Aaahh, March: dusty desert winds, college basketball, and South By Southwest (SXSW). “South by” (as it is affectionately known by attendees in glorious Austin, TX) is a city-wide film, interactive, and music festival. It is an unabashed celebration of some of the world’s finer pleasures: excessive day-drinking, abundant taco trucks, promotional swag (I collected everything from free Rachel Ray dog food to YouTube tube socks), and an endless sea of hip, sweaty, tweeting fans. Most of all, South By is bands playing everywhere, on street corners, in hotel lobbies, in churches, book stores and dingy dive bars at all hours of the day - fighting to be heard, noticed, and made. But amidst the blur of free PBR and Texas heat, a few acts managed to stand out:Will Wiesenfeld (aka Baths) began his set at the Terrorbird Media day party by complaining that he had already played 13 shows in three days, had lost his voice, and had to drive to Vermont the following day. Then he promptly realized what a whiney douche he was being, apologized to the crowd, and proceeded to rock out with a brief set of high-energy electronica that blends and loops original beats with old-school samples. Often, I find that innovative electronica sounds like shit live (One Eskimo @ Santa Fe Brewing Company). But with ample personality, energy and talent, Wiesenfeld’s creations are both easy to jam to and original - a difficult combination to find, especially at South By where there’s plenty of each category but rarely both happening simultaneously.
Playing a Homeric two-hour set in Austin’s Auditorium Shores, Conor Oberst led Bright Eyes in one of their first major performances since the release of The People’s Key in February. Bright Eyes is back in full effect after Oberst’s hiatus with side-projects Monsters of Folk and The Mystic Valley Band and he brings as much political controversy and shaky-voice power-folk as ever. Set highlights included new material, namely the catchy “Shell Games” as well as sobering crowd favorites including “Cleanse Song” and “Lua”. The show rounded out with a diatribe about US involvement in Libya, a four-song encore, and a fire-works display that locals described as far more impressive than anything Austin put together for the Fourth of July. Fuck yeah, Bright Eyes.
Foster The People
To be totally transparent, I did not actually see Los Angeles, CA's Foster The People, at South by Southwest. I saw them perform three days prior at a neighborhood bar in Santa Fe, NM. Mid-way through their first song, a raucous dance-party erupted and quickly involved every human being in the venue: the opening band, waitstaff, tech guys and fans alike. I have been hooked on Foster The People ever since I randomly stumbled upon their irresistibly catchy first single “Pumped Up Kicks” last summer and added it to my summer jams playlist. Since then, Foster The People’s catchy indie-pop has been gaining momentum in the blogosphere and steadily selling out shows along their current tour. Lead singer, Mark Foster, explained to me that a DJ in Australia first broke their single on one of the national radio stations and since then it had been a wild ride to the brink of indie stardom. This ride would only intensify a few days later at south by (I heard more fans raving about Foster The People in lines and on streets than about any other band) and will surely continue with the release of their first full-length album, Torches, on May 24.
Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
