That feeling is exactly why this is the best festival in country. You can find it in almost any corner of Austin because SXSW forces even the snobbiest aficionado into a complete state of surrender that inevitably leads to discovery and sentences like: “Yes! I will go with you to watch this Japanese punk band dressed like Teletubbies on LSD.” and “Good thing you ordered that extra shot of that two dollar tequila or we would have missed that band without pants.”
In conclusion, I went to bed at 4AM every night and woke up at 9AM to sit around a kitchen table in a weird house, drink shitty coffee, trade tales and write about yesterday with my friends. We spent between 12 and 14 hours a day walking around a great city, eating world famous BBQ and seeing an average of 18 bands per day. I caught a guitar player when he jumped off stage. I fist bumped James Petralli from White Denim and felt his genuine thanks for my appreciation. I had my mind changed about TV on the Radio by the band themselves. I stood in the middle of a mosh-pit and got demolished by a girl. I was hit with shrapnel while Deer Tick (Deervana) smashed their guitars to pieces. I was happily showered with a beer at 1AM by a Spanish stranger who was amped out of his mind during Mexican Institute of Sound.
[Mexican Institute of Sound @ Elysium, SXSW 2011]
I found out that sometimes it’s all about the bass player. I learned how to use twitter, which I’m still feeling a bit mixed about. I met what felt like hundreds of single-serving friends, who were all instantly nice, loved music and were as ecstatic about their experience as I was. And I’m still recovering from the whole ordeal.
My only regret is that I have developed a taste for what is possibly the worst rail tequila in the world (Cincuenta). Oh, and we never found Bill Murray.
My Picks: Dawes. White Denim. Dapuntobeat.The Mexican Sound Institute. Portugual. The Man. MSTRKRFT. Yelawolf. Givers.Trampled by Turtles. The New Mastersounds. A-Trak.
Jonathan Kosakow
Aside from music and writing, perhaps the only thing that truly excites me in this world is experiencing a new place. Austin, Texas has been on my list of “places to see” for years (other places I’ve yet to see but plan to go are: the Grand Canyon, the North Pole, and the firey depths of Hell), so when Conor proposed the idea of covering SXSW, I jumped at the chance.
The trip proved an opportunity to spend a week doing everything I wish I could spend every day of my life doing, which at this point is a lot to ask. I’d heard about Austin – music in every bar, world class BBQ, friendly faces and heat. In a way, I had a general idea of what to expect from the music: randomness, awesomeness and weirdness. It is also no secret that Kevin Smallwood is drawn like a fly to shit when it comes to terrible tequila, and I was cautiously aware of our impending proximity to the birth of that beautiful hell-beast. So, being that I am awful at planning ahead, and I am often disappointed because of my chronic over-enthusiasm, I went with only one expectation – I’d be tired at the end.
I’m a rock and roll man by nature. I love the way an electric guitar weeps in your ear and the way a kick drum punches you in the gut. You ever hear that guy in the crowd moan in ecstasy after a perfectly placed bass fill? That’s me. I don’t generally dance unless Mike Gordon is on stage, and only then because I can’t physically control myself. I know this about myself. But the point of SXSW is to be surprised.
I knew I could see Widespread Panic on their next tour, so I skipped that show. And I knew I probably wouldn’t pay much to see a DJ play The Fox on a Wednesday night. I decided to do in Austin what I wouldn’t do at home. But still, even I was a little surprised when I heard myself telling friends last week that two of my favorite shows were Mexican Institute of Sound and MSTRKRFT. But that’s the point of SXSW: to be surprised.
If you left SXSW and you weren’t completely blown away by something new, you did something wrong. Equally, if you left SXSW and you loved everything, you definitely did something wrong as there were some seriously awful bands at this thing. But again, that’s the beauty of it: you stumble upon the best parts completely by accident. Also, you should be half deaf, your neck should be burnt to a crisp, and your feet should beg you to just stop walking already.
If you need a summary, here it is – SXSW’s Music portion is five days of nonstop life. You are surrounded by people at every moment, and as you walk half a block down 6th Street, your ears flood with the combination of every type of music you could imagine. An electronic dance party at lunch, punk rock from a rooftop at dinnertime, hip-hop in a dark bar at midnight and an Elton John singalong in a cab around 3am. It’s too much for your brain to process in the moment, and it has taken me about two weeks to partially comprehend exactly what happened. Do I sound like an advertisement yet?
This isn’t a festival for someone who likes to be musically pleased at every moment, and it’s definitely not for the lazy and weak-willed. It is for those who like a good scavenger hunt, and who can find satisfaction in physical labor. If you come ready and willing to work, you’ll leave with a full belly. I’m happy I was ready for it.
My Picks: Mexican Institute of Sound, White Denim, Portugal. The Man, The Joy Formidable, Dapuntobeat, Trampled by Turtles, Deervana, TV on the Radio, MSTRKRFT, Morning Teleportation
Conor’s SXSW Scavenger Hunt Wrap Up
For those of you who followed our scavenger hunt, you may have noticed that we knocked about half of the items off of our list. What we really found is that no checklist could have predicted what we saw, heard and ingested in Austin.
Here are a few of the items we couldn’t get to and the reasons why…
Find a stranger to shotgun a Lonestar with
[Lone Star Pounder]
What we didn’t realize about this challenge is that the word “stranger” doesn’t exist in Austin. People are your friends before you can even get the car key through the thin aluminium siding of a 12 oz. can.
Find Pinetop Perkins
[Blues great, the late Pinetop Perkins]
Blues piano legend Pinetop Perkins was on our list because he lived in Austin. Pinetop died in his home one day after we left town this year. We were lucky enough to see Pinetop sit in with the Nuno’s house blues band in Austin when we visited in 2008. It was a spectacular performance by an original bluesman and we won’t ever forget it.
Participate in the Safety Dance
We missed Men Without Hats’ set but that doesn’t mean we didn’t safety dance our asses off every time they got mentioned, which was actually not very often. It’s kind of a stupid dance anyway, right? You just jerk your body into an S-shape. It’s almost like a bunch of white Canadian dudes made it up…oh wait.
Find the drunkest dude at SXSW
The whole town is drunk for a full week. This category is null and void. Although if I had to guess, I’d say Jonathan Kosakow.
Group photo under the Mooseknuckle Pub
[Group photo under Mooseknuckle Pub]
My picks: Admiral Fallow, Mexican Institute of Sound, Raphael Saadiq, Kanye West, Dapuntobeat, The Antlers, The Givers, MSTRKRFT, Trampled by Turtles, Bo Bliz
2 Responses
I’ve been anxiously awaiting the wrap-up. I was not disappointed. You men can write, and from the descriptions, you can certainly hang with the best of’em. I’m way beyond the time when I could keep up with the scene you paint, but boy, do I love reading about it. And Jonathan, the fiery depths of hell??
Thanks Ginnster. I imagine the fiery depths of hell to be an interesting place… have you ever seen that movie Deconstructing Harry? I guess I just like the thought of Billy Crystal as the Devil.