Vic's Diary: Day 3

Day 3, Friday was one of the most important for me at SXSW, as not only am I helping build this website with wee features and making Radio 1 shows, but I'm also hosting 'Showcasing Scotland'! This is the official afternoon party that brings together six of the Scottish bands playing out here onto one stage, with me as MC. A big thanks must go to the Scottish Arts Council, DF Concerts and PCL Concerts for putting the gig together at the UK Music HQ this year in Austin - Latitude 30.

CDs were manufactured, flyers printed, t-shirts made and fingers crossed for what promised to be a special event... Our Lunar Activities, Jyrojets, The Dykeenies, Make Model, Sons & Daughters and Frightened Rabbit all took to the stage with me chatting away and 'bigging up' the bands before and after they played.

Despite a rather large delay before Jyrojets played, and a tantrum or two, things went pretty slickly... Due to that initial delay, the last band on (Frightened Rabbit) - only got to play 4 songs - though they still blew the roof off the joint! The Scottish profile has grown year on year since I've been at the event, but this was certainly the most successful gig we've done. The place was packed from 3pm until Frightened Rabbit destroyed the drumkit and charged out of the building at about 7pm - we were all delighted, as were the hordes of punters who scoffed the barbecue and bought all the t-shirts... an incredible afternoon, Scotland kicked butt! I must also give a special mention to the two Scottish bands that didn't get to play the event - The Law and Popup, who are both superb groups and came down to the showcase to have a party and chat to all the Scottish music fans... good on them!

After a bit of chat and time to catch our breath after the gig, I headed with my Radio 1 producer Muslim, and website producer Nick to get some food... we actually sat down and had a meal! Delicious it was too, in an Italian restaurant on west 5th street. I felt fully revitalized, ready to catch the final of my 'F-word' bands - F*ck Buttons! They're actually going down really well over here and picking up attention in the UK, thanks to publications such as Mojo and The Wire. It's avant-garde, droning electronica by two guys from Bristol, hammered out on an array of odd synths and machines. If that makes you pull a face, you might be surprised - they are oddly melodic, rhythmic and compelling - I loved them and will be playing them on the radio soon.

From there, I decided to see some buzz acts - first up, Cool Kids. This was in Emo's main room and was absolutely heaving. Again two guys were onstage with gadgets, gizmos and laptops making an electro/breakbeat/hip-hop mash-up that was definitely bouncy and fun, but seemed a little dated to my ears. Maybe the USA is a little behind the UK when it comes to this stuff... I dunno.

A couple of hundred yards away, and it was the Sub Pop showcase in a split venue, Bourbon Rocks, which had an outside patio and an inside room. The Helio Sequence played outside and had a huge crowd, sounding something like Midlake, The Hold Steady and Radiohead rolled into one... pretty good! Fleet Foxes took to the indoor stage, and soothed a huge, almost-capacity room with their late '60's/early '70's harmonies and psychedelic, acoustic rock that brought to mind Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and The Byrds amongst others. They have really catchy, beautifully sung and crafted tunes, and if they get the right 'push' could be massive... in an understated way!

After seeing most of their set I felt like a change, and as is the done thing at SXSW you leave one venue and hit another in minutes. I headed somewhere I'd not visited before - the Ninety Proof Lounge. Again, a nice wee venue with a corner stage and 'smoking' patio that was home to Rob Da Bank & Friends' showcase. Rob's a lovely man, and a great 'selecta' so the bill was ace, although I couldn't find Rob himself to say hi to sadly. Anyway, a trio I've wanted to see for a while were playing when i got there - Kitty, Daisy and Lewis! Three teenagers of 14, 17 and 19 (dunno who's what, I'm afraid!), they play a very primal, but stylised late '40's / early '50's rock'n'roll, r'n'b, swing with their mum (Ingrid, who used to be in The Raincoats if I'm correct) on double bass and their dad on acoustic guitar. Although dogged by sound problems, they were great and looked amazing. There's an LP collection of recordings that I must get hold of sometime soon...

They were followed by my Friday night headliners, and again a duo I've wanted to see live, having played them on the radio a lot - Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip. Loosely speaking, they are a rapper/wordsmith (Scroobius) and beat-maker/producer (Le Sac) who make a hip-hop electronica crossover that sounds uniquely witty, unpretentious, worldly-wise and British! The lyrics are astounding, and you'll know that all too well if you've heard 'Thou Shalt always Kill' and 'Letter from God to Man' on my shows at any point over the last year. Combined with great production, beats and loops, they went down a storm, with Scroobius taking his microphone and climbing out the venue window and into the street to address even more people standing outside. A great end to an exhausting, but thoroughly rewarding day.

Tomorrow's the last day of SXSW 2008, so I'd best hit 'le sac' and get some shut-eye... hasta luego, companeros!

Links

On the BBC

• Scotland's Music
• SXSW Blog

On the web

• Official SXSW site