SXSW Part I

03.22.05

Austin was crazy! I have so much to say, too many photos to show, so I'll divide up my diary into three days- beginning with Thursday March 18th- the day I arrived in Austin, TX, picked up my rental car and blasted Toto's "Africa" all the way to the hotel (I think I might've explained before that I'm on a non-new wave '80s kick- Toto, Boston, Kool & the Gang, Phil Collins, you get the picture). Met up with Alyssa- longtime girlfriend, Austin partner-in-crime and Kalle, my favorite Swede. Kalle was in town with his band, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, so we dropped him at the Austin Music Hall, and went to find parking. Sounds like a simple task, but with my night blindness and keen sense of direction, we ended up in the suburbs and missed most of Soundtrack's set. Robert Plant came on afterwards- playing Led Zeppelin songs to tribal beats. It would've been nice to hear "Stairway To Heaven" or "Rock N' Roll" (basically the only Led Zeppelin songs I'm familiar with), but we left mid-set and headed over to a party for Nylon magazine. I treated my car full of Swedes and Brits to Toto ("Africa" will be forever associated with Austin). Everyone broke down and confessed that they too love this song.

At the Nylon party I fell in love. Not with the free and delicious Vodka blackberry mixtures, but with a girl group called The Like. Three model-skinny Los Angeles gals- all under 21, all gorgeous, all great musicians. In all honesty, their good looks made it difficult to be objective about the music, but listening back to their songs, I think it's pretty promising stuff. What do you think? Have a listen to "(So I'll Sit Here) Waiting."

"(So I'll Sit Here) Waiting" (mp3)

German duo Electrocute came on after with a ridiculously entertaining set (although the music was awful). And a bunch of indie-stars-James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem), Marcie Bolan (The Von Bondies), Erlend Oye (Kings Of Convenience)- deejayed in between sets.

Here's a photo of the Like's singer/ guitar player and me. I'm totally star-struck.

Sheila

Posted by Sheila at 12:44 AM