South By Southwest Festival
Austin, Texas
14th March, 2007

View: footsore

In a lower-than-usual-key event, UK acts were prominent at this year’s SXSW. On the first night, the Texan audience listened in disbelief to a facile Eurovisionstyle performance by the inept Lily Allen and her dire band. Her idea of entertaining the yanks was to slag off NME. Razorlight cheered things up with their usual bravado: Johnny Borrell’s Jagger-esque mannerisms stopping just short of self-parody. In the revealing trouser department, he might just as well go the whole hog and adopt the see-through kecks of Iggy Pop (also present at SXSW as a Stooge).

Across the weekend, numerous performances by Amy Winehouse (some of which she actually turned up to) justly made her the talk of the town. Opinions differed on The Good, The Bad & The Queen, but their languid, bass-heavy whimsy was perfect for the wee hours. The notion of corporate sponsorship has now developed into government support, with merch-heavy Welsh, Scottish and English showcases succeeding in clashing with each other. A quick dash between them didn’t reveal much: The Automatic (frantic pop), The Fratellis (less frantic pop) and Mika (Gilbert O’Sullivan?). Greater pleasure was to be found at the fringes: Graham Parker playing a blinder with a great New York power-trio, The Figgs; Raleigh’s intense and everentertaining Patty Hurst Shifter; Sparklehorse, sadly plagued by sound problems; the magnificently noisy Austinites, Grand Champeen; and the increasingly accessible Deadstring Brothers. Oh, and Buzzcocks playing a rampant greatest hits set to a demented audience. The best party was the Six Shooter Hootenanny, where future stars Justin Rutledge, Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland formed an impromptu band and nearly blew the roof off. It was fitting that the festival should climax with fiery performances from local boys Friends Of Dean Martinez, with their moody soundscapes, and Midlake, whose intelligence and originality made them the band of SXSW 2007.

Reviewed by Oliver Gray
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