Hurray for the SouthBy

South by Southwest is in full swing.  Today is the first big day of the music festival, and it was a beautiful day.  I was working, but only a couple of miles from Waterloo Records.  When I saw that Hurray for the Riff Raff was opening the first day of Waterloo's popular Day Parties, I thought I'd better go check it out, especially since I had just finished reading a very positive review of the band's latest LP, The Navigator, on Pitchfork.com.  The new album is indeed a solid, interesting, genre-bending affair.  Pitchfork summed it up with this: "The band's sixth LP demands more seats at the table. It's a powerful folk concept album from a Nuyorican runaway who grew up obsessed with West Side Story before being liberated by Bikini Kill."  I don't know about you, but it sounds fascinating to me!

My instincts were true, as the Waterloo show was worth it.  The sun was shining, and the crowd was big enough to show the band has fans but small enough to make it relaxing.  The laid-back crowd also made it easier to film the show.  Which I did.  Except for the last song, thanks to a dying battery on my camcorder.  Check out Hurray for the Riff Raff playing a number of songs from thee band's new LP, and if you dig, go check out the whole album.