In keeping with their name, Brooklyn based “paranoid electro pop” band Big Data likes to go big – big beats, big riffs, big voices, and two enthusiastic, sunglasses wearing lead singers. Yet despite all of these ingredients, none of it really stood out too much for me, with the exception of the band’s solid cover of Hall & Oates’ smooth pop classic “Private Eyes,” it’s refrain of “they’re watching you” re-purposed to fit in with the band’s thematic focus on user privacy and state surveillance and such. It’s timely stuff and with that focus, they’re probably not going to run out of things to write about anytime soon. It’s almost enough to make you wonder if they really were there for some sort of data mining operation. Either that, or someone booked them for the festival thinking it was a panel proposal for SXSW Interactive.
Following them on the same stage were Twin Shadow. As they took to the stage, George Clark Jr. announced to the crowd that this was their last show of SXSW and that they wanted the crowd to make it as crazy as possible. He and the band ran through songs off their latest, Eclipse, with way more energy than you might expect at roughly 5:30 in the afternoon after having played who knows how many shows by that point. Pro Tip: even if you’re feeling exhausted, try not to let on. By giving out a lot of energy to the crowd, Twin Shadow seemed to be re-energized in return. That’s entertainment.