Wednesday, March 21, 2012

SXSW 2012

I wasn't doing any daily stringer action for South by Southwest this year (I did write this in advance of it), so I was mostly down there to enjoy myself and catch up with Light Asylum for a future article. It was crazy as ever down there; it felt like a Black Friday doorbuster crowd had converged on every Austin corner and in every bar doorway. Now that I've caught my breath and most of the Lone Star has left my bloodstream, I present a partial list of the bands I caught. Right, I don't think this is every band I saw and is in no particular order:

Light Asylum
Snake Rattle Rattle Snake
A. Tom Collins
Wheelchair Sports Camp
Ceremony
Justin Townes Earle
Musketeer Gripweed
Bass Drum of Death
Milagres
Love Inks
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Built to Spill
Of Monsters and Men
Santigold
Big K.R.I.T.
Chairlift
Best Coast
Jimmy Cliff
The Men
Dan Deacon
The Lumineers
Danny Brown
Youth Lagoon
Japandroids
Oneohtrix Point Never
Friends
Alabama Shakes
Andrew Bird
Fiona Apple
Sharon Van Etten

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Pazz & Jop 2011


This is a bit late, but them's the breaks.

So, head here to see what I though was the best in music in 2011. Once again, I am the proud owner of a solo vote for two singles. (And a few with just one or two other voters.) I'm so idiosyncratic!

To see my past voting eccentricities head here and here.

Without further ado, here are the tracks I thought were great...and that nobody else did:

Pictureplane, "Breath Work"



Dawes, "So Well"