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March 17, 2007
Artist: The Faint
Hometown: Omaha, Neb.
Venue: Eternal, 12:30 a.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Their live shows are notorious for transforming dingy indie rock clubs into glamorous, “you should have been there” dance parties.
High point: The encore that included “Desperate Guys” and “Agenda Suicide.” It was the most blissfully transcendental moment of my SXSW 2007.
Bonus points: Playing “Worked Up So Sexual” midway through the set. The audience was screaming, practically begging for it. Then the Faint unabashedly gave it up.
Post-show buzz: Overheard as sweaty people sought more oxygen outside of the club on Sixth Street: “This was the best show I’ve seen at this year’s SXSW!” This writer concurs.
Afterthoughts: The Faint have always been Saddle Creek Records’ ticking time bomb just waiting to explode into the mainstream. If the Faint jump ship from Saddle Creek and move on to a major label — Internet rumors suggest Rick Rubin’s American Recordings — they will likely become the next New Order or Depeche Mode. There are multiple bands rehashing 1980s dance music these days. The Faint set themselves apart by reinventing electronic dance music with their combination of indie rock live-band verve and state-of-the-art keyboards and electronic programming, combined with guitars, bass and live drums. And songs. Songs with hooks that would be just as catchy and melodic on acoustic guitars as they are with ear-splittingly supersonic production values.
Personal to SXSW organizers: Booking the Faint at Eternal put the audience in jeopardy of being hurt. The club was entirely too small.
March 15, 2007
Artist: The Hudsons
Hometown: Austin
Venue: BD Riley’s, 11 p.m. Wednesday
Pre-Show Buzz: Austin’s friendliest alternative folk band since 2001.
High Point: “It Just Takes One” and “The Shield” provided ample proof of their fertile songwriting creavity.
Low Point: The crowd that was more engaged in cell phone coversations than in the product of 20 strings. Normally, the place would be dead quiet during “Innocencia.”
Post-Show Buzz: No wonder they copped best folk group at the Austin Music Awards earlier in the evening. Hard work has indeed paid off for the Hudsons. Now the wait begins for their third album, “Spend Forever Going Nowhere.”
