mass culture

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Last night marked the final night of the (can I say this enough?) poorly publicized North By Southwest.  Easily the best day of the event, several excellent acts performed on their way to Austin for SXSW.  Bands were plagued by poor weather, delayed set times (some were shortened, Malajube was even cancelled), and once again, a horrible turnout.  However, all that played were excellent, and despite everything that went wrong, from 3-12, Deep Ellum was rocking out for the first time in a while.

Highlights included sets from Page France, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Shapes and Sizes, and Canada.  Thunderbirds Are Now! really got screwed over by the event coordinators, but their brief (like 10 min.) set was very high in energy, and featured plenty of awesome on-stage antics, including a little kid who was brought on-stage to play keys.  More photos of that set can be found after the jump.

Page France

Page France played a fun set while the rain began outside.  At least the coordinators got the whole indoor thing right.  Their indie pop seemed to be a favorite to the massive (I jest, I jest) audience.  “Hat and Rabbit” was easily the best song performed, but maybe that’s just because it’s so infectious and it was stuck in my head all day.  Who knows.  Very nice folks, though.  We sat down in the coffee house (Ellum: Onstage DID have it all…) and shot a nice portrait.  I’ve actually got some video on the way from the shoot which you can expect tonight or tomorrow.

Page France

I really can’t wait to see these guys again in Austin with better sound.  They’re really on the rise, and for good reasons.

Shapes and Sizes

 The first act I saw was Montreal’s Shapes and Sizes, who are on tour with Castanets.  The Asthmatic Kitty band performed a crazy, high-energy set with very fun guitars, all based around Caila Thompson-Hannant’s excellent voice and antics.  They recently finished their latest record for A.K., called “Split Lips, Winning Hips, A Shiner,” which will be released in May.  The music sounded great, and they were all kind enough to get a Mass Culture portrait:

Shapes and Sizes

Bishop Allen was the last band I stayed for, and though I really like their music, I was really tired from shooting all day and just wasn’t impressed.  I’m blaming most of it on the sound, which really sucked all throughout the festival.  However, the new songs sounded promising.  They really just needed a better venue.

Bishop Allen

Canada, a very young, fun, highly populated group from Ann Arbor, were one of the day’s best.  They also only got to play a few songs, but they were very high in energy.  It looked a lot like a strong collective-of-a-band, with members switching instruments, shouting, and simply having a great time on stage while playing their fun, frantic indie pop.  It’s just too bad they were plagued with traveling troubles.  Seemed to be the re-occurring trend of the day.

Canada

More photos of Canada, Thunderbirds Are Now!, Page France, Shapes and Sizes, Bishop Allen and Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s after the jump.

Shapes and Sizes

Page France

Page France

Page France

Page France

Canada

Canada

Canada

Margot and The Nuclear So & So’s

Margot and The Nuclear So & So’s

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Thunderbirds Are Now!

Bishop Allen

Bishop Allen