SXSW Music Day 4: Blue Scholars, White Lies, Exene Cervenka, Octopus Project, Livings Things and Hot Leg

While the wind picked up to make it an exceptionally cool day four (March 21) of SXSW in Austin, the excitement seemed to be dying down. It could’ve been because of a hangover epidemic that seemed to have a grip on everyone’s brain, or it could’ve been because most of the big-name acts (Metallica, Jane’s Addiction, Ben Harper, etc…) had already come and gone. Or maybe we can thank Kanye West, who played adjacent to downtown at the Fader Fort party, for distracting everyone long enough to bring down the lines.

Whatever the reason, day four was my most successful in terms of hopping from venue to venue and seeing a thrilling variety of artists (whose ego’s weren’t too big for Austin’s many intimate stages).

The day started off with some good vibes from Northwest hip-hoppers Blue Scholars and Common Market (same emcee and DJ under two names) at Palm Door’s SX Seattle party. Their positively charged, socially conscious lyrics and jazzy beats were the perfect uplifter for an exhausted festivalgoer.

After sipping on my share of free beer, I rolled up to Stubb’s BBQ and slipped right in for a set from White Lies. With a gorgeous Texas sunset for a backdrop, the London rockers set the mood for a New-Wavy dance party with 30 minutes of synth/bass-heavy tracks that included roaring sing-a-long choruses comparable to The Killers arena rock sound.

There was a lot on my agenda (and a lot of walking involved), but I poked my head into the Red Eyed Fly to catch a couple soothing tunes from X’s Exene Cervenka. It was a rare look at the country-punk veteran embracing the acoustic guitar in combination with her thought-provoking poetic prowess.

Although Cervenka’s voice grew more captivating with each moment, I had to bounce early to get into Emo’s (and thank goodness I did because I just beat the line!) for Austin’s own The Octopus Project. I’m not sure if it was just my nostalgia for getting down at Emo’s, or the fact that the band had giant, lit up, green and white ghost people dancing with them, but this was the show that caused me to break my hardest sweat of the week. Leave it to the locals to rock the hardest!

Next, I half-ran five blocks to the surprisingly swanky downstairs club Prague to see St. Louis, MO’s Living Things. Unfortunately, the leather-clad Berlin brothers started almost 30 minutes late, and at SXSW, if you start late, you still end on time – fact is, there are more bands waiting their turn. But the 17-minute set was still worthy of my brisk walk. The anti-The Man rockers invited some fans on to stage to torch some dollar bills and rock out to a few punked-out tunes from their latest record “Habeas Corpus.”

I would have loved to hang out and mingle with the Berlins at Prague, but I might’ve missed one of my most anticipated acts, Hot Leg, which is essentially The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins‘ reincarnation of his latter glam-guitar-driven band. With their long hair wrapped in colorful headbands, frilly shirts and leather aplenty (Hawkins donned one of his usual chest-exposing, full-body suits), Hot Leg could’ve been easily mistaken for a Spinal Tap imitation at their Emo’s Annex show. But with their extremely technical, screaming riffs and an unrivaled stage presence that included pelvic thrusts aplenty, Hot Leg was no laughing matter (well, not completely).

With an assortment of tracks from their debut album, “Red Light Fever,” Hot Leg created one of the most intimate, fist-pumping atmospheres of the evening. Hawkins even went so far as to pull out an old Darkness trick and ride around the audience on one (lucky?) fan’s shoulders while shredding on his pitch-black Les Paul.

With my ears still ringing from Hawkins furious falsetto, I started the long trek home. With only a couple of small shows left on Sunday, my week was essentially complete. Lesson learned from today: True rock n’ roll still lives, and it breeds at SXSW!

This completes my SXSW coverage for the week. If you were there, what were your personal highlights? If you didn’t make it, what’s the most interesting news you’ve heard from the festival?