SXSW 2009 Wrap-Up & Final Thoughts
One last post about South By Southwest 2009 to rule them all. I’m sure everyone who didn’t go is sick of hearing about it by now, but it is pretty much the greatest festival in the world, so one final discussion is warranted. If Bonnaroo is the Super Bowl of fests, SXSW is the World Cup, March Madness, and the Olympics all rolled into one. There simply isn’t anything else like it. So I’m going to ramble on about what I took from this year’s event after a photo journey through our SXSW 2009:
All photos by Clint Miller:
Anathallo:
Port O’Brien:
Loney Dear:
Wavves:
Anni Rossi:
M Ward:
Department Of Eagles:
St. Vincent:
Camera Obscura:
Oh No Oh My:
Arizona:
Bell:
Women:
Evangelicals:
Mt St Helens Vietnam Band
Phosphorescent:
BLK JKS:
Akron/Family:
Dinosaur Jr:
Still Flyin’:
DM Stith:
Micah P Hinson:
School Of Seven Bells:
Deastro:
White Denim:
Rolo Tomassi:
Excailbrah:
Still Flyin’:
Jason Lytle:
Abe Vigoda:
Dirty Projectors:
I think what I love more than anything about this festival is that it is so customizable. There are thousands of bands and hundreds of venues. Every building, parking lot, and electrical outlet in the city gets converted into a concert arena. Every single genre and scene is represented. The event is just totally massive. There are so many secret guests and surreal events taking place simultaneously, that it is impossible to take it all in. You are forced to miss cool things. While I’m getting a Kevin Drew and Dinosaur Jr team-up, I’m reading twitters about Dead Confederate playing a show right down the street as their Sonic Youth cover band. While I’m watching fireworks on the river seeing Explosions In The Sky play their 10th Anniversary show, all the cool kids are jerking each other off at a secret Kanye West show on the other side of town. You cannot see it all.
Even admission to the party comes in a variety of choices. You can ball out like we did in 2008 and buy a badge. Not only do you get in first at every show, but you get access to the most important music industry conference in America. In fact, SXSW Music is actually only one-third of the entire festival, which is also comprised of a film component and an interactive media festival. Getting access to all two weeks of action could cost a non-elite over a thousand dollars. In my two years of attendance, I haven’t experienced that side of this event at all, because it is hard for me to choose hearing someone talk about music over watching someone play music, but that’s just me. Then there are wristbands, a cheaper alternative for the locals or music journalists who don’t kill trees (that’d be us). You don’t have to pay for shows, but you still have to worry about getting in before a show fills up with the rich kid badge-holders. Then of course, there are the lower class, the people without any passes. You won’t be able to get into any of the “big mainstream acts trying to earn some indie cred” shows, but you could come to SXSW and see a ton of bands and have a great time without hardly any money. There are a glut of free parties, most featuring free booze, thrown by benevolent publicity seekers across the globe One person in our three-piece outfit this year didn’t have any creds, and she was able to go to every single show and event we attended except one, and only paid a grand total of $30 in door fees. Roughly thirty amazing bands for thirty bucks is pretty much unbeatable.
Judging from my own experiences and the other million blogs’ SXSW posts, i think the three biggest winners of SXSW were Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors, and Wavves. Grizzly Bear may be a little upset their new album leaked so soon, but it helped propel the buzz around them as Veckatimest was fresh on everyone’s mind. They have ascended to near Animal Collective status in terms of being universally appealing to the Internet music world now. Between guest appearances from Beach House and Department Of Eagles running around playing shows, the Griz were the hottest ticket at South By. I opted out to catch some bands I hadn’t seen before, but I will get to hear the new jams at Bonnaroo, so it all works out. Dirty Projectors came in with a moderate hype, but delivered the best live show at the fest, and people took notice. I don’t think anyone elevated themselves more through just their SXSW appearances. This band is phenomenal. For Wavves, SXSW introduced the inevitable backlash, but a backlash is the sure sign one has officially arrived, and Wavves, love it or hate it, is now going to be a household indie name for eternity.
Seeing Loney Dear‘s trainwreck live show the first day has really got me thinking about artists who do incredible studio work but cannot reproduce their brilliance live. The Ruby Suns come to mind. There are plenty of acts getting love these days that make shitty albums but are really “exciting” live, but the other way around is a hard obstacle to overcome. The model that many people like to boast where everyone pirates albums, but the bands get paid through touring and merch isn’t accommodating to someone who just wants to sit in a studio all day and breathe life into records that blow everything else out of the water. I don’t have any answers to this problem yet, but it is a question that should be raised.
Another idea I pondered at SXSW was “saturation”. How many blogs and bands can we handle? I mean I am a junkie when it comes to music and I need a new fix every day, but is there a ceiling to this surge of new faces? Are there implications to having more musicians and critics than people who just listen to music? And are they good or bad? Is the indie bubble going to burst, and if so when? I feel like we have come close to reaching the saturation point of music journalists/bloggers/writers/whatevers. It would have to be nearly impossible for someone to start a music blog right now and have it become bigger than the older, established sites. Even when I threw my hat in the race over two years ago, I really started playing this game a little too late. As the data gets vaster and vaster, it is hard to stick out. Once you have about the 25 biggest blogs/indie websites in your RSS reader, there is very little news you will miss out on, so why do you need another 100 feeds? The saturation point for bands appears to be much higher, though. The more ravenous and insatiable people are about finding the next big thing, the more opportunities appear for a fresh, young artist. Depending on your expectations, it is either the best or worst time ever to be a band. It is hard to tell where we are heading.
All in all, it was another life-altering experience and I can’t wait until next time. I had pledged to see at least 50 bands in the month of March, and mostly leaning on my SXSW shows, I just reached my goal. If you missed our day by day coverage, check it out:
Wednesday: Return To The Center Of The Universe
Thursday: I Guess I’m Gloating
Friday: School Of Seven Bands
Saturday: One Last Night To Get Dirty
Miss U South By!
Explosions In The Sky:
- Posted by Davy Minor on March 31, 2009 at 4:36 am
