The Off Beat: Resound’s Winter Formal Levels Up to a Holiday Hootenanny
Expanded winter mini-fest touches down at Radio/East
Reviewed by Carys Anderson, Fri., Dec. 20, 2024
“This feels like a house party in a backyard or something,” Roger Sellers said Saturday, performing as Bayonne toward the end of the first day of Resound’s Holiday Hootenanny.
Indeed, the omnipresent music promoters – alongside co-presenters KUTX and Pooneh Ghana – may have expanded their annual one-day Winter Formal into an all-weekend, impressively booked mini-festival at Radio/East, but the event maintained a relaxed, classic Austin atmosphere – even if startlingly humid weather blunted the holiday theme’s impact.
Sweaty Saturday
New York duo Frost Children blend grunge and hyperpop into a trappy, distinctly modern hybrid, so I knew it had to be Lulu Prost – one-half of the real-life sibling pair – DJ’ing when I walked into the Southeast Austin venue Saturday to the sounds of an “Everlong” house remix. That genre eccentricity carried over to Day One sunset performers Water From Your Eyes, whose guitarist Nate Amos references Thurston Moore/J Mascis noise rock while also, alongside bandmate Rachel Brown’s girly stoner vocals, layering metallic percussion and warped samples.
Experimental rap project Haha Laughing and gimp-masked metal quintet Tear Dungeon joined Bayonne in the Austin contingent of Saturday’s lineup – before newcomer Danny Brown headlined, of course. Older audience members recoiled upon witnessing Tear Dungeon’s famous schtick, involving singer Andrew Cashen spewing fake blood into the audience and onto his bandmates’ all-white outfits, but a healthy mosh pit of in-the-know fans developed all the same. The band played tracks off their sole 2018 EP GORY HOLE, plus a new song about “that United Healthcare motherfucker,” the vocalist declared with a raised middle finger.
Brown addressed his audience with more warmth. Backed by his longtime DJ Skywlkr, the Detroit-born rapper played a set of mostly fan favorites, highlighting his 2016 magnum opus Atrocity Exhibition and his 2023 JPEGMAFIA collab SCARING THE HOES. “Jenn’s Terrific Vacation,” meanwhile – one of two tracks from last year’s Quaranta that made the set list – felt like a more pointed choice, given its lyrics about a gentrified city with “rental scooters where we used to sling yay.”
The MC surprised himself when he forgot the lyrics to 2012 classic “Grown Up,” bungling the beginning twice before eventually signaling to Skywlkr to skip the track altogether. “I don’t know how that happened,” Brown laughed. He blamed the goof on a recent bout of illness and, lamenting his choice to bundle up in “full long johns” and a black puffy jacket, quipped of the warm December air, “I’m having hot flashes.” Brown wrapped his set 10 minutes early, “before I projectile vomit and diarrhea at the same time,” but told his makeshift hometown: “I love you. All you guys get home safe tonight. Have a happy holidays.”
Rainy Sunday
I headed back to Montopolis on Sunday itching to get some last-minute Christmas shopping done, and I left happy – albeit down about 200 bucks. Among the many locally owned businesses repped at the Hootenanny’s holiday market, Howdy Ceramics offered mugs, hair clips, plant holders, and other creations, often adorned with smiling flora and fauna; “Hyde Park Hottie” Elianna Panakis sold her artwork on prints and tanks/tees; and BLK Vinyl popped up with selections from used classic rock and soul to fresh pressings of The Tortured Poets Department. I was pleasantly surprised by the relatively low prices of vintage suppliers Death Calls and State of Grace, and even more thrilled to learn the latter seller curates clothing specifically for mid-and-plus-sized shoppers. I nabbed an iconic metal merch-inspired Texas tee by Raw Paw, who screenprinted items live in the backyard, and waited in the rain for a burger at the Shortwave Diner food truck before settling in for more music.
Following afternoon performances by locals Magic Rockers of Texas and TC Superstar, victory-lap sets by seasoned Austin road dogs Font and Being Dead saw the former act debut freshly appointed percussionist Jacob Silvia (Witches Exist) and the latter pepper faux arguments and set list improvisation into their usual acid pop performance. Voxtrot’s set felt even more triumphant. Still floating following the indie sleaze veterans’ 2022 reunion, frontman Ramesh Srivastava thanked the crowd – and the “rain gods,” who stopped the downpour before the band’s 7:20pm set – for their attention some 20 years after the band’s 512 formation.
“[The] craziest aspect of this whole reunion thing, since we started in 2022, was not knowing who cared, who remembered, who would be there, and it being this wide array – pantheon – of people,” he said. “It’s very amazing.”
Wrapping up, Of Montreal made the Holiday Hootenanny feel, at least for an hour, like a real festival. Ditching the event’s backyard vibes, the psych pop project of insanely prolific songwriter Kevin Barnes delivered a theatrical, truly surreal closing set, complete with a revolving door of extras who came onstage in blow-up suits, sailor costumes, alien masks, reindeer horns, and more while Barnes, in a red curly wig and matching sparkly skirt, danced around. At one point, instead of a beach ball, the dancers planted a long balloon snake into the audience. As my friends and I passed the prop, I decided more shows should offer this type of crowd participation.
Like Bayonne on Saturday, Native Sun singer Danny Gomez spoke approvingly of the Hootenanny during his band’s Sunday slot, declaring, “These are the special community events that this place needs.” Resound has already teased a 2025 return; if the cold weather gods can show out next year, it should be perfect.
