Ethan's SXSW experience. Photos by Jesse.

I have visited Austin before, and it holds a special place deep in my heart. I’m disappointed every time I see a film in New York and there isn’t a waiter or waitress that will continually bring you nachos and beer throughout the show. And my grandmother served potatoes with her brisket, turns out it should have been with half a loaf of white bread.

I loved Austin the first time I had visited, but my first encounter did not prepare me for the behemoth that was SXSW ‘09. “…hundreds of musical acts from around the globe on over eighty stages in downtown Austin.” as quoted from www.sxsw.com and that doesn’t even include the hundreds, if not thousands of unofficial bands, parties and showcases scattered throughout the downtown area.

Day 1 (wed mar 18):
Slept on Josh’s floor for about 3hrs, happy to say that the large rat living in his bathroom did not introduce itself nor chew off my face. Up at 4:30am, Tim makes it on time, still not sure how, car service arrives and we’re off. We’re flying out of Newark so we all were able to enjoy the Jersey skyline at 5am, kind of peaceful, kind of dirty. The flight was uneventful and on-time, allowing me to get through 2/3’s of The Watchmen, still not sure if I want to see the movie. Spent 20 minutes trying to keep some music industry rep from sleeping on my shoulder, waited till he fell asleep and stole his armrest.

Back in Austin, checked in and somehow got the biggest room at the Hilton, thanks friends of Jesse, whoever you were. Settled in, stopped by the booth and schmoozed the passer-bys, missed my first panel because PJ kept sending me text messages from the future (2 beers.) Then the music began, I can’t honestly remember the first band I saw, I think it may have been Akron/Family, which I ended up seeing twice. They are an amazing band, transitioning between genres constantly and fluidly hovering mostly around a jam-band like mix of folk and rock with the volume all the way up and rhythm you can’t help but dance to (3-4 beers.)
Went to The Parish (I think) with Jim and PJ, saw some Scottish rock band that I felt had potential but their sound was a tad schizophrenic (2 beers, half a glass of Wild Turkey.)

This is where it starts to get fuzzy, I know that I saw between 2-4 acts before seeing the Decembrists at Stubbs and I’m pretty sure I had a few drinks in there as well (Some drinks?)

As for the Decembrists, they played their new album for the first time I was not impressed at all.  This was also the venue for my big show of the week - yeah… I was sauced. I may or may not have assaulted Mantis, I think I told Kate, our PR wizard my life story and how I proposed to my wife, and there were some other stories told of my debauchery - but I won’t get into that here (4+ beers.)

Eventually I was back in the hotel room and passed out, although I can’t remember how or when I made it back. Overall, day 1 was a complete success.

Total damage for the day:
•    12 beers (that I know of)
•    Half a pint of Wild Turkey possibly more
•    Made a complete ass of myself and had a lot of fun doing it

•    10+ bands?

Day 2 (thurs mar 19):
2nd day in Austin, time to pace myself and enjoy SXSW. Woke up around 11 and rushed to the convention center. I was surprised to find that I was not feeling the effects of last night’s debacle. Had to go through 8-10 good morning greetings that consisted of, “hey, how are you feeling” and “have fun last night?”, then time to become an Indaba marketer again.

No panels today so I had booth duty for about 4-5 hours, taking intermittent breaks to wander around the convention center and collect free stuff and harass competitors. After the booth the few of us that remained treated ourselves to a dinner at Louie’s 106, a good time was had by all, plus they make a damn good vodka martini.

After dinner it was time for my highlight of the trip, Refelection Eternal (a.k.a. Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek) at Scoot Inn. Before they came on though, there was a short set by John Forté who I knew nothing of. After a little research by Tim (and his iPhone) I found out that he was the producer for the Fugees who went to jail for 7 years and was just recently pardoned by George W. Bush. In any case he put on an amazing show, just him and his acoustic guitar. All I could think the entire time was the amount of talent and confidence it takes to get out there and rap and sing backed only by your own guitar. Soon after was Reflection Eternal and as expected they were great, playing songs mostly off of their only LP Train of Thought (a new one is due this summer.)

After that it was off to check out Ocelot and Designer Drugs at the Beauty Bar, Designer Drugs by the way are Indaba members and made my favorite Mariah remix. Ocelot put on a great set (if you ask anybody but Tim) and so did Designer Drugs, but the thumping bass was giving me a headache and the alcohol wasn’t helping so it was off to the next show.

I don’t completely recall what I did after this, I think I may have tried to get into a party with Tim and gave up soon after seeing a ridiculously long line of people who had actually RSVP’d to get in so back to the hotel for drinks and bed, another great day all in all.

Day 3 (fri mar 20):
Last day of the convention, time to put my all into it. Met some very interesting people, got some sign ups, got some converts, had to deal with a few naysayers.  Handed out many, many t-shirts and CDs.  Finally made it to some panels, learned all about the Copyright Royalty Board and how the music industry screws over web-casters and internet radio broadcasters by charging unreasonably high royalty fees as compared to those levied against standard radio broadcasters. It was a little heavy, but interesting nonetheless.

More booth time, and then off to my next panel, which was one of the most interesting things at SXSW. I met Nardwuar, the human serviette (or napkin) and this guy was crazy. Not like Kathy Bates crazy more like Tracy Morgan crazy, he told Gorbachev to “Keep on rockin’ in the free world” in Russian. He’s interviewed some of the greatest musicians over the last 2 decades and has the video to prove it. His style is bizarre yet intensely knowledgeable, he is constantly catching his interviewees completely off guard and speechless at the depth and research of his questions. Really a fascinating panel, check out his videos (I recommend the David Cross video.)

Broke down the booth afterwards, shed a small tear. Hauled it all back to the hotel (not me, but some co-workers) and then proceeded to relax and drink, yet again. We decided to make a party of it in our jumbo suite and order some pizza. As a note to anyone who intends visit Austin don’t get any pizza, it’s just not worth it. The team continued to relax and polish off 3/4 of the biggest bottle of Bulleit I have ever seen, it was time to go see some shows.

I waited to long to write this, so I don’t remember the order of the following events. They were all amazing though. So in no particular order:
•    Keys N Krates at the Music Gym, they were a bassist, drummer and keyboardist with an amazing DJ who could scratch like no other. It was a good start to the evening, affordable beer, outdoors and a really good set.
•    Lord T and Eloise at Prague, hands down the most insane/bizarre show I saw at SXSW. Two guys, both dressed in 18th century renaissance garb, one of them painted gold with curlers in his hair. Their music was called “aristocrunk” and sounded like a high-class throwback to the Beastie Boys, singing about money, cars and champagne. I’m still not sure how that’s any different than the standard hip-hop fare, but they did it in exquisite style.
•    Nomo at Antones, great instrumental group with a full array of horns, two drummers and a bongo player. Amazing sound and a lot of energy, stayed there until last call and then went back to pass out.

Day 4 (sat mar 21):
Last day in Austin, managed to get up at 10am to go with Jim, PJ and Jesse to get some breakfast tacos (finally) at Loca Maria, they were delicious and wonderful. Left to get jerky, the place was closed, ended up at a yard sale and bought a book on learning Russian from 1947 for 50 cents. Went to see a goat, took some pictures, he had an epic beard.

Headed back to the convention center for the guitar/gear show and the poster show. Didn’t play any of the cool guitars out of fear of breaking them and/or offending anyone with my horrific guitar skills. Bought a couple really cool posters then went back to the room to relax for a little bit.

My first show of the evening was Akron/Family out at Waterloo Park with Tim.  He wasn’t convinced of their awesomeness but I was still impressed. They played a heavier set than their first and it was loud and required on-stage dancers. Walked over to the other stage at Waterloo to catch the end of the Circle Jerks show, I felt like I had to attend to show my support for Punk Rock old and new. They did not disappoint, they played amazingly well and with a ton of energy which the crowd eagerly matched forming 2 if not 3 mosh pits. I spent my time in the back listening to the music and watching security try to keep people from stage diving too hard, and from keeping the crowd from climbing the scaffolding around the stage and diving from 20 ft up. Following the Circle Jerks was The Black Lips who I have longed to see for a long time now but in the end were sort of disappointing. I don’t think they have a sound to fill an outdoor park, maybe in a smaller venue but their sound just didn’t come across the way I felt that it should have.

Headed back to catch The Octopus Project at Emo’s and couldn’t get in, didn’t realize they were so popular. Waited outside until those fans cleared out and met up with some more Indabans to watch Yelle do her French-Pop thing, also put on a good show and the sound was great, I wish I had spent more time at Emo’s. Soon afterwards it was over to Logan’s to catch up with a good friend from college and to drink an extremely large beer.
Managed to get my friend into Beauty Bar with no cover to catch the end of some loud punk-like rock set, not great so we moved on. I think it was on to Club de Ville next to see Ponytail and Titus Andronicus. Both were loud and awesome. Ponytail I’ve been following for a little while now and I was excited to check out their spaz-rock style and dueling guitars, I left a bigger fan than I had been before. The same can be said of Titus who followed right after. I like loud punk rock, and they capped off my SXSW experience wonderfully.

My first SXSW ever, an unforgettable experience, except for that first night, I don’t remember very much from that night. I learned quite a bit about the city and the people and the music industry. Made some new friends, some new enemies, possibly a couple frenemies (maybe? I’m still not sure what that is.) Being my 2nd trip to Austin I have developed a new love for the town, but it is a completely different town for that week or so. I will be back Austin and you will know my name …as long as I can handle my drinking.

Noelle gives a wrap up of the Indaba team's visit to SXSW, inluding the top ten things she's learned about hot dogs, music, and wuffle(?) down in Austin.

The Indaba team just got back from this year’s SXSW Interactive & Musical festivals. The team quickly settled into the pace of panels, taking lots of notes, handing out business cards, having impromptu 15 minute meetings in the hallways and generally going non-stop until the lights came on at 2AM.
 
Having come to Indaba from the business world (specifically advertising and marketing) it’s personally been great for me to see old friends and connect with new ones. It’s also great to be on “the other side of the fence” so to speak, and hear everyone’s reactions to the concept of Indaba. (BTW: People LOVE it!)
 
I took some time on the plane ride home last night to think about all the panels, conversations and events that happened and came up with this list of 10 things I learned over the course of 10 days.
 
1. The music industry is not broken. The music industry is bigger than it ever was before. (more bands, more ways to reach     fans, more sounds). It is the business model that is broken.
2. Old vs. new. While there’s an old regime of labels and management who are bemoaning the death of record stores and album sales there’s a whole new regime of talented innovators who are embracing the way we create, listen to, share and discover music and are actively working to turn it into something that benefits everyone.
3.  People have a love and hate relationship with Twitter. But social media is becoming more and more important to build direct-to-fan relationships.
4.  A Shiner beer tastes good. A Shiner beer listening to some really great tunes on the back porch of a bar tastes even better.
5.  The industry is in a transition period. Our relationship with media (including music) is changing and no one has any idea on how all this will play out. It’s our opportunity as musicians and lovers of music to jump in and help to shape this strange new music world (for the better).
6.  Music is just a job (and not a passion) for far too many people. We need to find that passion again and instill it in the entire industry.
7.  Wuffie = social currency and connections. The more wuffie you have, the more you can get out of life.
8.  Austin’s Best Wurst and Hot Dog King carts are even more amazing at 2AM after the last show.
9.  There’s more great music and bands out there than I have time to cover in 10 days.
10.  Everybody may look like they’re having fun at SXSW, but 432 business cards later, I’ve come to realize that it’s also a hell of a lot of work. I’ve lost my voice. My handshake hurts. I don’t think I ever need to eat BBQ again. But I’ve made lots of connections and new friends that will (hopefully) pay off for all of you here on Indaba!

On today's guest blog, the third in a series of blogs from the Indaba team at the SXSW Music and Interactive Festival, Dan talks about the the conversations surrounding music piracy at the SXSW panels.

One panel that raised some controversial issues for me today was “How Piracy Will Save the Music Industry”. The description said, “This panel will discuss how piracy can be harnessed to our advantage and why it is a positive thing for the music industry.” It was facilitated by Jason Schwartz from Robber Baron Music and Randy Saaf from Media Defender, Inc. If you are not familiar with these two guys and their companies I’ll give you the elevator pitch as I understand it. Jason runs a very innovative record label that uses piracy channels such as P2P networks and Bit Torrents to promote their artists music by giving it away and encouraging fans to support the artist by voluntarily contributing money on their website, going to shows, buying merchandise, etc. Randy, quite to the contrary, runs a service that is used by many of the major labels and film studios, where they use large numbers of fake files to flood P2P networks and Bit Torrents so that users looking for illegal files through these services get so frustrated with the fake files they download instead of the real thing that they ultimately give up and look to a legal source. 

On today's guest blog, the second in a series of blogs from the Indaba team at SXSW, Mantis talks about the Interactive portion of SXSW.

Although this is not my first time at SXSW, it is my first time attending the interactive portion. Like most Indaba members, I am a huge music fan. The fact that I was able to be part of the creation of Indaba Music has absolutely nothing to do with my limited tech knowledge. For what I do know, I thank our awesome development team that schools me on a regular basis.     

With panels focused on site creation, web design, coding, programming, mobile tech trends, game design and social networks across the board, combined with meetings and conversations with members of other leading major community’s and companies such as You Tube, Facebook, Flicker and Java FX, I have learned quite a bit here. I am looking forward to bringing home new ideas, additional functionality and processes that will be beneficial to all of us here in the Indaba Music community.

I am having a great time with the Interactive portion of SXSW but, I must admit, I can’t wait for the music! With thousands upon thousands of bands infiltrating Austin, they close down the streets while the concerts, party’s and private events go all night long. I usually do not start the next day until someone pulls my head out of my cereal bowl.

I encourage anyone interested in internet technology in any capacity to attend at least one SXSW Interactive conference while I encourage everyone interested in music to check out the music portion. SXSW has become an annual event for me that I am thrilled to continue.

If you are reading this and happen to be at the conference, it would be great to meet you! Just stop anyone with an Indaba T-shirt to start conversation or, stop by our booths to meet the crew - let us know where you are performing as we are looking forward to seeing as many Indaba members live as possible.

On today's guest blog, the first in a series of blogs from the Indaba team at SXSW, David talks about user-generated content.

I'm easing into the panels here at SXSW, so this post may seem a bit marketing and businessy, but I thought you all might be interested in hearing some of my thoughts from panels and discussions we’re having before those thoughts are clarified, solidified, culled, prioritized, and applied.

______________

I’ve been here just over 24 hours and I’m already struck by the lack of clarity in the market around the definition and application of social media in general, but user-generated content (UGC) in particular. 

THE FALLACY OF PERVASIVE BROAD “SOCIAL MEDIA” AND "UGC" LABELS
I often overhear marketers and brands talking about how they are (or are becoming/integrating) social media into their offerings and it sometimes concerns me that we’re moving colloquially toward a bad spot where “social media” means anything that involves people. 

The challenge is that defining it so broadly makes incorporating the concepts into programs extremely difficult, in part because there’s less distinction between posting a comment or testimonial and, say, collaborating on a film online using only video generated from the camera on your laptop.  More than that, an overly broad and unspecific definition implies that anything a person posts to the web is social media and, by extension, that because people post the core editorial content on most sites, a website itself is inherently social.

I’m of the opinion that the market will eventually work out something it’s comfortable with and that it doesn’t need me to define social media at a high level.  I will, however, note that I believe the line lies somewhere around [a] interactions primarily occurring between users vs. just between users and a site, [b] structure that encourages interactions between more than one user (so it has the potential to be a social setting vs. an intimate one-on-one discussion), and [c] is multidirectional (so interactions have more than one axis). 

My bigger concern is the impact a broad definition has on how we look at and talk about UGC.  The UGC panel I went to yesterday epitomized the problem:  too often, organizations don’t (or won’t) differentiate between different types of UGC and the reasons people create it.  If we don’t differentiate, we run a very real risk of not reflecting the creative process of the users and offering the right tools to facilitate the creativity that makes social interactions so enormously interesting.

After talking to several other organizations (for and non-profit alike) about their communities, I’ve begun to see two important points in working with UGC. 

EXISTING VS. ORIGINAL CONTENT
The first important distinction for an organization to make is between discussions, activity, and content that focus primarily on using existing content and those that center on original content (or content that the person creates without incorporating media created by others).

Organizations that fail to do this will end up with either underlying brand issues, technology/usability issues, or process issues.  A great example is YouTube, which falls prey to the first and second:  it both has a lot of great original content that gets lost among the poor-quality repostings of people’s favorite TV shows and hasn’t addressed some of the key underlying audio issues (e.g,. mono audio) that would drive many more serious users to post more completed content.

THE DYNAMIC OF COMMUNITY INTERACTIONS
More and more, the way people interact in a UGC setting influences the type and format of media they contribute. At a high level, interactions fall into three broad categories:

Observation + aggregation.  Basic interactions such as commenting and tagging media.   Examples include any site that allows basic comments, feedback, or reviews:  Netflix, Facebook’s photo tagging.

Distribution + dissemination.  Interactions focused primarily on viral dissemination of content or content sharing and hosting.  Examples include sites that encourage sharing insights or content organization:  Flickr, Twitter

Creation.  Advanced collaboration-focused interactions. Users not only post content they’ve created, but allow other users to engage during and around the creative process, whether that’s music or essays, design or film. The market will start paying more attention to these sites, in part because it’s where the content for other sites will increasingly come from.  

I have some initial thoughts for how organizations can approach social media - and UGC specifically, but I’ll save those for another posting.

The Indaba Music crew is officially back in New York having returned from Austin for this year's SXSW. We're missing the warm weather, the BBQ, and we're still wondering how long the hangover is going to last. We did the whole thing this year - Interactive straight through to the end of Music (about a week and a half), and we can say with certainty it was a big success on many fronts. We wanted to share a few big themes that we thought defined the conference, and also some of our favorite shows and parties.

Big Ideas

Whether you're a website or an artist, more connections need to be forged with customers in more meaningful ways.

There was a progressive mindset about how to treat customers and fans throughout all of SXSW that we think is particularly important for artists. During Interactive, a lot of talk about community and customer service boiled down to a shift from thinking about "users" to thinking about "members" or "customers" - people who make meaningful contributions to online communities and actually use web-based products in meaningful ways. This distinction is important because it reflects a more personal, focused way of looking at the people who actually use internet companies' products. The same concept was evident throughout almost every discussion we participated in during the music festival, although it was manifested in a slightly different manner. As the way people consume and experience music changes it is increasingly important for artists to treat their listeners as customers with a lifecycle - not people who are motivated to do one single thing...buy an album. Even the greatest traditionalists of the music biz seemed to agree that artists of the future will need to forge closer, more meaningful connections with there fans, and figure out ways to offer them value over a greater spectrum of interactions, beyond just the CD store shelf or iTunes download store. Read on...

The music industry is more aware of what is happening to it than it was last year.

In 2007, we were troubled by the Music festival's general lack of excitement regarding new technologies and changing business models in the industry. The attitude overall was one of resistance to change and sometimes outright disgust over the use of new technologies. This year, we noticed a marked change. Although still not as innovative as the Interactive participants, it seemed that the music festival overall was more open to change - from the participants all the way up to the most well-known panelists. Many new websites were represented at the tradeshow, and across all discussions there seemed to be a focus on embracing change to create the best outcomes for artists rather than fighting it. One panel attempted to teach artists the best ways to use the web to their advantage, and another even embraced the free distribution of music online as an enabler of different revenue streams (not that this is the answer for everyone).

There can be a better dialogue between the music industry and new media.

From our vantage as a music company that utilizes technology to serve artists, we're still dissapointed at the lack of exchange between the traditional music businss and new media. This cuts both ways. There were panels at the Interactive festival on music, for example, one on piracy - but it had no artists represented. During the Music festival, a panel on the best ways for artists to use the web didn't present the best, newest, and most forward thinking web technologies and ideas (e.g. YouTube isn't anything new, and suggesting that artists should upload their videos isn't exactly revolutionary). Discussions of music in the interactive world could benefit from the perspective of artists, and discussions of the internet in the music world could benefit from the latest technology thinking. This is true beyond SXSW.

Artists need to think about themselves as businesses if they want to survive in the music industry.

This is a tough thing for a lot of artists to grasp, but it's getting harder for a lot of people to make money in the music business in the ways that they used to. Part of continued success is going to mean that artists need to conceive of themselves as businesses - with multiple revenue streams, customers, operations, marketing, brands, etc. Most everyone at SXSW seemed to understand this - the Interactive folks because it is natural thinking for business-minded individuals, and the Music folks because necessity demands it.

Favorite Shows

N*E*R*D (Stubb's & Perez Hilton Party)

N*E*R*D never fails to impress with their reputation for great live performances. SXSW was no exception and, although it sounds funny for a largely independent rock festival, there was pretty wide agreement on our team that N*E*R*D were the best performers of the week. The first time the Indaba crew saw them play was at Stubb's, one of the larger indie venues in Austin, where they proved their ability to captivate and command a larger audience (probably about 1,200), something that is more of a challenge to artists that draw hip-hop crowds. But it was their 3am performance to a packed crowd of 300 people at the Perez Hilton "One Night in Austin" party that was arguably the best performance at SXSW 2008. Pharrell and Chad Hugo's energy and ability to engage the crowd was impressive and the tightness of the band (2 drummers, bass, guitar, keys/synth, 2 singer/MCs and one guy that just hangs out, dances, and makes sure everything goes smoothly) was nothing short of amazing.

Brazilian Girls (Red Bull Moontower)

About a 15 min cab ride away from 6th street (the musical center of Austin with an incomprehensible number of venues lining both sides of long street), there was what seemed to be a big parking lot. Except that this year during SXSW that parking lot was transformed into a large venue with professional lighting, sound, and stage, and a two story indoor lounge that was constructed especially for SXSW. Sponsored by Red Bull and Facebook this lesser known party had great bands play each night of the music festival from around 11 to 4am. One of the best shows Indaba caught at SXSW was the Brazilian Girls at this venue. While it seemed that many people in the crowd were not familiar with their music, by the end everyone became a fan as the whole crowd moved and grooved together. Our very own Mantis even exposed his manly figure to dance shirtless in front of one of the giant light screens. This particular show was unique as two of the four Brazilian Girls had other obligations and couldn't perform at the show. Instead we were treated to an unusual trio version with guest drummer Shawn Pelton (probably best known as the Saturday Night Live house band drummer) joining Didi Gutman to back up frontwoman Sabina Sciubba. We found it especially impressive that Didi was able to create such a full sound behind his keyboards when he was essentially holding down the bass, keyboard, synthesizer, and electronics part of the show - simultaneously.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?

When they walked out on stage, Emo's Main Room, Friday night, no one knew who they were, and no one had any idea what was about to happen. They did their best to get the crowd cheering to mixed results, but by the end of their set they had the entire room jumping with arms outstretched begging for more. A very dancy group from the UK that mixes punk and house with Daft Punk-esque vocoded lyrics.

Crytsal Castles

Easily the group exuding the most mystique. Everyone in the group was shrouded darkness except for a strobe light carried by the singer. They were a half hour late to the stage, but they asserted their authority and rocked the hell out of their set like nothing we've ever seen. An incredibly short set too - a half hour late and five songs later they were done - but still one of the most memorable shows of the entire festival. Like Does It Offend You, Yeah?, they're another electropunk group, but they have an intense and sharp edge to their sound. Reminded us of a screaming-girl version of Ghostland Observatory.

Jukebox the Ghost (Lovejoy's)

Jukebox is a favorite around Indaba, but usually we only get to see them play to crowds of die-hard fans and friends. It was a real pleasure to see them take SXSW by storm - getting a fully seated crowd that had never experienced their music before to be completely excited and into the music. Ben keyboards were out of control as usual, and Jesse didn't even miss a single tambourine toss! Special congrats to Ben, Jesse, and Tommy for signing their first big publishing deal while in Austin!

Bela Fleck (Maggie Mae's)

When we stumbled into a smaller bar that couldn't hold more than a few hundred people we were incredibly excited to peek over the crowd and see Bela sitting with his banjo plucking away just 10 feet in front of us. As he weaved in and out of Paganini, favorites like New South Africa, some more recent compositions, and pure improvisation, we were able to see up close just how much of a virtuoso he is. As this was just an hour or two before he premiered his film "Throw Down Your Heart", we were treated to a few sneak preview scenes. The film is a documentary tracing the roots of the banjo back to Africa where Bela collaborates with several different groups of musicians across four African countries. After the intimate performance we shot across the street to see the official film premiere and a Q&A with Bela and the film's director Sacha (also Bela's brother). The movie had eruptions of applause throughout and had the audience feeling the highs and lows of exuberance and sadness as Bela and his crew travelled throughout the continent. Oh, and the movie theatre serves pitchers of beer and food as you watch - amazing!

The Most Serene Republic

One of the many mind-blowing groups from Canada we got to experience. This group is overflowing with remarkable musicians. Perfectly blended vocal harmonies layer over odd-time rhythms and intricately developed textures. Their songs tend to escalate to moments of critical-mass tension and intensity leading into incredibly satisfying moments of release. Reminded me of Broken Social Scene and Dismemberment Plan.

The Acorn

Carefully crafted songs and tight vocal harmony with insightful lyrics. One of the only groups PJ made a point of seeing while at SXSW (as they were not a random band he'd never seen or heard before). They have a focused, positive energy on stage, possible the exact opposite of Crystal Castle's stage presence - they were very open and seemed like they were having a great time on stage. We always love it when the band is into it as much as the audience. It makes the music more accessible and enjoyable.

Cryptacize!

Another group PJ intended to see before getting to SXSW. They're a collaborative group consisting of a very talented songwriter, Nedelle, and former Deerhoof guitarist Chris Cohen. PJ discovered the group by following Chris Cohen's work (in Deerhoof and his other project The Curtains, also a favorite group). Their sound is extremely minimal yet perfectly so - there's nothing extra and nothing missing either. He saw them play at the Okay Mountain Gallery while sitting on the grass in the backyard on Saturday afternoon. Their warm melodies and presence made for a memorable and relaxing afternoon after the insanity of Friday night.

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Chosen based on their name and the fact that they're from Pittsburgh (another of PJ's favorite groups, sadly no longer active, Don Caballero is from Pittsburgh as well). They have a dreamlike, slow-motion sound like the musical score to things you can barely remember from your childhood. We'd describe them as Boards of Canada meets Air. Good mixed-media performance as well - mash-up videos of track runners and other athletes on what looked like super-8 film were being projected over the stage, adding to the nostalgic, bittersweet ambiance of their set.

Vampire Weekend was the big talk of the festival, but unfortunately we couldn't get in to their show so we can't really report back on it (in case you're wondering why we didn't mention them). We also know that the other big story coming out of SXSW was Sarah Lacy's botched interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. We only mention it as an afterthought here because as poor of an interview as it was, it wasn't really the earth-shattering train wreck it got made out to be, and we didn't think anything particularly insightful was said (which might be why Mark made himself available the following day for an open Q&A at the Facebook developers garage).

SXSW 2008 was great, and we're looking forward to next year!

Dan Zaccagnino said:

The topic of this post is going to be about Piracy… but first, if you can, please bear with me because I think to really understand what I’m getting at you have to understand a few things about SXSW – especially if you haven’t been here. Interactive (the portion of the conference that ended today) is all about the internet, technology, the future of media and how we will create, distribute, and consume it… It’s been amazing and we’ve certainly learned a lot from some of the most respected members of the nerdery elite.

Music, which started today, is a little different though…The jeans are a little tighter… There’s a little more plaid, a little more facial hair, and the air has just a touch of arrogance to it. That’s right, the musicians are starting to overpower the nerds. While I enjoyed Interactive immensely, I’m really looking forward to Music and all the great shows we’ll see. The panels will be very different as well.

Matthew Siegel said:

In the morning, we learned that original ideas for the internet date back to the 1830s...that's right, they didn't have the telephone, but some guy still thought the internet would be a pretty cool idea. Since most of our short term memory was erased later on in the day by the nuclear tacos (read on for more), you can check out that cool dude's name and other interesting factoids about the history of the interwebs at Alex Wright's website.

One of the new friends we've made here at SXSW (a great guy from ASCAP by the name of Mark Palermo) decided that as SXSWi newbies we had to experience the nuclear taco buffet in Brush Square Park. Being the cavalier hot-pepper-eaters that we are, we dove right in to the nuclear (nucular as Reagan would say) tacos and we were certainly regrettful of our arrogance. These were the most painful things we've ever had to eat, but at SXSW, if it's free and you can eat it, you have to take it.

We capped off the night with an awesome show from Boston synth-pop act Freezepop - Jesse has been photographing the band for years and insisted that this was one show we didn't want to miss - it certainly dissapoint. This band is a lot of fun - especially if you like to dance - and they have exceptionally stylish schwag that I would recommend wearing even if you don't like synth-pop and keytars.