CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (A RECAP)

Another SXSW has come and gone. Over two weeks ago, I know, but I've got a lot on my mind. It's always hard to visit Austin for me. It reminds me of how much I love that place, and how much like home it feels. It hasn't help that while I was in the midst of my post-Austin blues, I found out that I didn't get a job that I had really wanted. Being unemployed and away from home has been hard, and made harder by the fact that this winter was so cold and snowy, but hopefully with spring on the horizon and, even more hopefully, new job opportunities around the corner, things will be looking up soon.

Without further ado, here's my short recap of SXSW 2014:

+ drinks at blackheart + brussel sprout salad at east side king +

+ gelato at dolce neve + pizza at homeslice +

Just a small snapshot of all the food that I ate while in Austin. 

+ 6th st. before everything began + house of vans show on wednesday +

+ south bites trailer park + more pre-crazy 6th st. +

Austin is so beautiful. Especially when it's not jam-packed full of people.

+ outdoor stage at cheer up charlies + eagulls at house of vans +

+ ema at under the radar + gems at under the radar +

We saw a lot of great stuff. So much that I frankly can't remember it all. Highlights were EMA, GEMS (who we ended up seeing twice we liked them so much. They also win the 'most attractive band' award), Eagulls, Future Islands, Connan Mockasin, Yellow Ostrich, Small Black... the list goes on. 

Of course I can't write a post about SXSW without mentioning the horrible incident that happened this year. I don't really think that it was a result of how insane the festival is getting in terms of size (although it's obvious that that's a whole other issue), but it's a tragedy and I hope that accidents like these remind everybody how ridiculously dumb it is to drink and drive.

On a lighter note, the festival was a lot of fun, but yes, so so so packed and a little out of control. I can't blame people for wanting to come though, Austin is pretty great. 

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 3)

Here's the final batch of bands that I hope to see this week at SXSW 2014. I'll let you know who I catch in a post next week!

Sure, I've seen Kurt Vile before, but why would that stop me from fighting crowds to see him again?

This video is weird weird weird, and there's a good chance that that creature will haunt your dreams for many nights to come, but the band is so good that I can't help but keep watching.

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 2)

Here are a few more bands that I hope to be seeing this week during this year's SXSW festival.

The beautiful R&B stylings of Kelela.

I don't really know how to describe Forest Swords, other than that they're weird in the best possible way.

CHARMING NOISE | SXSW 2014 (PT. 1)

Since I'm going to be busy for the next week doing a combination of: 1. enjoying warmer weather, 2. eating a lot of food, and 3. seeing free shows, I thought that I would create a few days worth of posts featuring artists I'm excited to see at SXSW 2014. The chances of me seeing all of them are very slim, but we all need aspirations, right? Here are the first few bands. I'll be back next week with some inevitably mediocre photos taken of the festivities on my iPhone.

No Joy is a fantastic shoegaze-y, psych-y bands of very cool ladies.

EMA is supposed to be kind of a badass live.

I can't get enough of Angel Olsen's 60s psych folk sound.

SXSW | FOOD

Cocktail at Drink.Well // Taco at El Primo // Pork Belly Sandwich at East Side King

Well, it took about a full week to recover from the energy suck that is South by Southwest. It was extremely fun and extremely exhausting all at once, like most great things are. I spent last week trying to catch up on sleep and feeling a little bit like death for the majority of the time, but after plenty of food that would not appear on the food pyramid, and way too much chipotle, I'm ready to get back on track with productivity and eating foods that occur in nature. The music talk will come later this week, but let's start with the second best part of SXSW: the food. This year was a particularly good time for eats because Paul Qui (Top Chef winner and adorable genius) curated SouthBites over on Rainey St and Driskill, and despite being a bit of a trek, we managed to eat there twice. My boyfriend had a run-in with some mediocre BBQ, but every other morsel that entered out mouths was beyond delicious. Unsurprisingly the winner of the whole trailer park was East Side King, which I ate at both visits. I had a pork belly sandwich (pork belly, pickled veg, some sort of mayo, Hawaiian-style roll) which I still have dreams about and the Kara-agé Kimchee Yakisoba which I could have eaten a vat of. All in all, it was a food lover's paradise.