Music Blog

It was bound to happen, I suppose. In the battle between music, sleep, and the various capacities required of this gig, sleep finally won out. Which is not to say that I wasn't out taking in something until the bitter end, because I was, and have been every night thus far. However, there's roughly nine hours between the end of the nighttime showcases and the beginning of the next day's day shows-- you do the math. That having been said, here's the rundown for SXSW's day 3, also known as Friday.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the trio originally formed in Boulder, Colorado, but Chairlift seems an unlikely name for a band that specializes in shimmering, sometimes ambient pop. The now Brooklyn-based band made up of Caroline Polachek, Aaron Pfenning, and Patrick Wimberly draw heavily on 80's influences like New Order, The Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine, and showed an impressive ability to recreate those elements on stage. The expected synths, drum machine, and guitar distortion were paired with male/female call and response vocals on songs almost all coming from last year's Does You Inspire You release, which gets a re-release on Columbia later this spring. Unfortunately, due to a late start caused by sound difficulties Chairlift was forced to cut their set short and didn't get to their somewhat surpriing radio hit, the almost too sugar sweet but undeniably charming "Bruises." One of the busier acts at this year's festival with several performances to their credit, Chairlift seems poised for bigger things.

After a brief look in on our hometowners Blind Pilot (playing to a packed and appreciative audience, no less), it was off to Mohawk's to catch daytime sets from The Rosebuds and The Delta Spirit. The tail end of an energetic set from North Carolina's Rosebuds saw them spill into the audience for unplugged, sing-along renditions of their final two songs. They're easily likeable live and on record, and luckily it wasn't the last we'd see of them this weekend. The Delta Spirit, meanwhile, channeled mid-70's Dylan on a set heavy on new material but with still a few fan favorites in the mix. And speaking of Dylan, it was almost The Rolling Thunder Revue when frontman Matt Vasquez was joined on stage by a cast of many for a set closing version of "Children" that had the minions singing along.

Oh, but things were just heating up. The first act of the night showcases for us was The Love Language, another band from North Carolina, where they apparently grow blissed out, classic pop leaning acts in droves. This one, however, has a local connection in Bladen Co. Records, the Portland-based label who just released the band's self-titled debut. We've been playing it a bit as of late and it stands out for the catchy, overmodulated pop borne from the soul of one Stuart McLamb. As it turns out, McLamb's one man act is a collective-like seven piece on stage-- a number absolutely necessary to replicate the music live. The Love Language did just that (and well), by the way, leaving many who were unfamiliar with them before to get hip quick. It felt like that kind of coming out party. The Love Language plays the Doug Fir on April 8th.

MP3: The Love Language- "Lalita"

We crossed the street for the bluesy Memphis-based throwback Ron Franklin before scampering several blocks across downtown to Antone's for Theresa Andersson and Mirah (or at least, after it became apparent that we couldn't afford to wait in line for over an hour for Grizzly Bear, Peter Bjorn & John, and Dinosaur Jr. Such are the tough choices forced by SXSW). Andersson, based in New Orleans but originally from Sweden, made herself right at home on stage by throwing down a plush rug and going barefoot. She then jumped and danced and charmed her way through her set, creating songs form scratch with a series of loops that included guitar, dulcimer, violin, percussion, and a chorus of vocal lines. There were novel takes on "O' Mary, Don't You Weep," and Allen Toussaint's "On the Way Down," but she was at her best when sticking to originals from her latest, Hummingbird, Go!. Listen to a taste of one of Andersson's SXSW sets here. Mirah followed with a comparatively more subdued set of songs taken mostly from her wonderful new (a)spera. She was somewhat limited in what she could do with those songs given their adventurous production and the fact that she was backed by a standard drums, guitar, keyboard setup, albeit with some clarinet. It seemed hardly to matter to most in attendance-- it could have been a hometown show for all of the rapt attention. It had been a while in between new efforts from the Portlander-- clearly there are plenty who have been waiting.   

In what would become one of the mini-themes of SXSW 2009 for us, we were then thwarted in an attempt to see Austin's own Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, they of the outstanding new album out on Lost Highway produced by Spoon's Jim Eno. Maybe Black Joe is finally getting his due, maybe it was because Okkervil River was following, maybe a combo of both, but we just weren't getting in to that show. And that's how things go here. Re-group! We wanted fine songwriting, we wanted comedy, we wanted something unpredictable. How lucky, then, that John Wesley Harding & Eugene Mirman's Cabinet of Wonders was playing just down the street at Maggie Mae's. Kind of a jack-of-all-entertainment road show, The Cabinet of Wonders was recently cooked up by Mirman and Harding and, on this particular night at least, featured singers Alina Simone, Sally Crewe, and Jon Langford, as well as comedian Todd Barry. Harding played songs from his new album, Who Was Lost and Who Was Dead, while Mirman entertained with a disguntled letter he wrote to Delta Airlines before passing out pre-written postcards for audience members to mail to Delta themselves. The bill closed with (yet another) one our takeaway highlights from this year's festival: The Mekons' Jon Langford joining Harding and a full band for a fantastic version of T-Rex's "Life's a Gas." Look for The Cabinet of Wonders tour in Portland for two shows at Mississippi Studios on April 2nd.

MP3: John Wesley Harding- "Oh! Pandora"

Now 1am and 6th Street in it's nightly state of chaotic revery, we closed the night with a set from Austin's Future Clouds & Radar. The eccentric Robert Harrison leads the band, whose self-titled double-album debut was much lauded a couple of years back. Harrison's band played a psychedelic-tinged set to a packed Wave and a crowd clearly made up of a lot of local devotees. The slightly tripped out pop seemed a good way to close out a long day where almost nothing with our schedule had gone as planned, which might be said to be the only plan one can stick to here.

MP3: Future Clouds & Radar- "Feet On Grass"

Also: this. And that's all I can really say about it.

One day to go here and running on fumes (but nothing a good night's four hours sleep won't take care of).

See the full day's photo set here.

 

Tagged: mp3, SXSW 2009