Cougar Microbes headed to Austin, TX to experience SXSW 2014 in all it’s glory. Over the course of 4 days we witnessed some phenomenal performances in venues all around town covering every genre and sub-genre imaginable. As we had anticipated in our festival preview piece some of the biggest highlights came from those artists we weren’t expecting.
This is how it went…
Spazzkid – Lustre Pearl
We started our day with a frankly brilliant performance by Spazzkid at Lustre Pearl. The fact that we were able to count the people in attendance on two hands doesn’t seem to phase the Los Angeles based producer who launched into every song with gusto and a huge smile imprinted on his face. Musically he vaguely resembles Toro Y Moi with a little more glitch in his sound and while there were just a handful of people in attendance it’s almost certain everyone left as a fan.
Tourist – Hype Hotel Presented by Cruel Rhythm
There could hardly be a better setting to catch Tourist than Hype Hotel as both performer and audience cherished every moment. The British producer sat behind a sparse set up manning his keyboard while his polished electronica produced gleeful smiles across the room. Tracks like “Patterns” were so majestically delivered that the show seemed to pass rapidly in front of our eyes. We would have happily had this last forever.
Jungle – Hype Hotel Presented by Cruel Rhythm
We did not have to move far to see our next performance as Jungle graced the same stage shortly. Of all the acts playing SXSW this year this was the one we were most eager to see. With so much hype surrounding the London outfit, partly due to a succession of excellent music videos that intentionally concealed the group’s true identities, the cynics were half expecting them to mess up somehow. Instead we were completely won over as the 5 piece took their performance in their stride and, in spite of some questionable on stage banter, played their too cool for school repertoire to perfection. An especially sensual performance of “The Heat” was possibly the highlight of the week.
Gorgon City – The Main Presented by AM Only
2014 is going to be huge for Gorgon City. The British duo have been steadily building up to the release of their debut album with a series of scintillating performances and tonight was no different. Building upon last year’s breakout single “Real” the duo got the crowd pumping from the get go. Clearly they picked up a trick or two during their not so distant Ibiza Residency and the crowd love them for it.
Tomas Barfod – Red Eyed Fly Presented by Secretly Label Group
Danish club scene veteran Tomas Barfod was joined by ethereal vocalist Nina K. to create his own blend of impeccably smooth borderline ambient sounds. Crammed into the Dj Booth at Barcelona on 6th the room was pulsing by the time they finished the title track from his latest EP. There is a rare cinematic quality to the performance that is both very modern and timeless and tonight it all came together to perfection.
Classixx – Lustre Pearl Presented by: SoundCloud
It was quite fitting that we ended up at the same place that we had started it and what better way to conclude our night than with a euphoric performance from Classixx. The LA DJ duo effortlessly mixed disco, house and dance tracks from some of their biggest peers with tracks from their brilliant 2013 album ‘Hanging Gardens’ winning rabid cheers at every switch. We couldn’t think of many better way to send this euphoric, and partly inebriated, crowd home.
