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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Let's Talk About... SXSW: What Did We Learn?

Posted by Andrew R Tonry on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 1:55 PM

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It's a long, stupid story why I didn't make it to SXSW, and I won't bore you with it, suffice to say that next year I'm going with or without a badge. So, stuck in dreary pre-spring Portland, I did what I always do: cherry pick a few new interesting bands from the torrent of coverage across the blogosphere.

Coverage this year, however, seemed different—it was almost all about established bands. Decemberists this, Thermals that, Metallica, Janelle Monae... (Two of those I'm hope receive a bump... and damn if I wouldn't have used all my scheming faculties to find a way in to Big Boi's show.) But wasn't SXSW supposed to be about discovering new bands? (I'm asking.) I'll hand it to our two men on the scene, Rob and Ned, who did an admirable job looking into smaller acts and avoiding the ridiculous idea of following around Portland bands we already know so much about.

But anyway, it's time to share the best new bands we found via SXSW, either from the blogs or because you went. Two standout in my mind:

Oh Land, who, according to the the NY Times sound like: "Bjork leading the Pointer Sisters."

And BLK JKS—polyrhythmic African indie rock.

What'd you pick up?

 

Comments (2) RSS

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1
My favorite discoveries from SXSW were:

Ganglians
Real Estate
Ducktails
Titus Andronicus
What's Up

It should be noted that the last band is now based in Portland, having recently moved up from Sacramento. I made a point of not seeing Portland bands while in Austin since, well, that's what I do all the time. But I hadn't caught these guys in Portland yet. And man, definitely one of my favorite sets of the festival.

Bands that were great at SXSW that I had previously loved on record, but which I hadn't seen play before:
Women
Abe Vigoda

Bands which I already loved dearly, had previously raised the live bar for themselves, and which did not disappoint me:
Dirty Projectors
Explode Into Colors
Grizzly Bear

Bands that people do not like me for not really liking:
Wavves
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
Girls

Posted by Cary Clarke on March 24, 2009 at 4:37 PM · Report
2
They really spell Ducktails like that? They should have spelt it like the cartoon!
Posted by ROM on March 25, 2009 at 3:58 PM · Report

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