We at ChinaShop spent the day Thursday in Austin, Texas celebrating St Patrick’s Day. What better way to share our love of the Emerald Isle than to whip out our favorite pair of shades and help with the green effort in the process.
The normal rule for those living in Austin these days is, there’s no need to go out of your way to see the hundreds of the local bands playing. However, when the psyche instrumental group Octopus Project is putting on the HEXADECAGON, a limited run special event that involves eight channels of audio and eight more of video, blended together into a psyche concoction so powerful it sent the Project out hustling a corporate sponsor for the first time. Two shows only, free, all ages, all freaks welcome. You bet Austin turned out for this one.
Glass Candy turned out a dance freak fantastique set at the Mad Decent Carniville Friday night. The whirl of neon and bright, festive lights flashing in the background synched naturally with the hard buzz of the electronics as the band kicked off their set. The electro-disco music Glass Candy cranks out reminds me of neon black light posters of Lamborghinis. Ida No and Johnny Jewel know how to make you throw down. We caught up with Jewel for a quick Q&A as he hauled equipment off stage.
If you’ve been paying any attention during the festival in Austin you know bands flock from around the world to play as many shows as they can fit in between eating and drinking free food and beer. But for a handful of local bands, Austin presents a unique opportunity. Daniels and Animals, an Austin band, have been playing shows together for just six moths and took full advantage of the impromptu venues and multitudes of crowds waiting to hear good music. These boys played at a foosball club, for cryin’ out loud.
Yasmine Kittles and William Stangeland Menchaca of Tearist performed at Carniville on Saturday. The LA-based duo played early in the day to a sparse crowd but that didn’t keep them from pulling out all the stops. It’s obvious that Yasmine is at home on stage, jumping from one side to another, dramatically swooping her head, as if encouraging the wind to have its way with her long, dark locks.
Twin Atlantic, like most bands who travel to Austin for SXSW, played multiple shows. Three to be exact. I caught the first one, the night that Sam, the lead singer, was super ill. International travel (they come from Scotland) and the hyperactive, germ infested, drunk fest that surrounds the festival doesn’t help the ole immune system fight off the inevitable SARS like outbreaks every night. However, without Sam owning up to the fact that his face felt like it was going to explode, the average spectator would have never known anything was amiss.
The band rocked out full force, holding back none of their special charms. From the explosive beginning to the feedback fueled finale, this band continues to take America by storm. They are currently touring throughout the United States. Check them out in a city near you.
Imagine basically living on a bus. Traveling from town to city to college, a vagrant, a nomad, a castaway soaking in the hardscrabble tales of this country. Putting in work, with no time to shave or shower or change your clothes even. That’s how Juiceboxxx does his thing, man, and he’s proud to say he’s been doing it since he was 15. The Juicer climbed aboard Carniville’s stage on the coldest day of South-by and still managed to get the crowd roiling screaming with a hoarse voice to turn up the sound, “I’m 23 and already deaf man, turn it up!” Juiceboxxx flung himself around the crowd, on speakers, on stage, on top of a security guard wearing a neck kerchief and cowboy hat. After the show, I caught up with him to ask some quick questions while he was packing up his backpack next to the stage.
Before arriving at the corner of Congress and 4th in Austin’s Warehouse District, I could hear heavy bass that drew me right to Red Bull’s final event during Thre3stlye hosted by Skillz. Held in a gigantic parking lot, this party couldn’t have been much more public as it was free and open to everyone of age requiring no RSVP. As the windy night carried on, more and more curious pedestrians piled onto the concrete to hear some of the world’s most beloved selectors. Even Kanye West stopped by.