As of this week, twenty-eight years have passed since the very first South By Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference took place in Austin, Texas. A lot has changed since then; massive growth, corporate influence and marketing dollars, and the evolution of the festival from a fairly underground industry event to a vital influencer of mainstream culture. This year those factors weighed on SXSW more heavily than ever before, amplified tenfold by a senseless tragedy that took the lives of three people and injured twenty-two. From the outside it’s easy to view SXSW only in the negative context and write it off as one more “used to be cool” event that’s grown too big for its britches. However, if you were on the ground each day and focusing on discovering new music from around the world, there were bountiful experiences to be had.
In the eight years I have attended SXSW, 2014 was easily one of best in terms of quality music. Admittedly, I take pride at this point in being able to plan my schedule out wisely, but I can honestly say that out of the fifty or so bands I caught throughout the week, I was not fully disappointed once. That being said, I’ve chosen ten bands – some more well known than others – that I found truly impressive at this year’s SXSW.
The Hold Steady
Four years have passed since The Hold Steady last released an album (2010’s Heaven is Whenever), but now the Brooklyn band is back with one of their finest works to date, Teeth Dreams, an album that I can assure even the most die-hard fan is well worth the wait. In support of the new album, the band hit SXSW with a bang this year, playing a handful of high-profile gigs around Austin. I was lucky enough to catch one of band’s first SXSW gigs at a parking lot party for an Austin ad agency. Taking the time to reconfigure their sound and reenergize as a band clearly paid off for The Hold Steady, and when they took the stage both band and crowd were ready to rock. Despite a smaller audience due to a downpour that began right at the beginning of their set, lead singer Craig Finn and the rest of the band put everything they had into a raucous performance featuring new tunes like “Spinners” and “Almost Everything” as well as fan favorites like “Sequestered in Memphis” and “Your Little Hoodrat Friend.” Though the departure of keyboardist Franz Nicolay certainly changes the signature piano-driven sound of the Hold Steady, the performance I witnessed was all the evidence I needed that Craig Finn and company are rocking just as hard as ever.
Promised Land Sound
These Nashville boys don’t look much older than 21, yet they play their own style of countrified Americana that isn’t necessarily what you’d expect from a band so young. In the live setting the members of Promised Land Sound sounded equally as fresh and exciting as they do on their album. If the Byrds, Gram Parsons and The Jayhawks started a garage band it would be Promised Land Sound.
St. Paul and the Broken Bones
I have never seen a club fill up as fast as the Tap Room did just minutes before the up-and-coming Alabama band St. Paul and the Broken Bones took the stage. The unassuming musicians in the Broken Bones were on point in their delivery and funky grooves while frontman Paul Janeway rid the entire audience of their demons with his soulful crooning and sermon-like approach to handling a crowd. It’s no wonder that St. Paul and the Broken Bones have received so much hype, because much like their peers the Alabama Shakes, they deserve it.
Steelism
Considering that there’s no instrument I love more than a pedal steel guitar, I had a strong feeling that I would enjoy this band based on their name alone. Previously, I had seen these Nashville-based musicians perform as the backing band for up-and-coming Americana acts Andrew Combs and Caitlin Rose. However, seeing Steelism perform under their own moniker was a whole different experience, and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Guitarist Jeremy Fetzer and pedal steel player Spencer Cullum Jr. have an intimate understanding of each other’s musical ability, which they use to produce a dynamic, textured sound. The highlight of Steelism’s set came when they nailed down creative renditions of the instrumental surf rock classic “Apache” and the theme song.
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages
I challenge you to find a soul on this earth who can’t get down to the rollicking boogie of Boston band Barrence Whitfield & the Savages. Between hard-charging garage rock riffs, sleazy in-your-face sax playing, and the soulful yet punk-esque vocals of Barrence Whitfield, this band is irresistible. Though their set at the Bloodshot Records BBQ was short, Barrence Whitfield & the Savages managed to instigate the roller coaster energy of a full rock ‘n roll show only to close it out by commanding every member of the crowd to wave their hands wildly in the air.
The Black Lips
These Atlanta tricksters have come a long way from the days of urinating and vomiting onstage and just being rabble-rousing rockers. That being said, they are still the Black Lips. The band’s taste for mischief and debauchery was evident when, shortly into their set at Jo’s, they couldn’t help but loudly comment, “Hey boys! We’re in MILF country!” Joints were raised and whiskey chugged as the Lips blasted through a set of jangly psychedelic garage rock. In the past the band has been known for sloppy, uproarious performances that often become one drunken rock ‘n roll mess. Judging by the sheer amount of shows they played at SXSW and the tightness of their performance at Jo’s on Friday, it was clear that the Black Lips came to Austin to kick ass and take names, and they were easily one of the best acts I caught at SXSW.
Greyhounds
Consisting of guitarist Andrew Trube and organist Anthony Farrell, this Austin-based duo is doing big things in 2014 and their Saturday afternoon show was only a taste of the honest, enlightening music we can expect from these two. Playing with local drummer Jonny Radelat (best known as a member of Gary Clark Jr.’s band), the Greyhounds’ funk-driven, down-home soul music was the perfect anecdote for the hungover crowd. Trube and Farrell have a natural, brotherly chemistry onstage that shows in the way they effortlessly bounce jams off each other and never lose their grove. I’m looking forward to seeing much more of these guys in the coming years.
Shinyribs
“Everyone has a favorite root vegetable. This is a song about root vegetables,” said Kevin Russell shortly into the Shinyribs set on Saturday afternoon. There really isn’t anything not to love about this Austin band. Fronted by the always jovial Kevin Russell of local legends The Gourds, Shinyribs is about having the best time possible. While Russell often describes Shinyribs as a variation of swamp boogie, to me their sound is best described as real Austin music. Onstage under the tent at Dog & Duck the band played a short set of fun tunes that veered into laid back humor and kept the crowd dancingly joyfully along to the music. The set culminated when the band returned to the stage for an encore and jumped into their own Austin-style rendition of Ginuwine’s R&B hit and strip club favorite “Pony” before Russell jumped off the stage and led a conga line with every women in the crowd.
The Felice Brothers
In this day and age when music lovers are perpetually overwhelmed by no-talent pop acts claiming to make folk and bluegrass music (Ho Hey, anyone?) the Felice Brothers are that rare act that has always been straight up and has never watered down their sound for the masses. The use of fiddle and accordion may strike some as odd and may seem more fitting for a Cajun band, but with the Felice Brothers those instruments are the foundation of their country-folk sound. It’s been a good while since the Brothers have all toured together consistently, but their performance at the Heartbreaker Banquet proved that they are ready to show the world that authentic bands still do exist.
J.Roddy Walston and the Business
These guys released one of the best albums of 2013, Essential Tremors (ATO), and since then they have been tearing up the country on a rock ‘n roll rampage. As frontman and piano player, J. Roddy Walston is like a young long haired Jerry Lee Lewis. Onstage at Willie’s ranch Walston and his band injected great balls of fire into their performance, never giving the audience more than a second to catch their breath between each song. The beauty of the Business and their onstage persona is in their ability to crank out the jams while tapping into a similar vein of raw, Southern rock reminiscent of early Kings of Leon albums, except even better because the centerpiece is a piano-playing madman!
Felice Bros, J Roddy Walston and Black Lips photos by Arthur VanRooy
