The SXSW Diaries // Day 2

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Pill Wonder

Good Morning from Austin, Texas. This morning is awesome because it’s the first morning, ever, in my history of attending SXSW that I don’t have the slightest hint of hangover. I out-beered myself yesterday daytime so called the drinking quits around 10pm. I’m saving myself for the Ecstatic Peace showcase tonight. Expect a very brief and poorly written update tomorrow.

Yesterday was all about hanging out. I spent most of the day with Michael Azzerad who’s a great writer and brilliant to hang out with as he has loads of ace stories about going on tour with Guided by Voices and stuff. He took me to an outdoor show at the French Legitation Museum. Real Estate played and were fantastic. Dum Dum Girls played and were dull.

We walked for an eternity through the suburbs to find a house show I’d seen advertised on a blog. We got there just in time to watch Coasting who I really enjoyed. Two girls playing fuzzed out, lazy post-punk, although the drummer was great. Then this other band started setting up on the sheet of plywood used for a stage. They had two kits and two laptops and, to be honest, I was expecting them to be rubbish. So of course, I was wrong and they were great…

This is Pill Wonder. They’re from Seattle and they just released a record on Underwater Peoples. Live, they play percussive indie rock with plenty of energy and they actually looked like they were having fun, which is always a win. Here’s a video of them performing…

Yesterday evening was a bit of a fail. Eagle Seagull weren’t as good as their name, and I bumped into YACHT on 6th and followed them to see some band that turned out to be one of the singers from Hercules and Love Affair’s new project. It sounded like a less good Hercules and Love Affair.

Explode into Colors were good, but not as impressive as their drummer who kicked ass. Male Bonding were great but then I felt bad watching them when there was so much other stuff on, so I left and tried to get in to see Bear in Heaven. I didn’t realise The xx were playing the same venue. FAIL.

I ended up watching White Denim with my friend Grace and eating all her M&Ms (thanks Grace). The party never ends.

Real Estate: “Beach Comber”

Coasting: “Hots For Teacher”

Pill Wonder: “Wishing Whale”

Explode Into Color: “Two For Jazz”