SXSW Journal

Toronto band Uncut at SXSW. Photo by Joshua Ostroff.

Known as the “Sundance of music,” the South By Southwest Music and Media Conference and Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Tex., is the single biggest event in the independent music calendar. First staged in 1987, SXSW has become the most vaunted testing ground for up-and-coming bands; last year’s festival showcased 1,279 bands in 60 venues. Toronto journalist Joshua Ostroff was in Austin last week following various Canadian musicians, and kept a journal of words and pictures.

Day 4

They came. They played. They stayed with some Texas rollergirls from Austin's Rock'n'Rollerderby. "But nobody bought us free drinks," said Scott Kaija, guitarist for Toronto disco-punk troupe controller.controller, around 3 a.m. (give or take), while holding a free beer courtesy of hipster mag Vice at its overly packed festival closing fiesta.

Kaija’s gripe had to do with controller.controller's showcase performance earlier in the evening, where the band was told they'd have to pay… for tap water. See, not all bands are treated with equal respect at South by Southwest.

Though rooted in underground music, the festival can be as beholden to the hype machine as any mainstream congregation. That’s why many of the bands who made the trip down didn’t get the attention they deserve, while others likely received too much.

Admittedly, controller.controller's Saturday night show was pretty well attended considering the timeslot competition from Stars, L.A’s Midnight Movies, bluesman Otis Taylor, French chanteuse Keren Ann, Massachusetts punks Read Yellow and Th' Corn Gangg, a hip-hop offshoot of defunct Montreal pop act the Unicorns.

Controller.controller have received raves in the U.S. and U.K. They also garnered considerable attention the day before, at an afternoon Canada vs. Texas battle royale with Canuck compadres and current U.S. tour-mates Death From Above 1979 (whose stateside career was essentially launched in Austin last year) against locals American Analog Set and the wonderfully named I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness.

A biased but no doubt truthful record exec I ran into later assured me the Canadians won hands down. But both the turnout and subsequent victory were boosted by the wildly popular drums-and-bass duo DFA79, who managed to inspire queues wherever they showed their moustaches. Toronto's Uncut may one day inspire similar slavishness. Though less well received at an eclectic Canadian showcase — which also featured Winnipeg's the Waking Eyes and Nova Scotians the Trews and Matt Mays — Uncut's techno-tinged post-punk blasted through an epic afternoon performance in a hip hair salon-cum-rock venue.

Despite their skills, Uncut were unable to garner the sort of hype that clung to Brit rockers Maxïmo Park, whose first video was shot in Toronto, and who proved an unexpectedly big draw in Austin. They wound up too popular for their official showcase and left eager fans either stuck in the alley out back or, like me, throwing up their hands and heading to the final soiree.

Confronting its own capacity crisis, Vice rounded up buzz bands like Bloc Party and Go! Team and brought them to a warehouse-slash-commune — owned by urban environmentalists the Rhizome Collective — on Austin’s east side. But eventually they, too, turfed us all out.

Following a post-post-party at the Hilton, I arrived back to my own hotel a little after 6 a.m. I walked to the vending machines to grab a cold drink, stepping over a somewhat embarrassed topless couple making out on the floor, and thanked my lucky stars there was no lineup for my bed.