The Smoking Popes released their latest album, This Is Only A Test, on March 15th and performed down at SXSW the next night. The album is triumphant return for these '90's Chicago punk-pop hero's. The album is a concept album of sorts, and the band is currently down at SXSW tearing it up. Check out their live performce on JBTV here, and the video for their new track "Punk Band" below. 

One of the reliable treats of SX is the unexpected show...stumbled on to a couple good ones totally unplanned today. Out under the oaks at Guero's (which my auto-correct wants to call 'hurtle' - what?) I caught Operator Please, a dance/punk Australian band with echoes of Bananarama and plenty of attitude. Singer had a bubbly, love-it-or-hate-it sound; I loved it. Across South Congress, Ross Flournoy of Apex Manor (whose set I just missed) told me the venue had a visit from the Austin police, who informed them that they would be shut down if they plugged in...so all of Music By the Slice went impromptu acoustic. Typhoon, a tightly packed twelve-person band, adapted well to the new set up. 

Out later in time for the end of Cowboy & Indian, Austin locals with a freak-folk-blues thing going, then back across South Congress once again for the end of Wanda Jackson - no sign of Jack White. Finally ducked into the Continental Club for the Blurt showcase & saw K’s Choice, a Belgian band with a four-guitar attack and an androgynous, Bowie-esque lead; imagine Mars Volta with Simon & Garfunkel harmonies, and you’re halfway there. Now back to it...

Technically the second day of SXSW 2011’s music week was my first day (although Tuesday is kind of a half Music day realy), and I certainly made up for lost time. My third SXSW, the festival’s 25th anniversary, I celebrated with eleven bands and a huge dose of venue hopping.

After being rejected by NYC’s Shilpa Ray’s show at the Austin Convention Center (“badges only, no bracelets!” - "WTF?!?"), I meandered down 6th Street to the “British Embassy,” where a Welsh showcase was beginning, and I was privileged to see synth-rockers, We//Are//Animal (top picture ), and dance-y electro-pop trio, Bright Light Bright Light. Only steps away at The Parish were Brooklyn’s quirky alt rock quartet, Black Taxi, and Austin’s synth rockers, The Frontier Brothers, and wacky dance-rockers, Bright Light Social Hour. A long walk to the Buzzbands LA Party and an extended sound check ended in a short sample of orchestral Other Lives.

A coffee break and pedicab ride were followed by Washington D.C.’s indie-pop Jukebox the Ghost at the Empire Automotive Shop. Back to back, I explored LA’s alternative electro-pop/rock foursome, Hell & Lula (picture above), at Emo’s Annex, New York’s retro-rock outfit, Blackbells, at Fado’s, and my favorite new band of the day, Oklahoma City’s hard rock showmen, The Pretty Black Chains (picture below), at the Oklahoma showcase at Friends.



The day came full circle as I was denied entry to The Black Angels and Queens of the Stone Age at La Zona Rosa, but I closed my first Austin night right with the soulful sounds of NY’s Kendra Morris (pictured below, who also played the Deli sponsored Music Tech Mashup Party earlier in the afternoon) at the Scoot Inn before heading home to prepare for an even bigger second day!

Went out of the gates a little fast on Tuesday night before SXSW music had even officially started, and caught a baker's dozen of Austin bands at The Ghost Room, running from 4pm until 2 in the morning...opened up with Liars & Saints, and then Royal Forest (above), Leatherbag, Golden Bear, Wiretree, Dan Dyer, Sahara Smith, Cowboy & Indian, Zookeeper, The Lemurs, Sunset, The Great Nostalgic, and Followed by Static.

Pretty phenomenal back to front, but it meant that today, day one of SX, I was taking it slow...in the afternoon I did catch Matt the Electrician playing a benefit show at Guero's. Many shows here have become spur-of-the-moment benefits as SX reacts to the events in Japan. (Sahara Smith raised $100 for the Red Cross on Tuesday night just by putting out a jar + mentioning it once.) Then snuck out later this evening to see one of my favorite new Austin bands, Black Books, who boast the rarely seen drummer/lead singer, and play a kind of off-kilter dream-pop...their "Maria" lit it up + served as the highlight of my night. On the way home caught Amber Digby, honky-tonky modern country girl from Houston, playing the Continental. And tomorrow back into the madness...