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James Blake, Live In Concert: SXSW 2011

Shantel Mitchell for NPR

James Blake enters SXSW facing expectations both high and low: On one hand, the dubstep upstart with the heartbreaking voice — equal parts Antony and Aaron Neville — is widely regarded as a breakout star for dubstep and a new standard bearer for electronic music itself. On the other, Blake's music is so full of silence and stillness that no one would be surprised if stage presence was a secondary concern. He's a guy whose gig revolves around manipulating beats (and, of course, his own vocals), and that often means sitting still and letting the light show work its magic.

The reality isn't quite so stark, however: The baby-faced Blake will never be confused for James Brown, moves-wise, but he wasn't exactly asleep at the switch in this set from Stubb's in Austin, Texas, recorded live as part of the South by Southwest music festival. Bathed in blue light for much of his set, peppered with a few strobes and assisted subtly by a drummer and guitarist, Blake adjusted to technical difficulties — a drum-pad malfunction forced him to scrap a few songs at the last minute — to craft a show that was alternately ghostly in its beauty ("Lindesfarne II," "Limit to Your Love") and knee-rattling in its bass-heavy rumble.

Set List

  • "Unluck"*
  • "Limit To Your Love"
  • "Klavierwerke"*
  • "Lindesfarne II"
  • "The Wilhelm Scream"
  • Band Personnel

  • James Blake - Vocals, Keyboards
  • Rob McAndrews - Guitar
  • Ben Assister - Percussion
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)