This year was my fourth South By South West and before I left for Austin, I was apprehensive about the festival’s status as a relevant music event in its 26th year. Over 2,000 bands visit the Texas capital to try and advance their careers and I wondered why they bothered anymore? Was there actually worth in them playing? Any band who travel the large distance must have a profile, a buzz or are there to strike a deal on Texas soil to make it really worth their while. Bands that travel on blind faith and hope that something will happen for them are delusional and hopefully few and far between these days.

For me, SXSW is a festival that I go to for new music and the opportunity to gorge on it over five or six days. This year a a giant vending machine made the news, commercialism was rampant, Jay-Z playing a gig to credit card customers, Springsteen gave a (mighty) keynote speech while Kanye, Jack White and Skrillex all packed in venues. At the same time, you’ve got an art gallery playing host to a hippy-leaning label showcase, the Boiler Room broadcasting leftfield electronica from a backyard out of town, bands busking on the street and industry chasing the buzz for their own benefit. It’s contradictory, crass, nothing and everything all at once and that means that SXSW is just a pop-up macrocosm of the music industry as a whole.

Nialler9’s top 20 bands of SXSW 2012 …→

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Posted on March 23rd, 2012

Tags: best of 2012 lists SXSW tanlines

Artists: Ava Luna, Blondes, Body Language, Chairlift, El-P, Friends, Haim, Hundred Waters, I Am Oak, Kimbra, Kindness, Purity Ring, Reptar, SBTRKT, SpaceghostPurrp, Tanlines, Thee Oh Sees, THEESatisfaction, TNGHT