There is a common school of thought that there is no good music being made these days. Actually, the opposite is true, there is good music being made - too much in fact. There is no better way of proving this than South by Southwest (SXSW).
SXSW is part music conference, part festival that has occurred every spring in Austin, TX for the last 21 years. What started as a local battle of the bands has grown into an a sort of sonic claustrophobia featuring over 1,400 bands. The short week is remarkably overwhelming with more quality bands than one can fathom. If there were 10 clones of myself, with the exact same tastes in music, we all could have had 100% completely different itineraries and have had equally as amazing a time.
There is a question of relevance since with the Internet there really aren't undiscovered acts anymore. The biggest buzz coming out of the week is probably going to come from the bands that had the most coming in (this year it will undoubtedly be those scrappy Vampire Weekend boys). Still there is a possibility to stumble on greatness at SXSW, so here is a lit of some high points and a low point or two.
SXSW is part music conference, part festival that has occurred every spring in Austin, TX for the last 21 years. What started as a local battle of the bands has grown into an a sort of sonic claustrophobia featuring over 1,400 bands. The short week is remarkably overwhelming with more quality bands than one can fathom. If there were 10 clones of myself, with the exact same tastes in music, we all could have had 100% completely different itineraries and have had equally as amazing a time. There is a question of relevance since with the Internet there really aren't undiscovered acts anymore. The biggest buzz coming out of the week is probably going to come from the bands that had the most coming in (this year it will undoubtedly be those scrappy Vampire Weekend boys). Still there is a possibility to stumble on greatness at SXSW, so here is a lit of some high points and a low point or two.
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