Sweet sounds of SxSW
I am glad that I go to SMU, although, when I walk the campus, I feel like another “collar in the crowd.” It is rare that I see anyone that makes me double-take and think, “Wow, that was weird” – and that bothers me. With that said, allow me to elaborate on a very different spring break at South by Southwest in Austin.
Much to my dismay, I had a bit of reconstructive surgery that immobilized my knee for the first part of break. Following a handful of very painful days, I sucked it up and embarked upon a medically unapproved journey to see some really good music and some really weird people.
The streets in Austin were bustling with mohawks and misfits – the music industry was truly in the house.
Our first night there, my friend Mitch and I walked (not a wise decision) to the Red Eyed Fly to see Jedi Mind Tricks and Immortal Technique – two of the more celebrated acts in underground hip-hop. Needless to say, the show in itself was the direct antithesis to SMU – gritty, raw and borderline anarchist.
Immortal Technique had an ability to really elicit emotion from his fans, as he ranted about internal injustices of “the system” and the social constructions that confine us.
The following day, we all went to Lake Shores Auditorium to see a show featuring Blackalicious and the hometown favorite, Spoon. Blackalicious played a killer set that had everyone, including me, on their feet rocking back and forth with the beat.
Spoon was an outstanding follow-up; it performed a majority of the songs off of its latest critically acclaimed album, “Gimme Fiction.”
On Friday, we went to an afternoon show at the Peacock Cocktail – a small retro lounge that is fairly removed from most of the action. The small bar had a superb atmosphere, one that was perfect for a Scottish ensemble called Aberfeldy. The band from Edinburgh played an hour-long set to a crowd of around 30 people.
Later that night we arrived at Emo’s just in time to catch Kansas City’s Mac Lethal, and the Bush-bashing continued. Following Mac Lethal was Soul Position, a duo comprised of one talented emcee named Blueprint and one renowned DJ, RJD2. Let me tell you that when the two perform at Hailey’s in Denton during finals, you should drop your books and make the drive, because the two are living legends.
To wrap up the weekend, we got up a bit earlier (noon) and slowly made our way to Poke E. Joe’s BBQ to see Jason Collett. Later in the day, I dragged my friend Matt to one last hip-hop show to see Alberta Canada’s Cadence Weapon at Caribbean Lights.
Although I really enjoyed his latest album, I was not overly impressed by his live performance. Unfortunately, there was a very small showing of around 30 people, which obviously contributed to the forced enthusiasm Weapon struggled to muster.
We finished at Karma Lounge. Aberfeldy played another upbeat set that featured more of its older music from its debut album, “Young Forever.” I tried to convince my buddies to stomach one last hip-hop show, as the Wu Tang’s Ghostface was playing a 1 a.m. set, but I was tragically unsuccessful. Whatever, I’m seeing him in two weeks.
Jeff Broadway is a sophomore foreign languages and literature major and can be reached at [email protected].
