AUSTIN, Texas – It was an international day of musical highlights Friday at the South by Southwest Music Festival. Here are some of the bands that made the entire day such a flurry of inspiring music from around the world:
The best dance party of the week was thrown by Gato Preto (“Black Cat”). The group, which merges dance rhythms from Africa and Brazil with German electro, was dressed like warriors from a planet straight out of Sun Ra’s imagination. They would’ve looked great in “Black Panther.” Backed by a Senegalese percussionist and producer Lee Bass’ tangled web of electronic textures, noises and loops, Gata Misteriosa danced and sang with an energy that turned curiosity seekers at a 6th Street club into writhing celebrants.
On the dance tip with a futuristic vibe, Cuban DJ Jigue and percussionist El Menor found the sweet spot between Afrocuban rhythm, avant-garde atmospherics and hip-hop. The set sailed atop a 40-minute nonstop wave.
Lali Puna, a co-ed trio from Munich, set Valerie Trebeljahr’s deadpan vocals atop a matrix of electronic atmospherics and the extraordinary drumming of Christoph Brandner. The trio even remade a song by Kings of Leon (“The Bucket”) in its own austere yet hypnotically catchy image.
Hex, from New Zealand, brought together opposites: heavy-metal guitars and choir-like vocal harmonies. The set touched on everything from surf music to paganism, with catchy melodies and tautly paced songs, climaxing with the unforgettable riff that anchors “Page of Pentacles.”
Jadal, a six-piece band from Jordan, bridged the gap between rock guitar and Middle Eastern rhythm. Its songs were underpinned by a polyrhythmic attack, with drums and percussion augmented by rapid-fire handclaps.
Trupa Trupa rolled in from Gdansk, Poland, with a guitar made out of what looked like a fuel can and a sound that fused East European post-punk in the mold of Plastic People of the Universe and Pulnoc with psychedelia. The dynamic, unpredictable songs shifted across imaginary continents in a blink, just like this day of music.
Greg Kot is a Tribune critic.
greg@gregkot.com
Twitter @gregkot
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