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NPR Music At SXSW 2014: Thursday

By NPR Music Staff

Published March 14, 2014 at 7:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

Listen to All Songs Considered At SXSW - Thursday

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By far, the craziest crowd of the day went to Future Islands at Cheer Up Charlie's. Rabid for romantic synth-pop, folks were nearly crushed at the front.

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Skrillex skipped the main room at Empire and went straight to the DJ booth, with fans watching from building tops.

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The inevitable conclusion of any Trash Talk show.

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Cate Le Bon was a quiet respite from the SXSW noise at Red 7.

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Hello? Is it me you're looking for?

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The electronic-driven hip-hop artist Cities Aviv fit in with Brooklyn Vegan's punk-heavy line-up at Red 7.

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Overdoz (at Red 7) sure was energetic for a drugged-out hip-hop group.

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Nothing was fairly in-your-face for a shoegaze band at Red 7.

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Orange truly is the new black.

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Hundred Waters kept the vibe ghostly and beautiful at Empire Garage.

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Carson Cox looked quite dashing in a strong performance from Merchandise at Cheer Up Charlie's.

<p>Featuring Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley and The Elected, the poppy Night Terrors of 1927 thrived on big <em>whoa-oh-oh</em> choruses at the Empire Control Room.</p><p></p>

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Featuring Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley and The Elected, the poppy Night Terrors of 1927 thrived on big whoa-oh-oh choruses at the Empire Control Room.

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It's not the OG Naked Cowboy, but we'll take it.

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The voice of Andy Baxter (center) made the Tap Room audience melt during Penny & Sparrow's set.

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NPR Music contributor Katie Presley called Royal Teeth "a confetti gun of joy with very well-done hair." We don't disagree.

Bob Boilen

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Post-hardcore powerhouse Touche Amore got Red 7 all sweaty and moshy.

NPR Music's team in Austin woke up on Thursday, like many around the country did, looking for news about the accident that killed two people and injured 23 more at SXSW on Wednesday night. "It was hard to sort of walk out the door today and know that today was going to be another day at SXSW," Bob Boilen said at the end of what he called a long, very emotional day.

Of course, it wasn't just another day. We walked Austin's streets, found ourselves in familiar venues, ate some tacos and saw plenty of excellent bands, but the day built slowly. By the end of the night, when Bob, Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson met up to talk about getting back into the SXSW swing, the focus was back on the music. Nearly everyone had moments where the music coming from Austin's stages echoed emotions they were feeling or provided some relief from those feelings. Bob found some catharsis in the big, emotional rock of Portland's Typhoon. Robin started his day with a reflective set by The Autumn Defense. Stephen saw wildly different bands back-to-back, moving from lovely guitar/cello/voice combination at Aisha Burns' set to a short blast of New Orleans Bounce from Big Freedia, then following that up with a set from longtime favorite Haley Bonar at the Central Presbyterian Church.

All three ended up at a set by Future Islands to end the night. The Baltimore band has been making slightly off-kilter dance rock for nearly a decade, but they've recently risen to Internet-meme status thanks to a typically bravura performance on The Late Show With David Letterman. "I thought the show was kind of defiant, almost," Robin said. You could make an entire slide solely out of photos of that band's lead singer/dancer Samuel Herring, or you could just keep pressing play on this slo-mo video of Herring getting into his own band's groove forever.

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You can listen to the whole conversation at the audio player on this page and read more highlights from Thursday in Austin below. Follow along with our discoveries in a running playlist of music by the best bands we've heard so far, at the bottom of this page.

Today's schedule has a strong start. At 11 a.m. Central, we'll be presenting live streaming video of this year's SXSW keynote address by Lady Gaga. Watch it here. We'll have more updates throughout the day — you can follow along in real time via Twitter (@nprmusic), Instagram and Facebook.

Thursday SXSW Highlights

Ann Powers (@annkpowers): "The Houston band Wild Moccasins began its showcase set with a moment of silence for the victims of last night's terrible accident. After the unique experience of standing in a club crowd in total silence for a full minute, the group's New Wave ecstasies were all the more intense and liberating. Zahira Gutierrez danced and sang as if governed by jolts of electricity, bouncing off the angular grooves her bandmates generated. Pure pleasure on a somber day."

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Robin Hilton (@nprobin): "Seattle pianist and singer Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius blindsided me during his late-night set at St. David's Episcopal church when he sang the sweetly somber song "Lookout, Lookout" from his 2010 debut, Learning. With the previous night's tragedy hanging over the day, it sparked an unexpected emotional release in me. A beautiful, tear-filled moment of reflection."

Bob Boilen (@allsongs): "I loved the songs and the spaciousness of Leif Vollebekk. He had a way with phrasing that was somewhere between Van Morrison and Andrew Bird or Patrick Watson. Poignant, poetic, soulful and thoughtful."

Felix Contreras (@felixatjazz): "Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux's short but incendiary set featured some tracks from her new album (see this week's First Listen) as well as some crowd favorites from her earlier albums. The crowd treated her like a returning hero."

Kiana Fitzgerald (@NPRandB): "I finally caught up with one of my favorite up-and-coming hip-hop artists, Denzel Curry. It was short, but so sweet and impactful. His energy was sky high. I found out right before the show that he was heading back to his home state, Florida, ASAP for the funeral of his brother, who was murdered last week. You'd have never known by his set."