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Amidst the the bedlam and madness of SXSW, a day job and my car dilemma – I’ve found periodic refuge in the music – mostly in the evening. My consumption began at Yahoo’s Tom Hanks’ Electric party on Sunday with White Denim and Blaqstarr.

Accompanied by several friends and Tito’s enthusiasts, we took in some of White Denim’s set before taking a break and scattering about the venue. 

Several minutes before Blaqstarr took stage, I nudged my way to the front in the sea of photographers and stood unaware of the entrancing experience about to unfold. Exclusively recognizing Blaqstarr’s name from his DJ work with MIA, I had failed to realize his essence as a musician. With an adjusted stage lighting set to ‘spellbind,’ he transported listeners into a territory of lo-fi hip hop and R&B with his mesmerizing  voice and persona. Completely hypnotized, I closed my eyes and delve into the voyage of “Rider Girl,” forgetting where I was.

Following the performance, my friends and I trekked over to the Samsung Presents: Feed powered by Twitter party – which at that point, I switched over to H2WHOA (with the impending responsibility of work the next day looming) but continued to get down with my bad self, even partaking in a dance off with another attendee. Despite the hot tunes being dropped by the DJ, yet subsequent to the two-free-drink policy – the crew rolled out to the Nokia Party where we essentially closed it down to the Hood Internet.

The next day, after a solid 10-7 at work, I rode my bicycle to Club Deville for the sole purpose of catching Bear in Heaven, a synth-rock trio from New York and a band whose been on my radar for the last year. Constructing an undercurrent orchestration of dreamy psychedelic electronica atop an ‘80s New Wave template, the showcase exceeded all expectations. Multi-instrumentalist and lead singer, Jon Philpot built and drove the momentum of the set which included a catalog of songs such as “Lovesick Teenagers,” “Wholehearted Mess,” and “Deafening Love,” off Beast Rest Forth Mouth which *fun fact* earned a 8.4 score from Pitchfork, in addition to new tracks off the forthcoming I Love You, It’s Cool. Concluding the set, I rode my bike to the office stuffed it into the rental car and went home. You’ve got to choose your battles after all, especially during a work week.