As promised, here’s our last photo roundup of the shows we hit and folks we pestered on the streets of Austin during this year’s South By Southwest music festival. All in all we had a great time, saw some old friends, and constantly ran into Tim Harrington at the shows we chose to hit (again). If you were there, we’d love to hear what floored ya; we’ve talked up a couple of our picks already (Meat Puppets, New Violators, Lo-Fi-FNK, The Besnard Lakes, Deerhunter, and Menomena come to mind), but top honors go to Saturday’s Drag City treat of Bill Callahan at Central Presbyterian Church (with very special guest Joanna Newsom on piano). Bill gave us everything from Knock Knock‘s “Cold Blooded Old Times” to “Sycamore” from the phenomenal, forthcoming Woke On A Whaleheart, momentarily making the hardwood Church pews the most comfortable seats in Texas.

Other acts on the day included The Good, The Bad & The Queen at the FADER fort (nice to be that close to Damon, sorta sleepy overall though); Menomena and the black parade of The Polyphonic Spree at the blogger-curated Hot Freaks party (awesome job, guys!); and superb sets from Kings Of Leon, Spoon, and the photo-friendly Iggy & The Stooges at the Esquire showcase at Stubb’s. Once again, Jon Bahr delivered us some smashing shots, this time of Norah Jones compatriot Jesse Harris (with singer-songwriter Jessie Baylin), Donovan, and the lovely ladies of The Pipettes. And we spiced up the spread with some man-on-the-street shots to keep it infotaining. Enjoy! Until next year, Austin…

THE PIPETTES

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We made it to the second of three parties thrown during CMJ by our good friend Dave, who did an outstanding job making our lives easier by booking our favorite bands and putting them under the same roof for the day; see, we like to take it nice and lazy. Vegan’s second show at Fontana’s was the one we hit up, just in time for the tail-end of the Lo-Fi-Fnk set (that’s pronouned “Low Fi Funk,” despite the missing vowel). These Swedes are another that made a big splash with the bloggers this week, with their glitzy, “I Wanna Be Your Lover”-era Prince electro-pop. We didn’t see enough to speak to the set, but the record sounds like it’ll be a great one to listen to celebrate good times, come on!

Lo-Fi-Fnk – “The End” (MP3)
Lo-Fi-Fnk – “What’s On Your Mind” (MP3)

LO-FI FNK

Another great surprise came from Edmonton, Alberta’s Cadence Weapon, a crunked up twenty-year old (joined by a hooded-and-shaded DJ) who was energetic, comedic and fun to move to.

CADENCE WEAPON

Cadence Weapon – “Black Hand” (MP3)
Cadence Weapon – “Sharks” (MP3)

Comedian Dave Hill was the day’s MC and at his funniest when “topically” riffing on the Edmonton Oilers’ ’80s Stanley Cup glories (thank Cadence Weapon for that jumping point). He offered $500 to the whomever was wearing a hoodie and a messenger bag; we pretended like we never heard him. Shortly thereafter were Brooklyn’s own Oxford Collapse, who were a little sloppy in the bass but rocked hard on our favorite Remember The Night Parties tunes:

Oxford Collapse – “Please Visit Your National Parks” (MP3)
Oxford Collapse – “Return Of Burno” (MP3)

DAVE HILL

OXFORD COLLAPSE

As for FW: CCCP, somehow Tom’s voice magically regenerated between their set just twelve hours earlier at Mercury Lounge and their BV day gig — because despite the stool problems (drums, not toilets), the ¡Forward, Russia! set was fifteen minutes (net) of fist-pumping fury, just how we like it. They’ll be back at Bowery in three weeks, and if you like your post-punk, angular, dramatic, and pretentious, this is your show. Chicago’s Chin Up Chin Up were good fun, and Stereofaves The Thermals packed ‘em in tight and had ‘em chanting to every song. And there’s a particular benefit to any Thermals show; they can play for thirty minutes, and you’ll hear something like 25 songs. Bless those two minute tunes!

CHIN UP CHIN UP

¡FORWARD, RUSSIA!

THE THERMALS

Abbey made it to BV's Tuesday party at Pianos and snapped some tasty shots (after the jump).

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