If you’ve been to Austin lately, you know that the locals are fighting the good fight to, as they call it, “Keep Austin Weird.” Yep, you can even pick yourself up a bumper sticker or two to show your support for the movement…
ChinaShop was in the Texas town over the weekend for Austin City Limits, showing OUR support and soaking up the sun, the sights and documenting the adventure. Check out our photojournalism below and remember to “Keep Austin Weird.”
It was Sunday afternoon and I set out to enjoy the last of the Northside Festival riches. Four days of music and art were drawing to a close and I was content with the events of the weekend. I fought my way through crowds, rubbed shoulders with indie music celebs, I saw more shows in four days than I have since SXSW and I’ve got a list of EP’s to download.
As drab and predictable as much of today’s R&B is, soul music—the good stuff—is getting its due time in the sun, due in part to the popularity of artists like Adele, Cee Lo Green and Raphael Saadiq. These are powerful singers who understand the importance of the almighty groove; artists who know that a pocket is more than just something sewn into your pants to hold your bankroll. But what about what’s bubbling beneath the mainstream?
That’s where Andreya Triana comes in. The self-taught songstress from South East London released her debut full-length, Lost Where I Belong, at the end of last year to rave reviews from all sorts of critics. Though she’s quick to protect her pedigree as a soul singer, her tracks have received the remix treatment from electronic luminaries like Flying Lotus, TOKiMONSTA and Mr. Scruff, and her association with tastemaking label Ninja Tune has endeared her to a wide range of ears. We met up with Andreya to chat about her forthcoming album and perused some of Austin’s local fashion traders (Big ups to the cool kids at Process, champions of the dirty south, for letting us use their backdrop). In the end, I got a story and she got a fancy pair of black boots.
I was making the arduous journey through the labyrinth of pedi-cabs and equipment laden masses that is SXSW when I encountered Jordan Cook and crew. Here were three guys just sitting in the fading sunlight on a curb restringing their guitars when I approached. I had been looking for a band that I could interview about what it was like to come to SXSW without any means and holding only hope for that big break. “Nah man, we’re not homeless this week, thankfully,” allows Jordan when I asked if they, like numerous bands this week, were staying at the fabulous Car Hotel. “These cool ladies have just been letting us park our car here, so we’re gonna play a bit for em.”
In her short shorts and frayed top, 22-year-old Eliza Doolittle is easy to spot against the rows and rows of vintage leather that line the walls of Texas Custom Boots. The dusty, fragrant South Austin shop and its grizzled cobblers stand in stark contrast to the singer’s youthful, cherubic glint, but there’s something about the hodgepodge of western wear that jibes with Eliza’s colorful, eclectic style. She’s a Brit, hunkered down for the next few days in the most un-British of locales. She’s a vegetarian, surrounded by award-winning chefs who specialize of all manner of barbecued animal flesh. She is, for all intents and purposes, a pop star, and though she doesn’t have the sort of wear on her treads that these boots do, she’s poised for the long journey that lies ahead.
Last year, her self-titled debut reached #3 on the Billboard UK charts, and has since been certified platinum. She’s landed a Top 10 in three countries for her single, “Pack Up,” and earlier this year signed to a contract with the prestigious Select Models. She’s also performing at this year’s Coachella festival, a true rite of passage for those looking to make a significant splash in American waters. But before she hits the California deserts, best to pick up some shoes to match the occasion.
I’m not much of a cyclist. Meaning, I don’t ever ride a bike. Much less pilot a 4,000 lb monster tricycle with a DJ platform mounted chariot style on the rear deck. Oh, there’s also a DJ back there, but thankfully this MC is more lil’ Wayne than Big Poppa. He’s DJ Manny and he carries himself like a Shaolin with a Pueto Rican accent and a penchant for the f word.
“Occasionally” I find my self passing a random bar and “occasionally” I’ll poke my head inside to see who might be stirring things up. My most recent encounter with random took place in loverly Austin, Tx with some gents who carry the moniker “Tapes n’ Tapes“.
This day found the Sun double parked upon the roof of a garage a couple blocks down on Red River St.
“I don’t play songs… I’m making experiences,” are the words Baltimore native Blaqstarr beams into my ear over the groans of the speaker cones currently being punished by his beats. An arguable reply to my request for the names of some seemingly space based high-energy dance tunes he expects to play this evening. But, judging from the fact that I am standing in a DJ booth adorned with giant replica Mammoth tusks and an emerald ‘laser harp’ some 20 feet above a sea of leg throwing hipsters losing their minds, he might be on to something.
Andy Bothwell, known to many as the MC ‘Astronautalis’, played a whole bunch of shows during SXSW 2011, and I was lucky enough to make it to the very last one. The show was held pool side at Metropolis Apartments. If you went to school or live in Austin, you’ve no doubt visited or at least seen the tacky, brightly painted complex– lets just say it’s probably not any musicians first choice venue.
If you managed to stay on your feet through the entirety of South By Southwest, the intersection of 4th and Colorado is where you wanted to be on Saturday night. Though the gates didn’t officially open until 8pm, the line for the Red Bull Thre3Style had already stretched around two corners by 6pm. Weary ears desperate for a break from all the week’s rock ‘n’ roll madness were in for a serious treat as DJ-R, DJ M-Squared, Mick Boogie, DJ Qbert, DJ Jazzy Jeff, De La Soul and Z-Trip—with the help of a “supermoon” in the sky and a secret special guest in the wings—were set to move the crowd.