SXSW Review: The Nude Party, Nothing, Cherry Glazerr, March 15, Container Bar

The Nude PartyThe Nude Party
Opening with some good ol’ rock instrumentals, North Carolina 8-piece The Nude Party started a lazy afternoon for me. This is the laid-back indie rock that you always wished to hear at SXSW.

And what they lack in crowd banter and apparent energy, was more than compensated for by their bright music and highly entertaining stage presence. Highlights of their set were certainly “Feel Alright” and the closer “Chevrolet Van”. My brain jumped immediately to Bananas-In-Pajamas after hearing the opening chords of the latter. “Man, you wish you’ve got a job”.  

Nothing
Nothing
I could qualify Nothing as a polite heavy rock band. But if the name says otherwise, why bother to categorize nothing? While Domenic Palermo’s singing voice isn’t spot on, it doesn’t have to be, seeing how it carries its own off-tone 1995 charm. I do have to say that for me, the recordings sound better – check out Dance On The Blacktop, their third album, which came out less than a year ago. Check out “Blue Line Baby”, which was a stand out at this live set.

Cherry Glazerr

Cherry Glazerr
It has been a while since a technical glitch spoiled my SXSW experience. But unfortunately for Cherry Glazerr, the microphones were not playing ball at this set. Credit to them for sound musicianship – they played patiently while the sound people caught up – and when they eventually did, pieces of the new album Stuffed and Ready, such as “Daddi” and “Wasted Nun”, came flying like free tailed bats out of the Bracken Cave.

This being an uber chilly and windy Austin afternoon, they did not bring out the theatrics from their videos. But it was nonetheless exciting to see that they could reinvent themselves, away from singing about grilled cheese.



Posted on by Gary in South By Southwest