Photo by Frank Yang

Now I appreciate that some/many/all of you are burnt out or wholly disinterested in coverage of SxSW and I can’t say as that I blame you – it’s certainly been all-pervasive in my RSS reader and I’ve barely been able to skim it all and I care. If you don’t, then this has probably been the worst week ever. But some things, once started, need to be finished correctly so with the exception of my A/V wrap-ups which will trickle out over the next week but not supplant regular posting, this will be the end.

And the the tale of the tape is as follows: 43 bands playing 44 shows over four days. 14.5 GB of photos, the first day of which have already gone up photos have already begun going up over here. And, despite my misgivings about the lineup before the festival began, the best time I’ve had in four years of attending. Part of this was thanks to logistical adjustments on my part – getting a hotel downtown and no longer having to drive and park every day, to say nothing of the free breakfast, freed up so much time and minimized a lot of headaches I’d almost gotten used to in the past (I don’t think you ever really get used to sitting in traffic though). Likewise, getting the badge (which facilitated the first crack at decent hotels) and feeling reasonably confident about getting into whatever shows I wanted was also a real load off.

I was thrilled that, once again, our Hot Freaks party was a huge success. Sure, I felt like our lineup was really solid and could stand up to anything else going on on the Friday and Saturday, but until people actually show up you can never be sure. But the people did come and let me say that there’s almost no better feeling than seeing a band that you invited to play not only put on a great show, but to have a full house enjoying them as well and going up to the band to buy CDs or what have you immediately after the show. Seriously, it’s great. My thanks to all the bands who played, all the labels, management and booking agencies who got them there and fellow bloggers An Aquarium Drunkard, Daytrotter, Gorilla Vs Bear, Largehearted Boy, My Old Kentucky Blog and You Ain’t No Picasso for getting it all together.

As for the rest of the fest, I did pretty well as far as seeing what I wanted to but of course there were acts that no matter how many times they played, we were just not going to get together. I would have loved to have caught The Kills (though their upcoming May 6 Toronto show did dispel a little of the urgency to see them), The Ting Tings (it’s probably impossible they’ll deliver on the hype but I was curious regardless – yet I missed all nine of their shows), Make Model, Jaymay, Fleet Foxes, The Indelicates and Cathy Davey to say nothing of the acts thats I haven’t even heard of and will only discover many months down the road that they were playing across the street while I sat on the curb on 6th St, poring over my showcase guide looking for something to watch.

I was also bummed to miss seeing Lightspeed Champion and Emmy The Great perform together which they did, as I predicted, at the Harp party which I could not attend because of my own party (and aside: RIP Harp, one of my favourite music magazines). And in a perfect world I’d have been able to hit up showcases featuring old favourites like Saturday Looks Good To Me, Headlights, Centro-Matic, DeVotchKa and Billy Bragg as well as cheer on hometown/Canadian acts looking to impress. But you can’t be everywhere at once and even if you could, you’d still have to get there. Wait, does that make any sense?

The best thing I saw, musical merit notwithstanding, was Peelander-Z. I mean, I’d probably never listen to an album but see them live, particularly in a venue with lots of climbing and jumping options? Hell yes. Though already very much known quantities to me, The Brother Kite’s set still felt like a revelation. Scots Sons & Daughters were fantastic and Frightened Rabbit were even better than I’d anticipated and I wish I could have seen them play louder and longer than the 25-minute showcase I was able to catch. Similarly, my attempts to benignly stalk Emmy The Great were foiled and I only saw her official showcase but it definitely delivered. She & Him were far, far better than I expected (though standing that close to Zooey Deschanel was about as good as I expected) and my inner fanboy prevents me from being objective about seeing R.E.M. in such close quarters. If there’s any disappointment, it’s that while I’ve now got a number of acts I definitely want to investigate further, there wasn’t any left field discovery that sent me home with a new favourite band (at least for the next ten minutes) but that’s what I get for making a schedule and mostly sticking to it, I guess.

At the end of last year I was making noises about this year being my last SxSW, citing things like rising costs, stiffening joints and lack of vacation time to do other non-music related things. All valid points, but if I followed through on that then I’d be giving up what’s probably the most fun week of the year for me – even with all the above factored in. So no more dramatic ultimatums or such silliness – just a “see you next year” if you’re heading down – note the date is a week later than this year – and a “sorry sucker, you have to suffer through another week of Sx postings” if you’re not.

If you’re not wholly burnt out yet, swing a stick for SxSW coverage. Or go to Pitchfork, PopMatters, The AV Club, AOL Music Canada, eye, The Toronto Star… ah, hell. Google News and Technorati that shit.

Back to reality as of tomorrow.

Photo by Braden Barclay

And another contest for some folks from Vancouver hitting town on Saturday. This one’s for Ladyhawk, who just released their sophomore effort Shots. Like their debut, it’s a raw strip of bar rock though, if possible, it’s even more ragged and glorious than its predecessor.

They’ll be hitting the ‘Shoe on March 22 with Flash Lightnin’ and Immaculate Machine and courtesy of Against The Grain and Killbeat Music, I’ve got three Ladyhawk prize packs consisting of a pair of passes to the show and a copy of the new album on CD to give away. To enter, shoot me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I firmly believe that Ladyhawke was Matthew Broderick’s finest hour” in the subject line and your full name and mailing address in the body. This contest will close at midnight, March 19.

The band was recently featured in both Chart and The Toronto Star.

MP3: Ladyhawk – “I Don’t Always Know What You’re Saying”
MySpace: Ladyhawk

Photo by Jessica Eaton

So much to catch up on after a week away… starting with some giveaways!

Vancouver’s Geoff Berner is coming to town with his accordian, a foul mouth and a fistful of klezmer songs from his latest album The Wedding Dance of the Widow Bride and a probably not as official as he claims theme song for the 2010 Olympics, “The Dead Children Were Worth It”. And when he arrives on Saturday, March 22 for a date at the Tranzac, he’ll be greeted by Toronto’s Phonemes and possibly yourself.

Courtesy of the good folks at Undertones, I’ve got a pair of passes to give away for this show. If you want a piece of the action, shoot me an email at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to drink on the Sabbath with Geoff Berner” in the subject line and your full name in the body. Contest closes at midnight, March 19.

MP3: Geoff Berner – “Good Luck Now”
MP3: Geoff Berner – “The Rich Are Going To Move To The High Ground”
MP3: Geoff Berner – “Whiskey Rabbi”
Video: Geoff Berner – “Whiskey Rabbi”
MySpace: Geoff Berner

Photo by Frank Yang

It would be nice to think that it was possible to end SxSW on a grand note, with a supremely great experience that defines and crystallized the entire experience in one perfect moment. Unfortunately, my experience has been more along the lines of staggering down 6th St through hordes of drunken college kids back in town from wherever they’d fled earlier in the week and being far more interested in finding somewhere soft to collapse than take in one more band, however great they might be. This year… was no different.

But first, there was one more day of Hot Freaks! to survive celebrate. I didn’t manage to get to the Mohawk/DeVille entertainment complex (what I’m now calling the two clubs) until things were underway but was in position when The Jealous Girlfriends took the DeVille stage. I promised, back in October, that you’d be hearing much more from me about this Brooklyn quartet and thus far haven’t delivered. But with their new, self-titled record set for re-release on May 6, I’ll be soon making good on that. But just not yet. Instead, I’ll say that their show reminded me of the buzz that I got after seeing them play the Drake last Fall and after talking to some others in attendance and seeing the band swarmed for CDs immediately after, I wasn’t the only one. More on the band soon, promise.

Back over at The Mohawk, the schedule had shaken out such that the outside stage was non-stop rock action, featuring the likes of The Whigs and Film School to start the day. I sought refuge from the cacophony at the inside stage and a set of familiar faces – The Acorn, also fleeing the depressing Ontario Winter. They packed the inside of the Mohawk, perhaps evidence of the buzz surrounding the American release of Glory Hope Mountain last week, and didn’t disappoint the curious with a shortish but solid set of highlights from the record, their live show honed to razor sharpness by recent touring though their banter wasn’t quite as sharp – I don’t think there’s ever been a good time to name-check Pol Pot in stage banter, but that’s just me.

Outside, it was then time for the sturm und drang of A Place To Bury Strangers. I’d seen how much sonic carnage they could wreak indoors last December but was curious as to how they’d translate in an open-air stage in daylight, where they couldn’t necessarily use the walls to trap their audience with sound while blinding them with strobes. Short answer? Pretty much the same. Sure, without the light show it wasn’t quite the all-sensory freak out that it might have been but they compensated with, if it’s possible, even more volume and extended graphic guitar abuse. Not for the faint of heart, earplug-less or lovers of Fender Jaguars. Oliver Ackermann punishes those those things like red-headed stepchildren caught with their hands in the cash register AND the cookie jar. At the same time.

Peelander-Z describe themselves as “Japanese Action Comic Punk” and that’s as good an attempt at putting them into words as any. Imagine three to five members dressed in Power Ranger-esque costumes, alternately climbing over every part of the stage and club possible (and the Mohawk is very climbable),stage invading, audience invading, band member recruiting, singalong-leading, crowd surfing, human bowling and playing loud, cartoon metal-ly songs about lord only knows what. The crowd went completely batshit and it was absolutely the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever borne witness too and easily the most outrageously fun thing I saw this past week. It’ll make more sense when I have the photographic evidence ready but for now, check out some videos to get some notion of what I’m talking about. Also fun was watching Islands load in during the show and seeing the, “we have to follow THIS?” looks on their faces.

The last matinee of the day went to Swedish singer Lykke Li over at DeVille. I had no idea who she was when we originally booked her but since then, her name has cropped up again and again so my curiosity was piqued. I found her set of mostly acoustic dance pop interesting if not immediately converting. She definitely has a unique aesthetic but it’s one that deserves closer attention than can be paid at the tail end of a four-day music marathon, particularly in a post-Peelander buzz.

I had originally been disappointed in how little there was I wanted to see on Saturday but it turns out that was a blessing in disguise as I was able to call it a day reasonably early and not feel bad about missing out. Dinner was conveniently had across the street from Stubb’s and I dashed over at the stroke of 8 when I heard the first notes of Duffy’s “Rockferry” ringing out. For someone who’s as all-conquering in the UK as she is right now, there was curiously little buzz around her performances at Sx, at least as far as I heard. I mean Stubb’s was far from empty and the attendees were enthusiastic, but her name seemed far from ubiquitous. Of course, now that I think about it I have no idea who people WERE talking about so my observation is probably pointless. Anyways, she sounded great and had a lot of poise up there (if a lot of the same poses) and the band was tight, and listening to her stuff closely for the first time I could hear Bernard Butler’s influence on her songs and sound – not circa Suede but McAlmont And. She may be a little too much with the soul sound to really enthrall me – my tastes run more towards Motown pop – but she’s definitely got the goods.

Following her on the amphitheater stage was none other than Austin’s finest, Okkervil River and as good a choice to end out SxSW with as any. It was a bit odd seeing them on such a large stage – I’m more used to seeing them falling off of smaller stages – but they didn’t sound a bit out of place and Will Sheff took full advantage of the extra room, running around and basically being turned up to 10. Personnel-wise, the show was a bit different as keyboardist Jonathan Meiburg was absent – presumably with Shearwater commitments – and it also marked guitarist Brian Cassidy’s last with the band for the foreseeable future as he gets ready to become a father (he will be replaced by Wren Charles Bissell on the road) but rather than take on a bittersweet flavour for that fact, the mood was celebratory and I was bouncing up and down on the Stubb’s lawn right along with them.

And while that would have been the perfect note to end the festival on, I felt like catching only two shows that night was wimping out just a little too much. I needed to work that badge just a little bit more so I popped into the Dirty Dog Bar for Georgie James. The duo’s acoustic guitar and keyboard pop sounded pretty good, but not better than the idea of going to bed. I bailed about midway through their set and called it a festival.

Snow on the ground and lack of tortilla-wrapped foodstuffs within arm’s reach notwithstanding, it’s good to be home. A proper wrap-up of the week that was tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that, or whenever I wake up.

Photo by Frank Yang

The downside of putting on your own day show is you feel kind of obliged to stick around. It’s just as well, then, that we put together a pretty ass-kicking lineup for Hot Freaks!, the first day of which went down yesterday at Club DeVille and the Mohawk. Now while the dense concentration of so many terrific bands in one spot made it tempting to try and see (and cover) everything, I was already starting to feel the past couple days – mainly in my lower back and knees – so I picked my spots judiciously and spent the rest of the time hanging out with friends in air conditioned spots. Though only mid-March, Friday’s weather was pure Texas Summer… or maybe just Toronto Summer and Texas Spring. Either way, it was damn hot.

Opening things up was an act familiar to readers of this site, Nicole Atkins & The Sea. As grateful as I was for their willingness to take the early slot, I was just as grateful to the good-sized crowd who got up just as early to come out and see them. As always, Atkins and her band sounded terrific and provided a torch (song) that shone bright even at high noon in Texas. A mosey to the Mohawk’s inside stage introduced me to Blair, a New Orleans singer-songwriter who came equipped with a country heart, a rock band and a willingness to let herself get frayed around the edges. An engaging new talent who will merit a longer look in the near future.

Back outside, San Francisco’s Dodos announced that they weren’t just another rock band when their set opened with a trombone playing “Taps” through a delay pedal. In fact, they weren’t really a rock band at all – their roots are much more folk, but delivered with a verve and creativity that made them fascinating to watch and listen to, especially as their songs never became overly obtuse or impenetrable. Along those same lines, though with more rustic overtones, was the set from North Carolinans Bowerbirds, whose sun-dappled set on the Mohawk’s inside stage was nothing short of stunningly beautiful. Both are acts that have been on the periphery of my radar for a while now but whom I obviously need to get to know better, and soon.

Also newly discovered was Chicago’s Cameron McGill, who was playing the inside room while I was intending to only pass through but was encouraged to stick around by Dodge and am glad I did. Mating late-era Beatles melodies with a distinctly midwestern sensibility, it didn’t surprise me one whit to hear that the sprawling, seven-piece would be touring with Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s later this year. Hell, between the size of their two rosters they could easily field a football team.

In between all that down-home, old-school folk and roots rock I took in some decidedly more contemporary fare on the Mohawk stage with Edmonton’s Cadence Weapon, accompanied as always by DJ Weasel. They fought through an overheating turntable to still deliver a set of compact, party-inducing, audience-invading hip-hop that made good use of the many, many energy drinks Cadence said he’d been downing since the night before.

The toughest call for me that afternoon was deciding between the two headliners – we had Jens Lekman serenading a packed DeVille and British Sea Power unleashing rock on the Mohawk, both show-stoppers but I could only be at one. I elected to take in a few songs of Jens’ set – he was playing only with a percussionist on bongos – and got to hear his complete, annotated performance of “Postcard To Nina” reminding me of how absolutely hilarious (in a deadpan, Nordic way of course) he was. It hurt to tear myself away, but I did so anyway.

And for the first few songs of British Sea Power’s set, I was regretting that I did. They got off to a slow start, unfortunate considering the set was front-loaded with great Do You Like Rock Music? material, but after reaching back to their debut for “Remember Me”, they seemed to find their rhythm and began picking up momentum, culminating in an earth-scorching “Spirit Of St Louis”. This was the first time I’d seen them since Eamon Hamilton left the band, and at least as far as the wacky stage antics that the band had built their live reputation on, his presence was sorely missed. Odd costumes aside, they were quite businesslike in their approach and while I can appreciate their desire to shed what could be considered schticky… it was also loads of fun to watch. Ah, well.

So with half of Hot Freaks successfully in the books, I opted to stick with the “pick one venue, let the bands come to me” approach for the evening and got what I think was the best seat in the house at The Parish for the Merge Records showcase. We were welcomed by label honcho Mac McCaughan, performing as Portastatic with a solo acoustic set including covers, old and new Portastatic songs and an airing of Superchunk’s “San Andreas” that couldn’t help making me wish that the reunion bandwagon would make a stop in Chapel Hill.

Next up was fresh-faced Baltimore duo Wye Oak, previewing songs from their debut If Children (out April 8). They made an impressively full racket for just a two-piece – Andy Stack’s ability to handle drums and keyboard duties simultaneously was definitely noteworthy – but over the course of a set the sonic limitations of their configuration became evident. But considering their tender age, growth is inevitable.

A few songs into the Radar Bros’ set, frontman Jim Putnam mentioned that they were going to slow things down a bit and some smart-ass in the audience yelled back, “slower?!?”. But it was a fair point, because if there’s one thing the Radar Bros are not, it’s in a hurry. Their set was a totally chill affair, like a single-speed bike ride through the sun-dappled Laurel Canyon. It might have been a nice soundtrack for a lazy afternoon but in this setting, it was just snoozy.

And so it fell on Sweden’s Shout Out Louds to be the evening’s ambassadors of rock. To this end, they turned in a suitably chaotic set, with instruments getting overturned, favourite songs from last year’s Our Ill Wills like “Impossible” and “Tonight I Have To Leave It” were rearranged in ways that I’m not entirely sure were deliberate and the band just generally having a time of it. They did, however, get the audience to shake off their Radar Bros-induced torpor so for that, they had my thanks.

Not that anyone would have stayed asleep for the night’s next act, presumably the reason a lot of the crowd as in attendance – She & Him. I don’t know that you could say there was a lot of pressure on M Ward and Zooey Deschanel with their musical collaboration – it’s not like they don’t have successful day jobs to go back to – but there was no ignoring the intense attention that the project was getting. And how did they respond? Amazingly. Their show was far, far better than anyone could have expected – Ward burned it up on guitar (as always) and vocals as needed, but the spotlight – figuratively and literally – was on Deschanel. Her voice was clear and beautiful and she also demonstrated some chops on the keyboard and beyond her adorable wide-eyed, deer in the headlights stage demeanor, seemed perfectly comfortable up there though there were numerous sideways glances for cues/guidance/encouragement from her musical partner. But while the attention was focused squarely on the she and the him, full credit must be given to their band, in particular the drums. The simply massive drum sounds turned the old-timey, folksy songs that populate Volume One into a fully engaging live experience and helped make their show one of the highlights of the festival.

Now that was a show that would be difficult for anyone to follow, but Destroyer is not an act that has ever worried about impressing in a live setting. Dan Bejar’s disdain for performance is well-documented, and was on display as he and his band evidenced no urgency at all as they dealt with myriad technical difficulties. But the irony of it all is that Bejar is a very charismatic performer and when they did play, they somehow managed to turn that indifference into a peculiar sort of lurching intensity in stage-testing material from Trouble In Dreams. Almost despite their best efforts, Destroyer still managed to entertain and enthrall.

Three down, one to go.