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SXSW Scene Report: The Knucklerumbler with Rollingstone.com party, Peckerheads
3 p.m. was a little early, it seemed, for the die-hard Lady Sovereign fans to queue up for an opportunity to see the pint-sized British hellraiser Saturday. Lines were nonexistent at Peckerheads, where she was slated to play at 5:30 p.m..
That meant getting in for two of the festival’s biggest buzz acts, Janelle Monae and the Love Language, was shockingly easy. Say what you want about Peckerheads — while the ventilation may be poor, the beer selection questionable and the floors stickier than a suburban movie theater, they know how to put on a show. With a genius dual-stage setup that let the venue toggle between artists with practically no lag, the day ran smoothly.
Monae took the stage on schedule at 3:30 p.m., with a band member announcing her as “from Kansas City by way of Atlanta, one of the most astonishing performers of our time,” which would have seemed conceited had it not been clearly true.
Bursting onto a stage adjacent to a fog machine — which are entirely too rare at SXSW — the Grammy-nominated artist bounced from corner to corner of the stage like a human pinball for the next half hour. A mere three songs in 30 minutes, the set was heavy on instrumental jams, but the ever-snappily dressed Monae electrified the tiny room with her blend of modern hip hop hustle and old-school soul swagger.
North Carolina’s the Love Language, a jangly eight-piece indie rock ensemble, took the stage next. The group’s self-titled debut album is one of 2009’s strongest under-the-radar releases this year, a messy, sweeping, enthusiastic effort that sounds a bit like something the Arcade Fire might make if they got drunk on whiskey. The set’s highlight was single “Lalita,” currently a mainstay on Austin Powell’s local and new music program “Next Big Thing,” on 101X. The band took advantage of their final SXSW show to throw themselves into the crowd, sweat buckets and generally let loose with wild musical abandon.
By then, of course, Lady Sov.’s devotees had begun to take over Sixth Street, as the venue hit capacity and a line extending west had begun to form. One can only wonder if they noticed Monae exiting the venue — sporting her best formal wear and tailed by her entire musical entourage — and pondered what they had missed.
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