Yola (Carter) has a gift with her voice. It is not only the volume and clarity with which she holds your attention. No, your 8th grade English teacher can do that. It’s the deep connection she has with the audience, and the layered delivery that allows her to pack much emotion into melodies that I would in all likelihood completely disregard had they been sent across the radio.
Working from her debut album, tracks like the eponymous “Walk Through Fire” and “It Ain’t Easier”, for example, are both classic country numbers in my book. If this were to go down as the only country set I visited at SXSW after a decade, then so be it. (But if anyone asks I would still staunchly, in a principled manner, deny ever having been). Coming from a background of gun-for-hire for other bands, Yola’s natural strengths in soul and country really do shine through. Here, hitting notes and harmonies, while important, are secondary to the electric feeling that builds up in the air. It’s like she and Dan Auerbach guard a box (or a cowboy hat) with magic dust and sprinkle it sparingly.
There are some gems in the songwriting as well. There is nothing more “real” than the lyrics which with I nearly laughed my fellow passengers’ heads off on the L:
Nobody moves the way you do walking ’round the grocery store Only you know what you’re looking for
What kind of sick and twisted person would double-entendre with your expectations in a longingly expressive love song? The British kind, of course. Other highlights for me were “Shady Grove”, “Still Gone”, and “Faraway Look”.
First of all, did you know you can pre-order from Franklin? This will save you time. You will need to order a few weeks before SXSW and you will need to order a minimum of 5 pounds of meat so plan accordingly.
Franklin is the holy grail for BBQ. It’s considered the best and the lineups reflect this. Luckily we pre-ordered and we got the following:
2 pounds of brisket
2 pounds of ribs
1 pound of sausage (yields 6)
As expected, the food was phenomenal. It also came with onions, bread and pickles as you expect.
The brisket had a nice ratio of fat and meat that melts in your mouth and the bark was super tasty with a peppery mix of spice. Brisket is king at BBQ and Franklin is definitely among the best I’ve had.
The ribs were also awesome with a similar spice rub and the expected fall off the bone goodness. The sausage was tasty but a distant third on the taste meter.
Considering the absurd lineup for Franklin, the real question is … is it that much better then other places like La Barbecue to warrant the wait? I’m not sure. Top BBQ is top BBQ and I’m not sure the small percentage improvement is worth the wait.
However, if you do go to only one place, it’s definitely Franklin.
Uchi
Uchi has been on my Austin Eat list for many years. However, being on South Lamar, its not exactly that close to everything else at SXSW. This year I decided to make the journey and boy, am I glad I did.
We chose an unofficial omakase, where the chef recommended some dishes for us based off our feelings.
What’s nice about Uchi was that it seems to blend Japanese food with some slight twists. For a lot of the cold dishes, raw fish was paired with a heavy use of citrus, which was a newer experience. Another dish paired the fish with candied quinoa.
Aside from the fusion dishes, the fish quality was amazing for a landlocked city. The uni, toro and other sushi pieces we had tasted next level.
The karaage came out with a strong smell, as a result of fish paste usage but tasted delicious
All in all, a delicious time. With drinks it came out to about 100 USD per person, so budget accordingly
Shorter reviews:
Pueblo Vieja – Best breakfast tacos within walking distance of ACC, hands down. The Taco Bueno is especially tasty with its mix of chorizo, cheese and potatoes. Ask for the corn tortillas, as they provide a nice texture when heated up and crisp.
Kemuri Tatsu-Ya – I think I have to go to this place every year now. Its combination of Texas BBQ meets Japanese food is so unique and so tasty, it’s impossible to ignore. The smoked fish collar is a stunner and the BBQ brisket tsukemon is out of the world. One of my favourite place to eat anywhere.
Suerte – Refined Mexican inspired food that served us an amazing cauliflower taco. This is definitely fancy in terms of Tacos, and even serves you a crazy Uni dish inside an actual dead sea urchin. You can even take that sea urchin shell home if your name is Gary.
Matt’s El Rancho – A highly rated Tex Mex place in South Lamar. I find Tex-Mex food to be only okay at best, but this place was definitely okay. It had a lively atmosphere and was very cheap. You can easily stuff yourself with queso, enchiladas and stuffed peppers here at a reasonable cost. Quality is also only okay.
Every year for #sxsw, I typically get hyped for the Korean music showcase. It’s a typically glossy affair that in the past had the appeal of bringing some of Korea’s biggest pop acts into these tiny venues.
However, the last year or two have seen K-pop explode in popularity which led SXSW to book the Korean pop night at the Moody Theater. For whatever reason, this became less appealing to me.
Luckily, off in the little corner of Vahalla, another Korean movement was burgeoning. Damnably, a London-based record label, was putting on a showcase highlighting something that has mostly gone under the radar – Asian rock. Being Asian, I felt it was part of my duty to check it out and I wasn’t disappointed.
Say Sue Me was actually on my SXSW list for 2018 but I wasn’t able to make their showcase last year. A four piece band, the group’s sugary twee sound brings forth the nostalgic memories of Camera Obscura and those Labrador Swedish bands (Lacrosse, Acid House Kings, etc) with a little more guitar mixed in.
Between the catchy hooks, the soft comforting vocals of Sumi Choi and the hand claps, I’m shocked these guys aren’t bigger.
Next up was the Drinking Boys and Girls Choir, a three piece punk rock band. First of all, that’s the best band name. Second, look at their song titles:
“I’m a Fucking McDonalds”
“National Police Shit”
“Keep Drinking!!!”
Basically, they are excellent namers of things. Their music wouldn’t look out of place in Southern California and it seems they are heavily influenced by their local punk scene. The visual contrast of the band and the music was eye opening. I previously associated that type of music with tattooed-punk looking white dudes (and sometimes gals), but to see them played by relatively clean cut, polite Koreans made me realize that music really is universal and I should stop assigning music to certain subcultures.
Despite their relatively clean cut looks, the group rocked hard, and a mini mosh pit developed beside me. At one point, guitarist Seo Bondu aggressively ran into the crowd, a pleasant surprise which I was not expecting. Kind of like the entire show itself – a pleasant surprise I wasn’t expecting.
If you’ve ever been to Austin, or even if you haven’t but know remotely anything about the city at all, you’re probably familiar with its unofficial motto: Keep Austin Weird. But that motto need not only apply to Austinites and the Friday night of SXSW saw two visitors to the city doing their best to keep things as weird as possible. In their respective shows, Olivia Neutron-John and Foie Gras definitely made it weird with each act putting on an intense and memorable performance.
Olivia Neutron-John’s sound was made up an interesting mix of industrial sounds with some Casio sounding beats and tones – a unique aesthetic wherein you could hear some light and bubbly sounding bleeps and bloops while Olivia Neutron-John (aka Anna Nasty) shouted out things like “Hold what you kill, feel it slip away!” (or something to that effect) into the mic. I’ll be honest – my initial interest in this show was based 100% on the play on words in the artist’s name, but once I had a listen and then saw it live, I was hooked.
For the final slot on my schedule for the night, I headed to Cheer Up Charlie’s for Foie Gras, but once I entered the room, it seemed more like I was in Twin Peaks. And not the cool, kind of creepy yet chill vibe of The Roadhouse, but the full on ‘everyone’s talking backwards and Killer BOB is freaking you out in the Black Lodge’ sort of vibe. So of course I was very into it. In a post on her Instagram from after the show, Foie Gras wrote, “shout outs to the guy who said my set both aroused and scared him” about an audience member and I suppose that’s a fairly apt description. Ultimately, Foie Gras’ dark, heavy goth vibes were the perfect way to end things off for my Friday night and along with Olivia Neutron-John’s earlier set, made for a perfectly weird evening.
