SXSW 2012: Day Two | X-Rated

by | published

by Hilary Stohs-Krause

It’s a small world.

I’ve run into several seemingly random people from my past here (including some who mistook me for my twin sister), and have plans to meet up with others.

The funniest involves Mr. Saber Blazek, he of Lincoln band Machete Archive bass fame.

Back in February 2010, Saber was briefly famous for something else — appearing on the satirical blog “Look at This Fucking Hipster.” Jokes were made, he endured some (mostly, I hope) good-natured teasing, and then we forgot about it.

Well, all of us except for a certain Brittani in small-town Texas.

I worked at a newspaper in the Texas panhandle for about eight months the same year the picture was posted (417 notes, btw), and Brittani was one of my co-workers and best friends. The Texas native loved teasing me for being a “Yankee” (since I’m from Milwaukee) and a hipster (her words). So when she sent me a link to Saber’s post, asking if that’s what we do for fun in Nebraska, you can only imagine her response when it turned out the hipster in question was a friend of mine.

It comes full circle last night, when Brittani and I are show-hopping and run into Saber at a venue.

Once outside, Brittani turns to me, asking if I remember that post and if Saber is the guy. I laughed before confirming. A huge smile lit up her face.

“I’ve met a celebrity!”

A similar incident starts back in Lincoln, Neb.

I work as a waitress at Duffy’s, a music venue/bar. Since I also do this little X-Rated project, Duffy’s booker Jeremy Wardlaw will let me know about bands he’s scheduled that he thinks I’d like and that fit the X-Rated mission. A few weeks ago, he mentioned Cheyenne Marie Mize, playing at the club on March 28.

Not long after, I hopped on Couchsurfing.org, and lo and behold, I had a request from the performer asking to crash with me while she’s in town. I told her about the funny coincidence, adding that she and her band were welcome.

Looking at the schedule for yesterday, turned out she was playing here in Austin — so with a bit of trepidation, I decided to check it out. (The trepidation was my concern that if I didn’t, and said so in today’s recap, it could be pretty awkward.)

Luckily for the both of us, I enjoyed it.

Cheyenne Marie Mize

SXSW 2012: Cheyenne Marie Mize

I’d idly listened to Louisville, Ky., native Mize’s Daytrotter session a while back, really knew nothing about her music. Her voice is crispy and twangy, but she uses it for a variety of styles and genres.  She’s been described as chamber-pop, “breathy folk” and “cloudy-sky country.”

I introduced myself after the show, and asked Mize a few quick questions.  This is her second year at SXSW as a solo artist – last year, she was chosen as one of NPR’s 10 “Discoveries at SXSW 2011” — and she said she came for the most basic of reasons: promotion. With an EP released in January and her second full-length slated for a 2012 release, “The idea is to have as much exposure as possible between now and then.”

Her plan seemed to be succeeding — Mize said she was so busy this time around, she’d barely had time to go to shows, though she’d caught Zola Jesus.

She cited groups as diverse as Bjork, Pink Floyd and Shannon Wright as influences, but as her music shows, she doesn’t really blend various genres so much as adopt them for a song or two.

“I feel like instead of it all meshing it tends to be more, one song like this, one song like that, which keeps it more fun to play,” Mize said with a laugh.

“Doctor,” one of the tracks she played that night, is pretty standard blues-tinged rock, while “Wishing Well” was a percussive R&B song (download it here).

Mize performed at the Bourbon Theatre in Lincoln last year — “right before this big hip-hop show” – and though it might sound odd, remembered leaving very well:

“You can see so far leaving town, you can just see for miles from every side,” Mize said, adding that that night, there were thunderstorms crashing down on both sides of the interstate. “We were crossing our fingers that we could just squeeze through.”

Mize and her crew will play March 28 at Duffy’s Tavern, 1412 O St. in Lincoln, with Good Show Great Show, Eli Mardock and Tie These Hands.

 

Grimes

SXSW 2012: Grimes

Brittani and I were moving and shaking yesterday, but my tight schedule proved to be a little too tight and I missed a few acts I was looking forward to — like Dum Dum Girls, Little Scream, Laura Gibson and feminist Nigerian-German rapper Nneka — but hopefully they’re playing again today somewhere.

 

After checking out a '90s-ish alt-rock band for a few pleasant-if-mediocre songs, we headed over to First Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin, which has hosted shows at SXSW for at least as song as I’ve been coming, though this was the first time I ventured inside.

A friend had recommended the band Grimes to me late last summer, and I dug what I heard, but just hadn’t gotten around to really exploring their music.

Silly rabbit.

Grimes is the stage name of Canadian musician Clare Boucher, who began playing so many shows that she was expelled from university in Montreal for missing too much class. She just released her third full-length, Visions, on 4AD.

She makes arresting, operatic electro-pop, her featherweight voice pushing and pulling over soaring synth. A church was the perfect venue for her — you felt ensconced in the music as the ethereal notes hummed and vibrato-ed. The crowd sat down in the pews in the main chamber and in three balconies (a welcome rest), and people were refreshingly respectful of the performance (I’m sure the looming cross didn’t hurt), though towards the end a few drunken and cussing men stumbled in loudly. People actually stood for her last song, and I thought there might be an unprecedented demand for an encore.

One of my favorite sets so far.

 

The Ettes

I liked the Ettes before yesterday — one song into their set, and I was in love.

Featuring “Coco” on vocals and guitar, “Poni” on drums and “Jem” on bass and backup vocals, the Ettes is thundering garage-rock country-punk, exemplified by the band’s outfits: a black-and-white gingham shirt for Coco (who was channeling a modern Rizzo), a tan, leather fringe vest for Poni and a worn, black leather jacket for Jem.

“Bands like it when you clap,” Coco joked, tongue firmly in cheek as the crowd at Iron Bear was already going wild.

With five albums and two EPs to their name, I only recognized a handful of tracks. One of them was “Crown of Age,” from 2008’s Look at Life Again Soon.

“Roller derby rules! Women rule!” Coco declared before launching into the song, which was featured in the roller derby flick Whip It.

All three members were dynamic performers — especially drummer Poni, who broke more than a few hearts that night judging from whispered (and shouted) declarations of love from the crowd. Where Poni was fierce and aggressive, however, Coco was coy and coquettish, keeping the audience always wanting more.

My only complaint (if you can call it that) was that it was the Ettes’ second show of the day, and you could hear it in Coco’s voice. But all in all, a stellar concert.

 

Cults

SXSW 2012: Cults

Unlike the Ettes, I knew I loved Cults, and I was not disappointed.

They played in a tin-roof building that might as well have been an oven, and my first order of business was to grab a cold can of beer. I waded through the sticky, sweaty crowd to grab some photos, then settled back for their at-times raucous, at-times almost intimate performance.

Cults plays rambunctious indie-pop, and the crowd ate it up — especially when they launched into “Go Outside” toward the end of their set. But the whole of their debut Cults is fantastic — dancey, spirited and impassioned without being overwrought.

One my favorite bands right now, period. Check it out, yo.

 

OK Sweetheart

SXSW 2012: OK Sweetheart As with Tennis from yesterday’s post, I was unable to attend OK Sweetheart’s recent performances in Nebraska. When I saw they were closing down Friends venue last night, I figured better late than never.

As I wrote in my preview for those shows, “Indie-folk-'60s pop group OK Sweetheart's debut full-length Homes is a collaboration with members of Midlake, Elizabeth and the Catapult, The Polyphonic Spree and Via Audio. Quite the pedigree. It's like Billie Holiday meets the Shins meets Laura Gibson, with a healthy splash of the Chiffons. Smart, snappy, melodic pop.”

The project of singer-songwriter Erin Austin, OK Sweetheart played on a stage covered in fake grass and featured a revolving door of musicians during its 50-minute set. (They even brought the audience up on stage for hand-clapping during their last song.) It was a nice change of pace, alternating between the extravagant sound of a six-piece to the simplicity of one or two instruments.

Austin (the singer, not the town) reminded me a lot of Omaha artist Tara Vaughan, and I’d be curious to see her similarly try out a full band more.

All in all, it was a fun, solid show that had my foot tapping, but not a whole lot differentiated the music from the rest of the indie-pop pack.

 

Hilary Stohs-Krause wants a pair of slippers and to relax in hot water (looks like she'll get at least one of those wishes granted today – thank you, Barton Springs). She gets her local music fix through HN and as a cocktail waitress at Duffy's Tavern. For more on Nebraska ladies making music, tune into the "X-Rated: Women in Music" radio show every Thursday from 1:05 to 3 p.m. CST at 89.3 FM KZUM in Lincoln or streaming live at kzum.org. Find it on Facebook at facebook.com/xmusicnebraska.