Friday afternoon was spent at the Pitchfork/Windish Agency day party at Emo’s. I arrived too late to see High Places, but had plenty of time to catch Jay Reatard. And, damn. The door guy was throwing out Jerry’s Kids references, which seems pretty right-0n; my first impression was “garage rock Bad Brains”. Or: amazing.

Fleet Foxes were, as they were on Thursday, terrific; Yeasayer’s set, on the other hand, was fine but didn’t convince me that the couple of qualms I have with their record are unjustified. Closing out the show was No Age, who I’ve inexplicably missed every time they’ve come through New York. Noisy, cathartic punk, and yet incredibly melodic in places. I wasn’t disappointed, and it wouldn’t be the last time I’d see them that day.

Also, a quick plug for my friend’s festival coverage : Maria’s SXSW dispatches, both audio and visual, are very much worth checking out.