Thursday MARCH 17th 2011–
I started my SXSW experience off at Moby's Vegan BBQ Event and we stopped to hear Egyptrixx and Teen Daze on Thursday afternoon. The POP'ish super happy melodies of Teen Daze made it hard not to want to dance even in the hot dusty food trailer park on East 6th Street. Next on the list was Esben and the Witch and Wiz Khalifa at the Fader Fort by Fiat tent. Almost everything was free once we were inside the Fader tent. Free food, drinks and music. The atmosphere was pretty nice as well with a bloggers room, a Fiat Cafe with beautiful women making espresso and giving away ice cream. Lots of high design, super mod sponsors that really pulled out all the stops to make this year's event pretty amazing.
Unfortunately, the acoustics of the tent were horrible so actually enjoying the music was kinda a strain. Also, the crowd was so loud it was hard to actually hear the music. I noticed that people who showed up didn't seem to be into the indie rock nearly as much as the hip-hop line up.
Later in the evening The Strokes played at Auditorium Shores and we had a hell of a time trying to get parking down there and ended up driving around for an hour in desperation I tried to park on a curb and then two police officers showed up so I moved :P Long story short... I heard the music but didn't get down there in time to see the Strokes perform. First day was pretty decent and considering I had to go into work the next morning I was thankful to not make it a super late night.
Left: Fader Fort Boom box Art Display, Right: Burtn Ones @ Glitter Taco Party Peckerheads.
FRIDAY 18th 2011–
Started the day out on South Congress and biked down Riverside to 6th Street to go to the check out the Under the Radar Party at Flamingo Cantina. However, the line was too long and didn't look like it was moving so instead opted for the Glitter Taco Party at Peckerhead's. We decided to stay at one place and wait for Das Racist to come on at 7pm and I am really glad I did. Andy D was off the hook. This guy is hilarious and all I can say is that I've never seen anything quiet like it in my life. His get-up was 80s Rocker/ Hillbilly/African BamBaataa/Peaches/Weird Al all smashed together into one rather large sweaty package.
We also saw Burnt Ones, which had a really bad start with lots of tuning and mike problems but once they got started had a nice surf/beach/lo-fi rocker touch that I liked and made me wanna build a bonfire on the beach! Asobi Sesku was alright but I was not really into their style. The vocals didn't hold my attention and seemed kinda watery and lack luster with muddy guitar riffs.
Das Racist show was fun and I enjoyed seeing them play live. Last stop for the evening was Shangri-La's Sailor Jerry's Party and we really enjoyed seeing Rainbow Arabia. They have a very intricate way of weaving techno, house, drum and bass, vocals and all in a non-club style which to me was very refreshing and new. We also stayed to hear Lesands which I was not at all familar with but the chill upbeat vibe was pretty awesome for this 80s synth-pop style seem to be going for. We stopped into the East Side Showroom for dinner and enjoyed a yummy dinner while listening to some Gypsy music by Wino Vino. We got an assortment of meats and cheeses as an appetizer and then pork chops as the entree. Everything was wonderful! I've never seen the place buzzing with so many people. I hear one woman say she had waited an hour and a half for a table, but all in all everyone there seemed to be flying high on the SXSW excitement.
