Kevin Bronson on March 15th, 2014

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[SXSW, where legs go to die …]

(@krbronson) on Friday at SXSW:

The emcee at the British Music Embassy for Friday night’s all-Scotland lineup at SXSW wasn’t kidding when he trumpeted the region’s diverse musical palette. Earlier in the evening, the club Latitude 30 had hosted indie-folk, electro and post-punk bands – and then, as if to end the showcase with an exclamation point, Young Fathers. The Edinburgh quartet, whose album “Dead” recently came out on Anticon, infused new life into the crowd’s tired legs with a three-MC assault of tribal rhythms, searing electronics and wicked verses. Somebody likened it to the Beastie Boys fronting Radiohead, and the complex backdrop of tracks and live drumming certainly suggested that the core trio of Alloysious Massaquoi, ‘G’ Hastings and Kayus Bankole had done their experimenting and were happy with the results. They performed the single “Get Up” about 1:40 a.m., and you know what? It worked.

Psych . . .

Pardon an old-timer for copping to getting chills up his spine, but when young James Bagshaw sauntered onto the stage at Bar 96, I thought I was seeing the ghost of Marc Bolan. I remain unsure whether this is a good or bad thing, but Bagshaw and his bandmates in the U.K. quartet Temples (Thomas Warmsley, Adam Smith and Samuel Tomshis) have a good thing going. Their debut “Sun Structures,” which came out in February, has some of T. Rex’s DNA; it’s finely crafted psych-rock that at least suggests some of the mysticism that inspired Temples’ forebears. “Keep in the Dark” has a big, fat groove that never wears thin, and it was the highlight of their businesslike 30-minute set Friday. SXSWers often get overly breathless over the Next Big British Guitar Band (remember these guys from last year?), but Temples are playing Coachella and the album is a long-player.

Americana style, and substance

Nikki Lane’s songs come in three flavors – sweet, bittersweet and tart – and everything sounded pretty tasty at her Continental Club showcase. The Nashville-based songstress did songs about smoking pot, getting divorced and fracturing friendships, her butter-smooth voice nuanced and convincing in front of an ace six-piece band that included backup singer Shelly Colvin. Lane’s forthcoming album of rock-Americana, “All or Nothin'” (due in May on New West), was produced by Dan Auerbach, with the Black Keys dude even duetting on one song. Lane also earned style points Friday night – “I’ve been saving this outfit all week for the Continental Club,” she allowed – making the 25-block (or so) walk from the chaos of 6th Street to the Continental worth a little agony.

Also notable . . .

They have the name, of course. Casual Sex. Beyond that, the Scottish post-punk quartet don’t bring a whole lot more to the table than great Scottish humor. Well, except for good, solid post-punk, the likes of which you have heard before, and from Scotland to boot. Their 40 minutes at the British Music Embassy were all about prickly licks and sticky lyrics and pummeling rhythms, with frontman Sam Smith sweating through his collared shirt.

Among the ballyhooed U.K. imports, the cringingly named Eagulls were substantially less impressive at Bar 96 for their seventh of nine SXSW shows. There was lots of caterwauling and bombast over bass lines borrowed from the Cure and Joy Division, all of it coming off as stiflingly one-note. The Leeds quintet’s self-titled debut came out this month, and they’re hitting the Satellite in L.A. in May.

And San Francisco post-punk/shoegazers Weekend put on a mid-afternoon clinic at the Under the Radar magazine party at the Flamingo Cantina. They raged hard and loud, shifting their high-velocity distortion into sometimes-pretty, sometimes-daunting shapes. There are too damn many bands with “weekend” in their names but not enough who are as adept at crafting this kind of physical music. Searing.

Local beat

Can’t walk two blocks in Austin without running into people from L.A., and while stopping by the three-stage Swinghouse Studios blowout at Rusty’s, I took a moment to hydrate and catch up with the Cold & Lovely, playing their final show of the week in Austin. The all-female quartet makes big, melodic noise a la the shoegazing tip of ’90s alt-rockers. Delicious.

Postscript

And sometimes even when you’re on a 2-mile speed walk, you stop to snap a photo.