Guys and Dolls: Four days and nights at SXSW

 

March 21, 2005

BY JIM DeROGATIS POP MUSIC CRITIC
AUSTIN, Texas -- With more than 1,300 bands from around the world performing at 60 venues throughout the Texas capital, the South by Southwest Music Conference is a different experience for every music-biz insider, aspiring musician, journalist and fan.

Whether attendees are connoisseurs of roots rock, emo-punk, hip-hop or electronic dance music, the festival remains the best barometer for forecasting musical trends and spotting promising up-and-comers. With that in mind, I offer my highlights from four frantic days and four loud nights at SXSW 2005.

 

Wednesday, March 16

For me, the music started with two veteran power-pop heroes and a local band poised to break on the national scene.

Tim Lee, a founder of jangly indie-rockers the Windbreakers, led a strong new quartet through a great set at Momo's, but he played to perhaps three dozen people.

Over at Tambaleo, Jason Falkner, formerly of jangly psychedelic-popsters Jellyfish, packed the club but didn't sound nearly as good as he performed solo with pre-recorded drum loops. Sometimes there's no justice at SXSW.

Chicagoans the Redwalls followed. As the young quartet gears up for the June release of its Capitol debut, it grows more self-confident and energetic every time it performs. Since it first formed as a Beatles cover band, the group's sounds and fashions have been based on the Fab Four's Hamburg club days, when the snazzy suits and beautiful harmonies had yet to mask the raw R&B roots and garage-rock frenzy.

Because of the band's obvious influences, some industry vets question whether the Redwalls are late for the garage revival that started a few years ago with the Hives and the White Stripes. Over the course of several SXSW shows, they converted skeptics, and they thrilled the crowd at Tambaleo. It brought to mind a still-unsigned Veruca Salt playing at the same club (then called the Electric Lounge) in 1994, winning over national tastemakers and scoring a hit single within the next few months.