Hooves on the Turf

Day 3 in Austin was March 19, 2009. We headed to Red House Pizzeria to meet with England’s Fanfarlo and shoot a Secret Garden video nearby.

Back at the venue, Slow Club had started to play.

Then we made our way back to the city where Suckers was playing a super fancy “All That Sparkles” party at Malverde, hosted by I Am Sound, ‘Sup Magazine and This Is Music. The sound was great there, and Suckers played one of my favorite sets.

Mapei was unable to make it, so Quinn Walker of Suckers filled in with a solo set with Brian.

But since his voice needed a rest, they handed it over to Brian’s brother Scott.

Couldn’t resist a smoke though.

The party’s hostess was Rebecca Havemeyer, who did a little number of her own.

Michachu and the Shapes, one of the bands I really wanted to see while I’m here, played next.

I’m a fan of Mica Levi’s nonchalant singing style.

With cowbells and confident drumming, the rhythm section was solid.

Peggy from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is really easy to spot:

The band sang “Happy Birthday” for band mate Raisa Khan.

On our way to other adventures, there was this place:

And more musicians:

We arrived at Club 1808 to see The Tallest Man on Earth and Chairlift. Aids Wolf played first.

These folks obviously have incredible skills but I think you’d really have to be tortured by your own existence, at some level, to be in love with this kind of music, so when I say that this was one of my least favorite sets, it’s probably a compliment. It was like feeding a horse a bag of olives when what it really wants is just a quality stack of hay.

Plenty of gestures and drama in this performance though.

All the Saints was playing on the outside stage.

Chairlift was supposed to play inside at 7:00pm, but their drummer wanted to play the drums that was on the outside stage. They were told that if they could wrap up by 7:45pm, they were welcome to play outside.

They decided not to play the drums after all, but after some time spending setting up, this move to the outdoors resulted in a very short set comprising of 3 songs. Still, it was a great set.

And then finally! The Tallest Man on Earth! After being let down by his non-appearance at Paradise the previous night, I was extremely happy to see Kristian Mattson hanging out at the backyard. He was my quality stack of hay.

He and his crew, like Chairlift, were a little amused by the “inside stage” that was basically just a carpet in a tiny room. His manager made the best of it by turning some of the lights toward the performing area. At times during the set we’d hear one of the workers there chanting “coming through, coming through”. They were moving things around; including trash. And at other times we’d keep hearing the crazy band playing outside whenever the door to the backyard was left open. Kristian was amused by it all, but he sounded awesome. I’m pretty he’ll sound awesome no matter what unfriendly circumstances he plays in. After the set, he turned the lights back towards the audience to make the end of the show all the more proper (this made everyone laugh). I don’t have many pictures because I filmed the entire set, which I will edit and post once I’m back in New York.

We made our way back to the city for These United States at Elysium, which was to be my first official SXSW show to go to.

The venue was a little weird, but the band was in its best form. They rocked hard!

We left with them to go to a Daytrotter bonfire.

It was at Daytrotter’s Austin studio.

Cotton Jones was there, as were other familiar faces.

We reluctantly left this cozy spot to go to Habana Calle 6, where These United States had “Rough and Ready” to perform at the Songs for Presidents showcase. To my luck, Shilpa Ray was playing a solo song on a harmonium. She sounded fantastic. But I couldn’t take a picture because a friend of mine who was holding my camera for me was nowhere to be found at the time