Post Italian meal, Andrew and I head on to check out the first of the bands on our list tonight -
FM Belfast. This was one of
Rigsy's recommendations, and it's a damn good shout. The name of the band is entirely misleading, as they're from
Iceland rather than Northern Ireland. You'll be able to learn about the origin of the name on an upcoming
ATL TV show, so I'll not spoil it for you here. They're playing upstairs in Maggie Mae's, and by the time we arrive the whole place is jumping. It's true party music, with both male and female singers, that comes across like
The Go! Team via
CSS. Rave on.
The next fact I'm going to share with you is pretty embarrassing, but also pretty funny. It's no secret that I wear impressively tight trousers, but on this day it was an ill-advised choice of clothing. Texas sunshine + incredibly tight pants = excessive painful chafing. Yes, that's right, chafing. So bad in fact, that I had to drag Andrew along to the apartment I'm staying in till I got changed. 'What's that you've left behind in Texas?' you might say. 'My self-respect' would be the immediate reply.
One change into fresh, looser-fitting trousers later and we're off again. This time it's to try and get in to see
MGMT at the Rio. Rigsy once again let's us slide into the queue he's already halfway down, but this time it's no good. With a line of people stretching right round the street hoping to gain entry, a SXSW rep emerges and tells us that no one is leaving the already packed venue so we've pretty much no chance of getting in, and that as we paid a lot of money for the tickets we'd be best advised to try somewhere.
It's good advice that we decide to heed and so Rigsy, Andrew and I take the opportunity to head round to
Barcelona to see DJ/Producer
Diplo. The place is totally rammed and the crowd seem to be enjoying his dancehall inspired, dub-heavy set. About four tunes in and disaster strikes, the soundsystem dies, it's been Dip-blown. To be honest, the set wasn't what I was expecting from the man and it's good to make an exit.
The next choice of band we go to see is based pretty much entirely on their name -
Tokyo Sex Destruction. Can you really go wrong with a moniker as awesome as that? The answer is no. They're playing at Red Eyed Fly, which is a sort of outside stage and a cool spot. With absolutely no expectations, what followed was a mindblowing concoction of Rocket From The Crypt, The Hives and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, all carried by a front man who is like a punk-rock Mick Jagger minus the strut and maxed out on the hardcore. He spends way more time off stage than on, even taking the mic through the crowd and into the toilet at one point. No space is safe. He has a neat line in performance moves too, controversially wrapping the mic lead around his arm and slaps it, as if he is about to shoot up with a hypodermic needle, but instead he uses a mic. Rock 'n' roll is the drug that pulses through the veins of this band. What a discovery they turned out to be.
With the performance bar raised incredibly high, we head off
Esther's Follies to see if deranged, midget, sleaze-funkster and Ron Jeremy porn-a-like
Har Mar Superstar can clear it. Turned out that he could take it to a whole other level. When he first graced the stage there was a modest amount of people in the room, but with a combination of downright pumping electro tracks and an unlikely sex appeal he attracted an audience like moths to a bright light. Har Mar sure knows how to work it 'You fucking love Har Mar Superstar' he says. 'Hell yes we do!' is the reply. 'This is another new song, and it's a fucking gem'. 'Damn straight it is!' we retort. He makes huge self-congratulatory comments and you just have to agree.
It's incredible how he achieve this effect too, because let's face it, a short balding man with a pot belly shouldn't really be able to sing songs about sleeping with your girlfriend after you. On first glance you'd think he wouldn't get to sleep with anybody, but by the end of this set you're convinced that is indeed a real life sex symbol. He totally embraces his body image, shedding items of clothing one at a time, througout the set, until he is clad in nothing but his undercrackers. And he isn't doing this just for the fans indoors, the rear of the stage has big windows onto the street which he periodically dances in front of, like some sort of peep show, grinding up against the glass for the pleasure of an ever-growing crowd of onlookers. He works two audiences ten times as well as most people can work one.
He might use gimmicky aspects (at one stage he uses a device to hang a mic from his neck so he can sing and dance hands free) and novelty appeal to get your attention, but it's not all just front, Har Mar is a genuinely talented musician with a great bank tunes.
Prince is an obvious reference point, and the new material he plays is in the same vein as his earlier work, but if it ain't broken, there's no need to fix it.
By the end of his set the whole room feels like one big party, and when he again says 'I'm Har Mar Superstar and I'm fucking amazing' that his statement is both beautifully simple and 100% accurate.
A wicked end to a superb night.
5. Streets of Rage
1. Paperboy
3. David Blaine
2. Graham Coxon
Today's top musical discovery is definitely Caspa Codina, the creation of one Gabriel Olegavich. It's a thick dollop of funk-electro atop a pie of sleazy disco hip-pop. Fans of Republic Of Loose, Jamie Lidell, Beck (circa 'Midnite Vulture'), Prince and Metronomy will love this. 
4. Detroit Rock City
2. High Fidelity
1. Almost Famous
After a few big nights on the trot, I decided that the best thing to do would be to take it easy this afternoon, recuperate and tackle the day head on from 5pm. Andrew Ferris, Joe Dougan and I have arranged to meet at 5pm to see boy/girl drum/guitar duo The Ting Tings, who are playing the Bat Bar venue inside the Convention Centre. It's a big massive space with a really well-lit stage and a superb sound system, and they're also filming all the shows in there for TV broadcast or something. The Ting Tings are pretty good, nothing earth-shattering, but solid pop tunes all the same. In an effort to showcase their skills they even strip things back to just an acoustic guitar and vocals, which works quite well.
Andrew and I head over to see Neon Neon, but on the way we get informed that the times had changed and they actually played an hour earlier than in the program. It’s a bit of bad luck, but we decide to just head back to 6th Street and hook up with Joe Dougan. Joe needed some fags so we dive into a newsagent type place. I bump into Danny and Bruce from the Whip, who are on their way to see someone called The Bloody Beetroots. They said they had played with them before, and they’re banging. The rest of us have never heard of them, but seeing as we’re at a loose end we decide to take a chance and head round to check them out too. Boy are we glad we did.
We find an Italian DJ / Production duo, both wearing Spiderman style face masks and matching ‘Who’s cool now?’ emblazoned t-shirts. One of the pair is selecting and mixing tracks and the other is layering samples over the top and tweaking it up with effects. They work at unbelievable speed and the coordination they display is dazzling, especially considering that they both seemed to be winged. Massive, throbbing basslines and bleepy, whacked out noises are combined with snippets of everything from Metallica to the Adams Family. They cut, slice and dice the shit out of the tunes and keep the music 
We have just enough time to tear off down the street to catch the end of GZA’s set. Ferris wears his baseball cap backwards in a manner befitting the occasion, which is a nice touch. GZA is possibly the most laidback MC on the face of the planet. He clearly does not give a monkeys, even going as far as to take his mobile phone out of his pocket and check it at one point. Fair play to him. The gig starts to run over curfew, it gets cut short and that’s it, the music is over, SXSW 2008 reaches a close and it’s time to head home.
With a packed agenda ahead it's off to see Make Model at Wave. We get down early in order to get a good spot at the front, 'cause if you're at the back of this venue it sure does suck. The wee stage can barely contain the sizeable Scottish outift as they rattle off future hits like a pared down Broken Social Scene. 'The Was', 'LSB' and 'Czech Neck' are all standouts, and we're now dead excited at the prospect of their debut album.
We slide on to Mohawk to see be your own PET at the Ecstatic Peace showcase. BYOP are a total whirlwind of fast-flying Ramonesy punk rock. Front woman Jemina Pearl is giving it absolutely stacks and resolutely refusing to stay still for more than a millisecond. Until they kill the PA, that is. Yep, for the second time in as many days a SXSW PA bites the dust. It's a short and sweet encounter that packed a whole lot of attitude, much like Jemina herself.
We make a beeline for Stubb's once again, thinking we've probably missed most of N*E*R*D, but as luck would have it they've only just got going when we arrive. Even though we're in the outdoor, festival type venue it feels like an intimate setting to be seeing the giants of hip hop in. They exude effortless cool and are clearly total stars. As you'd expect, the big hits 'Rock Star' and 'Lapdance' totally destroy the place, and the crowd bounce in unison, kind of like a slow motion mosh. It's a climatic end to the night. Can things get any better than this?
It's a pretty spacious place and a nice set up. The Cribs play a storming set that feels loose and tight at the same time. Their punk rock sensibilities come across a lot more live than on record and at times it feels like watching a more talented Sex Pistols. With three solid albums to choose from the quality is kept at top level the whole time. The crowd get into it too, with a wave of excited recognition greeting single 'I'm A Realist', which is great considering we're thousands of miles from their native Wakefield. It's not clear whether or not the audience can understand Ryan's ultra--thick accent, but they laugh at his between song banter regardless.
Post Italian meal, Andrew and I head on to check out the first of the bands on our list tonight - FM Belfast. This was one of Rigsy's recommendations, and it's a damn good shout. The name of the band is entirely misleading, as they're from Iceland rather than Northern Ireland. You'll be able to learn about the origin of the name on an upcoming ATL TV show, so I'll not spoil it for you here. They're playing upstairs in Maggie Mae's, and by the time we arrive the whole place is jumping. It's true party music, with both male and female singers, that comes across like The Go! Team via CSS. Rave on.
With the performance bar raised incredibly high, we head off Esther's Follies to see if deranged, midget, sleaze-funkster and Ron Jeremy porn-a-like Har Mar Superstar can clear it. Turned out that he could take it to a whole other level. When he first graced the stage there was a modest amount of people in the room, but with a combination of downright pumping electro tracks and an unlikely sex appeal he attracted an audience like moths to a bright light. Har Mar sure knows how to work it 'You fucking love Har Mar Superstar' he says. 'Hell yes we do!' is the reply. 'This is another new song, and it's a fucking gem'. 'Damn straight it is!' we retort. He makes huge self-congratulatory comments and you just have to agree.
He might use gimmicky aspects (at one stage he uses a device to hang a mic from his neck so he can sing and dance hands free) and novelty appeal to get your attention, but it's not all just front, Har Mar is a genuinely talented musician with a great bank tunes. Prince is an obvious reference point, and the new material he plays is in the same vein as his earlier work, but if it ain't broken, there's no need to fix it.
Today kicks off with a trip to the Convention Centre for the big Trade Show. NIMIC are part of the big the British Music stall section so we're able to leave a selection of tasty magazines around for people to sample. There are tons of different stalls around the place for music gear, promotion companies, festivals - pretty much anything music related you can think of. If you're a band, artist or music company this place could be your mecca. Rigsy and the BBC crew are here too, interviewing Sandra from NIMIC and continuing their coverage of the day. After a bit of mingling I head out to catch a few shows.
When I'm heading down 6th street to the next spot, I run into MTV2 presenter, Radio One impresario and all round nice guy Zane Lowe, just hanging on the corner with an inflatable couch. As soon as he heard my accent he said "You're Northern Irish? We're instantly friends then." Knowing that he is a Fighting With Wire fan I decide to give him a copy of the new issue. As you can see from the pic, he clearly loves the mag.
I head to see AU faves Fight Like Apes at the Irish venue BD Riley's. What is dead cool about this place is the fact that they have massive open window spaces that open out onto the street, meaning that anyone passing by can witness the frenetic FLA doing their thang. When I first looked through the window I saw frontwoman MayKay with her shoes off, writhing around on the floor at the feet of the crowd. How could you not want to head inside after that? Their controlled-yet-chaotic, synth-driven goodness goes down a storm and it feels like they've won a lot of fans both in the room and on the tarmac outside.
Next up is spiky new wavers These New Puritans. They plough the art rock furrow previously sculpted by The Fall and Wire. Their recent single 'Elvis' is the clear stand out track. A pulsing belter, the set could have down with a few more of those moments. The front mans top is classic though, looking some kind of feathered metalesque armor top. Kudos.
I then head back to the Domino showcase again, where for the second time in the same night Rigsy enables me to jump the queue. What a guy. We're in to see wonder-Scots and recent AU cover stars Sons & Daughters. They're the band of the night so far, throwing the gritty in with the glam. 'Dance Me In' still slays, and you just can't beat a Scottish accent.
This type of person and encounter becomes the norm in Austin. I've never saw so many hipsters and cool people in the same place at the same time.
As soon as you get signed up and get your pass, you can head off and get a SXSW goodie
We set off from Belfast at 7.15am with travel partner Joe Dougan. Grab some breakfast, hang out for a bit, bump into Jennie McCullough, find out that Rigsy and Feargal O'Kane are traveling on the same flight. Nice.
Land in Newark, NY, after a fairly decent 7.5 hr flight. Joe, Rigsy, Feargal and I kill the time rightly with bad jokes, Mexican food and masturbation stories (courtesy of Rigs). Our onward flight to Austin is totally filled with hipster types. It's a sea of laptops and iPods.
