After the goldrush, you can find the real treasure...
Here are my full SXSW top 50 (ish) as a Spotify playlist and as a mammoth YouTube compilation.
It’s been pulled together from the bands I saw and loved, those who put CDs into my hand in bars, those who were the names on everyone’s lips and some that I just happened upon. The playlist is in no particular order, as befitting the serendipitous nature of dashing around venues, letting plans fall to the wayside. Without the overblown madness of previous years (Lady Gaga, Public Enemy and Smashing Pumpkins playing in a parking lot, vending machine and empty store respectively last year…) it was possible to concentrate on the things that really matter – finding talent that you might otherwise miss.
Friends took me to see Daniel Romano, a stranger (now a friend) took me to see Whitehorse, others introduced me to Songhoy Blues and Go Wolf. I saw the ‘unheard of’ Stromae (erm, 250million views on YouTube) and the frankly bonkers Wet Secrets. I fell for bands from Vancouver to Nova Scotia, from Sydney to Copenhagen and Brussels to Glasgow. There’s no doubt, SXSW is my little slice of heaven. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than surrounded by dear friends and fantastic bands.
I recommend that you find a sunny spot, sit back with a Shiner beer and press ‘shuffle play’. You’ll be enjoying the best of Austin in no time.
