The annual SXSW music and arts gathering took place in Austin, Texas, a few weeks ago for 10 glorious days in the sun. Known for its reputation as a hype-creator, the festival allows any band to apply to play a showcase and follow their big rock star dreams. It is the big “industry” event, with many music news sources, labels, promotion companies and the like organizing their own showcases. But despite the high stakes and music snobbery, SXSW is a wonderful, musically democratic event full of “that one random famous person” and free shows galore. Here are some of our picks of standout bands from this year’s festival, seasoned and fresh acts alike:
1) The Lovely Bad Things, “Fried Eyes”
2) FIDLAR, “Cheap Beer”
3) Palma Violets, “Tom the Drum”
4) Martin Buscaglia, “Oda a Mi Bicicleta”
5) Cafe Tacvba, “Encantamiento Intuil”
6) Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, “How Long Do I Have To Wait For You”
8) Autre Ne Veut, “Counting”
11) Haim, “Don’t Save Me”
12) Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Sacrilege”
13) Doldrums, “She is the Wave”
14) Blue Hawaii, “In Two”
15) Vampire Weekend, “Diane Young”
As always, you can stream the playlist right on Spotify!
Contact Hailey Simpson at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter at @hailey117.