Kevin Bronson on March 24th, 2015

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Downtown Austin looked a lot like my eyes on Sunday — a little bloodshot and vacant, with that what-the-hell-just-hit-me stare after five consecutive days of South by Southwest madness. Spending an early evening at Cheer Up Charlie’s, though, provided a needed dose of connectedness, as a laid-back party featuring mostly Austin locals made me long for a Buzz Bands ATX. Highlighting my time there was Tele Novella, a quartet featuring ex-members of Agent Ribbons and Voxtrot. The band — Natalie Ribbons, Jason Chronis, Matt Simon and Sarah La Puerta — make audacious stew of psych- and roots-rock notable for Ribbons’ derring-do vocals and whip-smart lyrics. They played some new songs, some old ones and in general put a big smile on everybody’s face. As notable was Roses — no, not L.A.’s Roses, but Austin’s Roses (can we get that settled, please?) — the band fronted by Andrew Grant Tobiassen, formerly of Deer Tick, who recently relocated to Austin. Along with James DeCosta and Nicholas Thurston Dawson (and La Puerta doing keyboard/vocals duties as well), Roses played a short set of hyper-romantic, Velvets-meets-’80s-post-punk-crooners anthems, and every song was memorable. Be on the lookout. And then there was the fragile, fractured folk of Marfa’s Molybden, a little tender poesy at sunset. There was more, of course, including Bill Baird of Sound Team, but I had packing to do and sleep to catch up on. Cheers, Austin.