SXSW 2011 Wrap Up

The cure for the common: Doomtree

By: Dave Jaffer
Mar 22, 2011 - 10:19
See all articles by Dave J. »

Sometimes writing about something right after it happens is the best idea. It allows your words to burst with freshness like fat farmers’ market strawberries. But immediacy and urgency isn’t always the point. Sometimes it pays to take a bit of time to consider something, and then put voice to thought.

With that in mind, here is the first of my three-part SXSW 2011 wrap-up.

My SXSW was very much about hip-hop. This, to a certain degree, is odd. The first music I fell in love was some conflation of late 70s-early 80s punk rock, early-to-mid 80s new wave, and Motown. But hip-hop and punk rock were, as I was really becoming a music head in my teenage years, my touchstones. And hip-hop, to a degree, was just coming of age when I was; part of its nascent period was part of mine.

In the past few years I’ve not really been a part of the scene. I’ve liked records and even loved some, but I never went to rap shows because I never got into those concerts like I did punk and hardcore shows. Moreover, as a music writer, I barely if ever covered or reviewed it.

Enter Doomtree.

Doomtree, the Minneapolis, Minnesota hip-hop collective are the cure for the common, er, hip-hop. Their stuff is aggressive, intelligent and relevant. It brings people together and makes people feel good. And hot damn, in a show setting, it’s positively off the heezy. I have been a fan of theirs for years, and have interviewed Dessa Darling, the lone woman in the crew, twice for Hour Magazine. At SXSW, I saw them live for the first time, and went back for more. Twice. If you ever, ever have the opportunity to see these people perform, do it.

Photo by minnesotaindependent.com

Other contributors to this feeling of mine include Tampa’s Shunda K, who was the first awesome thing I saw (and danced my face off to) at SXSW a few hours after arriving in Austin, and London, Ontario’s Shad.

I didn’t see Odd Future, but I passed on them on purpose. I don’t like what they’re about.

I was very proud of Canadian artists and our showcases in general. Our boys and girls—and locally-based organizations like Pop Montreal and M For Montreal—represented extremely well, backing up my boasting that we have the best pound for pound indie scene on earth.

Specific props go to The Dears, who blew the doors off the M For Montreal showcase, Rich Aucoin, who flat-out killed on Saturday night at Canada House, Jenn Grant, Duzheknew, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Death From Above 1979, whose secret reunion show on Saturday night provoked a riot. Literally.