Wednesday: the day’s highlight’s included Frightened Rabbit at Emo’s Annex and, later, Why? at Emo’s proper. The former? Blisteringly noisy rock from Scotland; not too far removed from circa-A Good Ground Oxford Collapse in places. Why? live had a vastly different feel: subdued arrangements that brought Yoni Wolf’s lyrics to the fore, yet intense enough when they needed to be.
Also: my editor at Paper Thin Walls is correct: The Mae Shi are, in fact, pretty incredible. And the SXSW-duo version of The Wedding Present that took the stage at Emo’s Annex, though maybe not the ideal configuration to see the band for the first time, was still damn good.