more sxsw day 1: i survived!

Unlike Sean and Joe, this is my first SXSW, and I totally hope Sean is right about the first day being the most exhausting! I was sort of all over the place yesterday. Some good stuff:

- Broken Bells (James Mercer of the Shins and Danger Mouse) playing in a parking garage. The acoustics were pretty awesome, and I think they played through all of, if not almost all of, their debut LP that came out a couple weeks ago. James Mercer sounded like James Mercer, and Danger Mouse mostly stayed on the drums but also took on guitar and keyboard on a couple of tracks.

- Warpaint. This L.A. quartet played gauzy, psychedelic-leaning jams fronted by droning guitars and lines like “Glow in the dark, that’s how we do it” and “You’re fucking with my shit/ Oh my god, I’m mad at it” and they were awesome. The two guitarists switched off on vocals, the bassist never stood still grooving to her own beat, and the drummer made some pretty awesome facial expressions.

- Small Black/Washed Out. Have to admit I hadn’t listened to much music from either of them before yesterday, but Small Black’s music was fun (although they were slightly awkward to watch; the singer seemed to not really know what to do with his hands), and the Washed Out dude (above), who did a few of his own songs and then a few with Small Black, is adorable and looked sooo happy.

- Basia Bulat. There were a few sound problems at Emo’s Jr. during her set and the Unthanks before her (part of the Rough Trade showcase), but Bulat fared much better… She is so charming and while I’ve seen her live before, it was great to see her with a band (a viola player and her brother on drums) instead of solo.

- Rose Elinor Dougall. Former member of the Pipettes Rose Elinor Dougall doesn’t have a full-length record out yet, but hopefully that will change soon… she does have a couple of really catchy singles though, that aren’t nearly as cutesy/kitschy as her last project. New wave synths, guitars that sounded like synths, a mandolin (not sure I’ve ever heard a mandolin with synths…) and lots of handclaps. She also gave a small blow to her former bandmates, who she played with at SXSW a couple years ago: “It’s really nice to be back with a different band.”