Pitchfork

Human Giant [Friends; 8 p.m.]

What's up with all the Peter Bjorn and John hate? Human Giant's Paul Scheer began their set by recalling how the Swedish trio raped in him their tour van (while whistling "Young Folks", of all the indignities). The group previewed segments from their upcoming MTV show (Thursdays at 10:30 p.m. starting April 5). I loved Human Giant Aziz Ansari's Monday night show at the Upright Citizen Brigade Theatre in NYC, but he's since gotten miles funnier. Some of the clips were based on earlier Human Giant characters, but most of them were new and all of them were hilarious.

Spektrum [Exodus; 9 .p.m.]

SXSW was a really nerve-wracking experience. Every time I was at a show, I felt like there were five others I should be at. There were two times over the four nights when I knew I was exactly where I should be (three, if you count Wednesday night at the hotel bar). One show was the Mae Shi on Friday night. The other was Spektrum's Saturday night show. The London four piece owe much of their appeal to their charismatic, feline lead singer Lola Olafisoye. She hiked up her flowy dress, kicked off her shoes, and danced along to her band's slinky, bass and drum-heavy songs. They played their wonderfully sexual single "Don't Be Shy" toward the end of their set., but by then the crowd didn't need to be told: strangers were already dancing with strangers.

Donnie Davies [Emo's Main Room; 11:05 p.m.]

The line to see Spoon at Stubb's went down the block and across the street, so I needed a replacement band in a hurry. Internet pariah/15-minute famer Donnie Davies, he of the infamous "The Bible Says" video was playing on a bill that included Turbonegro, and it seemed too bizarre to pass up.

According to Davies' website: "Thanks to our secret missionary work in the Austin music scene the Ministry will be opening for the internationally infamous group of homosexual Black Metal Devil wizards that call themselves Turbonegro. The group comes from Norway where burning churches is a national sport and homosexuality is subsidized by the government."

Davies stayed in character for his entire performance-- and it definitely was a character. Maybe people aren't sure about his real identity, but his performance (which included a couple of covers as well as "The Bible Says"), was too over-the-top to not be a parody. Now, whether making fun of the very real Evangelical movement (and their gay-hating policies) is humorous or not, that's up for debate.

Frog Eyes [Habana Calle 6 Patio; 1 a.m.]

Anyway, as far as pudgy guys go, Frog Eyes' Carey Marcer has them all beat. When the sound guy asked if he wanted just his guitar turned up, Mercer replied, "Fuck yeah, man, I don't want to hear anyone else." Then he berated his guitarist for breaking a string early on in their set. When Frog Eyes finally did get going, they premiered some songs from their upcoming album Tears of the Valedictorian.