Huw Stephens - Day 3
Day 3 - In Huw Music We Trust...
Check out my floating mic!
More about my 3rd day below...
I catch up with Norwich's Bearsuit, or at least 2 out of the 5 because the others were sent home by the visa checkers. They had to cancel the gigs they'd organised and Ian and Jan Bearsuit out here are sad but have to enjoy the rest of their time at SXSW. Hertfordshire's Look See Proof made it out though and I have a little chat with them about their plans here in Austin.
Telepathe are what I imagine a New York amateur dramatics modern version of Macbeth's three witches sound like, with a dubsteppy-soundtrack. They have good beats but no band to back them up tonight and the three ladies singing don't have a good enough pa system to cut it. Which is a shame cos they're the kind of band you'd normally remember forever and there is a buzz about them, as Sean Adams from Drowned in Sound and Tom from Eat Your Own Ears both tipped 'em on the show, and they are men of exquisite taste.
Tonight, my big band treat is The Cribs! As always they totally rock it, from side to side and back again, the brothers Jarman with their expanding back catalogue of tight, jubilant tunes. They play in the open air Stubbs, where REM were the night before, and I had a good old singalong.
With a name like Psychedelic Horseshit you expect something good, and they deliver in Spiro's with punk tunes that are more together than the name actually suggests. I pop in to the next door hip hop club to try and find James who works on Beth Elfyn's Introducing in Wales show, but can't find him among the crunky beats. He was probably in the corner sippin' on some crunk juice.
James with his new bling
Far better is Health, a scattered mutli-membered LA band who, when you finally discover, you'll realise they've already recorded hundreds of albums and have been everyone's favourite band for ages. Tonight though they embody SXSW perfectly, like a weird house band who are just brilliant.
Dublin's Fight Like Apes are like Girls Aloud compared to Health. Their punky keyboard jolts are urgent and enjoyable and are not what I imagined them to be like at all.
Wandering the streets of Austin; Joe Lean watching Telepathe, Los Campesinos! watching Health. I'm never going to get that job with OK magazine at this rate am I?
