Stereogum returned to Texas in full force this year for Stereogum Range Life 2019, throwing a two-day day party in downtown Austin during the SXSW festivities. We took over the indoor and outdoor stages of Cheer Up Charlies on Tuesday and Wednesday, helping to get the week off to a strong start with swag including free sunglasses, Stereogum gum(!), and silkscreened posters, a fancy photo booth, specialty pun cocktails, and varied sets from exciting up-and-coming acts (Black Midi, Ellis, Samia, etc.), recent Band To Watch alumni (SASAMI, Westerman, Thyla, etc.), Stereogum favorites (Priests, Nothing, Rico Nasty, etc.), and New Zealand jangle-pop legends (the Chills, etc.).
Despite the weather threatening to rain on Tuesday, Cheer Up Charlies remained a bright spot all day -- both metaphorically and occasionally literally, when the sun deigned to peek out from behind the assembled clouds. The young band Disq, whom we just named a Band To Watch last week, kicked things off on the inside stage, waking up anyone still sleepwalking through the morning with a powerful blast of shaggily psychedelic alt-rock energy.
Meanwhile, Berlin garage-poppers Gurr were the first to grace the outdoor stage. In between getting the musical party started with hooky old-school guitar-pop jams like "She Says," off of their upcoming EP of the same name, they conducted informal audience polls of breakfast habits (all hail the bagel and the breakfast beer) and scooter usage (thankfully, the crowd had only witnessed one accident).
The first day of Range Life continued apace with New Zealand pop-punkers the Beths, Samia's punchy indie-rock, and "post-country" Chicago band Ratboys outside -- followed by Washington, DC's Priests, who between this and our Christmas show have cemented themselves as one of the best live acts around.
On the inside stage, Ellis and Thyla, both recent Artists To Watch, showed the packed room two different sides of the dream-pop coin. Bedouine, another Artist To Watch, cast an enchanting spell with her '70s-inspired psychedelic folk, while hometown hero Jess Williamson stunned with her own gorgeously dusty folk-rock.
Finally, the '80s Dunedin sound progenitors the Chills closed out the inside room with their sparklingly melodic college-rock, including classics like "Pink Frost," "Heavenly Pop Hit," and "I Love My Leather Jacket," while Nothing closed out the entire day with their muscular hardcore punk-turned-shoegaze wall of sound.
It rained on Tuesday night and all morning Wednesday but cleared up an hour or so before day two of Range Life began, presumably because the capricious Texas weather gods have really good taste in music. Control Top and Illuminati Hotties took advantage of the good fortune, with the former delivering searing punk riffs and the latter bringing their instant-classic debut album Kiss Yr Frenemies to glorious life.
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Thus ended Stereogum Range Life 2019. See you all next year!
