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On Wednesday, March 17, the Interactive portion of the 2010 South By Southwest Conference gave way to the Music portion of the festival. And we were there. Suddenly, the nerds in ironic Firefox t-shirts had been replaced by hipsters in tight jeans. The Macbooks had been replaced by guitar cases. And the party carried on. Here is our coverage of the shows and after-parties, witnessed on the ground by Joran Oppelt, Bryan Childs (Autopsy IV) and photographer Shanna Gillette.

(Scroll to bottom of post to see more pics and video).

DAY FIVE - Sunday, March 21

DAY FOUR - Saturday, March 20

@joranslane reporting:

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Flatstock, the traveling concert poster exhibit put on by the American Poster Institute, always makes an annual stop at SXSW and never fails to amaze. 2010 was no exception, including artists like Mexican Chocolate, Chuck Sperry and Anville. However, this year the Austin Record Convention, which is usually cordoned off in an entirely separate room, took up half of the exhibit hall, making for a pretty dizzying experience. Browsers could take a break from the art and browse through tons of vinyl, CDs and music memorabilia. Talk about getting chocolate in your peanut butter.

This being my last night in town, I decided not to follow the crowds and just see what new music I could discover. I stopped in over at Cuba Libre to check out The Knew (Denver, CO) at the Red Gorilla Showcase and when I arrived, Alexa Carter was on stage. While only a couple of the heavy, guitar-driven pop songs were anything special, she definitely sang her ass off. Imagine if Avril Lavigne had balls and was from New York, you'd have Alexa. I stepped out into the alley to have a smoke, and as the band packed their gear onto the tour bus - and I do mean tour bus (the sound man told me it was Tracy Byrd's old bus) - Alexa's manager was on his Bluetooth. In the most professional way, he was complaining to "someone" that "someone else" hadn't made it out to the showcase, that they weren't happy with the size and location of the venue, that the band was disappointed, and other things managers have to say. It's moments like this that I sure don't miss the music business.

Shitty Carwash (Austin, TX)

I trucked it across town to Habana Calle 6 and caught the tail-end of Shitty Carwash (Austin, TX). They take the award for best song titles, which included names like "Even People From Africa Have Heard of Led Zeppelin" and "My Cock Tastes Like Techno." Apparently their record is available to download for free at shittycarwash.com, so do it.

Phil from Brokenmold told me I had to check out Visqueen (Seattle, WA), so I stuck around. I'm not sure if he was fucking with me or not, but I wasn't impressed. Rachel Flotard and her band plied some poppy southern rock with a cello player, but Parlour Steps (Vancouver, BC), the band that played before her, was the real treat. Probably the best thing I saw all night, and reminded me of a couple good bands back home. Kind of like Dear and Glorious Physician meets Minus the Bear.

I had promised Billy Summer (The Semis) that I would check out The Mantles (San Francisco, CA), but they were playing at Club 1808, the farthest from downtown of all the "official" venues, and I was told you had to go through a "really shitty" part of town to get there, so we took a cab. They were a green little outfit, but their recorded stuff is good and definitely worth your time if you're into 60's garage-rock a la The Kinks.

I'm now back at the hotel, about to pack up all my dirty clothes and all the shit I bought (you're welcome, Austin). The hotel is crawling with college basketball cheerleaders doing cartwheels in the hallways and I'm just too tired to care.

Thanks to everyone at SXSW and the Austin Chronicle, all my Austin people and the new friends I made this time out. It's been real. See you all next year.

@autopsy4 reporting:

Well. SxSW is over and I have to admit. It's not a day to early for me. This was a blast but it's just not proper to be drunk while the sun is up too many times in a row. It starts to mess with a man's mind. Anyhow, SxSW Saturday started out wet and chilly and got colder as the day wore on. I headed out to the Suburban Home Records / Front Porch Musings showcase to catch a stellar lineup of Michah Schnabel, The Only Sons, Look Mexico, Austin Lucas, American Aquarium, Glossary and the best rock and roll band in America since Isbell left the Truckers, Two Cow Garage. Really, Saturday was more about seeing old friends, making new friends and celebrating our little family through music. As a result, I don't have a lot to say so I'll just let these videos speak for me:

This is Kent Goolsby from The Only Sons performing a new song called, "Standing Water":

While were outside filming this track a group of girls came up requesting "Wagon Wheel". At the end of the video I call "Wagon Wheel" the new Stairway to Heaven but later Kent nailed it even better calling it the new "Freebird". Anyhow, it turned into a whole street sing along thing which was pretty cool:

Austin Lucas and his choir were spot on as usual. Austin's new material is coming out great and the choir is adding a whole new dimension to his work. Check it out:

I even managed to corner Shane Sweeny of Two Cow Garage and have him perform a song for me. I fucked the audio up on this one but I still think it's worthy of posting. Watch how much emotion he puts into performing on a street corner for a blogger with an iPhone then imagine what it's like on stage. Like I said, best rock and roll band in America:

To quote Looney Tunes, "That's All Folks." I'd like to thank Creative Loafing for having the courage and confidence to give me a badge. I hope I didn't let them, or you guys, down.

DAY THREE - Friday, March 19

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Tan Lines bring their experimental pop straight from Brooklyn, NY, telling the crowd at Club Deville, "You won't hear music like THIS anywhere else at South By." Photo by Sasha Rae.

@autopsy4 reporting:

Somewhere out there in Austin there is a wall and I managed to hit it. Repeatedly. Friday ended up being my longest day of the festival thus far and it started at the Bloodshot Records annual Yard Dog Party where I met up with my good buddy Pete Stein from Truckstop Coffee. Yard Dog was one of the things on my "can't miss" list. This year the bill featured Ha Ha Tonka, Ben Weaver and the main reason I went out there, Justin Townes Earle. I'd love to say that it was a great show but the reality is that there were so many people there we could barely hear Justin much less see him so I guess it was a little bit of a bust. We left Yard Dog and started heading back downtown to see Lucero when I ran into the Brokenmold Entertainment guys who were mulling about waiting on Nervous Turkey's set to get started. I decided to support the local boys and bid farewell to Pete.

Nervous Turkey played to a pretty sparse crowd that was more interested in getting their free beer and cigarettes than seeing any band at the beginning. By the end of their set, in typical Turkey fashion everyone was paying attention and dancing along. The picture above was the only one I managed to get as I learned all about SxSW's "No Cameras" policy.

Later in the evening I made up for being present but not really seeing Justin as he put on a fantastic set at The Red Eyed Fly. I was planning on stepping outside to grab a hot dog and then going back in to catch Lucero but that proved to be a mistake. The badge line to get back on was almost a block long and nobody was being let in so I decided to roll on.

Being a little worried about the Lucero line I decided to go ahead and get to Slim Cessna early since seeing them was one of the main reasons I wanted to come out here. Let me tell y'all something. They did not disappoint putting on what will probably be the highlight of Austin for me. Singing on stage, in the middle of the crowd and at all points in between Slim and Jay preached, exorcised and even managed to raise a little hell in the middle of an Austin night. If you're ever within 200 miles of a Slim Cessna show you need to go. Trust me.

Anyhow, I don't have any video today. The venues started to get a lot more strict with their policies and the crush of people is making finding a quiet spot outside more difficult. I hope to get something today though. For now, I gotta run and try to catch Micah Schnabel putting on a 10:45 show.

@joranslane reporting:

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I started my Friday late, getting to The Ghost Room around 2 p.m. I arrived just in time to see The Tenant (ex-Summerbirds in the Cellar) perform an intimate set on the small indoor stage.

I then rushed over to La Zona Rosa (a venue I'm becoming quite fond of, if only for the power strip near the sound board where I can charge my phone) for the Village Voice party. I ducked into the VIP, scarfed some free tacos, chugged a free beer, and returned just in time to see Superchunk play a high-energy set, pogo-ing all around the stage. During the second song, someone near the front sparked up some really skunky weed and bassist Laura Ballance remarked, "Wow. If I start to fuck up, you'll know why!"

Next up was The xx, the band that all the kids had lined up to see. They were good, but it was such a shift of energy, coming off the tail of Superchunk, that I started to get tired. Walking outside for a smoke, I ran into Ray Quinn, owner of Martyr's in Chicago. He and I chatted about his late friend and one of my longtime idols, Chris Whitley, and even talked about doing a multi-city tribute to Chris on his birthday this coming August. Stay tuned for details on that one!

I dropped by Waterloo Records to browse and kill some time only to discover Sweet Apple (featuring J. Mascis on guitar) performing on an outdoor stage in the parking lot. Vocalist John Petkovic was bragging about how they'd only practiced one time the day before and gotten paid $1,000 to do it.

"That must mean somethin'," he said.

Bro, it means J. Mascis is in your band. And that's about it.

By the time I got downtown, it was getting dark and I was running out of steam. On the recommendation of the beautiful Molly Jean, bassist for Detroit's The Hounds Below, I trotted over to the Beauty Bar Annex to check out a British band called Band of Skulls. Am I ever glad I did. These guys were intense, and loud as shit. A kind of 70s-era groovy, yet literate rock-and-roll that reminded me of a cross between The Pretenders and the Burning Brides. Say it with me now, Band of Skulls.

Muse powers through an impressive set of epic arena rock at Stubbs. Photo by Sasha Rae.

The night just got utterly ridiculous for me when Muse played a quasi-surprise set at Stubb's. Two lines formed around two separate city blocks - one with badges and one without. There were people on top of the adjacent parking garage and in the middle of the streets, dancing, clapping along and cheering. I overheard a twelve-year-old girl outside the venue not only wishing "so badly" that she was 21, but exclaiming, "oh this is my favorite, it's the one from Twilight!"

DAY TWO - Thursday, March 18

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Washed Out is joined by bandmates and becomes Mexican Summer, getting even the hippest hipsters to bob their heads at the Urban Outfitters Party. Photo by Sasha Rae.

@joranslane reporting:

Let's me just say for the record, Local Natives might be my new favorite band. They are, at the very least, the lesser of the 2,000 evils performing here at SXSW. And at best, they are a fresh sound - bringing that "indie" attitude (complete with ironic moustache) together with pop arrangements together in a new and beautiful way. Perfect tone, perfect harmonies, tension, release, tension, big release. It's all there. Their performance last night at Emo's Main Room was enough to seal the deal for me.

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Local Natives play an impressive set to an enthusiastic crowd at Emo's. Photo by Sasha Rae.

I would've missed the Natives had I not been turned away at the Stone Temple Pilots show at Austin Music Hall. They were slated to perform with guest Robbie Krieger (The Doors) and I was moderately stoked to see what might happen. My video camera had a press tag on it, however, and STP was not allowing any professional photographers into the show. That's right, none. Apparently only two cameras were on the special press list and allowed in. I hope they were Annie Liebovitz and Ansel Adams and that STP got some really good shots of themselves playing. Assholes.

I joined the Brokenmold crew over at Stubb's to catch what sounded like a great bill - Band of Horses, Broken Social Scene and Drive By Truckers, three bands I'd never seen before. Unfortunately, support was provided by The Soft Pack from the UK. While we stood around and made jokes about how "soft" they actually were, they caught me up on the Drive By Truckers' back story, which was interesting enough, complete with Fleetwood Mac-style band divorces and everything. But when Drive By Truckers finally hit the stage, they just sounded like a bad version of The Eagles. I left, and was told later that Band of Horses had a good set, but that Broken Social Scene was plagued with bad sound.

By far, the most amusing highlight of Day Two happened around 7 p.m. on Twitter (via the #sxsw hashtag) when all the fans in attendance to see GZA's set at The Mohawk reported that he had been "detained" at the airport. Then the rumors started to fly. What happened? Was it drugs? A gun?

At the same time, a handful of Tweets started to surface, "Chillin' backstage with GZA and Bill Murray," "Backstage with GZA ... Bill Murray is here!"

On Thursday night, I also happened to meet Monika Ebly with Bigger Picture Productions, who is currently working with country artist Zak Brown. We talked shop and gossiped about the Lucero signing and more. Hopefully there will be more to report on that later.

@autopsy4 reporting:

One thing is for sure about SxSW. The nights are long and morning comes fast. You see all types out here but the people that can't handle their booze are the most obvious and more often than not, hilarious. I can second Joran's sentiment from yesterday as my feet also hurt so bad I could punch someone in the face but enough whining, let's talk about SxSW.

I managed to catch brand new Bloodshot Records signee Whitey Morgan and the 78's. They're a classic country band in the vein of Waylon Jennings and such. They put on one hell of a show and offered up one of the best quotes of the day when between songs you could hear the death metal band next door and Whitey said, "Death metal just isn't as evil when the sun is up and it's a beautiful day." and a beautiful day it was.

I got my first taste of the best laid plans going to shit when I walked into a bar by accident and saw that they were having a Memphis music showcase later that night. Suddenly, all my other plans for the night didn't seem nearly as important as catching Harlan T. Bobo (disappointing after all the hype), Star and Micey (a pleasant surprise), Cory Branan (he's making a habit of slaying crowds this week and last night was no excption) and Hill Country Revue (these guys get better every time I see them) so I scrapped them and parked my ass at Babarellas for the night. Sometime around 11pm I did sneak around the corner and caught Those Darlins who are building themselves one hell of a reputation for playing drunk. Secret seems to be catching them before midnight as I've caught them twice now and both shows have been stellar.

So here I sit now, tired, dirty and a little queasy which I am guessing is due to the room service tray I don't recall ordering that's in the corner at 10:30 Austin time. It's at moments like these I am at my best he said, pouring a morning glass of Jim Beam. I'll talk to y'all tomorrow but first I want to leave you with a video I got yesterday of Ha Ha Tonka doing their song, "St. Nick on the Fourth In A Ferver". They'll be in town soon opening for Murder By Death. Interestingly enough, on the way to this show a pick pocket decided to relieve me of my Flip camera. I know I had it cause I stopped and film some of Betty Soo's set on the way and then it was gone. In a pinch I used my iPhone which did an amazing job.

DAY ONE - Wednesday, March 17

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Spoon rocks the packed house at Stubbs, March 17, 2010 for the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX. Photo by Sasha Rae.

@autopsy4 reporting:

Day 1 in Austin for me was a crash course. My first attempt to see a show turned into a 3/4 mile walk to find out that my schedule was wrong. My second attempt turned into a 1 mile walk to find out that the guy I wanted to see had been rescheduled for an hour later. I was feeling pretty dejected at that point and decided to sit down at a bar, have a few drinks and collect myself.

Everything settled down after that. I managed to see Those Darlins perform sober, something they failed to do later in the night.

The ninebullets.net show was a raging success and I'd have more video of it had my video camera not died. Day two is when shit is gonna get serious. I got a charged camera, a clear head and an empty stomach. I'll see y'all tomorrow. Here are some videos from last night and don't forget to follow me on Twitter.

Joe Pug performing at the ninebullets.net party:

Kasey Anderson performing at the ninebullets.net party:

@joranslane reporting:

My feet hurt so badly, I want to punch somebody. And music JUST STARTED!

Last night, I saw Nervous Turkey at Cedar Door (the official CL/SXSW showcase), The Beauvilles at Barbarella's, Javelin at Buffalo Billiards and Scorpion Child at Encore.

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Scorpion Child is a local Austin band that I happened to catch last year, and I'd waited a year to see them again. They definitely brought the house down with their 80's-influenced southern metal. But after the set, the band had no CDs, t-shirts, nothing. You'd think that at the biggest show of the year, a band would be prepared with whole bunch of merchandise, download cards, anything. UPDATE: I found a copy of their CD at Waterloo Records for $6.99!

Regardless, hopefully we can bring these guys to Tampa soon. They'd fit right in somehow.

I have a LOT of photos and video from last night, but it's already 3 p.m. and I gotta get in the shower.

DAY ZERO - Tuesday, March 16

During interactive, music was curiously spare. We got to see Man or Astroman perform at the StumbleUpon party at The Mohawk, and we checked out locals Royal Forest (formerly LOXLY) and Beta Pair at the Shangri-La, but other than that, it was cover bands cranking out Pink Floyd and Creedence on 6th Street.

All that has now changed. "Music" has begun. Well, technically it began last night when at the Interactive closing party, the Austin Chronicle's Logan Youree commented that everyone suddenly seemed under-dressed. The "music people" had checked-in.

Performers at SXSW this year include Motorhead, The XX, Stone Temple Pilots, Ozomatli, She & Him, Lucero, Cracker, Local Natives, Neon Indian, and tons more.

With literally hundreds of bands to see each night, there is a burn-and-turn approach to "South by" that you eventually fall into after a few days. Get in, get a drink, watch band for 20 minutes, leave, repeat. Autopsy IV is also in town and will be helping us cover the shows. But there are a lot of shows. For instance, as I'm writing this, the new Danger Mouse/Shins collaboration Broken Bells is performing in a parking garage downtown and Autopsy's hurried from the hotel to see Left Lane Cruiser.

And all the while, everyone's Tweeting about it. And checking in on Foursquare. And like an addict, my sore, bruised and blistered feet are aching to get back on the street.

Guess I'll see you out there!

For continued coverage of SXSW 2010, use this link --> http://cltampa.com/sxsw

You can follow @joranslane and @autopsy4 on Twitter.

To check out more pics by Shanna, click here.

Slideshow

SXSW Interactive

Coverage of South By Southwest Interactive conference.

By stephen2

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