Seraphina Lotkhamnga on March 16th, 2013

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[While many South by Southwest goers flocked to Lady Bird Lake to catch a free show by Divine Fits, Jim James and the Flaming Lips, the Buzz Bands LA team stayed close to the 6th Street chaos to catch some of the baby bands. And the streets have never been so crowded considering it wasn’t even St. Patrick’s Day yet! People who held hands in fear of getting lost in the tide of bodies begrudgingly doubled their time on foot, but hey, how else are you going to get to the bands?]

@Seraphina_L on Friday at SXSW

Willow Smith doesn’t have anything on Copenhagen’s MØ. Top braid-wearing Danish electro-pop singer Karen Marie  Ørsted doesn’t need a song to whip her hair back and forth. In fact, it seems impossible for the 23-year-old to stay still on stage. Her small stature may be deceiving, but she’s got soaring vocals that are as big as those beats in blazing hip-hop influenced gems like “Pilgrim” and “Glass.” Like CHVRCHES, Ørsted had a slew of SXSW shows set up after wowing music fans in L.A., but it was difficult for anyone to notice if she and her band members had any symptoms of fatigue. Ørsted refreshing vitality quickly transformed the small room upstairs in Peckerheads into a club that was banging in the daylight. One taste of her anthemic twist on Scandinavian electro-pop will have you wanting some mo’ MØ sooner than later.

Also notable. . .

Just prior to MØ’s set, I experienced my first new dream-pop crush of this year’s SXSW. It was bound to happen this week, and boy, did Suburban Living – the brainchild of Virgina Beach, Va.,-based songwriter Wesley Bunch – nearly have me keeling over from adoration. C86 and Sarah Records devotees who have fallen in love with newer acts such as Letting Up Despite Great Faults, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and the Radio Dept. will only need a few nano-seconds to get caught up in what Suburban Living has to offer. Just a small dose of shoegaze texture synthesized with shimmering dream-pop in songs like “Always Eyes” and “I Don’t Fit In” can give you fuzzies for the rest of the day.

L.A.-based experimental electro-pop band Fol Chen, whose latest album “The False Alarms” drops March 19 via Asthmatic Kitty, was another nice set to take in early in the day. Known for their odd yet beautiful melodies, progressive beats and warped transmissions, Fol Chen also brought their A-game with old hit such as “In Ruins” and newer ones such as “200 Words.” Lead vocalist Sinosa Loa’s flawless vocals bounced and flirted with the synths, perfectly highlighting Fol Chen’s ability to take detailed and philosophical lyrics and deliver it in an enticingly blithe manner.

I seemed to be on an electro kick on Friday, so it made sense for me to roll with it and make the trek to Antone’s to check out Parisian electronic duo-turned-trio, Isaac Delusion. Currently on tour in support of their new EP “Early Morning,” Isaac Delusion kicked off the evening showcase of Billions artists with chiffon-soft electronica, driving bass lines, rhythmic guitar and yearning falsetto. Although there wasn’t much dialogue, there was much movement as the set progressed. From songs like “Supernova” to “Transistors,” the beats weren’t the only things that flourished with strength. Taking advantage of the stage, all band members also crossed over in to each other’s spotlights to play to each other, or simply dance with one another. Like every great song, there is an arch and Isaac Delusion’s live set both visually and audibly beautifully thrived until they got roaring applause.

Beats and falsetto round two: People piled in to Buffalo Billiards for a set by electronic soul duo, Rhye, and anyone who’s listened to their full-length debut “Woman” wouldn’t find that hard to believe. However, what the fans were surprised with was a pretty sick (literally) group of musicians who had just flown in from Berlin. It also didn’t help that the sound board was not acting in the band’s favor. Milosh resorted to replacing some of his lyrics with phrases such as “I can’t hear anything” and “I’m getting crazy feedback.” It was painful to watch Rhye suffer through a number of technical problems, but the funny thing is with Milosh backed by a string section, nobody seemed to be upset with the sound. (Rhye’s other half Robin Hannibal was not present.) Fans cheered for “3 Days” and “The Fall;” it was truly a seductive set as the stage’s lighting never averted from a smoky red. “This is night time music,” Milosh joked (or not, because it’s true) in between the two songs. Yet, Milosh was still concerned throughout the set and profusely thanked us for bearing with the band, to which fans only shouted back with, “You sound amazing!” The only complaint was from those who had paid $15 for a half-hour set. Welcome to SXSW, folks.

DJ (almost) in disguise. . .

Oh, hey Mayer Hawthorne. It took me a while to realize that was you DJing in between sets at Buffalo Billiards. What’s missing? A dapper suit and black-rimmed glasses. What’s new? A beard. Thanks for playing all the jams.

Forget all your cares and go. . .

Downtown. It’s not downtown anywhere unless there are lights in the trees.