Two years ago, Tapes ‘N Tapes made their big splash at SXSW, playing eight shows and earning about a thousand blogger raves. Last year, Cloud Cult also made a strong impression at such high-profile gigs as the Levi’s/Fader party.

Both these Minnesotan bands have returned to Austin to plug their follow-up albums, and lo and behold they practically played across the street from each other Thursday afternoon (especially odd since former Tapes bassist Shawn Neary now plays in Cloud Cult).

Any worries that the 2006 buzz over TNT has turned to backlash seemed to vanish here by the second day of the fest, when the band packed the Gilley’s-sized punk club Emo’s to headline a day party there. The crowd ate up the few oldies played, especially “Cowbell,” but new gems like “Conquest” and especially “Headshock” went over almost as well.

Cloud Cult’s outdoor set on the Current’s broadcast stage was short and definitely not sweet. The band played several stormy numbers off its new album, “Feel Good Ghosts,” including a mostly instrumental freak-out jam called “Tornado Lessons” that sounded wicked live. They did offer some sweet and impressively layered vocal harmonies in another, poppier new one called “No One Said It Would Be Easy.” It all sounded great down here… did anybody hear it up there?

I also liked host Mary Lucia’s quip about their eco-friendly practices, someting along the lines of: “Do you ever accidentally litter and freak out about it?”

Also Thursday afternoon: The long line outside the Motorhead gig at Stubb’s was more of a turnoff than Lemme’s facial wart, so I went across the street to Club DeVille for the New West Records party. Funny thing about that shindig: It used to be one of the hottest tickets in town, back when SXSW was smaller and alt-country was one of its mainstays. Not so anymore, but there was still a nice, friendly turnout, including New West v.p. Peter Jesperson — I forgot to ask him about the ‘Mats reissues he just put together. And then there was an always-sweet performance by Dallas twangers the Old 97s, who – unlike the fest that made them big – haven’t changed much in 10 years.

 Go here for complete SXSW coverage, including Tony Nelson’s photos.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 7:46 pm and is filed under SXSW. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.