sxsw day one: my feet hate me

Day One South by Southwest was full of the familiar. I ended up seeing bands I’d either loved for years or seen before – owing both to strange scheduling or odd geography. By day’s end I was hoarse, slightly sunburned, and I couldn’t feel anything from my ankles down.

Needless to say, I’m ready to do it all again today.

Rather than do a line-by-line of everything I saw, I’ll just give a brief summary of the high (and low) lights:

Thought I’d seen a few bands early in the afternoon, the day for me really began with (and I’m going to sound like a broke record, I know) Headlights. I don’t think the world needs yet another blog post in which I talk for a long time about how much I love Headlights, so I’ll just say that yesterday they were a little more ragged and a whole lot louder than the last time I’d seen them – both of which are good things. Songs which on record are perfectly manicured were untucked and stumbling, and the show-closing run through of a double-time hyper-caffeinated “Cherry Tulips” was the perfect finale.

I’d been planning to split for another show after Headlights wrapped up, but I decided to stick around for YACHT. Confession: I haven’t much liked YACHT in the past, and I was fully expecting to take an agitated hike to the bar two songs in. Goes to show what I know: YACHT were great — overjoyed playground chants set to thumping dance rhythms that were wide-eyed and totally winning. The sentiments were simple — one song consisted solely of the phrase “You can live! Anywhere you want!” But hearing those lines shouted over a thundering backbeat made them feel strangely urgent. Their set ended with a quasi-industrial number that reminded me of nothing so much as Pretty Hate Machine-era Nine Inch Nails. YACHT main man Jonah Bechtolt said that every song they played was from their forthcoming record. That’s a record that just made my “most anticipated” list.

After YACHT, I saw both Shearwater and The Raveonettes turn in thoroughly rewarding performances that were each other’s perfect opposite: Shearwater were pained and yearning, The Raveonettes were cool, detached and commanding.

From there, I met up with Yancey at what would be the day’s biggest disappointment: the Wedding Present. Yancey and I are both big fans, and situated ourselves squarely in front of the stage. The only people soundchecking were David Gedge and his bass player, so I sarcastically said to Yancey, “Oh, hey, look, it’s the all-new ‘Bass & Guitar Only’ version of the Wedding Present.” Well, the joke was on me: it was the all-new bass & guitar version of the Wedding Present. Gedge apologized for not having a full band, and began the set in earnest, but there’s just no way to hear those songs without a driving rhythm and piles of guitar. We left, slightly dejected, three songs in.

Next up was the eMusic Showcase. This is going to sound completely biased, I know, but I thought our lineup was great. I’ll concentrate on the first half, since I’m sure other people will be weighing in as well. Day for Night came first, and they were terrific as always: tornadoes of sound guided by Kali Holloway’s soaring, siren-call voice. They remind me of pre-pop Siouxsie and the Banshees, full of dark power and strange omens. They were followed by the Hysterics, whose brand of bright ‘60s pop got grimier and more threatening live. It’s going to sound absurd, but I kept marveling at the fact that these kids were only 17: their songs seem to cram an entire lifetime of record collecting in three-and-a-half minutes. The set ended with vocalist Charlie Klarsfeld tearing his shirt off and dropping to his knees, sweat-drenched and thoroughly spent.

Delorean were next — I really liked them, but I’m going to leave a summation to other Dots contributors who were closer to the stage than I was. All I know is that, when their set ended, Yancey, Alex and Patrick emerged sweaty and beaming from the crowd. I’ll leave it to one of them to explain the awesomeness.