SXSW is an ever-expanding beast that hasn’t lost its step. Over 2,000 acts on over 90 stages, over 900 interactive conference sessions, over 125 films screened, and those are just the three main facets. Rock poster art has its own place in Flatstock, music gear is displayed in abundance at the Music Gear Expo, the latest games get maxed out at the ScreenBurn Arcade and there’s even a trend-beating fashion segment called StyleX.
Tons of tech companies send their brightest to mingle and catch the latest advances and sometimes show off their own. I was especially intrigued by seminar sessions about branding (“Building Social Media-Proof Brands” and “Brands as Patterns”) and the “Building a Jewish Presence Through Social Media” caught my eye. “Digital vs. Print” held a personal interest, too, as do most of the Journalism & Online tracks. “Has Twitter made the Sports Reporter Obsolete?” begged an obvious question (the answer is “No,” but the reporter does now have a lot more speedy competition flashing out the news).
There’s lots of obvious overlap between the three main tracks, of course, which makes for great synergy. One interactive session was called “The Future of Music Consumption,” which previous years hinted at the cloud technology we’re all leaning on now. Another music/interactive hybrid session was “Can Printed Electronics save the Music Industry?” The Trade Show is one giant exhibit hall that fuses it all in a personal and fun way. Last year I got stoked on the ease of multiple-user video chat rooms, but this year’s mesmerizing booth for me was the DIY vinyl making machine. Vinylrecorder.com was in full-production mode every time I walked by, where they took a vinyl “blank” and cut the grooves on the spot with the spinning device. Truly awesome.
Musical highlights included a nice set of soulful tunes by Tyrone Wells in a cozy upstairs club. He told the audience that one surprise he hears a lot is that he’s white (with a name like Tyrone). He played some new songs, including “Train Wreck.” He shared that in life there are “so many things we can’t control,” but “we can love each other.”
Shiny Toy Guns had a nice slot on the big outdoor stage at Auditorium Shores. Their new songs sounded great. Their singer is totally flowing with the band now – a marked difference from the first couple of shows I saw when she was still new. “Le Disko” was hot and went over well with the large audience. Another new one was called “Speaking Japanese” and it was very guitar driven, though there were some big blips and bleeps from the keys. It’s always cool to see interpreters for the hearing-impaired at big public events, but with her interpretive dancing I wonder if she truly knew the STG lyrics or was just improvising. The band played its version of “Major Tom,” with its refrain of “4, 3, 2, 1, earth below us, drifting, falling…” They ended the buzzing set with the spirutal “Don’t Cry Out” and “You Are the One.”
I hadn’t seen The Cult too many times, but I don’t remember them starting off their sets with the declaration that frontman Ian Astbury said: “Father, forgive us our sins.” The band sounded great.
The HM Magazine Showcase went off well, with Dead Words and These Hearts bringing the rock hard and relentless. It was cool to find out that the folks at djtheonelive were streaming the sets in their entirety. Light Up The Darkness brought their family band to the stage while one of their babies slept in a stroller by the merch table (!) and they really jammed. Their lead guitarist (Paul Brakebill) really shreds. Rocky Loves Emily brought in a ton of girls for their set and frontman Brandon Ellis really played the audience well. Quiet Science ended the showcase with a blistering set that would’ve gone nice right up against Shiny Toy Guns.
My Heart To Fear played a small corner of a small club, which made it even more fun to watch them explode with passion, energy and spit-flying intensity.
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