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SXSW 2012: Final Thoughts + Photos

Four days, 32 artists, and one physically/mentally tired guy. That about sums up my SXSW 2012 experience. While I was stumbling around Austin in a haze the last hour of the last day, my first trip to SXSW was a wonderful experience I wouldn’t trade for the world. After hearing so many great things about the city and the conference/festival, I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and simply had to go just once, just to see what it was like. The end result was largely what I expected it to be, but with a few surprises thrown in as well. My hope here is to chronicle the things I think worked about SXSW, and a few that didn’t. Also, if you click past the jump, you can see all the photos I took while in Austin. If you’d like to read about individual performances that I saw last week, have a look at the following daily reports:

Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday

The Good
Perhaps the thing that makes SXSW truly great is the sheer size of it all. There are literally thousands of bands performing over a handful of days, almost all of them within the span of about 2 square miles. Getting around from show to show isn’t bad, whether you’re on foot or feel the need to take a pedicab. Of course 6th Street can get a little packed during peak hours and create some slow downs, but it’s never anything too unmanageable, even if you need to get somewhere fast. The wide array of shows and showcases happening at any given time can also create a bit of a headache, as it’s not exactly easy to pick and choose if there are 6 artists you want to see all performing at once. Learning the city and the locations of all the venues both legitimate and illegitimate goes a long way towards helping you make such tough choices based purely on conveniece and distance from where you’re currently at. Do you go see Cloud Nothings playing down the block, or do you walk 6 blocks to see Grimes? As I see it, the decision is pretty much already made for you.

Yet there are also a few SXSW music moments that you can’t always plan for, simply because they weren’t planned. There weren’t many “secret” shows this year so much as there were secret guests like Kanye West jumping on stage at the 2 Chainz show or Eminem showing up to support 50 Cent or Bruce Springsteen bringing out everyone from Jimmy Cliff to members of Arcade Fire to Tom Morello and Alejandro Escovedo. Those extra thrills only make the experience more special. Also a major contributor: the people. Austin is already something of a cultural melting pot, but with music fans and artists coming into town from all over the world, the diversity factor multiplies by about 10. But here’s the thing aboug most music fans: they’re good, friendly people. You could strike up a great conversation with the person standing next to you in line and not blink an eye. Everybody was there because they love music, and the easiest conversation starter was always finding out who they’re most excited to see while in town. The only time I ever saw anybody get angry was when a couple of people cut in line trying to get into a show. The reaction was less anger and more, “That wasn’t cool, guys.” If we as a society behaved more like everyone in Austin at SXSW did, the world would be a more peaceful place. Unless of course you’re at an A$AP Rocky show and somebody’s throwing full beer cans at the stage. That near-riot situation was a showcase of the worst side of humanity.

But outside of good music, good people and good weather, good food is another thing Austin is known for. There were food trucks and street vendors on most corners, each specializing in a different type of cuisine. You could get breakfast tacos at one place, and some Korean version of spaghetti at another. There was plenty of BBQ to be found too. If you’re a fan of slow-roasted meats that are tender and delicious, you didn’t have to walk more than a block in downtown Austin to find some. For the cheapskates, there were also a bunch of showcases giving away free food. It’s worth noting that like grocery store samples, the “food” they give you for free is often small and may not be of the highest quality. It also gets snatched up almost immediately for those reasons as well. You’re costing yourself a potentially great meal if you’re not paying for it.

The Bad
For all the great things that happen in Austin during SXSW, it’s not a perfect situation by any means. First and foremost among the issues is overcrowding. Things may get cramped when you’re walking down the street, but that’s nothing compared to what’s happening inside many of the venues. Jam packed to the gills, trying to get anywhere close to the action was tough, let alone trying to make your way back to the exit. When things did get that bad, the waiting games began. Lines built up outside venues that were a city block or more long, everyone beholden to the “one in, one out” policy. Pitchfork’s evening showcase at Central Presbyterian Church was the height of madness, and I stood in line for 3 hours, missing Fiona Apple, just to get into the 500 capacity venue. Was it worth it? Eh, kinda. Every performance I saw there was a revelation, which is more than I can say about the other venues in town. I’m not entirely sure how all these sound engineers stay employed given how many times I saw an artist ask for a levels adjustment or something broke. I know these artists don’t get a soundcheck during SXSW and they want to put on the best show possible, but constantly stopping or even aborting some songs right in the middle because of a small issue takes away whatever mojo that might have developed in the meantime. The worst night of all was at Clive Bar, where Tycho played without any sub-bass, New Build’s monitors weren’t functioning properly, and Grimes was forced to start her set even after everything wasn’t tested to see if it was working properly (it wasn’t).

Sound issues are just one half of the paradoxes that SXSW presents. The other is overextension. While SXSW can be a great thing for artists (performing in front of music industry bigwigs brings all sorts of exposure along with it), agreeing to play 3 shows a day for 4 days in a row can put you near death’s door. Touring is tough enough when you’ve got one show every night for 3 weeks straight, but SXSW is a marathon compared to that long distance run. Artists function on little to no sleep and can easily blow out their voices from singing too much. On Thursday night I saw Grimes play a perfect show at Central Presbyterian Church. 24 hours later, she had performed at least twice more before arriving at Clive Bar with a voice that was barely there. She fought against it as hard as she could, and eventually had to call it quits in a set that was also plagued with sound problems. It was a valiant effort, but likely left most of the crowd disappointed. Then again, everyone was so kind, understanding and enthusiastic, it probably didn’t matter as much as I thought it did.

Finally, I want to mention the hierarchy that is SXSW. Your amount of access is almost entirely based upon your status within the music industry. If you’re not part of the industry and are simply looking to see some free music, there’s lots to choose from if you don’t mind a bunch of bands you’ve never heard of. If there was a line anywhere, it was almost guaranteed the general public would not be allowed in, as those with badges or wristbands automatically had first dibs. Among the badges and wristbands, only the badges were given priority access into any venue. Every badge would be allowed in before any wristbands would, no matter when they showed up. Of course if I had a badge I probably wouldn’t be complaining about it, it’s just that there were so many of them. There must have been at least a dozen shows I tried to get into but was denied because the room was already filled with badges. Granted, badges cost around $900 and you should be getting something for that money, but it would be more fair if they offerend some balance like for every 100 badges let in, 10 wristbands also get in. Alas, wristband holders got the shorter end of the stick, while the general public was more shafted than anything.

To Conclude
SXSW is something that every obsessive music fan should attend at least once in their lives. It can be a genuine blast if you let it, and only gets better the more access you have. Not but a few years ago, the several day conference/festival served as a proving and development ground for new music talent. Today, that’s not really the case anymore. You may discover your new favorite band while wandering around Austin, but for the most part our discoveries are contained to the hype cycle on the good ‘ol Internet. Then again, were it not for SXSW I never would have stumbled into the band Tearist and one of the most batshit crazy/weird live shows I’ve ever seen. I’m still not sure whether it was supremely stupid or incredibly clever, but if you like incomprehensible psych-pop and somebody showing an iron beam who’s boss with a lead pipe, Tearist could be for you. Outside of the occasional exposure to an artist you didn’t intend to see, you’re quite in control of your own destiny. Unless you’re the adventuresome type willing to walk into a venue without knowing or caring who’s performing, most identify and target acts based on personal tastes or recommendations of others. With so many choices, you can use the time to check a few acts off your personal bucket list. That’s what I did, and though I didn’t get to see every artist I wanted to, I feel like what I did see was extremely worthwhile anyways, with the aforementioned issues or not. I hope I get to go again, be it next year or in 10 years. And if you didn’t go, I hope you take the opportunity to get to Austin soon. It’s a great American city, and the Live Music Capital of the World for a reason.

Click past the jump for photos of many of the bands I saw at this year’s SXSW, in alphabetical order:

SXSW 2012: Wednesday

My first day ever at SXSW was only a half day really, or even less depending on what you’d call running around from 6PM-2AM. I arrived in Austin late in the afternoon and by the time I’d checked into my hotel and picked up my registration materials from the Conference Center, it was already 6. Have no fear though, that left plenty of time to do a little exploring, get a grasp of the land, and wait in a long line. Here’s a quick summary of what I saw during the evening’s excursions. It should be noted I also took some photos, but forgot to bring my camera cord with me to get them onto my laptop. I’ll have a complete photo wrap-up for you next week then. In the meantime, continue reading.

Originally I had planned to see Santigold perform at the Fader Fort, however I was still getting my bearings and failed to realize where the Fader Fort was located. For the record, it’s about 4 blocks away from most everything else, on the opposite side of the highway. By the time I’d figured that out, Santigold’s set would have been nearly over by the time I got there. Plus, who knows what kind of line there was to get in? The line outside Stubb’s for NPR’s showcase was tremendously long. That’s where I headed after giving up on the Fader Fort (for now). But I was drawn to the NPR showcase thanks to the presence of Fiona Apple and Sharon Van Etten. If I were a less motivated person, I would have stuck around there all night to see sets from Dan Deacon, Alabama Shakes and Andrew Bird. What a great overall lineup. But first, Fiona. I barely made it in the doors before she went on, and so many were excited to see her first major performance in quite awhile. She started her set with “Fast As You Can”, and not seated behind a piano but with a full backing band, she writhed like a woman possessed behind the microphone. There were oh so many highlights from her set, including 3 new songs and positively visceral renditions of “Paper Bag”, “Sleep to Dream”, “Carrion” and “Criminal”. There were a couple moments where she appeared to put a little to much force behind her vocals, causing her to sound just a touch hoarse, but a warm cup of tea was there to help remedy that situation. She got better as the set went on. There were a couple of brief moments of stage banter in which she admitted she’d forgotten whether she’d already sung the second verse of “Paper Bag” because her mind had started to wander before snapping back into place upon remembering she was in the middle of a performance. In all it was a great “comeback” set for Fiona Apple, and one I hope I’ll get to see repeated tomorrow night at Pitchfork’s showcase, assuming I get in.

I stuck around Stubb’s after Fiona Apple because I wanted to catch up with Sharon Van Etten. The last time I saw her live was a couple years ago before her album Epic had been released. Her new full length Tramp is another smart step forwards for her, so I was interested in hearing those new songs performed. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that almost her entire set was Tramp material, and boy does it sound great. She’s got a backing band now, which wasn’t the case when I saw her last, and they do a stellar job both adding to the melodies and filling in vocal harmonies. Particularly affecting were “Warsaw” and “Kevin’s”. While part of me longed to hear “Peace Signs” off Epic, a wish that wasn’t granted, I still walked away very satisfied.

Not to discount Dan Deacon’s live show, but I wanted to do a little exploring after Sharon Van Etten, so I took to the streets in search of sets from Friends at the Hype Hotel or Tennis at Red 7. When I approached both locations, the lines were super long and I didn’t want to have to wait. So luckily I stumbled over to the IFC Crossroads House for some Youth Lagoon. I’ve been wanting to see Trevor Powers for quite some time, and now turned out to be as good of a time as any. He hit all the necessary marks from his debut album The Year of Hibernation, including “Cannons”, “July”, and “Posters”. Color me impressed with his live show, even if he had to pause mid-set when his keyboard’s batteries went dead. Yes, one of his keyboards runs on AA batteries. He tried to joke around about it, but the crowd wasn’t quite laughing. I was amused because they weren’t amused. Dead batteries aside, everything else went swimmingly.

Speaking of swimmingly, things were not going so well over at Kimbra‘s performance at Haven. She was set to go on at midnight, however there were soundcheck issues that delayed its start by 25 minutes. When they finally got things to a level of satisfaction, the band began to play yet there was still no sign of Kimbra. They held a note for a few seconds and she quickly ran on and began to sing. If you’re familiar with Kimbra only through her duet with Gotye on his hit song “Somebody I Used to Know”, now’s the time to get to know her on her own. Wednesday marked her first ever performances in the U.S., and from every indication she’s going to be a star. She was fun, energetic, and possesses an incredible singing voice. She was pitch perfect through the entire set made up of songs from an EP that came out earlier this year along with her debut full length which will be out in May. The old songs are good, and so are the new ones. I commented on my Twitter feed that Kimbra is everything that Lana Del Rey isn’t. To clarify in more than 140 characters, Kimbra has a supreme stage presence, smiles a whole lot, and makes songs that are more compelling than most of Del Rey’s debut. Yet something about Kimbra’s songs left me bored, and I think it was the lack of anything new or innovative about them. They’re pop songs performed with guitars and drums instead of samples and beats. Don’t expect her to earn a big indie following, but do expect her to pick up some serious mainstream heat before the end of 2012.

I thought I’d end my night by keeping the trend of female artists going. Youth Lagoon was an exception, but otherwise it was an all female evening. MNDR was scheduled for a 1AM set, and I was intrigued to see her live for the first time. Her pop songs aren’t entirely my cup of tea, but SXSW is about expanding horizons and finding new talents. Upon arriving at Maggie Mae’s Gibson Room where the show was supposed to be, I was shocked to see the venue nearly empty. I was arriving late because Kimbra started and finished late, but it appeared things at Maggie Mae’s were also a bit behind. In a venue that appeared to fit a couple hundred, there were only about 30 people there total, and they were mostly at the bar or sitting at tables. They were frantically setting up the stage for what I assumed would be MNDR, and at about 1:30 things were officially underway. I’m no MNDR expert, but I could have sworn Amanda Warner was blonder and less strange than the brunette singing these songs. Okay, they were less actual songs and more sonic experiments, complete with vocal echo effects that turned deciphering lyrics into a fruitless endeavor. I’m going to go ahead and clarify now that while I thought it may have been MNDR performing, I found out afterwards it was not. MNDR didn’t show up for her set. The duo known as Tearist took her time slot. Yasmine Kittles fronts Tearist, and they consider themselves to be avant-pop. That’s an accurate description of what they do. I also suspect she was either on something, incredibly drunk, or simply angry at the small crowd watching the performance. Either way, she had a scowl on her face most of the time, thrashed around like she was being tortured, and stumbled and fell into the back wall behind the stage once or twice. She took a sip of beer at one point, and it looked like she was having trouble swallowing it. Towards the end of the set she brought out a metal beam and a lead pipe, beating and scraping them against one another in the most grating ways possible. Her bandmate William Menchaca stood on the side the whole time, putting together the beats and synths for the songs but looking just a touch embarrassed by the whole thing. Crazy and weird as the whole thing was, part of me thinks that’s what every Tearist performance is like. If so, it’s a shitshow to behold. They’re taking performance art to Bradford Cox and “My Sharona” sort of levels. Part of me wants to go and see another of their shows to see if it’s any different than the one late Wednesday night. Part of me is also turned off by it. Which side will win? Let’s find out together as this crazy SXSW week continues.

Album Review: Youth Lagoon – The Year of Hibernation [Fat Possum/Lefse]


There was a time when bedroom pop was viewed as something hot and exciting. It was one of those genre twists people were exceptionally excited about for a time, the thought being that anybody with a halfway decent microphone and the ability to craft heartwarming songs could do so on the cheap and straight out of their homes. This was also a great way to discover the freshest and rawest talent, people that might not have an official record deal, but probably deserve one. tUnE-yArDs was discovered in that fashion, and Merrill Garbus hasn’t looked back since. But like the lo-fi movement, in which it was cool to like degraded-sounding recordings, the formidable concept of bedroom pop has fallen out of favor in many circles, and everybody from Toro y Moi to Neon Indian have been adding all sorts of studio polish to their sophmore efforts in response. Still, one of the better things about shifting away from that trend is now we don’t have to hear about every new artist trying to “get discovered”, whether they’re good or not. Now, the cream rises to the top. The freshest cream these days is being served up by Boise musician Trevor Powers, who operates under the moniker of Youth Lagoon. His debut record “The Year of Hibernation” is truly a solo affair pieced together outside of any recording studio, and for once the sheer insular quality of the whole thing feels like a mistake.

See, unlike so many artists that bring a hushed intimacy to their poorly recorded debuts, Youth Lagoon’s “The Year of Hibernation” very much appears to be big and expansive in nature. It’s deceptive about that though, as many of the songs are sparsely composed and start slow with a simple instrument and vocals. They never seem to stay that way, because at some point almost all of them break open to something far larger and more intense. It is at those points where the bedroom nature of these tracks becomes an issue, as the songs appear to want to break out of that small space and into an open field where they can truly breathe. Call it the “post-rock effect” for the pop set, in which intensity builds to a release, only in this case the release isn’t reaching its full potential. The issue is apparent from the very first track “Posters”, which gets by for 2 minutes on just a quivering synth and Powers’ yearning vocals before eventually smashing through a brick wall with a heavy drum machine beat and some rather engaging electric guitar. It seems to recognize its limitations, though you’re left with the unerring sense that with a touch more room things could really take off. That small problem aside, this record still manages to massively succeed thanks to how easily likeable and blissfully addictive it can be.

In writing songs for Youth Lagoon, Powers has said he wanted to use the project to help explain the anxiety he felt about certain things in his life, because finding the right words in conversations proved to be confusing to others. While a number of songs have that sort of frame to them (see “Afternoon” in particular), they also tackle easily recognizable and relatable topics like relationships and nature. It’d be easy to assume that these songs about anxiety and breakups would make for a pretty depressing record, but what’s so charming about “The Year of Hibernation” is how it plays off the idea of resilience – that we may encounter any number of problems in our lives, but we not only survive them, but persevere. It is, like the music itself, insular in how we may be emotionally crippled and shut ourselves off from the world by staying in bed all day, but also expansive as we dream of sunny days, open fields, fireworks and above all, true happiness. “I have more dreams than you have posters of your favorite teams,” Powers sings on “Cannons”. That sentiment appears to echo a number times over the course of the album, and it plays a big part in winning us over.

“When I was 17, my mother said to me/don’t stop imagining/the day that you do is the day that you die,” he declares in the chorus of “17”. From the sound of it on “The Year of Hibernation” and purely from an age perspective, the 22-year-old Powers isn’t anywhere near death, and instead comes across like somebody ready to have a long life making music. If all this record needs is a proper recording studio to fully flesh out Youth Lagoon’s songs, hopefully the next one will break out of the bedroom both literally and figuratively. For the moment though, we’re content to stay buried beneath the sheets, letting our imaginations run away with us.

Youth Lagoon – July
Youth Lagoon – Cannons

Buy “The Year of Hibernation” from Amazon

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