SXSW 2011: Music To Sink Your Teeth Into

by Cari Cole

This week in Austin, TX celebrates the twenty-fifth Anniversary of the SXSW® Music and Media Conference March 11 – 20^th. By day, thousands of conference registrants network in the halls of the Austin Convention Center on their way to do business in the SXSW® Trade Show, sit in on informative panel discussions featuring some of the industry’s key players, gain insight from legendary keynote speakers or plan out their abundant party schedules. At night, SXSW showcases hundreds upon hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over eighty stages in downtown Austin. All this and so much more, combine to make SXSW one of the most revered music events, year after year.

Nearly 2,000 artists are slated to perform this year. From the Foo Fighters, Raphael Saadiq, The Strokes, Kanye West, and on and on.. the list is impressive and varied. This years new featured artists according to the festival heads are: (in alphabetical order) Anna Calvi, Black Joe Lewis, Boy & Bear, Bright Eyes, Brother, Chikita Violenta, the Civil Wars, Dom, Dom Kennedy, Foster the People, G. Love, Glasser, Hayes Carli, Jessica Lea Mayfield, Le Butcherettes, Lucinda Williams, Miguel, The Republic Tigers, Small Black, Strong Arm Steady, Talib Kwell, Toro y Moi, The Vaccines.

If I was there I would definitely catch the sublime Dan Wilson (who wrote Someone to Love with Adele on her new record: Adele 21) — Dan is playing a set at the Driskill Hotel Bar (the ASCAP singer-songwriter show), Fri March 18^th (along with the Civil Wars). Doors open at 7 pm – more details here. One of my awesome students, Tamar Haviv, who is a grad of Sir Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts is performing at the Everything Independent Day Party at the Revolution Bar on March 17^th Details here.

So if you are in Austin for SX this year (if not put it on your cal for 2012), scoop up as much as you can. If ya only listen to AAA radio, you’ve probably never heard most of these names, unless you’re a freak for new music – like me – and I do it for two reasons… One, like most of you – music is my life. Two, because I want to inspire the crap out of you, so that you’ll boldly believe in yourself, insist on making the music you want to hear, and make the world a better place because you’re in it.

PS — This year’s SXSW featured artists are available as a free download on iTunes, so you can get your SXSW sampler on your iPod even before the showcases start next week. Just click here http://www.itunes.com/sxsw and btw – when you download it will automatically load as a playlist under the aforementioned name – you’ll have to find it there as all the artists are titled under their individual album titles.

What artists do you dig the most? Any concerts you’ve checked out so far or want to see at SW that you want to share?