SXSW 2011 Day 2: James Blake underwhelms, Vaccines rule

AUSTIN, Texas -- What is a music conference, especially one as prestigious as the 25th annual South by Southwest, without big, steaming cauldrons of hype?

On Wednesday, many flocked to Stubb's, an outdoor venue with capacity of several thousand, to see James Blake, the U.K. crooner who combines sensitive, vibrato-tinged vocals with sparse, spacious production to create alluring electro-soul ballads. Though hardly an innovator, he brings a pop sensibility to a genre -- dubstep -- firmly grounded in club culture and the underground.

But his glitchy soul miniatures, largely created on a laptop and, as the artist himself has said, ideal for listening in solitude, didn't translate in the big outdoor space. Accompanied by a drummer and keyboardist, Blake brought a wounded earnestness to his performance. His delicate voice was occasionally distorted, and bass lines rumbled. But the music was largely static, basking in its own prettiness. I imagine this music would've sounded just fine in a more intimate space, so his handlers did him no favors by booking his first major North American showcase in a venue better suited to arena rock bands.

Blake was upstaged by the London quartet that preceded him, Yuck. The band owes plenty to '90s alternative rock, American style: the shambling melodies of Pavement, the guitar dissonance of Sonic Youth. But songs such as "Get Away" would sound good in any era, as Max Bloom's guitar played counterpoint melodies against Daniel Blumberg's vocals.

Another U.K. band, the Vaccines, delivered the kind of set that should be required by law at music festivals with 2,000 bands clamoring for attention: get in, get out, and roll over the audience before anyone figures out what hit them. There's a certain type of swagger peculiar to British bands, a no-nonsense, watch-out-world demeanor embodied by the Vaccines. Sometimes it's just all bluster, but in this case it was backed by big melodies and even bigger bass lines. A half-dozen songs came in a galvanizing 20-minute rush and then -- just like that -- it was over. No encore, none needed. Mission accomplished.

greg@gregkot.com