- "Are you excited to see a bunch of bands tonight?" asked the woman I had been chatting with in the ladies' room at the Austin Convention Center, ground zero for South By Southwest 201l.
"Actually, I'm here for the electronic music," I replied enthusiastically.
"What's that?" she asked.
Photo credit: iamdonte
Such was often the case at SXSW 2011 in Austin, Texas, AKA the "Live Music Capital of the World." While electronic music culture definitely had a strong presence with performances by Richie Hawtin, Diplo, Boys Noize, Trentemoeller and dozens more, the beats tended to be overwhelmed by the massive amount of indie rock.
"South By," as the party is affectionately known, is a massive three-week media festival that begins with an interactive segment, followed by a week of film, then capped off with the music portion, which functions almost like a Spring Break for the music industry. At times it seemed like the festival was more for the industry than for the fans, and indeed almost every person I met was an artist or promoter or worked for a label, agency or music publication.
SXSW is centered around 6th Street in downtown Austin, which is a little like Bourbon Street in New Orleans—except instead of daiquiri factories, there are live music venues. Indie rock, country music, pop songs and heavy metal churn out the doors and windows onto the wandering populace below, a colorful parade that is an attraction all to itself. Many venues are chopped into halves or even thirds to create more spaces for separate stages and showcases.
In between the guitar wails and the crooning, however, you can hear the beats. Walking west on 6th street, a familiar thumping meets your heart as you see a crowd gathering around Barcelona. The DJ is inside but the speaker blasts into the street, and a ring of onlookers has formed around a young b-boy who has stopped to dance to this weird kind of music.
Most day parties and also many evening events are free; these unofficial showcases often have free barbeque, tacos and beer to go along with the performances. It is impossible to get your brain around the massive number of official showcases, parties and panels; much less the even bigger number of unofficial events from daytime barbeques to all-night dance music ragers. The SXSW website does a fine job with official showcase listings, but for the unofficial events (which make up at least 2/3 of the festival), there is no centralized source for information. Parties would pop up via Twitter and change the course of my day on a regular basis.
Drinks are cheap—this ain't Miami. An ice-cold Lone Star tallboy cost $2 or 3 at most bars, with import beers just a couple of bucks more. And the food—THE FOOD! Inexpensive barbeque with ALL the fixins' and Tex-Mex for days on end, all served up with sweet iced tea and that trademark Texas hospitality, hun.
Hipster fashion dominated the festival; in fact SXSW was so hipstered-out that even one of the official tee shirts featured a nerd-chique image of a keyboard cat wearing lens-less glasses and crying lightning tears. Hot weather necessitates skimpy clothing, and the denim mini-skirt/cowboy boot combination seemed to be particularly popular with the done-up Texas women. Austin is a pretty city, with majestic oak trees reaching skyward around the hilly downtown area, bats flying out from Congress Bridge at sunset and Lady Bird Lake providing a sparkling respite right through the middle of the city.
Photo credit: iamdonte
Thursday afternoon at the Friends of Friends showcase, the Shinerbock was going down like water at Barcelona, a dark, air-conditioned basement venue that fit much of the music that bounced up its stairs and out the doors onto 6th street. In the span of about five minutes the venue filled up, and the timeslots posted on the wall told me why: Shlohmo was next. This young LA producer has found critical acclaim as well as fan love for his beat-crunching skills and atmospheric finesse, and the crowd gathered for an earful of new sounds. Shlohmo did not disappoint.
Friday afternoon found me on the chalky grounds of an old drive-in theater at an unofficial Pitchfork party, where indie band Yuck was distorting the sky through their guitars and screaming about it. A side "room" of pool tables, pinball machines and lawn swings had been set up on the dusty party grounds, which was packed not with players but with sitters looking for shade in the hot Texas sun. Next door was a ring of RVs and food trucks selling everything from honey-jalapeno fried chicken sandwiches to vegan coconut curries and fresh tamales.
That night I made the mistake of trying to bounce around to multiple venues. While this strategy worked for smaller showcases like Vermin Street's bass music party, by 11 PM all the bigger venues were at capacity—and the lines weren't budging an inch, not even for a blond with an official press pass. Watching the AM Only showcase and the Madison House Showcase from the street I could only curse my wandering gypsy nature—however the party in the streets at SXSW is at any time, on any day, one of the most interesting shows around.
Saturday was gorgeous with a slight breeze, the perfect conditions to hang out at the Bass Invasion Compound's back patio. Big sound met with seating in the shade and a gang of local and visiting artists: ill gates, ill-esha, Psymbionic, Afromonk and Ev-1 alternatively hung out and dropped bombs, and soon the free barbeque was on the grill.
The last night of the festival was my favorite yet. Armed with a "SXXpress" pass (that enabled me to jump the line of any show), I picked the one party that I wanted to hear the most and made a beeline to the Beauty Bar for the Magical Properties showcase. This smaller, more intimate event was just what I needed after such a crazy week. Low Limit, the aforementioned Shlohmo, Tokimonsta then Daedelus played, delivering sets of dance madness to the slightly unsuspecting crowd. I came, I chilled, I conquered many beers.
It was the perfect end to a fantastic festival. The relatively small footprint of electronic music on SXSW (and the world) will only increase, and I can't wait to return to SXSW next year and see what new beats Austin will hold.