While part of my day was besieged by conference calls and fragments of work (inevitably, my time at SXSW is oddly punctuated by an unusual rush of deadlines—somehow people have a radar for it), a special treat was a trip north and east to Joe’s Place, where No Depression editor Peter Blackstock and New West’s Peter Jesperson (also known as a key figure in Minneapolis mecca record store Oarfolkjokeopus, the force behind the legendary Twin/Tone Records and former manager of the Replacements!) hosted their special Dos Pedros party, featuring, purely and simply, three bands they happen to love—the Parson Red Heads, the Mastersons and Australia’s gorgeous Luluc. Staged in a pretty backyard and hosted with sheer love, their party was a living and breathing reimagination of a good old South By Southwest that perhaps exists now as much as ever.
As always, a day at SXSW is a day of hard choices. Faced with a longish walk and the chance of a daunting crowd surge at Lionel Richie, I opted for the obvious alternative in Corrosion Of Conformity. Stripped back to their power trio form, they tore through the earlier punk-edged chapters of their career before completing the circle with a brace of bashing numbers from their latest release. Woody Weatherman remains a hesher’s shredder extraordinaire, and the band has lost none of their punch in well over 20 years. Heavy in a different way was Denton, TX’s This Will Destroy You, a texture-heavy trio that fits comfortably alongside Explosions in the Sky and Lift to Experience in the Texas triumvirate of post-rock bands that give bands like Mogwai a Technicolor run (or elegant slog) for their money. Also satisfying was the guitar-flecked power pop of Free Energy and the plangent jigsaw puzzle pop of Tennis. Juxtaposed against all the new for me was the utterly timeless—a mind-blowing set from Jimmy Cliff, whose voice is as limber and strong as you could ever hope for even decades past his breakout role in The Harder They Come, as he reprised key songs from the soundtrack, crucial covers and a sprinkling of new material. Looking great and sounding better, he’s a force of nature and a treat in his recent renaissance.
Eclectic as ever, SXSW continues to justify itself as a major destination, crowds, overload, scramble and sheer sprawl be damned.
THE COUNT: ALL THE DESERT'S A STAGE
The dust settles on the Indio Polo Grounds. (4/22a)
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THE NEW UMG
Gosh, we hope there are more press releases.
TIKTOK BANNED!
Unless the Senate manages to make this whole thing go away, that is.
THE NEW HUGE COUNTRY ACT
No, not that one.
TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN PLAYLIST
Now 100% unlicensed!
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