Le Loup
SXSW08: Standing in line just part of the experience
March 14, part 1, in Austin
By Erik Adams
Published: March 15th, 2008 | 10:25am
Remember when I said I was going to that Scottish showcase? Yeah, not so much. When it comes to SXSW day parties, even those with badges are beholden to RSVP lists, and people in Austin this weekend are hungry for Scottish music (or hungry for the free Tex-Mex being served with said music).
Being shut out of shows is an unfortunate reality of the SXSW experience. The organizers of the music conference make it abundantly clear that a badge or a wristband does not guarantee admission to every show. It's still pretty difficult to deal with, though, and 6th Street has never looked so large and uncharted as it did this afternoon. The 90-degree temperatures didn't help.
The glass-half-full part here is that for every one party that's at capacity, there's five more that are waiting to get to capacity. Mostly seeking shelter from the sun, I ducked into Emo's Annex, which despite its more permanent-sounding name, is really just a tent set up across the street from the Emo's complex. Le Loup had just finished setting up, and a hyperbolic conversation with a photographer about the band's qualifications convinced me to stay.
The number of band members and instrumental variety clued me in early that the sound of Le Loup was going to be dense. They did the epic, big-band indie rock thing well, with the occassional nod to angular post-punk. Before playing, frontman Sam Simkoff went to the mic to ask for a delay pedal (the band had left theirs in the van), and the set's many echo-y guitar lines showed why the band couldn't go on without the pedal.
Cloud Cult was next, with what has to be the best gimmick at SXSW 2008: An onstage painter. I assume the painter takes his inspiration from the music played during each set, but I also get the feeling that he ends most of them with the same result he came up with today: A stylized white bird, surrounded by a multi-colored explosion. My impression was far different and would contain more shades of modern paranoia and technology.
—
CHECK BACK OFTEN
This is the fourth installment of Venus Zine’s 2008 SXSW coverage. Visit venuszine.com daily through March 16 for twice-daily reports.
Issue #35
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more