Faye Webster, Swamp Dogg, and More Reviews From Friday of SXSW

Faye Webster at the Moody Theater (Photo by John Anderson)

What a week. Friday delivered the finale of major multi-day showcases like Resound’s Marshall Funhouse and Rolling Stone’s Future of Music, as well as the final day of the Chronicle music team’s daily fest coverage.

Alongside the Downtown hubbub, the team made it to West Campus for standout sets at Hole in the Wall and Pearl Street Co-Op. Read all our reviews below, or revisit all of our SXSW reviews here. As for planning your own music weekend, check out our listing of free and unofficial options.

Faye Webster (Photo by John Anderson)

Faye Webster’s Spikes the Energy at ACL Live

I’m not exactly certain when Faye Webster blew the fuck up. Her playfully lush take on country, pop, and blues – call it J.J. Cale goes Mac DeMarco or, perhaps, an extended investigation into whether one can play lap steel inside a bubble bath – remains indie-sized only in its twee and sardonic spirit. She now resides at a fame level roughly around “you’d recognize her silhouette” (or at least the silhouette of her bangs), which means the only venue that’d fit her sole SXSW performance was Rolling Stone’s Future of Music showcase at a packed and surprisingly chit-chatty ACL Live. Going in, the question of the next step in Webster’s ascent from co-op-playing SXSW 2018 participation to a Stubb’s sellout last November was immediately replaced by a different one.

“We’re uncomfortable and conflicted being here…” Webster said in opening remarks that were met – at least initially – by some degree of confused silence. “A lot of artists I admire and respect have dropped their official showcases.” She continued: “We do not support war profiteers,” as applause finally swept the venue. "We are also from Atlanta and we do not support the agreement between the [Atlanta] PD and the IDF.”

Had Webster tried to get out of the showcase? Or was the speech just her having some concessive cake and eating it too? Whatever the case, that “discomfort” could hardly be detected in the performance proper, which – in its consistent spiking of energy from a mellow resting place – took its cue from the jumpy keyboard stabs of set opener “But Not Kiss” and carried through to a surprisingly punk rock rendition of “Cheers.” Despite her sometimes lethargic vocal presence (as her mewling coo of a voice swallows most of her lyrics), Webster was an active, engaged performer. She bounded around her fivepiece band – highlighted by, yes, the steel player – and threw her middle fingers up when she sang “fuck him he took my money” (“I Know I'm Funny Haha”). You have to wonder if anyone who shelled out for a music badge this year has been thinking the same thing about SXSW. – Julian Towers

Startographers at Hole in the Wall (Photo by Michael Toland)

Shifting Sounds Showcases an Electric Rock Decade

Co-founded under the auspices of Magnet School/Startographers bassist Brandon Tucker, Shifting Sounds has spent the last decade-plus releasing the finest in old school alternative rock records from Austin and beyond. Several of them hit the Hole in the Wall’s back room stage for this 10th annual unofficial, free party. Startographers kicked off the evening with a sterling set of alternative power-pop, Black Books premiered several new tracks of sweetly melodic dream-pop from “an album we’ve been recording forever,” and Gentleman Rogues used new LP Surface Noise as a springboard to show themselves as heirs to the rock & roll legacy of Grand Champeen. But the night really belonged to the other two Shifting Sounds acts on the bill. Magnet School shook the rafters with their aggressive take on shoegaze, dropping enough power chord bombs and dramatic dynamic shifts to make their psychedelic symphony more than just swooning pedal board manipulation. By contrast, Swallow the Rat, which hails from New Zealand but includes Austin’s Baby Robots guitarist Brian Purington, ripped through their distinctive take on post-punk with healthy dollops of psychedelia and noise rock drawn from their excellent second album, Sound Locust. Five hours of proof that electric guitar music is in safe hands. – Michael Toland

Swamp Dogg at Cooper's BBQ (Photo by John Anderson)

Inside the Tonal Structures of Swamp Dogg’s Mind

At Cooper's BBQ, Swamp Dogg told the crowd that he had only practiced with his Austin backing band once. “... But it sounds like it’s been at least a week!” The 81-year-old cracked jokes about his lyrics sheets and forgetting songs. But he also dripped confidence, making it crystal clear that he is single, and he’s got no problem lasting all night. (He's got enough Viagra jokes to prove it.)

Born Jerry Williams Jr., Swamp Dogg has been releasing music of nearly every variety since 1954. I found out about him digging out a 1982 disco single “Come On and Dance With Me” at the Domino Sound Record Shack in New Orleans. It has one of the most epic laser breakdowns in all of disco (sorry, I already sampled it). That was one of many left turns throughout Williams’ career through soul, country, electro, and Auto-Tuned chaos. In the last decade, he has collaborated with Justin Vernon, John Prine, and Jenny Lewis.

When Swamp Dogg wasn’t making dick jokes, he was slaying that damn barbecue joint. He played a little keyboard, but his main role was as a slapstick bandleader, like a lazy James Brown. The rhythm section were hired guns, but his right-hand man (and roommate) Larry "MoogStar" Clemon slammed out synth brass stabs and danced relentlessly, braids whipping through the air. Bayou blues never sounded so fresh, and Williams’ voice still has a sharp fearlessness. While plenty of legends can be disappointing live, Swamp Dogg is the eternal showman, the funky raconteur, the weird grandpa. And he doesn’t seem to be going away soon – the documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted premiered at SXSW this year. – Dan Gentile

Swamp Dogg (Photo by John Anderson)

I Got Fired Fest’s Genre-Bending Corporate Apocalypse

There was no better way to spend the end of the world (and the week) than at Pearl St. Co-op’s I Got Fired Fest. Co-organized by DIY tastemakering sibling duos Joe and Jack Kerwin and Cristina and Andrea Mauri, the highly anticipated showcase came through with thrilling performances and chaos-laden antics. A corporate vs. apocalypse theme found half of partygoers dressed in blazers and wrinkled white button-ups, while the other half donned doomsday-worthy ripped leggings and camouflage. HYPNOSIS THERAPY, an electro-hip-hop twosome from Seoul, packed a punch with their digital, genre-bending beats. Energy stayed high with full-bodied performances from pop-driven Franco-American brothers Faux Real and Pennsylvania-based shoegazers They Are Gutting a Body of Water. In between sets, the crowd poured outside to watch the night’s promised blood wrestling, where fake-plasma-doused pairs of volunteers faced off in an inflatable pool until one was deemed victorious. A lineup of ear splitting indoor DJs took over the co-op’s second stage, consisting of Frost Children’s Angel Prost and juuun0. Grocery Bag’s static garage rock shreds wrapped, bringing a mosh-fueled end to an apocalyptic night. – Miranda Garza

Arches at Hotel Vegas (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Arches’ Stadium-Ready Stage Presence

For all the musical discovery promised at SXSW, you can guarantee a percentage will be dampened by onstage sound issues. Miraculously, Arches suffered no such fate at Volstead, instead presenting deafeningly loud and impressively tight. Jumping from sugary pop-punk melodies and frantic percussion to fuzzy alternative rock riffs with equal success, the Hong Kong sextet kept the crowd moving. Even better, guitarists Jack Ip, Hugo Fu, and Edward Chu earned their packed 100-cap room by playing different, texturizing material, rather than the same old power chords. Bandleader Ip’s axe wore a splatter of blood, further proof of his unabashed shredding. Toward the end of the set, when the vocalist’s mic went cold in what was presumably a sign from the venue to wrap up, pleas for one last song brought the sound back. As such, rollicking closer “Sugarhigh” inspired a mini mosh pit before the artists wound up one final drumroll, like a classic rock act concluding a stadium show with one elongated note. With a stage presence like this, it’s not an unimaginable future. – Carys Anderson

Arches (Photo by Jana Birchum)