SXSW Preview: the top 5 bands I'm looking forward to

The other day I did an interview about "going commando" at SXSW - um... not in the "traditional" sense, but in the wristband and badge-free sense.  Once again this year, my sister and I are hitting up the festival as unofficial attendees - which is completely possible and incredibly cheaper than ponying up the several hundred bucks that a real badge will set you back.  The way I see it (and the way I said it in the interview), despite my careful scheduling and best intentions of seeing as many of the 1,600 bands as possible this year, there are shows I won't be able to get into, and chances are I'll abandon my agenda anyway after few beers and just start wandering toward whatever sounds good.  At the end of the week, my experience will probably be pretty similar - badge or no badge - but the difference is I'll have gas money to get home and enough left over to have a pretty awesome St. Patty's Day (if my liver is still intact).

That said, there are still some bands I'm DYING to see.  But my #1 tactic for SXSW without a badge is to keep my expectations within reason.  Last year, I picked a handful of bands that I desperately wanted to see at the festival, and made every effort to see each of them play (and I succeeded, thank you very much).  Everything else was delicious icing on the cake, but focusing my efforts on seeing the top 5 was an attainable goal and kept me from going completely insane trying to see every band in Austin. 

This year, I'm doing the same thing.  And, I've asked a few of my friends for their top fives as well - I'll share those lists shortly.  But here are the top 5 bands I'm looking forward to seeing at this year's SXSW:

Frightened Rabbit

I've been loving Frightened Rabbit since I took a closer look at Sing the Greys last year during my second attempt at the 30 Days, 30 albums project, and in the past few months I've been spending a fair amount of time listening to the Scottish band.  There's pretty much no chance that they'll be stopping in Nashville at any point in the near future and their upcoming The Midnight Organ Fight is one of my current most highly anticipated albums, so I really really want to track them down in Austin.  (myspace - official showcase - mp3:  "The Modern Leper")

Jens Lekman

I've been immensely bummed to see that Jens Lekman keeps consistently skipping Nashville on his tours - particularly since I'm head over heels for last year's Night Falls Over Kortedala.  Fortunately, Jens is playing quite a few shows at SXSW, so hopefully he'll be easy to check off of my must-see list.  (official showcases - mp3:  "A Postcard to Nina")

Vampire Weekend

What can I say?  Yup, Vampire Weekend is probably the band to see at this year's SXSW - either because you've been obsessively listening to their self-titled debut for the past few months or because you're completely unimpressed by the ridiculous hype surrounding the buzz band and would like to be able to say you saw them and they sucked.  Either way, I think a lot of people will be checking this band out simply to see what all the fuss is about.  Personally, I want to see them because I think if their live show is anywhere near as fun as their album, they're worth tracking down.  (myspace - official showcase - mp3: "Walcott")

White Rabbits

Man, I keep forgetting how excited I am about the prospect of FINALLY seeing White Rabbits live - the band was scheduled to play here in Nashville with the Kaiser Chiefs last year, but unfortunately the tour was canceled.  Fort Nightly was one of my favorite albums of 2007 (again, I'm referencing that list that doesn't really exist) and I've been dying to see them play for more than a year now.  (myspace - official showcase - mp3: "While We Go Dancing")

White Williams

Now that I'm thinking about it, I really haven't heard much about what White Williams is like live, but I listen to Smoke pretty constantly and was pretty excited when I spotted this name on the list of artists performing at this year's SXSW.   And considering the fact that "Violator" spends at least 5 minutes stuck in my head almost every single day... yup, you could say I'm psyched to see White Williams in person.  (myspace - official showcases - mp3: "Violator")

Comments

[Julia]

Have fun, White Rabbits is definitely guaranteed to be awesome.

[jennay]

lucky girl.

i wiiiish that i could get in on some of that jens lekman action. but alas. no nashville.

if you happen to run into him and chat, suggest he play there. and i'll love ya. =)

have fun in austin!