SouthXCityPaper 2014, Day 4

Friday, March 15: Catching up on our SXSW post-game coverage.

Damon Albarn (11 a.m. @ Austin Convention Center, Radio Day Stage)

Started the day of bright and early (!) with a second dose of Damon, this time playing an acoustic set (still with the full band) in one of the pristine but vibeless Conference Center Day Stage rooms — actually populated for once — possibly as a late addition to make up for his cut-short (and, arguably, marred by tragedy) Wednesday night set. (About which I retract my previous, snarky complaints — that was ungracious.) The string quartet were fully audible this time, the six local choir members joined for three or four songs, and the whole thing was just spellbindingly pretty. The new album seems heavily slanted toward ballads, which is certainly playing to his strengths. The set was all new stuff (including several he hadn’t done Wednesday) with one obscure Gorillaz cut thrown in.

TEEN (12 p.m. @ Swan Dive)

Quirky all-female indie-pop-rock quartet from Carolina, not actually teens I think but not far beyond. They’ve got a lot going on in their sound — electronics, R&B, some great harmonies, some Devo-ish herky-jerk, definitely some Jane Siberry in the lead singer’s voice — and surprising and unusual song structures. The set seemed noisier and slightly more conventional than the little I’d heard of their recordings, but absolutely worth investigating. Which I did for only a couple songs before jetting off to catch…

Public Service Broadcasting (12 p.m. @ The Blackheart)

These guys are swell! A British (oh-so-British… ) duo combining synthy, funky, cinematic instrumental grooves — kinda proggy, kinda krauty, occasionally with banjo — with spoken word samples from vintage educational films and the like (incl. public service broadcasts, probably). Thus, the subjects of their songs are things like Mt. Everest or the impending miracle of color television, which, you know, more bands should write songs about. The most obvious referent point would be The Books, though they’re both tweedier (and indeed, more bookish) and musically more direct, driving, danceable (somewhere in the neighborhood of Trans Am, To Rococo Rot, Fujiya and Miyagi maybe.)

It’s very well put together and it works great live too — drummer Wrigglesworth holding it down while J. Willgoose, Esq. performs some impressive multitasking on synths, banjo, guitar and sample triggers. (At one point he was playing keyboard with one hand while hammering on a rhythmically contrasting guitar part with the other — which is no joke!) Of course they had the appropriate sartorial accoutrements — thick-framed glasses, bow-ties and yes, elbow patches — and, hilariously, even their stage banter fit the retro-geeky concept: they addressed us only by triggering samples of a robotic announcer voice: <i said… > <are you enjoying yourselves!?>

Mirah (1 p.m. @ Home Slice Pizza)

A bit of a SXSW indulgence (and a lovely bike ride down South Congress) to see a longtime favorite. Pure musical comfort food, and no less so for the fact that she played entirely new material (she’s about to release her first proper album in seven years!) save for one Advisory Committee chestnut. Mirah has only grown as a performer and vocalist over the years — she just seemed really confident and content — and her band (bass, viola/keys, and drummer doubling on vibes and assorted percussion) struck a great balance between casual rapport and tight musical connection, plus they created an impressive range of warm, interesting sound. Good venue for her too — a parking lot behind a pizza shop, which was out of the way and populated mostly by locals and dedicated fans, with none of those snooty badges (oh wait… ) — she confided to us “you guys are the reason it’s worth playing here,” and offered some quietly witty asides (“My new record label is called Absolute Magnitude, which is the measure of brightness of a celestial body. It seemed appropriate.”) Anyhow, the new stuff was great and immediately relatable; sometimes surprisingly rocky (“so this is anger, I’ve never known her”), sometimes poignant (she did a song about love and the radio that almost made me tear up), always gorgeous.

Great Good Fine Ok (1:30 p.m. @ Side Bar)

Super fun and tight ‘80s-ish soulful synth-pop/funk, with great harmonies and unapologetic groovy smoothness — a bit like a funkier Phil Collins or something. (Hey, have we finally stopped referring to every random synth band as sounding like the ‘80s? I feel like we have? Anyway I mean it very specifically here.) Crazy colorful outfits, plus a colored light-up tambourine! However, they do need to find a more enthusiastic way to announce their name — the frontman made it sound extremely dejected.

Viet Cong (3:45 p.m. @ Red 7 Patio)

Post-punky quartet featuring two guys formerly of the band Women. (Just realized something: I had been planning to catch Against Me! in this time slot, over at the Spin party, but then I skipped it, so I ended up seeing men who used to be Women instead of a woman who used to be a man.) (Sorry… ) They pretty much seem to be picking up where Women left off, playing textured, driving rock, hard-hitting but also thoughtful and sometimes surprisingly bright. Also a very fun band to watch, with a sweetly goofy brotherly inter-band dynamic setting off the intensity of the music.

Gruff Rhys (3:45 p.m. @ Red 7)

The indefatigable Super Furry Animal frontman sported a suit and performed his set closer with a big furry wolf headdress on his head. He also used giant title placards to introduce each song, explaining that “American Interior” is not only the name of the final number but also of the werewolf movie he had made. Of course it was.

Pampers (4 p.m.-ish @ Hotel Vegas)

Only caught half a song — potent, muscular hardcore garage, surprisingly crisp for all the (full-band, unison) shouting. Tough looking bunch of guys too.

Rich Aucoin (8 p.m. @ Austin Wonderland)

This Nova Scotian is a unique combination of indie-electro-pop artist, mash-up videomaker, summer camp activity director and motivational speaker. This backyard set began with vocal warmups (to the 20th Century Fox theme) and a quick cut of inspirational quotes from films and youtube memes, projected on a bedsheet, before launching into some spirited fist pumping whole-audience karaoke… that’s about as far as I got though. I wanted to be a believer, but I had a headache.

Arp (8:50 p.m. @ Swan Dive)

So weird…  this used to be a one-man ambient/drone project. Last year he put out a baroque, ’70s-style arty glam-pop record. Now (at least this time) it’s apparently a straight-up guitar rock band, only nominally even psychedelic. (Though, naturally, they’re still listed in the schedule as “electronic.”)

Speedy Ortiz (9:35 p.m. @ Hotel Vegas Patio)

Really glad to finally catch these new Massachusetts mainstays. Sadie Dupuis looks and acts every bit the jaded, slacker-ish ‘90s hold-out her bands’ records suggest; denim button-down, diffident banter, skinny legs and all. She’s also a killer guitar player, clearly the most technically proficient musician in an otherwise somewhat nondescript band. Not sure if this is a change in their live attack or not — if so it’s reflected by their recent EP — but the set was a good deal harder and noisier than their recordings.

Ludacris (10:20 p.m. @ Bangers)

Whoo! I used my magical powers to get into this one; essentially just a stage set up in the backyard of a house, jam-packed with mostly non-badge-y types. (Luda shouted out to the “about two black people” in the crowd, which seemed pretty hyperbolic.) It took me unreasonably long to fully recognize/convince myself that he was actually on stage, since he was wearing big sunglasses, he actually started his set on time (hugely improbable!), and he relentlessly referred to himself in the third person, good-naturedly goading the crowd to demonstrate their degree of Ludacris fanship, and actually having us chant “Luda Luda!” — basically, acting as his own hypeman, which I suppose is strangely humble, in a sense. Also his rapping, while animated enough, was curiously lacking in his trademark loopy, vowel-scooping exuberance. [Most amazing thesaurus suggestion ever: “ludic.”] [Though technically I guess it’s the same root.] He did actually leave the stage for a while due to sound issues, but then he started rapping some actual Ludacris songs, having us complete the lines to “Southern Hospitality” and so forth, and I eventually cottoned on.

Man, he is easily the most likable major rapper of the last fifteen years, no? That comes across even more in person — it’s no coincidence that, like Drake, another superb live performer, he’s also an actor. He was swaggering but smiley, gracious and relatable, constantly throwing out easy points of connection without making it feel like empty pandering. (It’s undeniable: we were all there because we love music. It hardly takes a “real Ludacris fan” to be able to recognize “the first single we ever put out there” — i.e. “What’s Your Fantasy” — but then again, maybe that counts! And hey, everybody has an area code!) It’s hard to imagine anybody else commenting (mock-complaining, even) about how he has “so many number one hits, we could be doing this all night” but not coming across as boastful in the least. Because it’s just a shrugging statement of fact: between his own tunes and his indelible guest spots, several of which he performed (though not my personal favorites, Missy Elliott’s “One Minute Man” and Bieber’s “Baby”), is there anybody else — in any genre — who’s appeared on so many instantly recognizable hits this century?

Mark Kozelek (11:45 p.m. @ Central Presbyterian Church)

Swift, utter shift of mood and scene — though, both are, in their own massively divergent ways, master showmen and raconteurs. Mark — Red House Painter; Sun Kil Moonman — perched on a stool with his nylon-string, backed by a minimalist drummer borrowing Real Estate’s kit, who offered up the occasional harmony vocal. Otherwise it was nothing but this man, 47, simply dressed and, despite what we collectively assured him midway through the set, decidedly tired-looking, relaying the absorbing, devastating song-universes of his brilliant, unflinchingly honest new album, Benji (plus a few similarly-styled pieces.) Hearing them live made it all the more evident how these meandering, seemingly desultory narrative-shambles, idiomatic and almost devoid of repetition, are truly, underlyingly, tight compositions; especially considering that we were in a church, they manifested as deft, if crude, vernacular sermons on the cruel but ultimately consoling nature of life and impermanence. (“Dogs,” in particular, seems to obliquely encompass the entire nature of love and relationships. The one that nearly got me crying this time, though, was the long-form, set-closing treatise on melancholy, “I watched the film The Song Remains The Same.”)

Brilliantly, for as earnest and often harrowing (though far from unfunny) as his songs are, Kozelek turns out to be a frankly hilarious banterer, with the finely-honed self-deprecation and spot-on timing of a great stand-up comic. He got in some cracks at Pitchfork (the hosts of this showcase) — “this 9.2 thing… come on, why not just give a guy a 10?” — and reflected on his many years playing SXSW, explaining “there are the performers who are completely stoked and excited to be here, and then there are the ones who’re like ‘I can’t believe I let myself get talked into doing this shit again…’” and then taking a long, awkward beat before insisting “I’m having a good time!”

Real Estate (12:45 a.m. @ Central Presbyterian Church)

Stuck around in the front pew for a couple-three songs of shimmering guitar prettiness (including the terrific “Green Aisles”) from our dreamy friends from Jersey, who’ve become one of the most dependable bands around. I mistakenly thought a woman behind me said they were her favorite band — it’s a bit difficult to imagine them inspiring that level of specific passion from anyone, but they are awfully nice to listen to…  

Kelis (1 a.m. @ Hype Hotel)

Could’ve happily dozed there for the rest of the night, but I met some friends here instead, ending my day, as it had begun, with a double-dip from Wednesday night. Kelis was notably tired for much of this set, even sitting down for a while in the middle, but she rallied and was back to beltin’ em out by the end; notable additions to the setlist included “Trick Me” (maybe her greatest defense against one-hit-wonderdom?) and “Got Your Money.” I’ll admit I’m not totally sold on the new material yet — it seems to generally fall within typical retro-soul and funk parameters but with some amount of arty deviation, and I don’t entirely understand the concept — but it’ll be interesting to hear how the record comes out.

More SXSW Coverage:

• SouthXCityPaper 2014: Day 3
• SouthXCityPaper 2014: Day 2
• Drunk driver hits crowd @ SXSW
• SouthXCityPaper 2014: Days 0-1