SXSW 2011 Austin, Texas, USA Day 1
4/5
By: Dan Monsell
[JAMES BROWN FROM PULLED APART BY HORSES @ RFB SXSW SHOWCASE]
How extremely happy we are to be back keeping Austin weird, and watching so many bands in one day that we begin to question if we really know what's good any more. Are we making critical decisions based on a combination of how much we've drank and how many other music industry people come up to us after each band plays, shouting in our faces with a verbal skipping around of what is essentially a giant thumbs up or down? Who knows. Who are we kidding though - we love every second, and the list of new acts we want to see this year alongside the big surprise "headline" acts that include Kayne West, The Strokes, Foo Fighters, Wu Tang Clan, Duran Duran, Bon Iver and all manner of others is enough to make us uncontrollably scream we're so happy. Maybe we'll even see Bill Murray again watching a Thurston Moore and J Mascis super group. The possibilities are endless.
Early in day one we manage to stop in at the Bella Union Party up at the beautiful garden that is the French Legation museum, catching a bit of Thousands - a Kings Of Convenience like duo that come across like two Donovon's delicating plucking and singing together as if every decade after the Sixties never actually happened. We also see Givers, a band on many lips in Austin this year, with the new Vampire Weekend tag being bandied around willy-nilly. We make sure to see some of The Holidays, living up to the name in every sunshine-filled respect and looking as Australian as watching Neighbours with a pack of Koalas drinking Castlemaine. The band's Duran Duran-meets-A Certain Ratio indie-pop shouldn’t quite work - there are bongos and some of the lightest funkiest indie sounds you're ever likely to hear. Yet somehow it's just incredibly enjoyable and extremely well put together. We welcome them to the UK for their first date in May, and we're already mentally getting our best dance clothes ready for it.
[SUMMER CAMP @ RFB SXSW SHOWCASE]
Day one however is all about our Rockfeedback / Transgressive showcase at Red Eyed Fly, a great outdoor-but-indoor venue (many of the venue's stretched across Austin have covered outdoor venue spaces in their "gardens" which they use for the venue - such is the hot weather all year round). In short and to sum-up, we'll tell you in the most un-biased manner possible it was without doubt the best showcase we've ever done at SXSW, packed from start to finish with incendiary performances by all acts, each playing some of the best we had ever seen them. Sorry if it sounds too much.
We kicked off by being wowed as ever by the soulful majesty of Marques Toliver, wearing shorts shorter than perhaps decent, and debuting new material with a xylophone alongside his violin and autoharp. The crowd loved him, as they always seem to do.
Next Summer Camp shook off a keyboard problem to welcome us into their intimate world of love and stories, backed by their now ever-present rolling projections of haunting found photographs, showcasing some wonderful new songs from their forthcoming first album destined to soundtrack teen romance and Saturday night dance-floors the world over.
Liam Finn is always a firecracker live, and tonight we witnessed him playing with full band for the first time. Possessed by unknown-to-us spirit of Bowie and Iggy, Liam was a wildfire, rocking hard and steady whilst throwing his guitar on the floor, occasionally doubling up on drums and leaping around the stage.
As midnight hits hell breaks loose (as perhaps expected) with Pulled Apart By Horses stunning an industry crowd that gets vomiting, a huge knee slide across the bar from James Brown that's potentially the coolest rock and roll moment I've seen, and a wall of British punk rock having the time of its life in Texas. Well done chaps, America and you will I'm sure become good friends.
As we hit late hours Pete and The Pirates boozily finished up our night with their wonderful fist-pumping affirmations of vulnerable and honest pop songs. They’re an under-rated classic band of sorts now ready to let their huge songs take them to the higher plains they deserve.
We retire tired, hungry and smug about the success of the showcase. Tomorrow however brings a wealth of other new bands, and we'll make sure to stop telling you about how great our own party went and our bands you already know about, and go out there and find more. Check back tomorrow for further SXSW updates.
Artists in this article: Liam Finn, Pulled Apart By Horses, Pete And The Pirates, Summer Camp, Marques Toliver, Thousands, Givers, The Holidays
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