mehan jayasuriya

This year I did things a bit differently down in ATX: I attended most of the SXSW Interactive festival and stayed for a little over a day’s worth of the music. And while I wasn’t covering the festival for anyone this year, I still couldn’t resist snapping a few shots of Carsick Cars, Fucked Up and Sleigh Bells, which you can see here. This year’s highlight for me was probably IAMSOUND’s showcase at Malverde, not because Zooey Deschanel was in attendance (she was and reportedly smiled at Alex!) but because the bands performed on an open air, second floor balcony, set against a backdrop of neon green insulation foam and steel, thanks to the unfinished office building across the street. Fool’s Gold and MEN were both great, jj was confusing and Sleigh Bells destroyed—that is, until their set was cut short by Austin’s mandated 2am closing time. Luckily, I still managed to fire off a few shots during their truncated set, some of which came out quite well, if I may say so myself.