As part of a showcase put on by 88.5FM from So-Cal, we report from the dreaded Ballroom A, where the Day Stage has been (IMHO mistakenly) placed at the back of Austin Convention Center, three blocks from where, as the years catch up with us, we would have liked it to be to minimize our Strava trails.
Sunflower Bean
NYC 3-piece Sunflower Bean thrives on indie rock influences. But the lineage seemed all over the place as they broadened their scope of influences on their last album Twentytwo In Blue. As it repeats on their new album Headful of Sugar, which will be released May 2022, perhaps this broad range is decidedly a style and not a statistical sampling error. For example, the single “Who Put You Up To This?” seems like it came straight from the end credit of an ’80s movie, while “Baby Don’t Cry” could have issued from the garage of those grunge kids down the street in the ’00s. Regardless, their live performance, which I think included a few songs from the previous album, was solid and engaging.
Houndmouth
Indiana’s Houndmouth first played SxSW in 2012 and never looked back. They are also decidedly un-vague in their musical leanings of indie blues. They played two thirds of their recent album Good For You and in person, they sounded warmer and fuller than their recordings.
Singer-guitarist Matt Myers’ effortless songwriting is simply a joy to listen to. “Miracle Mile” had me strung-along and I almost veered into “Leaving on A Jetplane”. It makes you want to drop everything at hand, grab a lawn chair, crack open a beer, and drift hazily into the firefly-filled night… at least until you wake up covered in bonfire soot and mosquito bites.
