I’ve heard the grumbling from veteran attendees that SXSW has jumped the shark, gone too corporate, gotten too overexposed. Well, haters they are going to hate. And perhaps for good reason. Maybe I’m out of my element. Maybe I have no frame of reference. But my first time was a great time and I definitely wanna do it again next year.

As for 2011, the post-festival analysis has been dominated by Odd Future this and James Blake that. I didn’t get to catch either of them, though I might’ve liked to. It’s logistically impossible to see everything you wanna see, which can be frustrating. And yet, this is precisely what I liked about SXSW. As music blogger We Listen For You so aptly tweeted, it’s a “build your own adventure festival.” Everyone makes their own SXSW.

My SXSW was crammed into two short days, and in those two days many Sophie’s choices had to be made. I’m not at all disappointed in the performances I ended up choosing, but I do feel a slight twinge of pain at the performances I had to miss. Here are three examples:

Friday, March 18 @ 2:30pm
What I Saw: Small Black at Club de Ville

Seeing Small Black was like what I imagine seeing New Order would have been like in 1985. I just love their synth-heavy 80s throwback sound. Solid show.
Search Party by Small Black

What I Missed: Baths at East Side Drive-In

Not only did I miss more than one opportunity to see this laptop whizkid at SXSW, I also blew a chance to see him at the Rickshaw Stop in SF the week before the festival. Shame. On. Me.

Friday, March 18 @ 5pm
What I Saw: Deerhunter at Club de Ville
I love everything Bradford Cox does and I’d been wanting to see Deerhunter for a long time. Given reports of Cox’s stage antics of the past, I was a wee bit nervous standing as close to him as I was. But, thankfully, nobody fellated anybody and it turned out to be one of my favorite performances at SX.

What I Missed: James Blake at French Legation Museum

This is actually a well-produced live video (with clean audio) of Blake’s performance at the Other Music Lawn Party. After watching it once, I became genuinely bummed that I didn’t see him. He deserves the hype.

Saturday, March 19, 11:15pm – 1am
What I Saw: Dirty Beaches/Dum Dum Girls at the Longbranch Inn

Hands down, my favorite (unofficial) showcase of the entire festival was the Austin Imposition at the Longbranch Inn, way up on East 11th Street. This is where I got to see first-hand the Elvis-like swagger of Dirty Beaches and the always amazing Dum Dum Girls (along with a couple other unknown young bands that I actually enjoyed). I was drunk, my feet were achy, but the room was electric and I didn’t want the night to end.

What I Missed: Gary Wilson at Lambert’s

Gary Wilson has managed to stay weird all these years, and for that, I am grateful. I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to pass up the opportunity to experience his unique brand of sleezy electro-funk. But, alas … The video posted above is actually from a different SXSW performance (that I also missed). All I can say is, he is unsettlingly strange. But man, I really wanna see him live someday.

- Pam Torno

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