Like usual, I felt like I didn't have enough time to prepare for SXSW. March crept up on me, work got hectic, and then I was on a plane for Austin. As luck would have it, I wound up in a seat next to Ian St. Pe of Black Lips, and wound up chatting for most of the flight about Link Wray and Chuck Berry. Ian told me he was venturing to SXSW to play with his new band, Diamond Rugs, which is comprised of a bunch of different members mostly famous for their participation in other groups. (Okay, I'll use the phrase: some have called them a "supergroup.") Namely, Deer Tick, Dead Confederate, Six Finger Satellite, and Los Lobos (yes, Los Lobos). More on them later.

I landed in Austin at 11:30am and made it to the Austin Convention Center by noon to watch Bruce Springsteen deliver the keynote address. Well, actually I only stayed for the first five minutes of it. Long enough to see Bruce in person. I heard he sort of rambled about James Brown and basically told bands they needed to work hard and then they'd be successful. Or that's what someone told me. For me, just seeing him in person was way rad. I had to leave, however, to run across town to catch Athens-natives White Violet at the New West Records day party. White Violet performs the music of Nate Nelson, a local recording engineer and 40 Watt employee. Nate is also one hell of a musician. His music sounds like maybe an updated Now It's Overhead. Nate's voice is clear and conveys emotion well. A lot of his songs are thoughtful in a singer-songerwriter (the genre) kind of way. But he also has some harder-edged songs. He had a crack band at the festival too, which always helps. White Violet just "inked a deal" (as the kids say) with Normaltown Records, a subsidiary of New West Records. I give them a year before they have a song on whatever the current equivalent is of Grey's Anatomy. Very lincensable music (in a very good way).

After that (and lest I forget, the New West day party also delivered some pretty good free barbecue), I hightailed it back across town to the Mess With Texas day party. MWTX is free to all, so you don't have to have a wristband or badge to go. They always have a great lineup though. I caught the tail end of set of The Men, who I'd heard people speak highly of. Maybe it was the fact that they were playing outside at 2pm, but I wasn't terribly impressed. I kept thinking about The Vines while I watched them. I bet they'd be way better inside at night somewhere. They seem like that kind of band. Very high energy on stage which is always nice. Kudos to them for bringing it, in that respect, even though they might not have slept very much the night before (as happens to bands during the festival).

After The Men, I walked inside of the MWTX day party to catch Girls, who were performing with three backup singers who were phenomenal. Girls was good--they have a 50s vibe to them. I could picture their music in a David Lynch movie. The sound in the warehouse where the inside stage is at MWTX was not good; a little too echoey. But, Girls rocked out after a couple of slow songs opened their set. Lots of good guitar solos. After Girls, Cults played, and were fantastic. I'd only heard about this group, but had never head them (aside from their single "Go Outside"). In fact, they haven't been around too long. Thier debut album was released last year, and they are already very popular. I can see why. They play sparly pop music, without sacrificing depth of musicality. The crowd at MWTX loved them.

After Cults, I went to eat Mexican food at a place called, I think, Las Consuelas. Ate delicious tacos of three different varieies and probably guzzled a gallon of salsa from the salsa bar. Salsa bars are a great invention, by the way. Also at this point, I noticed that my iPhone was on its deathbed in terms of battery life. I felt like a heroin addict skulking into venues, feverishly looking for outlets to plug into without anyone noticing (and stopping me). I headed into the corners of the rooms trying to find power. Losing the iPhone meant losing my schedule, my connection to my friends also in town, and (gasp!) Twitter, etc. I wound up migrating from venue to venue plugging in here and there, sucking a little bit of electricity where I could find it. "Hey, man, can you spare a charge?" This was my first SXSW with a smartphone, and therefore my first experience with battery issues.

After avoiding digital death I (you guessed it) hightailed across town to catch Cheap Girls, a powerpop threesome from Michigan. Cheap Girls' album is good. Very reminiscent of The Replacement and Husker Du and the whole Minneapolis sound of the late 80s that I loved as a kid in the mid 90s. Live, the group was a tad underwhelming. Just not a compelling group to watch play, even if the songs are good. Power pop groups too have a hard time adding nuance to songs. A lot of those bands have one gear. Cheap Girls, though, seemed like a bunch of young fellas so they'll figure it out no doubt. But if you dig, the 'Ments, you'll probably go gaga for Cheap Girls (not to be confused with regular Girls, who I saw earlier in the day).

After that, I caught the last little bit of Futurebirds (Athens residents, of course). Futurebirds are a band I've written about before. Good bunch of guys, heckuva band. The pedal steal guitar slays me everytime. These guys do convey a lot of energy onstage, and their near constant show-playing has really made them hone the way they present those songs. Futurebirds has been on the verge of really drawing a lot of good national attention for awhile now, and I think their time is coming. They are playing about a million shows this festival, so I have a feeling I'll run into them again.

I was in Athens for barely 12 hours and had already caught some great sets. I went back home a little after 2am to try to catch some sleep on my friend's couch (hard to do successfully) before getting up to try my hand again the next day. On the agenda tomorrow are some CLEs and, oh, hell, why not? Some more music. Stay charged, kiddos. More tomorrow.