Day Party Crawl

P.K. 14 (Photo by John Anderson)

Hella Hipster Hoedown

Elaine Layabout's Hella Hipster Hoedown series has earned its reputation as one of Los Angeles' great underground successes, but its Austin spin-off was a minidisaster. Technical difficulties plagued the first half of the all-day extravaganza, and by 2:30pm, when five bands were supposed to have played, only three had plugged in. One, L.A. songwriter Devon Williams, showed up without his guitar. Fortunately, there was San Francisco trio Leopold & His Fiction and their rip-roaring set of country-soul post-punk. With bassist Micayla Grace stomping in rhythm to drummer Jon Sortland's barnstorming fills, guitarist Daniel James dialed up choogaloo on 2008 title track "Ain't No Surprise" with style coming straight out of the 1970s. Austin's A Faulty Chromosome followed with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah strangeness in both instrumentation and vocals. Singer Eric Dalke does the best Eric Ounsworth around, but between the excessive drum loops and bizarre blowing on, um, contraptions, AFC seemed out of place. That sentiment was reinforced nearly an hour later when Jay Reatard disciples Bare Wires flexed L.A. garage rock muscle to the few who'd stuck around. Three more SXSW days of 12-hour bills at the local pie palace are scheduled on Hoek's Death Metal Pizza MySpace.