Cate Le Bon
Despite my confusion about whether I woke up in Columbus or Austin on Saturday morning, I triumphantly braved the cold and put in a good eleven hours of music listening/show-navigating on my last day of SXSW. My day began with a charming interview with the lovely Cate Le Bon (check back for full interview soon) and then took me to the MOG party where I camped out at for a number of hours. While there I caught performances by Dum Dum Girls, Demolished Thought (again sans Andrew WK), Freelance Whales, Broken Bells, The Antlers and The Black Keys.
Completely ignore the fact that I’m an Ohioan for one moment as I crown The Black Keys with the best performance of the party, hands down. Broken Bells was entertaining, but didn’t stray too far from what I might expect from a Shins follow-up of Australia.
The Black Keys
More bands and photos after the jump.
Grammatics
After spending a bit too much time enjoying a warm restaurant and food, I caught a sliver of Leeds-based Grammatics at The Phoenix (the most beautiful club I’ve entered in Austin). Cate Le Bon was next on my list as she played the Moshi Moshi party at Latitude 30. Her performance clinched my already substantially positive opinion of her music.
Crayon Fields
I quickly split after her set to catch the tail end of The Middle East, where they managed to pulverize their final song (“Blood”) in an epic Arcade Fire-style. My SXSW experience ended with another Aussie act, Crayon Fields, whose genuinely delightful sound gave me something to hum all the way back to Columbus.
Broken Bells
Freelance Whales
