Me: I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound like a total degenerate but do you happen to know what day of the week it is?
Random dazed girl (after a brief moment): Shit man! I have no idea!
That’s SXSW in a nutshell for you. The two of us, clearly representing the worst of humanity at that point, spent the next four to five minutes trying to figure it out on our phones. It was Thursday by the way. So as you’re reading this, just realize that I may leave an experience or two out solely based off the fact that my brain isn’t fully functioning just yet. But having said all of that, here’s the best of what I saw during this incredible week.
The first two acts that left me floored were Kacy Hill and Jack Garratt at the Spotify House. Simply put, Kacy Hill is a young pop superstar in the making. She looks like she’s 12, she weighs about 40 lbs. and she’s a ginger, so that means she’s sensitive to sunlight much like a Gremlin is. But when she opens her mouth, she has one of the more powerful voices in the industry; this is why Kanye West signed her to his label. She doesn’t move much while she’s performing on stage mainly because she’s still young and you can see that nerves get in the way but her turtleneck wearing bandmates provide more than enough flare to keep you occupied. They look like Flock of Seagulls rejects but the drummer is a mad woman on the kit. I’m not that much into pop music but I did find myself subconsciously doing the "stanky leg" during a song or two of hers. Just keep in mind though that if you hear her screaming "Bright light! Bright light!" during her show, throw that woman a robe or something so she doesn’t die on stage.
Jack Garratt came on right after Hill did and he stepped up with a praise worthy performance as well! It was his first show of SX and you could tell early on as he was struggling to keep the beat on his first song. But once he worked the nerves out and got his rhythm going, he had my skeptical friends closing out their social media apps for a change and dancing to his electronic and guitar driven beats. He’s a one man band, so it takes his songs a bit to build up to their climax but once they do, the payoff is definitely worth the wait. Garratt is British with a beard, so watch your girlfriends when they’re around him; but as long as he’s on stage and she isn’t, you’re for the most part safe. Just make sure those handcuffs are on super tight!
If you like punk music, you should do yourself a favor and check out Honduras out of Brooklyn, NY and Tennis System out of LA. Honduras’s recorded tracks don’t come close to doing the band justice as their live performance rivals that of any classic punk act you can think of. Watching them is like watching a cross between Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols. I of course had to see them twice. Tennis System is like the rebirth of My Bloody Valentine but harder! My ears were bleeding by the end of their performance but in spite of that they somehow had 50 year old grandpas moshing around like they were teenagers on acid! I’m not sure how big either of these acts will be as they aren’t really set up for main stream festivals like Coachella or ACL but make sure you catch them when they hit your town. I’m a huge fan of punk music and these two are definitely FRESH!
As far as hip hop goes, Anderson.Paak may have been the best show I saw all week. He has been waiting a long time for this moment and you could tell that he was ready to seize it the second he took the stage! He is a showman in every aspect of the word as he sings, raps, and even plays the drums. Thankfully though it’s not like he’s Phil Collins and performs from behind the kit the entire time; he still has a DJ that plays his beats for him, but when the song needs to be taken up a notch he hops back there and absolutely destroys it! He has a band with him, which is typically not a good idea with a hip hop act, but in this case it works. His album Malibu is already winning people over and I definitely see him ruling the festival circuit for the next year or two.
Next up is Vince Staples out Long Beach. You should just know going in that he likes to make people feel as uncomfortable as possible during his shows. He has no issues calling out the evil corporations that paid for him to be there (see Spotify) or the drunk idiots that do stupid things at his show(randomly shouting his name for no reason or climbing a tree to get a better look at him). But he does so with such wit that you can’t help but laugh and give him your undivided attention for fear that you will be the butt of his next joke. He doesn’t really have club bangers but his socially conscious tales of corruption, greed, and police violence will have you shouting right along with him like you’re at a political rally. It’s like listen to Public Enemy without the giant clocks around his neck. This kid definitely has the "it" factor.
At one point he called out the primarily white crowd for not recognizing certain urban slang and then he noticed me waving my hand in the crowd (one of the only Black people not on stage) and said to me "I see you my brother! Raise a fist in the air!" I didn’t have the heart to tell him that earlier that day I spent $20 to have $10 tacos delivered to my door; now that’s Black privilege right there!
I would go on and on telling you how awesome The Deftones, Big Grams, No Age, and Erykah Badu were but you already know that. Just know that the grunge act from Toronto Dilly Dally and the British pop act Haelos also delivered and are worthy of you checking them out.
I hope you found this helpful and to the poor girl that I somehow convinced to go on a date with me Friday night, I sincerely apologize! After partying 4 straight days, I had to look, act, and smell like a homeless alcoholic! Until next year my friends, until next year!
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