SXSW 2011: Part Three – Pepsi Max party feat. Pharoahe Monch and the Rolling Stone party feat. Queens of the Stone Age (16.03.11)

Day turned into night and I found myself with a bit of running around to do. First up were NewVillager, a three piece based out of New York, playing at Maggie Mae’s. While the sound at the venue left a lot to be desired, they impressed the crowd, producing unique and entertaining music off their debut self-titled album. They’re a terribly creative band whose reputation of impressive music videos preceded them. Check out “LightHouse” below.

I love that song! It’s one of those cases where you’re not sure if you like the video or the song more… but it sticks with you regardless. It’s fun, catchy and creative music that sits up there with bands like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear.

Next, I made tracks to Valhalla to check out Battle Circus, a psychedelic group based out of New Zealand – perhaps named after the Humphrey Bogart film of the same name. With vocals secondary to the instrumentals, this was a band who hypnotised you with their jams. The band are best known for featuring in the soundtrack to True Blood; their cinematic tracks from EP The Half-Light Symphony breaking into blogs around the world as a result. They’re now working with producer David Holmes to bring us their first full length record. From what we heard tonight it should be a good listen!

My night continued as I headed along next to the Pepsi Max party at one of several warehouses-turned-live-venues at SXSW. VJ’s Eclectic Method were entertaining the crowd as I arrived, with a tongue and cheek set much in the vein of Sampology – A great selection of tunes, accompanied by some often hilarious videos (cue Charlie Sheen remixes). You can’t ask for much more than that, really.

The headliner of the night was Pharoahe Monch, promoting his new album War. Among his back catalogue, tracks from the new album were sampled, including single “Clap”, which was a highlight of the set. Of course, however, the set hit its highest levels of energy when tracks like “Get The Fuck Out”, “Simon Says” and “Oh No” were played – the last of which was no doubt an emotional point for Monch, with Nate Dogg passing so recently. It was a great set – and let’s face it – it’s always a blast to hear some killer Hip Hop in a warehouse, especially in Southern America.

Knowing the demand would be massive, I headed along to La Zona Rosa next for the Rolling Stones party – featuring none other than Queens of the Stone Age. Austin’s The Black Angels were still on the stage when I was finally let in, a band whose psychedelic-meets-garage rock has become something of legend around the world in recent years. Influenced heavily by The Velvet Underground, Passover still gets regular play in my own catalogue! It was a brilliant set that showed what the band is all about, living up to their high reputation of playing killer live music. Set alongside bands like Black Mountain, they’re definitely doing some of the best music of the genre internationally, though this isn’t something they needed to prove tonight.

But it was Queens of the Stone Age who the room had packed out to see – lines stretched around the corner (or three) in hopes to witness the bands first U.S. performance in three years. Indeed, it was their recent Australian tour that saw Queens of the Stone Age pump themselves up for their return to the American circuit.

They blasted through their self-titled debut album (which is being re-released in deluxe format this month by Josh Homme’s own record label), out of order, opening with “Regular John” and closing with “You Can’t Quit Me Baby”. “The Bronze”, a lesser known 1998 B-Side, with an amazing guitar solo from Homme, was thrown in for good measure. The album has been given a true dose of rejuvenated enthusiasm from Homme and the band – with tracks like “Walking on the Sidewalks” being a particular highlight, and their “shitty cover of Hendrix’s ‘Manic Depression’”, “Hispanic Impressions” proving more memorable live than it did on the album.

Leaving the stage, they returned for an encore featuring a good dose of their catalogue since the debut, with tracks like “Go With The Flow”, “Little Sister”, “Make it Wit Chu” and “Tangled up in Plaid” making welcome appearances. In this intimate Texan venue, QOTSA truly rocked the house down – what a wonderful way to end the first official night of SXSW. Would you expect any less?

Larry Heath

Founding Editor and Publisher of the AU review. Currently based in Toronto, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @larry_heath or on Instagram @larryheath.