Neon Indian / Photo: Kyle Dean Reinford
BEST. PERIOD: NEON INDIAN
Backed by a rubbery live band, Neon Indian mastermind Alan Palomo played a set of rinky-dink synth pop that built a pastel pleasuredome out of squiggly synth lines, chintzy keyboard, brittle guitar, and a charmingly stiff beat. Songs like the aptly-titled "Terminally Chill" give off a sense of woozy childlike glee, as if they were composed by a nerdy nine-year old who loves 1999-era Prince, doing the robot, and the occasional acid trip. -- DAVID MARCHESE
BEST THROWBACK: DEMOLISHED THOUGHTS
If the band names Gang Green and SS Decontrol mean anything to you, you likely would have gotten a kick (in the head) out of this apparently ad hoc supergroup of sorts, featuring lead screamer Thurston Moore, guitarists J Mascis and Don Fleming, and a Fucked Up guitarist on bass. Perversely, their singular focus was on covering now-obscure early '80s hardcore, with Moore -- who still looks like a gawky 19-year-old -- reciting the lyrics from a cheat sheet before shouting them when the band butted in. Inspiring a swirling pit and frantic stage dives, it was a great reminder of the sweaty hardcore matinees of my youth and no doubt thrilled a certain record-collector mindset. In fact, before the set Fucked Up frontman Pink Eye proudly showed me the 13-inch -- yes 13-inch -- vinyl he had just picked up from Jack White's pop-up store. This show must have sent him to heaven. -- DOUG BROD
Uffie / Photo: Matt Kiser
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BEST FREAK NASTY REPLACEMENT FOR KE$HA: UFFIE
Pop problem child Ke$ha's stories of hard partying, Hollywood boys, and brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack not freak nasty enough? Meet Parisian rapper Uffie, signed to Ed Banger Records, the same label home of Justice -- and one of Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus' fave new artists. She's a self-described "bad ass bitch" and at Mohawk she played the role, strutting onstage in her short blonde bob and revealing black lace top, dropping XXX-rated rhymes on "Pop a Glock" -- "When I rock the party, you bust a nut." On "Brand New Car," which, like all her songs, features electro beats and deep bass, like a harder version of Ke$ha's "Tik Tok," she admitted her love of shoes -- and aspirations of pop chart domination. Uffie's not there just yet; she's still a bit unpolished. But look out -- with the proper producer, her club-kid shtick could be transformed into pop gold. -- WILLIAM GOODMAN
BEST STATESIDE DEBUT: CHATMONCHY
Chatmonchy are three bubbly Japanese girls who play crunching, hook-filled power-pop that sounds like Weezer rendered in anime. For all I know the band's lyrics are about herpetology and needlepoint, but the trio, which made its American debut on Friday night, played with such infectious enthusiasm and its songs, especially the fizzy "Daidai," are such ingeniously constructed marvels of tension and release that the language barrier easily came crashing down. If Chatmonchy aren't already big in Japan, they should be. Here too -- and everywhere else. -- DM
BEST BUZZ BAND: BEST COAST
When L.A. lo-fi surf trio Best Coast closed out Gorilla Vs. Bear's day party at Klub Krucial, the venue hit capacity and a line trailed down 6th Street -- for good reason. Though frontwoman Bethany Consentino and her two long-haired male bandmates may look like California uber-hippies onstage -- and song titles like "Sun Was High (So Was I)" fuel that assumption -- their fuzzy hooks and 1950s-inspired pop have become the epitome of blog cool since 2009. Named one of SPIN's Must-Hear SXSW acts, Best Coast's solid live performance -- less fuzzy than their reverb-y recordings -- proves they deserve the buzz, which should only grow as they near the release of their debut record later this year. -- JENN PELLY
WORST BUZZ BAND: MEMORY TAPES
Sometimes hype is more than slightly overblown. Case in point: New Jersey's Memory Tapes, the dreamy, dance-y electro project of 28-year-old guitarist/vocalist/programmer Dayve Hawk (who has also recorded as Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes). Like a bubblier Helio Sequence with loops of wistful organ synths, lo-fi digi beats, and a headphones-sporting live drummer adding rhythmic umph, Hawk sang lyrics of heartbreak and despair on tracks like "Green Knight," off his 2009 release Seek Magic: "I want to give you my love / I want to call your name." The sound is part of a new genre called glo-fi or chillwave, the best of which is SPIN's Big in 2010 pick Neon Indian. Live, the smooth, opiate-dream sound is more disjointed -- and Hawk's watery, androgynous vocals sound gruff and choppy. Memory Tapes album isn't bad, but in a live setting its better qualities are compromised. -- WG
BEST SINGALONG: THEOPHILUS LONDON
There were other samples in his totally dance-tastic set that you'd recognize, but when this Brooklyn beatmaster dropped Whitney Houston's glass-shattering Bodyguard soundtrack jam "I Will Always Love You," droves of hipsters at Club de Ville shed any remaining stoicism and sang along. Loudly. As the beats returned, we wondered aloud whether Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" could be used similarly. The answer: a resounding "no." -- PETER GASTON
BEST ALTERNATIVE TO M.I.A.: MALUCA
If M.I.A. were a sassy Latin mami, her globe-trotting hip-hop sound rooted in spicy dancehall instead of electro Bollywood, she'd be 28-year-old Maluca (a.k.a. Natalie Yepez). Raised in New York's Dominican community, Maluca mashes hard-hitting, lo-fi drum machine beats with mambo flourishes and the distress-call horns, deep bass, and fast sing-raps of Spanish youth music. The M.I.A. comparisons are more than sonic: Diplo, M.I.A.'s onetime producer/DJ, discovered Maluca as she sang karaoke and helped launch her career, signing her to his to Mad Decent label. She was initially hesitant to perform due to intense stage fright -- but that's now clearly gone. With two dancers at her side, Maluca jived and moved in black tights, a black ballcap, and a gold robe, opening it occasionally to flaunt her sexy curves. -- WG
