South By Southwest (Austin, TX) Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Against the backdrop of St. Patrick’s Day (and the many green-clad revelers who couldn’t care less about any music festival), the South By Southwest Music Festival began. With day parties and free events outnumbering the official showcases at this point, it’s easy to find music to hear and stuff to do. Here’s part one of my excursions this year.

My first stop was the Brooklyn Vegan-sponsored day party at Emo’s. I arrived in the middle of a set by Dallas’ KILL THE CLIENT, a powerful but undistinguished brutalcore act. The only thing interesting about the quartet was that the frontman spent most of his time wandering around in the crowd, making it seem like the vocals were coming out of nowhere. The band I really wanted to see was up next: the ATLAS MOTH. Like so many other groups of its ilk, the Chicago quintet’s psychedelicized extreme metal owes a fairly large debt to ISIS, though the Moth is heavier and fills more space. Interestingly, one guitarist had a pedal board the size of a small car, while the other had no pedals beyond a stage tuner. (He played a Fender Jazzmaster as well – hardly the instrument of choice for metal.) The harsh screams and guttural roars occasionally distracted from the attractive music – a not uncommon problem today, as I’d soon find out.

Next up was JAVELINA, a much more straightforward quartet that salted its thrash/death/doom metal with relentless riffola. No pretensions to art here – the band just blasts away with vintage Gibson and Rickenbacker gear, rarely slowing down long enough to take prisoners. Again, though, the COOKIE MONSTER vocals nudged attention away from the rugged music. The uncommon DARK CASTLE followed. This co-ed duo made a major noise with just a drum kit and a guitar; of course, the latter was hooked up to four amp stacks, and downtuned low enough to make the need for bass evaporate. The guitarist’s tortured howls and screams belied the petite body from which they emitted – she also stuck mainly to short, choppy phrases, using the vokills almost like a percussion instrument, punctuating the musical phrases. Adding mangled synthesizer and feedback loops as bridges between (and sometimes during) songs gave the black metal sludge a different dimension than other bands of this stripe usually attempt. Impressive.

I wandered away from the metal side of Brooklyn Vegan’s bash over to the indie rock side to see a group I’d been curious about for a while: TITUS ANDRONICUS. My first thought as the band started its set was: wow, the GASLIGHT ANTHEM is influential already? TA’s upbeat, anthemic pop rock sounded very familiar, with the group’s use of the occasional Celtic waltz all that separates them from the rising pack of young, sincere, chest-thumping lions. Of course, my distate for TA might also be an age thing – the room was packed, and mostly by 20-somethings who were singing along. Appropriately enough, the sound system started playing BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN‘s “Glory Days” when Titus finished its set.

Following that disappointing experience, Austin’s hometown heroes the BLACK ANGELS took the stage. Pitched on the darker side of psych rock, somewhere between the VELVET UNDERGROUND and the DOORS, the Angels droned along melodically in much the same way as like minds the WARLOCKS, only more relaxed. That’s not to say the Angels weren’t intense – just that said intensity built over the course of the set. The band played favorites like “18 Years” and “Black Grease,” but also debuted a new song from its forthcoming album. Amazingly (at least to me), the teenyboppers who came for Titus Andronicus stayed for – and seemed to enjoy – the much darker Black Angels.

Long lines thwarted my attempts to see SLEEPY SUN, WHITE DENIM and the BESNARD LAKES, so I had a leisurely dinner instead. Then it was time for the evening showcases. I chose to spend the entire night at the Mohawk for a hard rock/metal showcase hosted by Action PR.

First up was MONDO DRAG. The Iowa psych rock quartet was a sunnier, more melodic, but no less noisy take on what the Black Angels had been doing a couple of hours before, so it felt like closing a circle. The Drag easily moves from dreamy to heavy, riff to texture. So while what it’s doing isn’t exactly rocket science, Mondo Drag does what it does quite well.

NAAM kept up the trippy atmosphere, maybe almost to a fault. The Brooklyn band’s take was much more on the jam side of heavy psychedelia, with long passages of instrumental shifts and solos and vocals so drenched in reverb and echo they’ve become just another instrument in the mix. When NAAM kept the tempo blazing, everything was fine. Only when the songs slowed to (or started at) a crawl was there trouble.

Heavy as a crate of anvils, BISON next crushed the stage. The Vancouver quartet mixes its metal meanderings freely – doom metal seemed to be the foundation, but the group’s shifting dynamics and high energy kept it from sounding like a Sabbath clone. The growling vocal style so popular with the kids was in full effect, and I think the songs suffered a bit from it. Still, the audience seemed fairly well into it – this was the first headbanging I’d seen all day.

The mighty GATES OF SLUMBER hit the stage next. Unlike most of the 20-somethings manning the other bands, the Slumberers were in their forties, and from the look of the bassist’s jean jacket covered with patches from bands gone by, they’re not kidding about their dedication to metal. These guys probably bought CANDLEMASS‘s first couple of records (when they were new, no doubt) and used them as a starting off point. The band’s original material runs toward the faintly ridiculous – cf. “Blood and Thunder” – but it’s performed with such sincerity you can’t help but smile. And bang your head. And play air guitar.

ZOROASTER came next. The Atlanta trio delivers mildly acidic, crusty doom metal with a singleminded purpose – what that purpose may be is unclear, hidden by the – you guessed it – death growls. Still, the band is impressive, locking on a groove and riding it home to mantra-style climax. Following Zoroaster was another Canadian act, this time Montreal’s PRIESTESS. Unlike everyone else on this bill, Priestess is more about rock & roll, mixing in plenty of THIN LIZZY and ACDC with its SABBATH and MOTORHEAD cops. The band’s rip through tunes from its latest album Prior To the Fire was energetic enough that most of the crowd forgot they hadn’t heard these songs before.

Then it was time for the main attraction, the reason the floor was stuffed to the gills: HIGH ON FIRE. The trio’s familiar elements were there – the blend of BLACK SABBATH, CELTIC FROST and god knows who else has led to one of the most distinctive metal acts on earth. Leader MATT PIKE laid down the law with his 9-string guitar, essentially claiming metal for his own in the space of an hour’s time. Pike is a quirky performer – between his ridiculous soloing and his tendency to slap his forehead during a riff or solo, as if to say, “I don’t know what the heck is going on,” it’s clear we’re not dealing with a garden variety headbanger here. Not that any of his quirks hindered the crowd – this was the first show of the day that inspired a mosh pit – a particularly rowdy one, though it appeared to me that no one was injured. HOF upheld its record as the loudest band I’ve ever seen – the noise Pike and his rhythm section make with just three people is quite an accomplishment on its own, and with the volume married to Pike’s endless bag of riffs, the physically palpable wall of sound is almost sublime. High On Fire is undoubtedly one of the very best heavy metal bands on the planet right now.