South by Southwest Music Festival veterans will tell you how much it has mushroomed – once a three-day affair with a smattering of parties, now SXSW is virtually a weeklong marathon, with the sponsored parties melting in with the official showcases and live music in every nook that will accomodate a P.A.
On Tuesday night, parties celebrating the close of the film festival portion of SXSW raged (mixed with the normal St. Patrick’s Day frolics), while music arrivals hit the streets – or hit the road, in search of some of Austin’s famous barbecue. I ended up at Sam’s in East Austin (“You be careful in this neighborhood,” the cabbie warned), where the proprietor himself boasted that out of 2,500 competitors in the statewide BBQ competition, his little shack finished fifth. I could certainly see why the person who recommended the joint rolled his eyes and said “amazing.” (Today, I’m going to poke my head into a conference devoted to Texas BBQ at the Austin Convention Center, and perhaps consider changing the name of my blog to Buzz Brisket.)
Meanwhile, musically:
Voxtrot (Tuesday at La Zona Rosa) – Everybody was pretty sure this Austin quintet was going to blow up a couple years ago on the basis of a couple of unfailingly catchy EPs of dancy pop that tickled both your brain and feet. Their self-titled album from 2007 didn’t quite deliver on all that promise. On Tuesday at the RCRDLBL.com party, there were glimmers of the youthful abandon that made them so attractive at the beginning. There were also moments more suited to the piano bar at the Hilton. Very interested to hear what comes next.
The Stiletto Formal (Tuesday at the PureVolume.com House) – Quite a different scene at the PureVolume party: There seemed to be more people in line than inside (begging the question: How long would you wait to get to an open bar?), and the harder-edged rock cast an intense glow on the proceedings. Phoenix five-piece the Stiletto Formal does an arresting mix of screamo/metalcore/prog with all manner of furious rhythms and rhythm changes. I tried, I really did. But it just seemed to me to be a waste of a nice string player.
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