SXSW 2012 Roundup

Jamie and I recently attended the South By Southwest music festival, the annual mass gathering of musicians, aficionados, and drunken UT students held in Austin, TX. There were thousands of artists playing all day, and during some time slots there are literally a hundred acts at a time.

It is impossible to see—or even know—all the good acts, and this year we were pretty hard-core in our planning. Through a series of listening parties with a couple of our friends, we used Spotify to get a taste of every single one of the 600+ artists part of the official showcase this year (there are many more than that doing unofficial shows, but we had to draw the line somewhere). We gave each a score and recorded our notes in a spreadsheet to help us remember them later. Many of the bands were just not our thing .. or were downright awful. But we found a number of promising acts that we then tried to catch at the festival.

We ended up seeing 45 different bands in 4-1/2 days there, and I've written a little bit about each. You can listen to my favorites on my Best of SXSW 2012 Spotify playlist. (Most of the others are also on Spotify)

Best New Acts

Doomtree
This is a stand-out 7-piece hip-hop group from Minnesota. They've been around a while and put on a really tight show. This isn't B.S. gangsta rap—it's real and it's damn good. I don't usually even like hip-hop. So good, it's one of only two shows we saw twice.

Ume
They rock. At the front is a little blonde girl who makes big sounds. Metric, meet Les Savy Fav and Denali.

Housse De Racket
French guitar-synth pop, reminiscent of (but distinct from) Phoenix. Dance, bounce, be happy.

Conner Youngblood
Bluegrass-club music. Huh? That's right, check it out. Feels as bit like Dolorean but with more oomph.

This Will Destroy You
A solid post-rock foursome. Deep bass lines and a slow, determined build. Watching them was like watching a factory floor, workers absorbed in their roles, busily constructing a massive soundscape.

Chairlift

Maybe it was the incredible sound quality at the Empire Garage that evening, or that Caroline Polachek has a great stage presence, but this was one of the best shows we saw.

Honorable Mention

Beach Fossils
Great live show if you're in the mood to jump around.

Cloud Nothings
Of course, a solid rock / punk act that puts on a great show. The feedback-laden jam at the end was actually pretty good.

Craft Spells
Nice shy dudes playing some chillwave.

El Ten Eleven
A post-rock duo that's garnered some commercial success. I like them a lot, and it was impressive watching them layer all their sounds live. Well done.

Ettes
Fun girl-punk trio.

Gardens and Villa
Very kooky. The frontman looks like a young Indiana Jones and carries a quiver (yes, a quiver) full of various wooden pan flutes. You would not know this from their music.

Grimes
I don't think I like much of Grimes' recorded stuff, but her show at the church sounded awesome. However, it was downright stressful, with her racing back and forth between samplers, keys, and mic, and gesticulating frustratedly at the sound guy many times mid-track, occasionally missing a cue and being all "fuck, sorry, one sec". Get some help, girl. Or more presets.

Lower Dens
One part Yo La Tengo, stir in some structure and add a dash of rock.

Nas
I didn't know much about him, but it was pretty cool to see an old-school hip-hop artist play his breakout album (Illmatic) start-to-finish. The best part about this was probably the Illmatic cocktail we sampled earlier in the weekend (long story).

Purity Ring
They only have like five songs, but we saw them in a church and the sound was amazing. The "keyboardist" had rigged up these glowing lights that played notes/samples when he hit them. Wild.

Shlohmo
I'm not usually big on DJs, but this guy kept it interesting and had a good stage persona.

Sleigh Bells
We've seen them a bunch already, but this was a pretty good show—and opening for Nas in a big auditorium, great exposure for them I'm sure.

Turbo Fruits
A Nashville hair punk band. Definitely a longshot, but their show turned out to be fun.

Wished I Had Seen

Caged Animals
I'll describe them as surf-synth rock. Would have been neat to see what they're like live.

Voltaire Twins
I like anything that reminds me of Woodhands. This group mixes that sound with a snarky guy-girl duo like a darker Postal Service.

The Rest

We also saw a bunch of other bands. Some of them were pretty good, others just were not a fit for my taste. Take a listen if you're interested, but here's the list:

8-1/2
12th Planet
Andrew Bird
Bass Drum Of Death
Ben Kwellar
Blouse
CHLLNGR 
Class Actress
Cold Showers
College
Exitmusic
Fat Tony
Friends
Guards
Love Inks
My Education
Niki & The Dove
Poliza
Radiation City
Sharon van Etten
Sleep Over
Soft Swells
Temper Trap
Two Gallants
Wavves
Young L