Kevin Bronson on March 22nd, 2009

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[Notes from Saturday afternoon’s wandering at South by Southwest …]

The Features (at the Troubadour Saloon) – It’s been going on five years since Nashville quartet the Features released “Exhibit A,” a racehorse guitar-and-synth album that, to me, seemed Exhibit A for very good work disappearing in major-label mire. (Hot Hot Heat blew up, this band disappeared for four years, go figure.) Yelpy frontman Matt Pelham is back, this time with Mark Bond manning the keyboards, and the result – “Some Kind of Salvation” (due May 26) – is exhilarating.

With Pelham appearing a bit worse for the wear, the Features sprinted through a too-short set at the Give More Love showcase that made me wonder which of the five songs they played would qualify as the single. Any would work. The Features’ formula is pretty simple – agitated beats, sticky melodies and lines from a Roland organ that carry it all along like a waterslide. The foursome makes it all seem like a fun chemistry experiment too. This is the kind of mad science I can endow.

Dizzy Balloon (at the Blind Pig) – Young outfits such as this San Francisco quintet can launch careers at SXSW, and Dizzy Ballon just might have, considering the label honchos that stopped by their rooftop set adjacent to Maggie Mae’s, where the Rachel Ray party featuring the Hold Steady was raging. Dizzy Balloon’s sound and energy filled up the Blind Pig’s space, though – fun-fun-fun songs about girls-girls-girls, all done smartly. The Beatles on Wellbutrin. Their spirit reminded me of teen-oriented SoCal acts such as Hellogoodbye and All Time Low. Play, bounce, repeat.

Still Flyin’ (at Lambert’s) – Arriving at the venue too soon for my own good, I was taken aback to find a dozen musicians from this San Francisco ensemble on the small stage at Lambert’s. Trouble is, they had opened that awful vein that carries the blood of Jimmy Buffet. These people must be stopped. Let the air out of their van’s tires, or something. Stay far, far away.

Lissy Trullie (at Lambert’s) – Stylish, slender-as-a-microphone-stand New Yorker Lissy Trullie comes off like a scenester who decided over latté one afternoon “I think I’ll try this punk rock thing on for size.”

She channels a little Chrissie Hynde, a little (early) Liz Phair, and in a very NYC-appointed upstairs room in downtown Austin she and her quartet soldiered through some problems that included the drum kit falling apart in mid-song. All commendable, but on this afternoon her very cultivated look far outstripped her slight but engaging punk lite; it’s best, when you feel yourself falling into a model-induced coma, to turn your back to the performer and let your ears take over.

Anya Marina (at Brush Square Park) – The ex-San Diego radio DJ-turned-songstress breezed through a set of her changeling jazz-pop under a tent at the Chop Shop Records party. Her malleable melodies and dusky vocals are seemingly made to background the emotional drama in television and film, and while you’d think music like hers would have a hard time making it out of coffeehouses, her quartet brought it to life in an almost-picnic-like environment. A nice respite from the madding crowds in the clubs at South by Southwest.