The third day at SXSW is always the day you crash. Hungover, starved of sleep and energy and with ears that had to quickly get used to a hell of a lot of music, Thursday is always so hectic that on Friday you have to take it easy.
Compared to the day before, our third day’s showing in Austin was therefore fairly lite. First up were Lemonade at Lovejoy’s. In the sweaty small venue, you have to hold your nose somewhat as you approached the central seating but the band put on a good show with an electro sound somewhere between MGMT and Hearts Revolution.
After Wavves stormed SXSW last year with their lo-fi charm, it was only apt that we checked out this year’s hyped lo-fi trendsetters. Dum Dum Girls though were something of a disappointment, mixing in a gothic overtone with a very full sound. Their songs though were a little nondescript, and while in the studio they might display some individuality, live, each track faded into the crowd.
After the disappointment of Dum Dum Girls we went in search of something with a little more energy, and Holy Fuck perfectly fitted the bill. Blending tracks to curate a perfect 30 minute set, their prog-electro style had the crowd in awe in minutes, and Holy Fuck are set to at last really break into the mainstream this year.
After sitting through a dreadful and grossly misplaced performance from rapper Chiddy Bang, The Young Veins finished off the day. One half of the now splintered Panic! At The Disco (with the other two members still recording under the same name), The Young Veins, led by Ryan Ross and Jon Walker, is the full-blown end result of Ross’ push toward The Beatles. Panic!’s last album, Pretty. Odd., was disappointing to some for ditching their electro punk roots to turn down the eclectic indie folk route, but The Young Veins are full on Beatles-influenced, down to the clothing and instruments. Sadly it doesn’t really work as well as Ross would have hoped, and the only semi-excitable crowd is proof already that they’re going to have to go someway to matching Panic! At The Disco when Brendon and Spencer release new material likely later this year.
Early finish, but it was necessarily to regroup for the final day.