So yeah, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were like, yeah, great, and other big names were abound on the SXSW scene last night, but I secretly pity anyone who didn’t at least stop in to Haven during that time to witness any one of the amazing emerging artists featured there. Kicking off the night with unexpectedly delicious reggae beats was the Brother-Sister duo Wild Belle, who had quite a lot to show off from their bag of electronica-styled tricks, including thuggish vocal play, soulful funk jams, backing R&B choir-girls, and a neat bass-sax solo. 
British singer-songwriting Tom O’Dell, someone I hadn’t heard of before but will now duly be pretending as though I had, shared his sentimental, piano-ballad rock, beautifully mixing hurt and hope in the passionate luster of his voice and subsisting mostly on the wondrous quality of his singing and piano-playing.
The air was charged with palpable excitement when indie quintet Ra-Ra Riot came out and performed their enlivened variety of bouncing pop-rock. The frontman’s singing was not terribly compelling, but what he lacked for in vocal strength he and the rest of the band made up with spirited teenage energy and amiable confidence. They also showed off their musical range towards the latter half of their performance, whipping up dance-floor synths and beats to get everyone in the venue jumping, or veering off towards expansive chilled-out soundscapes for moments of more poignant reflection.
When Atlas Genius was announced, I suddenly found myself surrounded by numerous pretty-eyed, eager women. They overtook the crowd in a collective surge, enthusiastically eyeing the band, hurriedly adjusting their get-ups and chattering non-stop about which band member they found most appealing. I thought I was pretty familiar with Atlas Genius, but I hadn’t realized they were that sort of band. I can’t say that I really understand it — maybe it was the Australian accents, or the subtle heat to their movements as they performed, or the charismatic way they worked over the audience — but whatever they did worked, and what to me was a mildly strong performance of melodic indie rock was an exhilarating thrill for prominent feminine portion of the crowd.
But no experience was quite like Toro Y Moi. With his glacially-chilled countenance and simplistic dress the twenty-six year old recording artist and chillwave pioneer could have more presence just standing still than most musicians would have jumping around the stage. Amongst the labyrinth of keyboards and wires, he cooly performed his music, sensually crooning into the microphone and turning the venue into something of a club with his jungle beats and exotic grooves.
All photos © Chris Witte and Pop Press International. Click any image to open set in slideshow view.
