This article is part of SCAD Radio’s SXSW collection, in which some of our radio members visited the music portion of the SXSW Festival and Showcase in Austin, TX.

In a medium-to-small dark bar with a stage set up in the corner of the room, to which a group of people started to crowd around, appeared a woman with an eye-catching silhouette. She looked like a Victorian next-door-type-of-girl ghost who got trapped within a Scott Pilgrim universe, donning a baby blue lace-sleeved nightgown and vibrant red hair with multiple space buns. Accompanied by a fellow drummer, this turned out to be the musician and act of the night: Ena Mori.

A Japanese/Philipino artist, Ena Mori is one of those hyphenated musicians. Mixing different influences into her overall pop sound, she can be described as art-pop, synth-pop, indie-pop, dream-pop, and the list goes on. From her attire and how she carries herself (and from the fact that she brought her stuffed octopus plushie to decorate the stage,) I expected nothing less of an eccentric- and most importantly-  authentic performance. What really drew me into this concert was the playful energy she brought, which is impressive considering that Mori mentioned it took her 33 grueling hours to get from the Philippines to Austin, Texas. 

More extensively, I fell in love with Ena Mori that night because of how she made me and others feel included and seen just by singing about her insecurities, taking the time between songs to talk about her mindset behind such songs. Some of these songs include “TALK! TALK!” where Mori discusses how the song is about talking to herself, not due to isolation brought by the pandemic, but from the fact that she has a lack of friends. Another song,  “KING OF THE NIGHT!”  is about her being a geek in high school and considering herself a loser. It’s through her lyrics and choice of talking points for the audience that one can see how much introspective thought Mori puts into herself. However, her superpower is turning those introspective thoughts and insecurities into self-realizing anthems, raising the energy of the stage and crowd through her facial expressions and longing arms that reach out into the air. This goes to show just how much Mori feels every lyric she has written in her own imaginary company.

Getting deeper into the night, the energy and self-love from Ena Mori came out more and more throughout the set. And as a perfect conclusion, Mori sang “WHITE ROOM” to close out the set, encouraging the crowd the clapping of hands and repetition of the lyric: “who are we to say that we are not enough?” As one final burst, Mori outs all her emotions by proudly beating a floor tom and releasing the drumsticks to the floor like a mic drop. A percussionist at heart, Mori not only lets the banging of the drums, cowbell, and tambourine resonate throughout the crowd, but her words and personality as well. If you enjoy the likes of Japanese Breakfast ,with the vocal modifications of Remi Wolf, and the music production of MUNA, then you are heading towards the path of Ena Mori.

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I witnessed Turnonver’s act first during the break when they visited The Mohawk in my hometown of Austin, Texas. Turnover was joined by the opening act and Austin locals Temple of Angels and also by New Orleans’s Video Age. My first impression of the concert stemmed from the look of the crowd. The venue being comfortably small, I was surrounded by a mix of people who were more emo/goth-aligned with darker clothes, various piercings, and makeup typical to their identity. Another part of the audience was the more indie-looking crowd with their vans, loose graphic tees, and beanies/caps donning their heads. Sprinkled about were regular Joe Schmoes like me who didn’t heavily align with the two present groups. Making conversation with another college kid next to me, I asked if he was a fan of Turnover, to which he replied “not yet.” but was telling me about how the openers sounded either post-punk or yacht rock. A bit bewildered, I asked the same to others around me and was surprised to hear many were in fact here for the same band: Turnover. 

Going back to their discography after the concert, I see now that the band constantly changes. Turnover does it so well, genre-hopping from one album to the next, which is either a positive or negative quality depending on your perspective. They came onto the scene with their now-adored album “Peripheral Vision” back in 2015 which has a post-punk, emo sound. Similar to their contemporaries Tigers Jaw and Moose Blood. My introductory album “Good Nature” was in that indie, shoegaze realm. And now, with their latest release “Myself in the Way” they’ve delved into the genres of funk and disco. My songs of choice for this album would be “Myself in the Way”, “Wait Too Long”, and “Stone Station”.

So, making the choice of having Temple of Angels and Video Age open for Turnover was an excellent one. It’s absolutely one of, if not THE highlight of the show. Temple of Angels did a good job warming the crowd up, and singer Bre Morell looked absolutely stunning and passionate belting out to songs like “Cerise Dream” and “Star-Shaped Eyes”. Video Age just blew me away. Complimentary to Turnover’s latest album, Video Age’s synths and guitar riffs bring nothing but a good time. Highly recommend the songs “Shadow on the Wall” and “Blushing” which is a love-filled song that sounds like a warm golden hour.

Following that trend, the opening band for Soccer Mommy, TOPS, was also one of the highlights of Soccer Mommy’s show over at Emo’s Austin. Promoting their new album “I Feel Alive” TOPS gave nothing but a happy, lively performance of their new wave disco-influenced songs. Top choices from the album and the concert would definitely be “Colder & Closer” and “I Feel Alive” to which singer Jane Penny twirled and danced lightheartedly to the song.

As for the main act Soccer Mommy, I was honestly a bit underwhelmed. Much like the Turnover concert, the opening bands came out on top. Which astonished me as both Turnover and Soccer Mommy released strong albums both in product and conception in 2022. “Sometimes, Forever” gives a new side to Soccer Mommy with a gloomier, dark, ambient-heavy, and anti-hero theme throughout the album’s songs. “Myself in the Way” makes me want to drink with friends and dance the night away in some house party. Which makes me ask: “How much should concerts really impact me?” If a concert was great start to finish with an artist I love, that will obviously raise my love, connection, and commitment to that artist. But when it falls short of such, am I then being too touchy if my listening experience is soured whenever Soccer Mommy hops onto my spotify plays? I will say this, both Turnover and Soccer Mommy are musicians true and true, which has its differences from being referred to as a performer. When Soccer Mommy took time in her set to give her backing band a break, and just have it be her and her guitar on stage, that’s when I first felt genuine happiness radiate from her, to the stage, to the audience. So, perhaps even with my fortunate experience of being up close and invited to witness these concerts, the less-than performance from the main acts doesn’t take away the fact respect I have of them as musicians. 

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To give context on what the biopic is about it is essentially a long production that started 10 years ago with comedy company Funny or Die on YouTube. They released a video as a way to parody the biopics that were out at the time. The original cast for that short parody trailer of the biopic was Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad fame as Weird Al and actress Olivia Wilde as Madonna. When it released, Eric Appel mentioned in his interview with SCAD Radio, that he had to work back to that trailer and find ways to make those bits longer and adapt it to the biopic format. The basis of the concept was to make a biopic of an artist that is still alive.

Now, if you don’t know much about Weird Al Yankovic essentially, Weird Al Yankovic is a musician, parody artist. He was essentially one of the first to have this comedy musical career which really created a foundation for parodies. It was a predecessor to YouTube videos and Minecraft parodies, I think once YouTube came out, I was the perfect demographic where I had the ability to access YouTube, a new generation to view his videos of parody songs. Weird Al made Eat It, a parody of Beat It, White and Nerdy a parody of Ridin Dirty. He did a parody of Nirvana. Weird Al is sort of a milestone to a musician in the sense that Nirvana stated Weird Al asked if he could do a parody on Smells Like Teen Spirit, that was them knowing that they’ve made it in the industry, that they’ve been recognized by pop culture. I think Weird Al Yankovic is like a transcript. He’s tuned into pop culture. He started that career in the late 70s, early 80s and is still going strong today.

This particular biopic brings the idea that if you want to leave a legacy, you can make that story your own and with Weird Al he’s obviously gonna make a parody and commentary of it. The biopic genre has advantages and disadvantages. Many artists have passed and therefore in a way do not have a say in what should be shown or not shown. Queen at least had Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon to voice on behalf of Freddie Mercury. The film is about showing a little bit of himself, reflecting who he is, and bringing in new generation again. It’s also to recognize his work or to appreciate his love for music because the biopic includes several of his songs: Amish paradise, Eat it and Like a Surgeon. He took a biopic genre, and how it’s usually produced and he flips it on its head. For those who don’t really know his life story, you can’t quite tell, is this true? Is this not true? but then it’s also very blatant. With the fact that it’s not true he brings a sort of hero arc to himself. He wants to make himself a bigger legend. He’s a humble guy in real life, so within the movie, he really takes on these heroic acts or he really falls. He has a really hard character fall with alcoholism, and dealing with relationships in the biopic that, may not have happened in real life. Weird Al himself does not drink or do not drink to that level that was depicted. So he really did kind of get the nuance of the biopic, the harsh upbringing, the the need to explore in life and the college years you know, the the story arc of a biopic, but he makes it so great and comedic. It’s just a great light hearted film, especially watching it in a crowd with reactions or I’d recommend watching this with family. Definitely something that will just get the conversation going.

After the movie, Eric Appel did a QnA session. Appel mentioned that he was planning on only staying a few minutes of the screening during Film Fest, but stayed for the whole movie just because of our reactions. He could hear it and I think he was very much appreciative of the Scad and Savannah crowd because of it

This movie is a reminder that we can make our own legacies if we want to and to recognize what’s real and what’s not. Another factor I enjoyed was his, his awareness of the time era that he came up in the in, the 80s by parodying The Knicks My Sharona with his take of My Bologna. If you enjoy the 80s era and pop culture or you grew up around then, you get a laugh about what is parodied. I think that’s why Madonna is so integral to the film, because Yankovic was becoming a star in the same era as her. The fact that he just incorporated Madonna into his story, legacy and interaction with fame is something that gets a kick. The cast that goes along with it is just simply amazing. This wasn’t just a parody, but a passion project and it shows the effect that Al Yankovic has left in a comedic career and the impact he has had for others. We wouldn’t have lonely island without weird Al, or Tenacious D be as popular if it weren’t for Yankovics hold in integral foundations for that musical genre. I’m hoping more more awareness of Weird Al Yankovic comes because I was shocked that when I asked people are you going to see weird owl and many people were like, No, I don’t really know him. And I think that just shows at least for people my age, the side of YouTube that they were introduced with or even you know, parents, maybe not also showing his legacy and I think he has a refresh and restart or even just not quite a comeback because he’s been here, but I think, this movie opens up to a larger audience. It’s a reminder to do some self reflections about ourselves and the legacies that we are currently making and we would like to take it, maybe we’d like our legacies to go. I highly recommend it. It is currently out on Roku. That if you do have a Roku account to go out and support it ,So I highly recommend it. I think it’s, it’s a great watch for sure

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