Shannon’s Top 10 SXSW Performances
Surviving mostly on free beer and samples of cookies ‘n’ cream Power Bars to keep my protein uptake high I managed to get the full SXSW experience, which meant four 14-hour days filled with nothing but music. Besides a few well-known exceptions (M. Ward and surprise guests Dinosaur Jr.) I tried to stick to the up and comers. I was basically on a mission to discover my new favorite bands and what can I say, mission accomplished. Now I won’t be as bold as to say these are going to be the 10 biggest acts of the year, but all I will say is they’re already getting some pretty heavy rotation on my iPod.
1) Akron/Family @ Mohawk and Don't Mess With Texas
Animal Collective? So last season! I’m all about Akron/Family. This band makes you dance and packs in just as much, if not more, percussion. Also their music seems to pack in everything but the kitchen sink, though that might be in there too. From Fela Kuti to The Dead to The Beatles, the influences all are heard in their songs.
Looking like hippies from the backwoods of Pennsylvania, the threesome sing about living in Woody Guthrie’s America in front of a tie-dyed American flag. I got a chance to see these guys twice, once at the Secretly 
Canadian/Dead Oceans party at Mohawk where a lot of drunk people jumped and danced around. The next time (and my favorite show of the fest) was when they played the outdoor Don’t Mess With Texas show. At a small side stage the boys had some mystery guests like two girls in homemade pot leave masks acting as backup dancers and a few random black guys who came out onstage to help play the drums. The party continued into the crowd where everyone seemed to dance like no one was watching.
Their 4th album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, is due out in May, so you better see them now before all the hype kicks in, which it will!
www.akronfamily.com/2) Titus Andronicus @ Club de Ville
At 1 am 
on Saturday I wanted to end my festival experience on a high note. I chose to spend this time with Titus Andronicus, New Jersey punks with a lead singer who sounds a lot like Conor Oberst during the early days of Bright Eyes. The fivesome treated us to some good ol’ Irish inspired punk. Where their self-titled album is really (really) lo-fi, live the band shows off their skills. Nothing is muffled, instead it is just loud. Even when you don’t know what is being said, you still feel right there with them, chanting along to whatever words you can make out. The best has to be “Fear And Loathing in Mahwah, NJ” which starts off quiet and slow, but picks up with a rousing shout of “Fuck You!” And who doesn’t want to join in on that? I will answer that for you, no one.
www.myspace.com/titusandronicus
http://www.titusandronicus.net/
3) Janelle Monae @ Vice
We’ve probably all seen Janelle Monae around, but we should really a
ll start paying more attention. Over the course of the week 3 other BRMers raved about Ms. Monae and not wanting to be left out of the loop I made sure I got myself to her last show on Saturday night. With some free earplugs in hand (thank you Jelly NYC pool parties!) I made my way to the front left hand side, basically on top of the speaker, to make sure I could see what was going on stage. Hearing loss was a small price to pay to check out Monae’s brand of space age neo-soul. She moves like James Brown and Tina Turner, while singing about space and wearing a high class caterers uniform complete with a shiny pair of saddle shoes. There’s also some Ziggy Stardust era David Bowie mixed in there for good measure. Sound confusing? See her and it will all make sense.
4) Royal Bangs @ Habana Calle 6
I would have been happy with the free waffles and M+M pancakes, but Royal Bangs made them even sweeter. The Tennessee band plays rock 'n' roll mixed with a little punk, some keyboards and a lot of tambourine. Singer, Ryan 
Schaeffer sounds like Kevin Drew pushing his voice to every possible limit. The best though is when Schaeffer decides to step out from behind the keyboard and play the drum. He stands right in front of the stage just pounding away. They're still a band that is under the radar, but I’m pretty sure they’re ready to break out.
http://www.myspace.com/royalbangs
5) Port O’Brien @ Buffalo Billiards
Some difficulties getting things set up left the band with a little less time, but they managed to get a lot in. They look like they might have come to Austin in search of gold so it's fitting that they play folk music. They have a female banjo player and a guitarist that moves like he has a Mexican jumping bean in his pants, manically hopping and pacing the length of the stage.
With their last song they asked for crowd participation handing out pots to bang on. Unfortunately drunk people do silly things, like the woman next to me who decided to use her beer bottle as a drum stick. Needless to say that didn’t work out so well for her. That incident didn’t take anything away from the show, but I feel it is important to advise people against doing the same thing.
http://www.myspace.com/portobrien
6) Peelander-Z @ Mohawk
I had recently seen Peelander-Z for the first time at our latest release party for our spring issue, where they are
featured (you should buy it!) At an outdoors venue like Mohawk, the guys can really go wild. Red hung like Spiderman from the rafters and Green crowdsurfed across to a tent where he did some signature posing and then made his way back to the stage. They even set their stuff up in the middle of the crowd and yours truly got onstage to bang on a pot. This might seem like some crazy SXSW antics, but in actuality, this was a normal Peelander-Z show.
At first you might play them off as a novelty band (the Power Ranger style uniforms probably have something to do with it) but the Japanese punk band has some chops. Their songs are simple with choruses like “Mad Tiger” and “Super Health,” but with human bowling and other antics the lyrics aren't really that important. And if you like the Ramones (and who doesn't?) you'll want to check out their album cover to P-Pop-High School, an homage to Rock 'n' Roll High School.
http://www.peelander-z.com/http://www.myspace.com/peelanderz
7) Marco Benevento @ the Elephant Room
Only seeing him by himself I didn’t get the full effect of pianist, Marco Benevento. Here with his trio, Benevento played covers of Radiohead and the Knife. He also played some originals which are just as good. Benevento is like a big child smiling through every song. He kept quiet throughout the show, only speaking to introduce his band, but the crowd was pretty loud shouting “I Love You” and wooing occassionally. Who knew instrumental shows could be so rowdy?
8) Mae Shi @ Habana Calle Annex
I stumbled into this one unknowingly from another show and boy, am I happy I did! These four guys are like a 
pop band who are heavily influenced by black metal and hardcore. They like to say they're a punk band, but I think that's a little limiting. Whatever it is though, it's entertaining. There’s a lot of screaming and often times lead singer, Jonathan Gray, looks like he’s possessed by the Devil. Awesome!
During the course of the set, the bassist had to borrow a bass from another band since his broke, but the strap was way too long because apparently the other guy is a giant. It didn't matter though, because he came up with some interesting ways to make it work. One involved kneeling on the ground to play it and another was to just rest it on his knee while he played standing up. The best though was when the guitarist chipped into help by standing behind him and holding it up to the appropriate height. The guys also brought me back to elementary school by incorporating one of those huge rainbow parachutes you use in gym to balance things on. Those were the days, but I digress. Here the guys didn't do any balancing, but instead everyone gathered underneath while the guys just kept on playing.
9) Julia and Angus Stone @ Buffalo Billiards
The siblings from Down Under played one SXSW show, KCRW’s showcase at Buffalo Billiards. At first I wasn’t so sure about them. Julia’s baby-like vocals are a combo of Joanna Newsom and Martha Wainwright, but they exude a lot of power. The girl barely needs a mic. She spins around the stage like Stevie Nicks while Angus plays the straight man, mainly playing the guitar. Not to take anything away from him, but when your sister plays the keyboard, trumpet, and guitar it’s hard to stand out. Their sound is a mix of island grooves, reggae, folk and classical. The duo looked like they were high or possessed during the course of the show, but somehow it all added to the mystique of the duo leaving me intrigued.
http://www.angusandjuliastone.com
10) Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers @ the Radio Room
She looks like America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and plays pretty folk songs that would make perfect soundtracks to any show on the CW or maybe the next The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie. Her voice, while sweet isn't cookie cutter, there's a little raspiness to it that makes it interesting. While she sticks to playing the acoustic, her three-piece band helps add a little punch to songs like "Rising Sun" and "Get The Fever Out." Her onstage banter is pretty entertaining too. She talked about why she wouldn't drive cross country for SXSW again, which was mainly because you'll end up looking tired and worn down (though she looked just fine to me). Her band told some bad jokes and she explained to everyone that you can do whatever the fuck you want when you're in Austin. Over the course of the week I would realize that she was completely right. Remember the girl who used a bottle as a drum stick...
http://www.myspace.com/samanthacrain
Words and photos by: Shannon Carlin
Also check out.
Kyle's SXSW Highlights Countdown,
Lilly's List of SXSW Randomness
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