Dispatch: Hydra does SXSW 2011 (Part 1)

Fans perch on fences and dumpsters, hoping to see Odd Future play SXSW (photo: Hydra)

From Lil B to Justin Vernon, John Maus to Odd Future, James Blake to Cass McCombs – this year’s South by Southwest synthesized vulnerability with bravado, youth with history. Hydra writers Mike Krimper and Adri Wong did a few rounds about town, making sure to catch our favorite artists in live action. Our photos and field notes.

Odd Future at the Scoot Inn

After an hour and a half in the sun, we began to bond with the 18 and over crowd assembled outside the Scoot Inn to see Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All and Tyler the Creator, the pack’s rapidly rising star. These young hooligans proved to be the group’s true fans; they scaled the surrounding fence, dumpsters, and trees to catch a peek inside Thrasher’s 21+ showcase, and they persisted in these efforts even when confronted by angry metalhead security staff that launched a volley of beer cans at their heads.  But fans outside were rewarded when Tyler sauntered right by them — followed by the thoroughly swagged-out Odd Future crew — inspiring a horde of teenagers to tear through Scoot’s metal fence and storm the crowd.

Needless to say, Odd Future tore it up. They moshed the stage and launched their skinny bodies off speakers and rooftops to crowd surf, breaking one audience member’s nose in the process (Tyler issued hasty apology: “I don’t wanna get sued!”). Their performance oscillated between ferocious rants and child-like asides, all layered over guzzled Madlib-sounding programming, slowed down to a Nyquil-intoxicated drone. The combined violence/tenderness of Odd Future’s music surpasses any formula for rap thus far devised: the extremes of Eminem confessions and Wu-Tang mafioso hanging on edge. These kids were a SXSW favorite for many and are surely about to make heavy noise beyond their Los Angeles skater affiliates, hustlers, business whores, bloggers, and groupies.

Perhaps it was their vibrant but ebbing youth, or the feeling that they were on the cusp of breaking through, but the sprinkling of Odd Future’s appearances throughout our week made us feel like we were living a historical moment.

Later that night we would see the Golf Wang again, in a surprise performance at the Fader Fort. For a second time, we were alerted to the impending performance when we noticed a tie-dye shirt and hiked-up pair of gym socks bowleggedly swaggering by us, the very reincarnation of Hunter S. Thompson himself.

***

Lil B, Spoek Mathambo, Deyarmond Edison, and Diddy at the Fader Fort

Odd Future’s California compatriot in swag, Lil B, managed to beckon the largest cohorts of any Fader Fort act, yet he seemed to disperse it just as quickly.

Even before Lil B made it on stage, he had already determined the composition of the audience for his forerunning acts. But the kids ready to go dumb and rap fanatics waiting for the former Pack member couldn’t handle the performances of Khaira Arby (too world music) or  Spoek Mathambo (too out of this world). Mathambo played an amazing set to a dead-eyed crowd that was sadly more excited about watching Kanye West dance to township tech than listening to it. But Mathambo, undeterred, leapfrogged energetically about the stage with a lone saxophonist for accompaniment, opening bravely with a rather avant-garde jam about blood diamonds.

Equally ignored was Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) and college band DeYarmond Edison. “Who is Justin Vernon?” asked one member of Based God’s base. “A balding middle aged white man from Wisconsin,” responded an irritated Bon Iver fan, unsuccessfully searching for an opening in the crowd. A spirited and lengthy rendition of Carol King’s “You’ve Got a Friend” served only to heighten the sense of absurdity at the Fort.

Finally, after a raucous introduction by P Diddy, cooking dance and all, Lil B, dressed in fatigues and shades, took the stage.  To the disappointment of the crowd, which was  waiting for B to mercilessly ride his pretty bitch flow, Lil B poured his heart out onstage with a sprawling set of Youtube confessionals and spiritual revelations before muddling into swag-worthy rhythms. Mike was feeling it even if no one else was — that’s why he came to see Lil B, to get learned on the #rare cosmic greasings of the Based God himself.  After all, dude admits he doesn’t even know if he’s a rapper anymore. “Rapper artist” maybe?  His words, not ours.

Lil B was emphatic about his cross-genre status, referencing obscure indie rockers and insisting that his music was not hiphop — it was, in his words, “ambient rap” (not to be confused with “ambien rap?”). What other kind of music could rapper artists make? But after a well-received rendition of “Wonton Soup“, the Based God also informed us that we were listening to the next 30 years of rap music. So it was particularly ironic when Diddy, not one to miss an opportunity to bask in the applause of a thoroughly intoxicated audience, jumped on stage again at Lil B’s departure and stole the show with renditions of his Wiz Khalifa verse and B.I.G. classics.

***

Friends of Friends at Barcelona

Bay Area DJ Shlohmo was among Lil B’s fans, as we discovered during his set at Barcelona, a venue that provided us with an air-conditioned, electronic/dub retreat during the high overhead sunlight hours of rock-centric SXSW.

Shlohmo’s live performance had improved significantly since we last saw it, a few moons back when his debut record Shlohmoshun dropped and dude was still busy “Hotboxin the Cockpit.” Even the whiteboy-dance he put on as he spun a track of Lil B’s pretty bitch flow was charming.  That song, full of brazen obscenities, also signified the dividing line between the aggressively virtuosic first act of Shlohmo’s set and the softer, gentler sound of his second act.

In the second half of his set, Shlohmo showcased music from his new EP Places and sung unabashedly into a mic that distorted his voice so that he sounded like a sultry ingenue, or a sprite. This approach — one that has greatly expanded the emotional range of his tunes — seems to take influence from lo-fi beats and a healthy history of R&B electronics.

Before Shlohmo, we saw a set by Low Limit, who some in the audience knew primarily as half of musical duo Lazer Sword. His music was reminiscent of Hood Internet — who we’d seen play earlier that week at the Mohawk – but much more precise on the buttons. The superior sounds could also be attributed to Low Limit’s movement away from strictly glitch/hyphy remixes into the more unchartered waters of funky/house and all that upper tempo range of grimey club music that doesn’t shy away from warm synthetic melodies. Which is not to say that a solid mashup of Passion Pit and Juvenile couldn’t get our toes-a-tappin’ and our booties groovin’.

The following set by Mexicans with Guns was — in a word — adventurous. Donning a mask that transformed him from the average amiable San Antonian to a formidable DJ, Mr. Ernest Gonzalez traversed the globe to find a variety of funky dance and latin beats, displaying for us his consummate talent at pulling out the rhythmic essence of any genre, be it traditional or club. And holding it down for lo Mexicano from cumbia to Cypress Hill, which drove our TexMex crowd absolutely wild.

Paraiso (Mexicans with Guns Remix) by mexicanswithguns

***

Stay tuned for part 2: Jamie XX, Salva, James Blake, John Maus, The Soft Moon, Das Racist, Shabazz Palaces, and more.