Prior to SXSW, I worked feverishly to arrange a schedule that crammed in as many really-want-to-see bands as possible, while not overlapping with Chris' and James' (the rest of melophobe's SXSW posse) itineraries. Once in Austin, I made the decision to stick to my carefully planned schedule, no matter what; I had no intention of wandering around the city looking for shows.
However, even the best laid plans go awry. All it took for my Friday morning schedule to be shot to hell was a stingy bag checker at the Fader Fort. I was majorly bummed. I set off on bike down South Congress, hoping to hear something that caught my ear. The music coming from Home Slice Pizza did just that. It was terribly intriguing: deep urban beats topped by fuzzy guitar and lovely female vocals. I had to stop and listen. When I rounded the corner, I saw that the stage only contained two people - Sarah Barthel on keyboards, drum machine and vocals and Josh Carter on guitar, pedals and vocals. I had initially thought the dense, layered sound necessitated a much larger group, but through subtle looping and vocal layering, Phantogram proved otherwise. The mid-size crowd that was braving the midday sun sat in rapt attention for the too-short set, which included highlights "When I'm Small" and "Mouthful of Diamonds."
After Phantogram's performance, and after chatting with Josh and Sarah (two of the nicest people ever), my scheduling annoyance had disappeared and I was thankful that the bag-checker had ruined my well thought out schedule and allowed me to catch one of the best shows I would see all week.
