moving effortlessly from disco dance to psych pop, and even saying they would play a “Brooklyn Noise” set for the remainder of the show.  Everyone was wondering, because they actually did freak out with it for a bit, finally finishing their noise jam with some beautiful Free Jazz.  The ultimate trip was a quick stop out of that breakdown followed by a seamless transition into “Electric Feel”.  VanWyngarden jumped off stage calling for their sound guy to “Turn it up!” that made people dance even more.  The guys were great, staying after for photos and acting like the true rock stars that they are.

After MGMT wrapped, Walter Meego played a solid but brief set. By no fault of their own, everyone was pleasantly beat from MGMT.  Main member Justin Sconza joined two other backing members to engage in some sophisticated knob twisting and melodic electronic meanderings. 

Our Outback 2008 sessions start with a solid line-up of some of the most notable up and coming anti/nu folk-leaning, tub thumping, Appalachia meets LA type of music.  The Austin store is a great location and the employees are awesome.  The backyard where all the performances are going down kind of feels like your cool friend’s place who knows everybody and has his friends over to play for fun.

The Bowerbirds started things off with tinkling indie-folk with a front-and-forward ecological slant.  They’re not so much patchouli and Birkenstocks as much as 50’s Airstream Trailer cool (two members live in such a spot) with an organic edge.

Emmy the Great is the namesake of Emmy Lee-Moss, a UK singer-songwriter continued the day with her good looks and good voice.  Her self-proclaimed anti-folk sensibility comes off sweet, adorable, and somewhat innocent.

The crowd continued to build for Lightspeed Champion, the dapper Devonte Hynes, who was accompanied by only a violinist.  Forget about Test Icicles, his abrasive former project, Lightspeed Champion is about acoustic, “Blackbird” style pick-work and straight-forward topics peppered with power pop croons.  With tongue in cheek, he reduced the subject of each song in its introduction ("This song is about Hip Hop,” or “This song is about Prostitutes").  All in all his look and style resonated with everyone there and came off even more impressively than what he’d recorded on his latest CD.

Meanwhile, the Yaris Ice Cream Man came by, delivering free ice cream sammiches and a variety of treats to save us from the sun.

Ola Podrida: Things mellowed out when this five-piece took the stage, playing sophisticated and organic nu-folk.  Pretty rhythms and adept playing picked up the pace and kept things interesting.  David Wingo’s voice is comforting in a way that could lull you to sleep or get you worked up.  Their performance picked up steam throughout the set then ended softly with a hush and a whisper.

Evangelicals aren’t scary like you might think from their name.  Their songs are pretty spooky, but in a Halloween skeleton-popping-out-of-the-closet kind of way.  They’re from Oklahoma and they mix their Midwestern drawl with a gypsy/hippie quality complete with rings, multiple necklaces, and scarves on their mic stands.  The lead singer Josh Jones distorts his voice to mimic ghosts, singing about the occult with a strong backing band that rocks pretty hard (1, 2, 3, 4! shouts occur prior to most songs).  Though this performance was during the day, J. Jones assured the crowd that after dark these songs were even strangerrr.... It was a scary good time.

So I made it to Texas, sat next to Dan Deacon on the plane, met up with the home office Urban crew, went to Party Barn (a drive-thru beer emporium!), and hit the HQ of Whole Foods where I swear we saw Dave Grohl.  A nice way to start the festivities here, the largest concentration of tight jeans and extreme haircuts I’ve ever seen. Hipster Spring Break, etc., etc.

Thanks to the UO/Yaris/Free Yr Radio event last night, SXSW 2k8 music portion has kicked off in full-force. A huge mass of darlings, babes, and fellas came out ready to get crazy courtesy of DJ Dave P, Times New Viking, Yeasayer, and Simian Mobile Disco.  La Zona Rosa was the perfect setting to start things off down in Texas - the venue has a typical Southwestern facade, making us all feel like we really hit Austin in earnest.

Dave P brought the Philly hometown DANCE with his prog-rock, electronica-buzzed, crazysexyfuturelovesounds for sets in-between bands. He describes it as: “cocainesexjamspartytrainanthemsbeautifulrainbowssparklemotionnitemusicbangers”. I’ll add that a “cocainesexjam” sounds kind of like robots dancing at the bottom of the sea to House music off of Kitsune’s latest release. Now you understand.

Times New Viking (above) were the first band to play the main stage. Their brand of thrashing art punk is more basement dank than that other well-known and over-produced group of “art schoolers” (YYY’s - love you Karen O). As everyone mentions, TNV’s fresh contract with Matador hasn’t slowed their house-show/lo-fi joie de vivre. Their show was explosive; power pop with a grating punk aesthetic layered on top and an edge of throwback Malkmus vocals/guitars that gives it automatic cred. Pretty good, right?

Yeasayer drew a huge crowd, and for good reason.  Believe every bit of hype and go see them ASAP.  They started slow, letting people catch their breath as they poured gauzy landscapes in layers over the audience.  They ratcheted up some shoegaze with a “World Music” gospel hallelujah quality.  Lead singer Chris Keating literally tossed himself around the stage with the music, convulsing and straining.  There was a religious-like feel to their music, and their lyrics (doomsday in “2080”) definitely warrant the kind of dramatic cleansing rituals that Keating seemed to be performing on himself last night. 

Simian Mobile Disco exploded the dance floor, as they tend to do. They pounded, swirled and looped their electric beats, not stopping until you lost your shit (seriously, I saw a cell phone on the ground. Did somebody lose one?) Everyone got down to “Hustler,” the type of song that manages to swim around in your head while you get out of your mind at these kind of times in a night of dancing, but still has enough blips and glitches to keep you moving (and to avoid some kind of Trance comparison).  The light show was amazing as well - some strobe, synched up light bars, etc.  They were the perfect end to a night that was just starting, getting us frantic and primed all at once.

Tommy B (that’s him with the Polaroid) won our Lomo contest back in August. He told us he was going to Austin by any means necessary to soak up the music and snap off some photos for us. You can check out his photos from the Simian Mobile Disco set here. 

Everyone, meet Beth. Beth works at our home office, she’s one of our fave people to work with, and she’s also 100% music obsessed.  Lucky for us, she’s going down to Austin tomorrow to hang out at our 3 days of store events, check out the zillion other SXSW gigs, and report back on the madness. Make sure to check back here Thursday thru Monday for her daily updates.