A report, from Austin Texas, by photographer Victoria Renard…

The best thing about almost any music festival in Austin TX is there’s always a shit ton of offshoot events and parties. Some of the best music at this year’s Austin City Limits was actually at the after-parties. Common’s DJ Dummy and Chamillionaire’s DJ Rapid Ric spun a free show at the Firehouse Lounge; LCD Soundsystem hosted their own DJ dance party at Red 7; and The Beauty Bar packed in four solid nights of live music on their outside patio, bands like local favorites Faceless Werewolves, Young Heart Attack, and Those Peabodys. They also hosted indoor DJ sets by M.I.A., Flosstradamus, and Bloc Party. And one merely needed to walk by an open side door at the downtown outdoor venue, Stubb’s, to hear or see strains of Bob Dylan’s after show.

Thursday night kicked off with a free show by The Black Angels sponsored by Filter Magazine at Club de Ville. The almost pitch black scene was eerily lit by three 16mm film projectors flickering layers of subtly morbid imagery onto a fifty foot tall limestone wall overhung with a jungle of twisted trees and ferns which threatened to fall over the top of the precipice onto the mesmerized audience. With an apocalyptic thud of a kettle drum and the distinct reverberating twang of an electric sitar, Austin’s gurus of neo-psychedelia proved their diverse abilities by trading off instruments and with Alex Maas stepping down a couple of times from his role as lead vocalist with some new songs by lead guitarist Christian Bland who has recently started a self-titled solo acoustic project.

Though not on the bill for the Austin City Limits Fest, Art Brut showed their limey best at a strangely under-attended show at the Dell Lounge Hot Freaks! party at The Mohawk. Every generalization I’ve come to love and hate about the English from the smug cockiness, the polite self-loathing, the psychosexual neurosis was all embodied in one charming package with Art Brut’s live performance. What The Smiths once delivered in morose profound introspection Art Brut expands into a tongue-in-cheekiness, a knowing wink and a nod, and a rollicking good time. Other headlining acts at the neighboring venues of Club de Ville and The Mohawk both Friday and Saturday included Grizzly Bear, The Rosebuds and St. Vincent.

What’s not to love about a gang of gorgeous glamazons with big hair dressed in PVC mini dresses and go go boots who can really play their instruments? Straight out of a Russ Meyer film onto the sparkly pseudo style parlor at The Beauty Bar, Detroit’s Gore Gore Girls finished off the ACL after party weekend with a Bif! Bang! Pow! full of bluesy-garage swagger and Shangri La’s style girl group vocals, followed by a soul dance party featuring the Tighten Up DJs.

Bif! Bang! Pow! Indeed.

All photos by Victoria Renard.