SXSW 2013: CL dispatches from the Austin, Texas fest Credit: Mike Wilson

South by CL DAY 5: Climax and Conclusion
You ever feel like you’re functioning, but completely devoid of any real, useful thought? Like, you just hope no human comes up to you in fear that you’ll just garble up a bunch of random syllables like a broken Speak-n-Spell? Usually after like, less than three hours of sleep?

Vacationer Credit: Mike Wilson

Yeah, me either. That’s why, uh, I’ll try and keep this one a little brief, and hopefully coherent. [Text by Andrew, photos by Mike.]

Friday was, for lack of more eloquent words, pretty fuckin’ nuts. South By is reaching its imminent climax, so everything is just in overdrive mode now. You’re inundated with so many shows at this point, it seems like you could stub your toe on one if you’re not paying attention.

Former Starting Line frontman, Kenny Vasoli’s current project, Vacationer opened up our day with a laid-back afternoon set outside Clive Bar. Their debut Gone is a surprisingly solid spread of happily laid back numbers speckled with influences ranging from J-Dilla to Sting. Live, they breathe it to life, albeit a little less nuanced when it’s blasted raw out of the soundsystem. Either way, Vasoli’s charisma can’t be knocked as they breezed through a handful of grooves, each seemingly more head-bobby than the next.

[More after the jump …]

This article appears in Mar 14-20, 2013.