I know, I know. The SXSW 2011 Music trip was dead here last week. Due to some very unfortunate happenings, I wasn’t able to record exactly what I did. So I’m back now and all caught up, but still fighting a cold. This years music portion of SXSW was a total blast, even though rumors overhyped the whole event. Day 1 was no slouch so let me run down real quick who I saw:

1. First up was Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers. I caught the last song of this set at the Austin Convention Center and was able to check out the weird, accordion like instrument Shlipa played. For the short time I saw them, the killed.
2. I tooled over to Latitude 30 after that to see some British Embassy music. First up was The Last Republic and they were alright. I don’t recall anything that stuck out in my head about them so that’s either good or bad. I don’t know
3. Next up was Gallops and I have to say that the drummer was the man. He made the guitarist tune his guitar by hearing and ordered the roadie to use the left stage monitor as his drum monitor because of the electric fire smelling failure of some equipment. Things went wrong left and right and this guy kept it together and helped the band put on a good show.
4. I was at some tent next for the Canadian BBQ and witness the clean-cut rap that is More or Les. He rapped alot about old school stuff and food. Good thing the BBQ was tasty because he made me mega hungry. His back up beats guy also did a nice beat set using Tenacious D samples.
5. I don’t really remember who played at the New Zealand music tent but it obviously wasn’t good enough for me to remember.
6. For the start of the evening sessions, Hundreds put on a great electronic chill pop set. It was a guy and girl from Berlin and they wove together voice, electronic, and piano arrangements. The cool thing was we saw Rusty Hodge’s wife there. Rusty is the man behind my favorite online radio site Somafm.com.
7. Next up was Austin’s own Eagle Claw. I needed metal and I got my daily requirement. These guys banged and grinded enough to keep me satisfied. It was a very tight set.
8. Over at the Speakeasy, I witnessed the blues duo of Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Benois King. Smokin’ Joe was a big fat guy with a billy goat white goatee. He needed a fan to blow his long hair and cool off his hot guitar licks. Meanwhile, Benois was you cool, laid black blues guy shuffling in some dark sunglasses. They are the peanut butter and jelly sandwich of blues.
9. I cut through 6th street and made a quick pit stop to see The Vandelles. Surf pop or shoegaze came to mind when this 4 piece band went on stage. Yet again, however, I was mesmerized by the drummer. She was about as intense as the Gallops guy.
10. The Gemini Club was next and these Chicago boys mixed rock and techno very well. There was load of equipment on stage and in a theme the prevailed the whole conference, they switch instruments on fly. You should check these guys out.
11. To close out the night, it was none other than Duran Duran. I’m not much of an 80s guy but Duran Duran put on a great show, aside from a pretty long band intro at the end of the show. Every year I get to see some big legend and Duran Duran is no excuse.

So that was Day 1. I took some pics and videotaped one song of just about all of the bands I saw. When I get done summarizing, I will put them up on YouTube and talk a little more in depth for the bands. Until then, look for Day 2, which should show up alot sooner than Day 1.