Two years ago at the South by Southwest Music Conference, Chance the Rapper tried to animate his 15-minute performances with wired energy and a hoarse voice, as if demanding that indifferent audiences pay attention.
Early Saturday morning at the Austin Music Hall, Chance didn’t need to demand anything. Instead he fed off the enthusiasm of thousands of fans who sang his on-line hits whenever there was a lull in the action.
On a bill brimming with hand-picked talent – including fast-rising Internet star Post Malone – the South Side MC continued to develop his formidable chops as a live performer with his five-piece band, the Social Experiment.
The focus was not just on Chance and his rapping skills, but Chance the band leader and musical adventurer. Lines blurred between genres, with the jazzy keyboards of Peter Cottontale and Nate Fox, Nico Segal’s Cuban-flavored trumpet accents, and the muscular yet agile drumming of Greg Landfair. Besides the bedrock tracks from his 2013 breakthrough mix-tape/album, “Acid Rap,” Chance cherrypicked more recent songs, including “Sunday Candy,” which balanced jaunty pop and gospel flavors, and the finger-snapping vision of the after-life, “Paradise.”
With Chance often directing the band with his dance steps and hand gestures, the set easily absorbed cameo appearances by gruff Atlanta party rapper K Camp and steamy R&B singer SZA. Chance alternated between relaxed banter with the audience and furious dancing, straining as he leaped, spun and juked across the stage.
The best of the long line of performers that preceded Chance and the Social Experiment on stage was Post Malone, whose sing-speak style echoes Drake and DeJ Loaf. But his melodies, marinated in melancholy but streaked with bravado, are packed with hooks and have a knack of settling into the subconscious instantly, most notably his on-line hit “Tears.”
For many South by Southwest attendees, their day began Friday with a rousing performance by the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The 10-piece Chicago band made the most of its prime slot in front of several thousand industry insiders, setting the stage for Snoop Dogg’s keynote address and in many ways upstaging him with a performance that proved to be layered yet danceable, with a hint of New Orleans as filtered through Chicago jazz and hip-hop. Several of the horn players doubled as rappers, while unison trumpet lines blasted over the swing and funk grooves.
Later, much-hyped Nashville quartet Bully performed at a club outfitted with lasers and an arena-worthy light show. The presentation ill-matched the gruff vocals of singer-guitarist Alicia Bognanno, and the band’s bevy of ’90s grunge-era dynamics came off as a tidier, less vital version of L7.
Twitter @gregkot
