Hey Everybody!
After a few post-SXSW days of hibernating and pondering I've
decided it's high time I peeled myself off the couch and got
back to blogging my heart out. This was my third
official time experiencing the chaos in Austin, and because
of 50+ quality sets of music and the great company (you four
know who you are) that was constantly around it's easy for
me to claim it as my favorite thus far. Now, before I
get back to what you come here for I want to give one last
rundown of SXSW, and I would like to announce a couple of
changes.
First of all, let's talk what will be different here at
SOTO. Nothing! Well, sort of. That's
pretty much only the case if you're looking at what I give
you on a week-to-week basis. I'm actually talking
about guest writers. Over the course of last week I
met a couple of qualified individuals, and I invited them to
share their thoughts on music along with mine. On
Saturday will be Noah Sanders, who does an assortment of
things for Light In The Attic Records, and on Sunday will be
a fellow writer from Austin Sound named John Michael
Cassetta. Both of these guys are music enthusiasts who
will undoubtedly bring you some interesting gems, so I hope
you'll drop by and give their findings a read and a listen.
Apart from those two additions, it will be status quo around
here with all posts, podcasts and film updates being
published like normal. This is just a nifty way to
bring you more during a period when most blogs have nothing
to offer. It's OK to cry a tear of excitement. I
know I did.
As for SXSW, let's talk lists and some of my final thoughts
on the festival and the near 50 different acts I saw perform
over the course of last week. Enjoy.
Top 10 Performances That Impressed The Most
1. Robyn at Pangea
2. Why? at Emo's Outside
3. Be Your Own Pet at Cedar Street
4. Cloud Cult at Emo's Annex
5. Bodies Of Water at The Mohawk
6. Cotton Jones Basket Ride at SOHO Lounge
7. Cassettes Won't Listen at Austin Convention Center Day Stage
8. The Black Keys at Emo's Outside
9. The Ting Tings at Stubb's
10. Los Campesinos at The Parish
Top 3 Performances That Disappointed The Most
1. MGMT at Stubb's
2. Autolux at Emo's Outside
3. Georgie James at Dirty Dog
Top 3 Overall Surprises
1. Robyn
2. The Mae Shi
3. Delta Spirit
3
Artists That I Wanted To See But Somehow Managed To Miss
Completely
1. Lykke Li
2. Jim Noir
3. Cadence Weapon
5
Random Things That Occurred To Me During The Festival
1. What the hell is happening to the Trade Show? Every year
it seems more and more useless.
2. What the hell happened to all the free stuff on every corner?
All I could find this year was ice cream.
3. Is there a point to actually having a badge or a camera pass?
No one at the venues seemed to care.
4. Why do people make you RSVP a public event? This seems
pointless.
5. Why don't artists bring merch and/or rotate songs in their set
lists? SXSW is a weird time to not go all out.
- John Laird -
Unless
otherwise expressly stated, all text in this blog and any
related pages, including the blog's archives, is licensed by
John Laird under a
Creative Commons License.
