SXSW: Local Spins highlights from the ‘mob scene’ of Austin’s music industry showcase

Traverse City’s The Accidentals made their mark with Billboard and others at last week’s mega-event, and Local Spins writer Troy Reimink found plenty of SXSW highlights amid the musical chaos.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Let’s just say West Michigan was sharp, not flat, at SXSW. Last week’s South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, may have been the biggest yet. It may also have boasted West Michigan’s biggest foray yet into the chaotic showcase of emerging musical talent, with a host of bands from the region making appearances — official and unofficial — as part of the event that attracts more than 50,000 registrants alone.

Breakout Act: The Accidentals recording a song at the Michigan House in Austin. (Photo/Anna Sink)

The Creative Many Michigan House certainly had an impact in its first year at SXSW (as you can read below). And while it’s exceedingly difficult to get attention when more than 2,000 acts are playing so many venues over five days, at least one West Michigan act — The Accidentals — did it with aplomb, talent and youthful exuberance: The Traverse City trio was named by Billboard magazine as one of seven “breakout acts” and one of the magazine staff’s “seven favorites from the week.” The band — Katie Larson, 19, Savannah Buist, 19, and Michael Dause, 20 — also scored major interviews and industry contacts amid the flurry of showcases and performances last week, as outlined in their “diary” entry from Austin supplied exclusively to Local Spins.

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Consider this the tip of the 2015 iceberg for The Accidentals. They finish up their next album in New York with producers Marshall Crenshaw and Stewart Lerman and will make high-profile festival appearances while making a run toward national prominence. But SXSW had plenty more to offer as Local Spins writer Troy Reimink notes in his wrap-up report from Austin. And check out the photo gallery from the showcase hosted by Grand Rapids’ dizzybird records. – J. Sinkevics

 

The behemoth South By Southwest conference in Austin, Tex., wrapped up Sunday.

Now that various fogs have cleared and wounds have been attended to, the following memories from SXSW 2015, my second experience there, have surfaced as highlights:

Leon Bridges (almost)
Leon Bridges, a young soul singer from Fort Worth, is about to become extremely famous. (Check out the buzz online here.)

I tried and, like most people, failed to get into his show Friday night at St. David’s Episcopal Church, which was basically a mob scene.

If you get a chance, see him in April at Cliff Bell’s in Detroit, another venue that’s way too small. Then, everywhere shortly after that.

Mew
I’ve been mildly obsessed with Mew, a dream-pop band from Copenhagen, for nearly a decade. While waiting in line Wednesday night for what I thought was going to be a set by Son Lux, I was informed near the door that, in fact, Mew, in all their Queen-via-Cocteau-Twins majesty, were preparing to take the stage. Even contesting with the apparently notorious bad sound at Red 7, they sounded like they were in a stadium, and I would have died happy that night.

TV on the Radio
The last stop on a night of wandering was Stubb’s BBQ, a large outdoor venue in the heart of the downtown action that on Wednesday featured art-rock vets TV on the Radio in full festival-headlining beast mode. Confirmed: “Wolf Like Me” remains one of the best rock songs of its era.

Surfing safari
I’m happy to report that kids are crowdsurfing again, which is greatly preferable to the default rock position of the preceding decade: standing around with arms crossed, looking for reasons not to enjoy yourself.

Food trucks
Never listen to people who use “authentic” as an adjective to describe food. That said: Torchy’s Tacos is as great as everybody tells you, but my favorite under-the-radar, presumably “authentic” taco spot was the Las Trancas truck. Another type of person not to listen to: Anyone who’s been to Austin twice and thinks they know where the good tacos are.

Shoes with arch support
There’s a time at all music festivals when you want only to sit down. That time is any moment after turning 30.

Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders
My favorite kind of South By Southwest show happens during the day in indoor venues that feature as close to zero natural light as possible. That’s because it’s on the opposite festival-experience pole as your typical Lollapalooza/Bonnaroo “let’s all stand in a sweltering field and be miserable together” ordeal. (Aaaaannnnnd I’m a million years old.) Anyhow, I certainly won’t be the first person to describe Jack Ladder and the Dreamlanders as an electro-rock Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, but it’s pretty accurate, and they’re great, and equally Australian, and they played an indoor, super-dark daytime show on Thursday afternoon at Ironwood Hall that was among my festival high points. Also, their bass player is my new hero:

A video posted by Troy Reimink (@troyreimink) on Mar 19, 2015 at 3:04pm PDT

Courtney Barnett (almost)
I was late for a panel and had hoped to catch a few minutes of the brilliant Courtney Barnett, also from Australia, also Thursday afternoon at Ironwood, a couple of days before her acclaimed new record, “Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit,” came out. The show was a few minutes behind schedule, so I basically just got to see her tune her guitar. It was still awesome. I would tune it for you, Courtney. Or just carry it for you! Anything!

The Michigan House
In its inaugural year, the Creative Many Michigan House seemed to make exactly the splash its organizers were hoping for. Spearheaded by Creative Many Michigan and Middle West, the house offered a space for Michigan-based firms (including the company I work for, AMI Entertainment) to showcase their wares. The week kicked off with a Detroit-themed party headlined by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and wrapped up with a showcase for the Grand Rapids-based dizzybird records label that had the feel and sound of a 1960s beach party (with sets by Heaters, Gringo Star, Las Rosas and The Mystery Lights). Throughout the week, bands recorded intimate living-room sessions that will be entered in ArtPrize’s musical competition.

Hotel Vegas
In both of my SXSW visits, the East 6th Street venue Hotel Vegas has distinguished itself as a spot where, if one were so inclined, one could just camp out all day and still have a great experience (see “shoes with arch support” above). Featuring packed lineups on its indoor and outdoor stages, the venue played host Friday to a massive showcase curated by Panache Booking, which represents Grand Rapids’ Heaters and a number of other similarly reverb-drenched garage-psych acts.

Rubblebucket
The seasoned Brooklyn dance-rock outfit Rubblebucket is always a popular draw when they tour through Grand Rapids, and I was thrilled to cap my week at their ridiculously entertaining Friday night show at the Blackheart venue on Rainey Street.

See you next year, Austin!

SXSW: THE DIZZYBIRD SHOWCASE AT MICHIGAN HOUSE (PHOTOS BY ANNA SINK)
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Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC