Half of musical London seems to have picked up a special Texan allergy this week as they sniff their way through tales of the best new bands to play this year's South By South West musical jamboree. Not our Manish, the intrepid PlayLouder scribe who braved it all to bring you a blow-by-blow account of what was going down, and who is on the up... Manish Says: 'Don't mess with Texas' seems to be the locals' attitude to many of the over-hyped Brit acts in town, with Razorlight, Jamie T *and *The Automatic all failing to pack 'em in. Round of applause to the Lone Star State.
Manish Says: However, Amy Winehouse manages to stay off the margaritas for long enough to win over a host of new fans with a superb performance. She later turns up to see the *Buzzcocks *and proves to be much smaller in real life than on the telly.
Manish Says: **Lily Allen displays her usual pluck by continuing her amusing beef with the NME, calling them "assholes" and "spineless cunts" at their own event.
Manish Says: Sub Pop show how indie labels are increasingly leaving the majors in the dust, *Kinski's *psychedelic assault bringing the Seattle imprint's showcase to a glorious climax with a little help from ex-Butthole Surfers drummer (and Austin local) King Coffey.
Manish Says: Arcade Fire-finders Merge records have a joyous show courtesy of local heroes Spoon *and new signings *Oakley Hall. Fronted by ex-Oneida dude Pat Sullivan, the latter's brain-frying take on cosmic Americana proves that fiddle-driven country-rock can sometimes be the most lysergic genre of all.
Manish Says: *There's more garage rock at SXSW then there are derricks pumping the Texan skyline - most notably, the two former frontmen from legendary Memphis underground trio *The Oblivians. Greg Cartwright triumphantly leads his Reigning Sound *- who also play with erstwhile Shangri-Las singer *Mary Weiss *at a wildly oversubscribed show - while Jack Oblivian kicks dive bar ass with his new combo the *Tennessee Tearjerkers.
Manish Says: Fuck By Fuck Y'All might not sound like the most welcoming name for a party, but country gal Lana Rebel's non-SXSW bash at the Typewriter Museum has a dudey, laidback vibe - the place is literally strewn with typewriters (plus a friendly goat) - which perfectly suits the wistful brass and accordion sounds of Vancouver's answer to Calexico, Roger Dean Young & The Tin Cup.
Manish Says: *Chunklet magazine's mammoth free music and comedy party is a blast, featuring top turns by *The Gossip - trying to take some of their phenomenal UK success back Stateside - plus Matador's garage-surf noise-popsters The Ponys *and their heavy psych labelmates *Dead Meadow. Best of all were Brooklyn's cult art-punkers Les Savy Fav, whose singer Tim Harrington did his bit for those fans stuck in the gargantuan queue by climbing onto the venue's roof and then out into the alleyway to sing to them.
Manish Says: *Noise-rock in the house! Newly signed to Les Savy Fav's label Frenchkiss, taut Houston power-groovers *Fatal Flying Guilloteens are like The Jesus Lizard with three David Yows. They take turns on the mic and swan dive into the crowd, while cracking wise about the corporate sponsorship that's seeped into indie-world: "Our tuning up is brought to you by Verizon Wireless".
Manish Says: Fucked Up fuck him up! He gets punched and burnt in the noggin while trying to escape the circle pit sparked by the none-more-hardcore Canadians, who are joined onstage by ex-Black Flag singer Keith Morris for a righteous blast through 'Nervous Breakdown'.
Manish Says: On the final night alt-rock institution Emo's is filled to the rafters with mohawks, burnouts and Turbojugend for heroic performances by the Buzzcocks, Meat Puppets *and Oslo's finest faux-mosexuals *Turbonegro, whose frontman Hank Von Helvete is sporting Stars & Stripes pyjamas and what appears to be a possum codpiece. However, given that he hasn't let us know whether they brought their midget, the boy Manish can consider himself FIRED!
