SXSW: Wednesday / Thursday

So, the South by Southwest music festival is a tad bit disorienting. For those who aren't accustomed the magically disgusting methodology behind the fest, it's essentially a week-long industry gaze-off. Thousands of record label folks leave a trail of the press following behind them, desperate to find the "next big thing" playing at one of the hundred plus clubs, bars and venues, which are effectively hosting the fest. It's essentially a real-life blogosphere: If you're not quite sure where to go, just follow the biggest crowd and try to blend in.

But something special has happened in the past few years. The people outside this loop realized the goings-on and kicked off even more day shows packed with free music, free food and free booze. It's changed the festival from an introverted shell into a cracked egg. Meaning: pretty much anyone can have a blast here.

So, The NT Daily nabbed two wristbands. Note: badges take precedence for admittance at evening shows, which tonight prevented us from seeing my favorite modern punk band Black Lips & the classic, trail-paving Primal Scream gig, but got us into one of the best hip-hop shows I've seen; but we'll get to that soon. But we grabbed a camera and a notepad and headed down to the fest.

WEDNESDAY

Had us setting our feet into the constantly changing mud that is Austin, TX for a week in the middle of March. We scrambled to the Austin Convention Center, took an hour to register and strap on our bands, and headed back to our cars -- parked in a thirty minute zone, mind you -- and settled in.

Wednesday was a myriad of DJ sets, dance punk and crowded streets. With a weak evening line up, frankly, we figured out the terrain. We wandered those crowded sweets and mapped out what would be a very crowded Thursday.

THURSDAY

I almost had my night ruined. Think of one of your favorite songs, and then think of it covered by a band fronted by a dude playing a key-tar -- minus any and all irony- - with plasma TV's lined against the 35+ foot stage and a band populated by a host of folks hoping to look 1/10 as neat as Daft Punk live. Dallas Austin pulled its proverbial pants down and defecated all over T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution." But luckily, it only opened for Big Boi, who tore the roof off, built it up again, lit it on fire and....well, dude killed it.

But first we caught a couple day shows. The first was a severely underpopulated set at The Art Collective, which is on the opposite side of the freeway from downtown Austin. The small art gallery/warehouse proved to be quite the spot: Free beer, free tacos and incredibly interesting tunes.

Seattle, WA's Wildlife was the first we caught. To put it simply, think of if Black Sabbath was a drone band. The three-piece really put a smile on my face, these guys infused classic rock to a droning guitar and brought out an incredibly visceral sound...to the eight people in the room.

Next came Cruddy, a band which has a name that I would actually go out of my way to avoid. But their sloppy Austin-based punk music sounded like the Dead Kennedys stripped of pretension and chock full of start/stop melodies that really impressed the hell out of me. Proof that Austin's punk scene isn't dead, if you will.

The last band we caught here was DD/MM/YYY. The band's been getting a ton of notice around the indie community, and it's kind of interesting to see its progression. This is essentially the Spoon of noise rock. They're extremely calcuated and well-paced; it's rare to see a band in this genre to rely so strictly on succinct patterns belted out by other band members. Definitely well worth catching.

But across town was the real kick-in-the-throat. The Hold Steady and No Age played a set at Red 7, the former rocking the outside stage and the latter belting out inside. The Hold Steady was as good as it always is. Lead singer Craig Finn's lyrics still resonated as strongly as they do on the albums -- especially on highlight "Multitude of Casualties" -- but the energy was off the map. I've seen this band, (I kind of hate admitting such things but...) five times, and its SXSW show was one of the most energetic. If only all the crowd would've been as into it as they typically are when they fork over cash to see them.

No Age, though, were pretty jaw-dropping. The California duo previously opened up for Liars at Haileys in Denton, and provided a fairly similar experience to listening to the records real loud. This time, though, the cards have turned. The songs are tighter, the music is louder and the two band members are even more rowdy. As the highlight of the set, the guitarist jumped into the crowd mid-solo, guitar still plugged into the amp, crowd surfing the whole way. Look for an interview with them next week, by the way.

Denton's Sleep Whale, formerly known as MOM, really brought a wonderful variation to all the punk-rock. The mostly instrumental beauty these guys produce is just fantastic, as its nearly hypnotic instrumentals command the crowd's attention: It's too pretty and too interesting to look away. Even after the band before them shorted their amp, Sleep Whale pulled off what they claimed to be the best show in a long while, and I'm inclined to agree. Interview's on the way with these guys, as well.

To explain the highs and lows of the next four hours at the Austin Music Hall is very difficult. I'll start from here: this terrible, god-awful, atrocious, vomitous, waste called Dallas Austin opened for Outkast's Big Boi. Dallas Austin, somehow, has somebody fronting the bill for the most elaborate presentation of garbage I have ever seen. These cats have light-up headphones, Mexican mariachi masks, ongoing plasma TV's lining the stage, a keytar, platforms set up on stage of varying heights and what seemed like someone manning a CD player off-stage that keeps the band on a uniform track of the random images projected on the excessive plasma screens.

In addition to Ludacris, they covered T. Rex's "Children of the Revolution." I don't normally walk out of shows, but guess what happened.

Thank Christ Big Boi followed. Talk about a showman. He ran through an Outkast heavy set: I honestly don't know which to brag more about, seeing "So Fresh, So Clean" followed by "I'm Sorry Miss Jackson" or "Southernplayalisticaddillacmuzik" followed by "Players Ball." He brought out "Rosa Parks" he got the entire room crunk with "Kryptonite;" his set was so powered up that we left the front of the press area to get back into the rowdy crowd. Did I mention he was backed by a full band? Oh, because he was.

But now it's late, and we've got a full day tomorrow too. Just think of how great all your favorite Outkast tracks are live, and that sums up the highlight of our experience so far. Tune in tomorrow night, folks.

-Matt Goodman, Editor-In-Chief