SXSW 2011 wrap-up
AUSTIN, Texas -- "This is our last show," singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten said with a mixture of exultation and exhaustion during her final set at the South by Southwest Music Conference. "We made it -- we made it to Saturday!"
Van Etten was among 2000 bands and artists who performed at the 25th annual conference, which concluded Sunday. Many of those artists were like Van Etten, performing as many as seven or eight times during the week, sometimes several sets a day, all hoping to crash through the round-the-clock din that had saturated hundreds of venues clustered around 6th Street since last Tuesday. Austin becomes music's international capital once every year, and the conference has seen attendance skyrocket since it debuted in 1987. Back then it was a little grassroots gathering focused on Texas music, an earthier alternative to the then-dominant New Music Seminar in New York. In its first year, South by Southwest attracted 172 bands and 700 registrants. This year the number of bands hovered around 2,000 and registration exceeded 13,000.
The big music companies rolled out their heavy hitters to flog new albums or tours. Kanye West, the Strokes, Foo Fighters and TV on the Radio all performed in major showcases and big brands like Vice magazine and Perez Hilton hustled to outhustle each other by presenting the most must-see bands in invite-only parties. There there were were the inevitable "buzz" bands, up-and-comers who have generated mounds of media attention in recent months: the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, British soul balladeer James Blake, Chicago power-pop quartet the Smith Westerns. But as usual the heart of the festival was the artists striving for any sort of recognition at all, trying to transform a labor of love into a living.
Anxiety mingled with gallows humor during the daytime panels, which focused on the industry's uncertain future. Gadfly drummer-label owner-lecturer Martin Atkins said a young musician would have to be "insane" to sign a record deal, while a panel of independent label owners insisted that no artist can do without the relationships and experience that a label provides. One element of future-music that just about everyone could agree on was that touring would remain essential to a band's survival. "You can put your music on-line all you want, but you still have to tour," said Jenna LoMonaco of Glassnote Records. "Out of sight, out of mind."
But the future of the touring business is also in disarray, with the merger of concert behemoth Live Nation and ticketing giant Ticketmaster. The creation of Live Nation Entertainment as the music industry's most powerful single entity, dominating everything from concert venues and ticketing to artist management, went under the microscope in a panel entitled "Indie Davids Take on Goliath Ticketmaster-Live Nation." But little was learned, as Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard insisted fans were benefiting from the merger and even more improbably that Ticketmaster performance ratings were "at an all time high," while independent promoters -- surprise! -- disagreed, albeit politely. Touring agent David Viecelli of the Chicago based Billions Corp. warned that the impact of the merger has yet to be felt because an ailing economy has kept the lid on ticket prices. If ticket prices do take off, a similar panel in 2012 could have a decidedly less-civil atmosphere.
Despite all the hand-wringing, great music was still being made, and the week's most animated discussions -- in informal settings ranging from street-corners to hotel lounges rife with expense accounts -- centered on new favorite bands. Here are a few highlights from the week that was:
Best band: Wild Flag, combining two-thirds of Sleater Kinney (Carrie Brownstein, Janet Weiss) with Helium singer-guitarist Mary Timony and keyboardist Rebecca Cole. The quartet specialized in rolling, tumbling excursions that edged into free-form psychedelia, all driven by Weiss' protean drumming. Brownstein, perhaps best known to non-music geeks for her starring role in the TV series "Portlandia," has never sounded more ferocious as a singer, channeling Patti Smith on an unhinged cover of "Ask the Angels."
Biggest bust: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All had a heck of a week by all accounts, bringing their deranged, high-energy brand of hip-hop to countless venues throughout Austin. But their early-Sunday set at Buffalo Billiards was a bust. The group, apparently unhappy with venue security, threw a hissy fit onstage, insulting their fans, the sound mix and showcase host Billboard magazine before exiting after 15 minutes and three songs. Many fans had waited hours for the set to begin and paid $20. At the very least, those fans are owed a refund.
Most enchanting vocalist: A tie between Tune-Yards' Merrill Garbus and Glasser's Cameron Mesirow. Garbus also hammered percussion and played a mean ukele while leading her band through a percussive set that at times edged toward the rapture of West African juju music. Mesirow was a Bjork-like siren, twitching and swirling her way through a set that blended the haunted beauty of chamber pop with electro-rock.
Loudest wake-up call: Keynote speaker Bob Geldof, the Irishman who brough the world "I Don't Like Mondays" and Live Aid, challanged musicians to respond more forcefully to world events. "Rock 'n' roll may be over," he said. "America, you look exhausted." And he wasn't talking about the hung-over conferencegoers in the audience, either.
Unlikeliest prop: Blueberry muffins. Martin Atkins hurled several dozen packages of them at the audience in the capper to his frequently hilarious evisceration of old-school industry practices, including the notion that one should never, ever give away anything, especially recorded music. "It's not a problem if 20,000 people 'illegally' download your music," Atkins proclaimed. "It's a problem if they don't."
New guitar hero: Paul Saulnier approximated the sound of three guitarists as he powered his Canadian duo P.S. I Love You through concise two- and three-minute pop songs with sheets of sound and dervish solos.
Coolest little orchestra: With a 12-piece band, Portland's Typhoon might have had the highest overhead of any non-major-label act that played the conference last week. But the group's mix of strings, brass and multi-part vocal harmonies was stirring, as arrangements swung from hushed hymn-like passages to exultant crescendos.
Spookiest band: With a name like Esben and the Witch, how could the U.K. trio not qualify? The co-ed group delivered the shivers by keeping a low ambient hum throughout the performance. They've got to score a horror movie next.
Quickest transformation: Barcelona's Mujeres looked a little intimidated as they began their set, but their tentativeness turned ferocious as they got caught up in their churning garage punk, with a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Run, Run, Run" and a singer yelping like a rabid Rottweiler. Little moments like those -- seeing a band find its mojo by doing what it loves -- are still what makes a big, sometimes seemingly overwhelming conference like South by Southwest resonate.
From what I saw I really liked Malavera. Not so much new stuff but some of the best theremin playing I ever saw and great songs.
Posted by: SusieQ | March 21, 2011 at 02:13 PM
Yea I saw a lot of Real acts , but the best songs i heard came from a streetsinger on Fourth off congress on a bench playing thru a tiny vox amp.
words,melody,the goods.paul eliot was on his cd. looked very homeade
Posted by: buddy | March 22, 2011 at 10:36 PM