The "unofficial" parties are as important to the fun at SXSW as the officially-sanctioned, bigger-name-sponsored shindigs. On 6th Street, but a-ways up from the main disco drag, NYC organizer Todd P., along with a bunch of promo all-stars, put on one of his dozens of festival parties in Ms. Bea's back patio and parking lot. These underground, free shows tend to bring out those true blue fans that cannot afford badges and wristbands or, as was the case today, those who are simply too young to attend clubs. They also tend to feature a who's who of what is being talked about within grassroots music scenes. If that means rubbing elbows with the hipster contingent sporting bizarre and cute tattoos of cans o' beenz, tea cups, and ghetto blasters, and donning mesh-back, Ghostbusters baseball hats, so be it. Between the steady flow of Olivia Newton John hits a bunch of renegade artists showed up, played hard, and exposed a side of SXSW that emphasizes music and community first. There was no chance this afternoon was going to be anything but a blast.
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- {Rafter}
I showed up just as San Franciscan class clown Rafter was playing. Backed by a brace-faced beauty and a drumming bumpkin (I say that only because of the straw hat!), Rafter (Roberts) drove through a fast set of electronically-assisted miniature pop opuses taken from and outside from his four albums. The only thing that rivaled his awesome energetic songs was his motormouth song interludes. Obviously taking the mic after consuming a breakfast of Red Bull and sugar packets, Rafter ranted, lied, and charmed the shorts off the small but receptive crowd. Anyone who can have a gaggle of dancing girls hitting the floor at such an early hour has to be doing something right.
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- {These Are Powers}
Next up were These Are Powers, who subbed in early for the delayed Deer Tick. The frenetic trio of Anna Barie on effects and kamikaze vocals, Pat Noecker on the rumbling low-slung bass, and Bill Salas on percussion and drum pads drove home the point that they had arrived with a raucous set of full-on sex and violence. Whether you call them electro-dub, junkyard beat, or as the band themselves describe themselves, "ghost punk," it is getting increasingly obvious that they no longer belong in any convenient no wave/noise classification (especially as Barie continues to play less guitar and more toys and pedals). When the band thrusts and jerks and seduces with a tune like "Life of Birds" and when Barie hikes up her skirt to show us her tambourine bruises and says, "See what we do for you?" it is clear that These Are Powers are a band well worth any expense or travel time to see. Travel time? Hell, they are worth the expense of time travel.
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- {Deer Tick}
Deer Tick hero John McCauley III arrived in due time and took a seat just to the side of the patio stage to give the devoted crowd a taste of his aching outsider country. Although he now plays majorily with a full Deer Tick band that fill out his musings more than effectively, this solo acoustic show brings McCauley back to his basics. His short set left everyone wanting more, but he held the devotees in awe, so much so that if he had played only "Spend the Night" the crowd still would have been as happy as happy be.
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- {Vivian Girls}
It was only a matter of time before I would run into Vivian Girls. If you're playing a couple of dozen shows over four days, everyone in Austin has the chance to see the mega hot trio (indeed, at the end of their numbers, bassist Katy announced that they would be playing an additional show, at midnight on the pedestrian bridge that runs along the river downtown). For this show, the ladies took the stage and played a set of unsophisticated and exciting pop songs. Yeah, you know 'em. Many, many people flock to Vivian Girls because of their current flavor-of-the-month popularity and now-ness, and others are drawn to their down-to-earth nature and amateurish charm. While this is undeniably "their time" and do certainly hearken back to a time when passion triumphed over technical musicianship and recording precision, great pop songwriting will always be the Girls' real strength, regardless of any fashionable trend of the day.
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- {Titus Andronicus }
After the interlude of punky tweeness, Titus Andronicus blew a little piece of everyone's brains off with their side-stage blast. Throwing caution and pretension to the wind, the Jersey band knocked back song after song full of swagger, lyrically acuteness, and everyday rebellion. The band was characteristically aggressive and went full-steam from the start of every single song with a barrage of bass, drums, and catchy, crunchy riffs. Singer Patrick Stickles was completely unhinged, as he thrashed his body and mic stand around like like a drunk savant throwing the discus. There are a lot of groups who dabble in the small punk-Pogues section of sound, but Titus' passion is undeniable and their shows are spectacularly rambunctious. I'm not a mathlete, but this all adds up to a band playing in a league of its own.
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- {Ponytail}
The ubiquitous and affable Molly Siegel has been everywhere at SXSW, bumpin' around in her Ray Lewis Ravens shirt with a smile for everyone that wants to say "hi." She personifies all that is good about a festival that has more than its fair share of industry douche bags wandering around for their next free meal, drink, or line. Given her personality and Ponytail's infectious tunes, it is no wonder they drew a big, eager late-afternoon crowd. So big, in fact, that I decided to kick back and take in the sounds instead of battling for snap space. Plus, with both my and Siegel's short statures, there was no way to get any worthwhile photos short of climbing a tree to gain a vantage point. And I gave up tree-climbing, just last week. Starting very, very slow, Ponytail soon gave the kids what they wanted: an explosive, non-stop, high-NRG set with plenty of whinnying and cooing and shouting and yelping for all to enjoy.
