78701, Austin

Marina and the Diamonds at South by Southwest

Dear ——–,

Not a lot of girls can ooze sex appeal in a t-shirt and sweatpants decorated with dice, but the lead singer of Marina and the Diamonds owned the crowd Saturday at South by Southwest. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten her if I had only listened to her record, but, live, she definitely glowed with that elusive, rock-star charisma. We caught two acts at the Chop Shop/Atlantic Records tent and both were pretty kick-ass. The other act (which also happened to be British) was Scars on 45, a rocking band with a dose of folk and a dose of Oasis. Not sure if I loved these bands because the Chop Shop/Atlantic tent was warm and felt like a hug after walking through the bracing wind and uncommonly chilly 40-degree weather. Or maybe I liked them because I saw a lot of disappointing acts the day before. Chop Shop licenses music and has been known for “breaking” bands on TV shows like CSI. Gotta give an old-school label like Atlantic credit for working a new path of market-testing. Do Chop Shop favorites get an Atlantic deal upstream? Is that the tail wagging the dog?

78701, Austin

The much-talked-about Dr.Dog

Dear ——–,

We crowded into the Cedar Street Courtyard Friday afternoon to see Dr. Dog, a band that was generating some serious buzz at South by Southwest. Their songs started off interesting, but then took weird turns into 70s jam-band-land. I felt eh about them and decided maybe this was a band for dudes, not for me. Another band in that showcase called the Local Natives was better. I really liked their catchy rhythms, but I’m still deciding how I feel about their Fleet-Foxes-style harmonies. After a nap, we went to see Man or Astro-Man? in a hay-strewn lot on the other side of the freeway. (If one wanted to design a SXSW schedule based solely on rocket-science-themed bands, that would be totally possible. Consider: We Were Promised Jetpacks, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, etc.) MOAM? had a cool Buck-Rogers-meets-Wipeout vibe, but I wished more of their songs had vocals. Still, props for the guy in an astronaut suit playing a theremin. At 11 p.m., we were excited to see Halos, a band Bryan worked with, at Shiner’s Saloon. But the other band sharing the set with them played too many songs and the management cut Halos off after two numbers. We went home hoping for a better Saturday.

78703, Austin

Madi Diaz at Idea City

Dear ——–,

We made it to Austin! We’ve been on the run ever since. We gobbled down some breakfast tacos with refried beans with Francisco at Copa on Friday, then met up with Sarah at Iron Cactus for an early lunch. They had this amazing pollo relleno, which featured chicken stuffed with corn bread and cheddar. We got a good start to our South by Southwest day with a raw and heartfelt set by Joshua James. Then we walked about a mile across downtown to see Madi Diaz behind the headquarters of Idea City, an advertising firm. This was the way to see music! We were sprawled out on a lush lawn as the sun peeked behind clouds, listening to a sweet, clear voice sing good songs, backed up by a polished band. They also had free tacos and beer! It was like what Coachella could be, if it weren’t 110 degrees and totally crowded. We wandered into the world headquarters of Whole Foods during our free hour and saw the largest, most ornate caramel apples ever. Everything is bigger in Texas!