SXSW live review: Music portion of festival kicked off with a slate of great bands from all over the globe

The South By Southwest Music Festival is an annual, all around-the-clock event that spans venues across Austin and showcases musical talent from all over the globe to perform in town for the SXSW festivities. Each day of music starts at noon and usually continues until the 2 a.m. closing time for each day of programming. For the first two days of the Sx music showcases, we rounded up some of our favorite acts that kicked off our live festival coverage.

Grocery Bag – Hotel Vegas – March 11 

East Side’s Hotel Vegas kicked off their Spring Break Boogie showcases with a high energy, fuzzed out set from Austin local psych punk act Grocery Bag. Coming off the release of their debut LP, Break You, last Fall, Grocery Bag has crashed into 2024 as one of Austin’s loudest and heroically energetic acts. Grocery Bag took their afternoon set time with utmost seriousness, and hacked through every tune with their high-voltage brand of neo-psychedelia that showcases the local band’s ability to present an inspired take on their indie rock heroes. Sounds of Osees, Ty Segall, and Slift come through in Grocery Bag’s performance. Still, their emulation comes tastefully, with lyricism and compositions that place them in a worthy league of younger acts that stand up and scream for a suppressed generation. Grocery Bag has a heavy schedule this SXSW, and you can find their upcoming gigs this week here. 

Billy Glitter – Hotel Vegas – March 11

Austin musician Will Grover leads Billy Glitter with a fiery passion for loud guitars, thundering drumbeats, and progressive rock technicality that bears many influences. Also a member of Andrew Cashen and the Disciples of Creation (catch them Saturday at our Webberville Block Party), Grover writes tunes for his outlet that show influences in the vein of The Stooges while allowing for the rocking classic riffs of AC/DC and the louder-than-loud antics of Motorhead that usually result in extended guitar solo sections that display the dialed-in talent of the Billy Glitter ensemble. The Spring Break Boogie set also featured a harder-rocking version of Smashing Pumpkins classic “Zero,” which showed Grover conquering the Billy Corgan gothic drawl with passionate  ease. Billy Glitter will perform again at The Parlor on March 15 at 4:30 p.m. 

De Facto – ACL Live – March 11

Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López are Texas musical treasures. Since the pair lead legendary El Paso mainstays, post hardcore act At The Drive-In, and progressive rock gods The Mars Volta, the pair’s musical trajectory has become common knowledge in the mainstream and music underground alike. Since the musical partners are premiering a feature film at this year’s SXSW edition, it seemed like a must that they would perform in some capacity. When it was announced that post-rock act Mogwai would be performing on night one, Zavala and López dub reggae outlet De Facto also appeared on the bill, showcasing a unique angle of their weird but engaging vibe. Denver native and Mexico-raised Teri Gender Bender also appeared as the eccentric vocalist. She is also a member of Le Butcherettes, the band Rodríguez-López produced in studio. The set contained off-kilter ambiance, with the drum beats from Zavala mimicking that of electronic loops backboned by López’s crisp, applied bass expertise. The El Paso duo premiered their film, “Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird,” at SXSW on Tuesday, with another showing happening on March 15 at Stateside Theatre. 

Sextile – Hotel Vegas – March 11

Los Angeles electronic/post-punk act Sextile packed Hotel Vegas Patio to the gills for a nearly 20-song set that produced a crowd reaction akin to a sold-out HV Osees gig. While classified as a post-punk act, Sextile leans into their electronic aspects to create vibes similar to those of a late-night dance club. Formed by Brady Keehn and Melissa Scaduto after the pair relocated to Los Angeles from Brooklyn, the NY to LA group has since released three studio albums, touching genre influences of New Wave, 70s punk rock, and synth-pop that rounds out Sextile as an ideal headlining act for any situation, and all doing it while having an explosive stage presence that made for a beyond-enthusiastic audience. Sextile hits the road for a US tour in April, then head to Europe in May. 

Pons – Volstead Lounge – March 12

Brooklyn’s Pons took over the Hotel Vegas Volstead Lounge for a set that showcased NYC noise punk rowdiness, which contained stage antics that felt right at home in the Austin  music scene. Pons touches the 70s vibes of No Wave apathy, but their theatrical performance was nothing but over-the-top mayhem, showing the band members raging on the venue’s floor for large portions of the afternoon set. With recently released LP The Liquid Self, the NY no-wavers have since been a member of Dedstrange Records, who are based in Germany and run by New Yorkers. The label has hosted the likes of fellow NY noisemakers A Place To Bury Strangers, GIFT, and Lunacy. Pons will perform several more times throughout the SXSW music festival; all set times can be found here.

This Is Lorelei – Volstead Lounge – March 12

Nate Amos is a busy New York musician. Between being a co-member of songwriting duo Water From Your Eyes, Nate Amos also has his longtime solo venture, This Is Lorelei. Containing members from main touring act, Water From Your Eyes minus singer Rachel Brown, This Is Lorelei retains the experimental aura of the duo project while adding hints of singer/songwriter-isms that allow for a much less abrasive live show that errs on the personable side of performance. TCC got to talk to Amos before the set and the prolific songwriter told us how his upcoming record is one of his favorites, scheduled for release on June 14. This Is Lorelei will perform on March 14 (today) at High Noon, Spiderhouse, and at the Pearl St. Co-Op. All set times can be found here.

Population II – Swan Dive – March 12

Montreal’s Population II is a masterclass in technical psychedelia. With elements of jazz, progressive rock, stoner metal, and more, Population II sculpts sets that keep you engaged on the musical mechanics while still allowing time to head bang and recognize the multiple tons-heavy instrumentals that made for a triumphant return for the Canadian outfit since last appearing at SXSW 2022. Population II completed their set with state-of-the-art virtuosity, allowing the power trio to stay in sync to run through tune after tune of their unique takes on psych-rock, shoe-gaze and its adjacent genres. Population II will perform four more times during SXSW. All dates and set times can be found here.  

Haha Laughing – Hotel Vegas March 12

Austin experimentalists Haha Laughing put on an insane, eccentric set on the Hotel Vegas grandstand that showed the best of the noise sector of the scene. The three-piece comes with raging electronics, frantic saxophone sections, and rapped/screamed vocal deliveries that can captivate any local stage, big or small. Haha Laughing performs wearing oversized trench coats akin to that of 100 Gecs and Death Grips. The stage show from Haha Laughing feels like an experimental hip-hop phenomenon that binges on energy drinks mixed with Everclear, for a deafening spectacle that touches on silliness and unbridled angst with tunes that claw at your psyche without apology. Since releasing their debut LP, POST_MANIC_MIGRAINE_MUSIC, the raging crowds have kept coming to witness the unhinged spectacle, quickly becoming a sleeper hit in the local Austin sphere. Haha Laughing will perform again at Tweedy’s Bar on March 16.

Hot Garbage – Swan Dive – March 12

Canadian heavy psych act Toronto’s Hot Garbage took the reins for a heated-up set on Swan Dive’s indoor Stage for an activation named Canada House. The showcase was co-presented by Mothland Records, a Montreal-based label. Known for representing artists from all over the Canadian region, the label and artist management agency is helping to keep the region’s shoe-gaze, psych-rock and indie scene alive. Hot Garbage delivered a incendiary set that displayed instrumentals that reached volume levels of A Place To Bury Strangers with crisp bass lines that accompanied the minor interval-played guitar parts doused in fuzziness that made the whole show an entrancing vibe. Singer and bassist Juliana Carlevaris’ experimental vocal prowess scratches a post punk itch, allowing for her co-vocalists to accompany the band’s hook-laden, yet with a dark, deadpan aura. Hot Garbage will continue to perform throughout the week, with all set times found here. 

All photos by Case Cockrell except where noted. Featured photo of De Facto by Shannon Johnston courtesy of SXSW