the spotlight on sxsw: 2009 is now archived. please hit the sidebar to get a hold of that page.

well, we’re back after a crazy, hectic weekend at sxsw. it was full of pleasures, disappointments and kanye west. we had a good time considering this is the first official meeting of the bears since sunbear hopped on. panda couldn’t make it out for the first day, but we held it down plenty for the one night he wasn’t there. naturally, the night panda met up with us is the night shit hit the fan and southern comfort and pbr (ugh, i know.) flowed in our blood.

anyway, i’m try not to bore you and write an epic novel like last year’s recap, so i’ll just make a list of what transpired each day.

thursday:
-arrived to town, grabbed our purevolume house laminates.
-went to the fader fort, which was the decided “location” for the week’s festivities
-caught the end of francis and the lights, and a set by late of the pier. very good set. i hadn’t heard of these guys, but i definitely dug them. check them out here.
-took off to the cedar st. courtyard to catch idle warship, only to find out the crew missed their flight and cancelled this show. we would not see talib for the rest of the week. yes, that includes the fucking REFLECTION ETERNAL reunion. i urge you all to shake your heads.
-ended up splitting up with sunbear for a hot minute.
-sunbear caught liam and me, who agreed to work with us in the very near future, so be on the look out for that.
-i went off and dropped 15 on a 40 minute set by as tall as lions, and holy hell was it worth it. band never fails to deliver. be sure to check the interview. the new songs were phenomenal.
-en route to the purevolume house, we ended up catching P.O.S., totally by accident. he was doing the rhymesayers showcase and it was badge/wristband only. well i didn’t have a badge and saw the entire thing from outside the venue. great set. heavy on the never better material. dessa and cecil were there, so a full album version of “low light low life” was heard.
-we would not end up getting into the purevolume house to catch young love or B.o.B. we also got fucked out of the fools gold after dark party which ended up being off the hook apparently.

friday:

-woke up early, but parking fucked us out of a free he is legend show with free vodka and free breakfast tacos. bad start.
-caught the end of the kidz in the hall set at the fader fort. guys are so fly.
-also saw some weak ass band called the love language. meh.
-wacked into the jackalope to catch a delicious meal, and accidentally ended up seeing the photo atlas tear up a 6×6 stage.
-headed to peckerheads (lawlz) for the nahright and the smoking section showcase. this was beyond dope. caught incredible sets by blu and exile, charles hamilton, and B.o.B./bobby ray. bobby had me doubting him last week, but him and the eastsiders completely set the place off. i need to find out who that drummer is, because he’s on a questlove tip. and brother ali is incredibly boring. the truth my ass.
-interviewed as tall as lions for 20 minutes. xoxo.
-sunbear and mona caught PBJ’s set, and grizzly and panda waited patiently and listened outside the at-capacity venue. they sounded real good, though.
-for the night time festivities, we rolled to some sketchy place that looked like an emptied k-mart to party with hipsters, pbr and electro. shit was a good time, but man that place was the asshole of america. they could’ve used one or two lamps. anyway, we caught a great dj set by toxic avenger, ihc’s resident d-bag franki chan, radioclit, ninjasonik, and drop the lime. great ending.

saturday:

-we rose early to head to the fader fort, where we’d hang out all day in anticipation of the G.O.O.D. music label showcase.
-interviewed p.o.s. good stuff.
-since we were at the fader fort all day, we only caught bands that played there. amidst our anticipation, we caught sets by wavves and theophilus london. theophilus is the business and put on a hell of a show. he brought out solange knowles, which was a total lolwut. she laid it down and took care of her own. she was lookin’ good, too.
-then we laid low for a minute, drank soco and used computers. how sad.
-mid-afternoon, we’d head over to the stage and post-up for the show. we caught a dj-set by major lazer, with a guest spot from diplo. ill.
-rick ross was scheduled, but the boss was busy dealin’ weight and hustlin and no-showed, so texas’ own bun b filled in and set the place off. great set, and everyone was feeling it.
–jadakiss came out and kept it going. he brought styles p out and they did some LOX jams. live.
-…
-GOOD MUSIC IS IN THE BUILDING. after 1.5 hours of waiting, yeezy and company finally came out and completely ruining everyone’s lives. overall was just one of the craziest and most energetic experiences of any of the bears lives. there was singin’, dancin’, cryin’, jivin’, jumpin’, spaceshippin’, kickboxin’, mean muggin’, big screenin’, flight schoolin’, buggin’ and just indulging in good lifin’. for more info and anything to suit your jealousy needs, read an article with the setlist here, download the audio of the show here, and stream the video here.
-the rest of the fader fort’s videos could be found here.

videos:

curren$y at grand ole party.
good music vs. love lockdown @ the good music showcase
bun b – let me see it
common and erykah badu – the light
jadakiss – we gon’ make it/letter to big
B.o.B. – lonely people/haterz everywhere
blu and exile – in remembrance

we also got the chance to do some interviews.

as tall as lions:

got a hold of ATAL’s reps, and they were kind enough to talk with us. dan nigro gave us a good 20 minutes of his day, in spite of catching the flu and all. god bless that man.

read the interview here.

p.o.s.

p.o.s. was also kind enough to sit down with us and talk about his new album and the reception for it, upcoming doomtree projects and how stupid neon jeans are.

read the interview here.

don’t forget to check out:

weworemasks sxsw photos.

weworemasks presents: sxsw 2009 mix

thanks for reading.

until next year!

-grizzly on behalf of weworemasks.