Highlight: Attack in Black

Pleasant Surprise: City and Color with members of Attack in Black

Biggest Disappointment: Matt Good cancelling his show due to illness. It happens.

Canadians - I only caught the first few songs of the Canadians before moving on. Venue was dead, and band wasn’t engaging so next.

JayMay - Jaymay is not my type of music, I repeated to myself as I walked into the small venue in which this young folk singer would be performing. Yet, I couldn’t get several of her songs out of my head from my SXSW preview listening, so I was looking forward to the show. Live, she delivered faithful renditions of her songs, including the impressive Sea Green, See Blue. Overall a good show, with two easy to fix failings. First, if your guitar is buzzing and it stops everytime you touch the guitar cord, think about switching out a cord. A broken ground shouldn’t be a distraction (especially when another musician gives a subtle hint by tossing a fresh cord to you!) Second, when you finish your set, don’t just turn around and start chatting with your drummer as you pack up your gear. At least thank people for coming out. Even when you make little effort to build any interaction with the audience, a move like that is unprofessional and leaves an impression that you really don’t know what your doing.

Most Serene Republic - One of the major impressions you had to be left with from SXSW is that an amazing amount of great music is coming from Canada. No, I’m not talking about the self indulgent and overrated Broken Social Scene universe of bands — don’t even try to leave a comment on this one ; ) — there were around 100 bands from the North that delivered music from all over the spectrum. Well, despite my views on BSS, I headed over to MSR, who have often been compared to BSS (typically unfavorably). I found MSR to be refreshing live; despite having six members (a typical formula for people screwing around on stage with no particular purpose), this band was pretty tight and overall pretty interesting. I’ll be looking forward to them capturing some of this more effectively on CD.

Koopa -As the band was fond to remind up, Koopa was the first unsigned band to break into the UK top 40 and then top 20 (topping out at 16). This band delivered a “punky” sound,which I’m sure someone has described as pop-punk or the like. Overall the 15 or so audience members enjoyed a great show. Various videos here.

Attack in Black -Attack in Black was my number one pick going into SXSW. If history is any judge I knew I’d probably leave disappointed with over blown expectations. Not so, they delivered a simply amazing show. Every song was tight.

The band’s frontman presents an understated geeky persona, in stark contrast to his raw and powerful vocals. At 4 a.m., with the buzz of this show still in my ears on I was online buying every Attack in Black cd, single, etc. I could get my hands. Since that show, my appreciation for this bands has only grown. The bottom line: around 25 years ago I saw a band playing as an opening act in a small club. The front man opened by saying “We’re Nirvana and we don’t particularly care for heavy metal.” My friend Phil and I walked out of that show simply blown away. 25 years later I walked out of a show that left almost as deep an impression.

City and Color - another band from Canada, fronted by Dallas Green of Alexisonfire. I had enjoyed several of the City and Color songs being played on XM, but don’t really enjoy solo acoustic shows. I was overjoyed when I saw the lead signer of Attack in Black take the drum kit, while the AinB guitar player took base. 45 minutes of outstanding rock followed.

The Pillows - For the last show of 2008 SXSW my buddy Lawrence and I hit Japan night and enjoyed the Pillows. For whatever reason, I always enjoy Japaneses bands delivering great American rock and roll. The bands from Japan always have the attitude that they just arrived in Mecca and it was time to perform. The Pillows were no exception, and we enjoyed the wrap up.

Friday

Highlight: Junkie XL

Pleasant surprise: Phantom Planet

Biggest Disappointment: None

Another long day of great music.

The Chevelles (web)- In search of a late lunch, I stumbled upon the Chevelle, an Australian power pop band playing in a pub. I had seen a bit of their showcase earlier in the week, and decided to sit in on the set. A solid set delivered by a band that has been playing together for a long time.

The Golden Dogs (web) - Another Canadian band and one of my “must sees” this year. The Golden Dogs had been getting plenty of play on XM leading up to SXSW, and along with Attack in Black were one of the two bands I was most looking forward too. I was disappointed to learn they would be playing in a venue that is an acoustic nightmare — a narrow room with brick walls. Nonetheless, I was encouraged as I talked to several groups of people who had seen them perform in 2007 and had been blown away. (Two young women had driven four hours to see the show.) While not blowing me away, they did deliver playing all the songs I’d come to hear, including their cover of Birdsong which was one of my favorite songs on the SXSW sampler and a great version of Yeah (video below).

Phantom Planet - I was torn whether to see these guys or head over to the Land of Talk show. I decided to catch Phantom Planet, and walked in mid-set. I’ve been kicking myself for not getting there earlier. These guys were fantastic and delivered every song with passion — harder than I had expected. Even their classic California sounded reinvented.

Junkie XL - Junkie XL had been talked up as one of the better DJ out there, so I decided to catch his show at a small club on 6th street, and I’m glad I did. He spun a great and innovative set. I was surprised at the tame crowd — people danced, but as is true at almost every show the SXSW seem to enjoy their personal space — as opposed to the S.F. and L.A. crowds I’m used too, in Austin you get your space. People are generally amazingly polite, which I think is reflected in the somewhat subdued crowds. I may be in the minority, but for me shows are just that much better when the crowd is just getting crushed together and going wild.

Chiodos - Well, I got to say, I think Chiodos is a crappy band but I was in the mood for a bit of dancing and had to choose between these guys and MXPX who I have seen many times. So Chiodos it was. An ok live act, but give me a break with these crappy pretty boy vocals. Crowd was generally disappointing — the only pit were a few kids doing some karate dancing. (If you aren’t familiar with karate dancing, either check out the link above — or remember when Power Rangers came out and 7 year olds everywhere would all stand around doing endless silly karate moves — same idea).

English Beat: We managed to catch the last two songs from the English Beat on the way out of Paramore. Nothing like popping into a bar to catch Save it for Later as a nightcap.

Thursday

Highlight: The Bloodlines; Serj Tankian

Pleasant Surprise: Von Iva

Biggest Disappointment: Body of War

Rolled out of bed late so needed to hustle to get to the first shows of the day. While the official “showcase” doesn’t start until 7 p.m., around 1 p.m. the day parties start. Most of these are open to the public, and even the “invitation only” events are pretty easy to get into unless a really hot bad is playing. Day parties are a great way to see music in a less formal environment and also have a chance to chat with the bands. Plus day parties allow bands to play five or more shows during SXSW (one hard working band I spoke with managed to get in 8 gigs in five days).

Land of Talk - It soon became apparent this year that our neighbors from the north were going to be the source of much of the inspired moments at SXSW. Land of Talk delivered a rocking afternoon show, with solid hard rock guitar mixing with vulnerable and sometimes incomprehensible (but generally depressing sounding) lyrics. XM is eating this trio up right now, and they are well worth the listen.

Von Iva - I was headed to the Scissors for Lefty day show at the Bay Area day party. I made the happy mistake of waiting in the wrong venue and stumble upon a bay area band I’d never heard of — Von Iva. Now I must admit I have a bit of a negative thing for cute women “front men” acting sexy when they perform. It just doesn’t work for me. I want bands that look like they pulled themselves out of the gutter to do the gig. Von Iva was somewhere between that visual — the all women band sold a sexy performance, and I have to admit it totally worked for me. A industry dude I was chatting with noting that he thought they were “trying too hard” … maybe, but in my opinion, they delivered a raw and powerful set, and I hope they keep refining their song writing to take the band to the next level. This video doesn’t do them justice, but it was the best I found.

Scissors for Lefty - These guys had been getting plenty of good press in the Bay Area, but I never managed to catch a local show so I popped into their day show. I found the performance a bit generic, although it’s clear that they have plenty of talent and can write solid songs. Another year in the oven may do it. Here’s a catchy tune from them, that reminds me a bit of Hot Hot Heat.

Body of War - Pumped to see Serj play in the evening I poked my head into the Body of War show and quickly retreated. Wasn’t in the mood for a bunch of acoustic song writers preaching bumper sticker politics. Almost a parody of itself.

Black & White Years (web)- What do you get when you mix 70 porno mustaches, disco and a ska influence? Power of Change by Black & White. (See their website for a better quality recording). I was enjoying the show, but three or four songs gave me my fill and I moved on.

Blood Lines (web) - I had run into this band at a day party, and was already very impressed with their SXSW sampler song, so I was very much looking forward to this show. Modern Science was getting massive play on XM’s the Verge (click to download part of the song), and it’s simply a fantastic song. While only being around for two years, they delivered a very tight show that the disappointing small audience ate up. Every song was good, and some were great. The lyrics are strong, the vocals are haunting. Discovering a band like the Blood Lines is what SXSW is all about. The mystery is why aren’t these guys on a major label? (Ben Goldman are you reading this - Don’t be a chump - pick up the phone!)

Weakerthans (web) - The Weakerthans had some buzz going into SXSW and delivered a solid sold out performance. They kicked off with their amazing Sun in an Empty Room and kept on delivering mellow and catchy tunes for the next 40 minutes. A very solid performance of a very talented band. (Pitchfork, get your head out of you a** on these guys).

Serj Tankian - Serj is best known for his work with System of a Down (including the classic Chop Suey). Well I didn’t expect to hear Chop Suey, but I was very wrong…walking into La Zona Rosa I hear Chop Suey blasting. No, it wasn’t a surprise from Serj, it was the Rock Band video game that was set up in the lobby, which features the song. As expected, Serj focused on his new album, which was fine with me. His solo project delivers on every level, and Serj translated the recorded material into an amazing live show in front of a pretty full house. His vocals were every bit what they are on the album and his band was tight. A highlight of SXSW.