SXSW Day3: Some Great, Mostly Quiet, Rewards
Ive learned its inevitable during every SXSW trip I take (this is my eighth visit) that one day will be remarkably less eventful for me than the rest. This day is usually the Saturday, when Im totally exhausted. But it came early this year. So my Friday wasnt the usual marathon, but instead a laid back break from the hectic pace.
The Other Music day party, which was outside at the French Legation Museum, with its beautiful grassy expanse thats perfect for lolling around, was my first stop. Although Ive seen indie stalwarts Yo La Tengo a dozen times (at least once at a previous SXSW), I couldnt resist the lure of the Hoboken trio. Playing to a full crowd, many of whom were seated under the huge tent, they stuck to a fairly quiet set of favorites old and new, including Autumn Sweater, and they tossed in a Roky Erickson song for good Texas measure. Ira Kaplan kept the squealing guitar attacks to a minimum, perhaps due to the setting, but I appreciate the groups subtle dreamy pop excursions (of which there were many) just as much as the wild improvisations. Later, Atlas Sound (pictured), the new project from Deerhunters Bradford Cox, performed songs from the groups debut Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel. Although Deerhunters garnered well-deserved acclaim, I prefer Atlas Sounds calmer, more melodic experimentation. And though Cox is known for his outlandish onstage antics at Deerhunter shows, he was fairly straight-laced with Atlas Sound and hewed close to the spaced-out ambiance of Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel to dazzling effect.
In the early evening at the Merge Records Showcase at The Parish, I caught another indie veteran, Mac McCaughan, who performed solo as Portastatic, his project of more than a decade. And though he adopted a loose style (and forgot the words to one song in the midst of it), the audience was filled with diehard fans (including me) whove been following him for so long, the only way he could have disappointed them was not to play his lovely, acoustic-guitar-centered gems at all. Afterwards, a newcomer to the label, Wye Oak, followed with a remarkable performance, far exceeding my expectations of the young Baltimore duo. While singer and guitarist Jenn Wasner sang and played guitar, Andy Stack handled the drums with one hand while playing a keyboard with the other and simultaneously providing backing vocals. And together they delivered a stunning preview of their surprisingly lush, shoegaze-inspired debut If Children, to be released in April.
Photo courtesy of [Nariposa on Flickr]