tv time out? head back to sxsw

I don't look like I used to
I don't walk like I used to
I don't love like I used to
Oh I...
When I feel old

Can't do the things I...can't to the things I...used to,
'cause Oh I...I feel, feel, I feel old.
--Erika Wennerstrom, The Heartless Bastards

Next tv time out you might want to surf over and catch some of NPR's All Music Considered coverage of the recent SXSW You can only hear a handful of the nearly 2,000 bands that played at this year's SXSW festival but there's a decent sampling of indie music that's a lot more interesting than a mismatch.


Grinding Fat Possum rockers, The Hearless Bastards, turn in a charged set from Stubb's Bar-B-Q. The Avett Brothers throw down country cooking from North Carolian that'll put meat on your bones and a smile on your face. And Blind Pilot, the only band in recent history to tour on bikes, as in bicycles, serve sturdy, sweet pop songs for dessert. K'Naan provides some dancing afro-beat, rapping riffs from Mogadishu, Somalia by way of Canada with a detour through Harlem. A decent buffet at all-you-can eat prices.

As NPR's core audience ages, it's been trying new approaches (blogs, podcasts, and yes! even twitter) to attract younger audiences. Thus, for the past couple of years, NPR Music has been broadcasting, in cooperation with the Austin independent radio station KUT, live sets from SXSW. And NPR, likely thinking of that core audience who still writes checks, tends to focus on indie bands previously profiled on such stalwart shows as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Fresh Air. If you want to discover bands on your own you still going to have make your way to the local clubs or take a road trip to Austin and stand in line. Sounds like a plan but in the meantime...

K'Naan image by Chris Holden in Ottawa, 2007

blind pilot rides hands-off bars
radio k (minneapolis) sxsw coverage
100 bands from sxsw

lightspeed champion @ sxsw festival

Good news for music fans locked into working FOR THE MAN when they should be out celebrating the advent of spring and some of the hundreds of bands appearing at the SXSW festival in Austin, TX. NPR, yes those staid NPR folks, are broadcasting LIve! from Austin. Venues like this are in part what took the NPR head out earlier in the week, but I say go for it. Puzzles are fun and all, but they don't make you want to dance.

What's nice about this coverage is that it's full of all the defulgities of a live show, including, not knowing when the next act is coming on stage, dealing with amp problems, wavering volume levels, and announcers who sound more like fans than pinheads.

So point your browser to npr music, crank up the speakers, and enjoy what you can. Local NPR affiliates are picking up where the national feed drops off. Right now we're enjoying the rocking sounds of Jonhathan Rice who says,
"We're all stuck out in the desert
and we're going to die!
Wipe that sand and salt
from your blistering eye."


Update 3/30/2008:You can read about what sxsw is really like from a musician who was there at the Wilder's On Tour blog.
brother phil testifies on sxsw

Photo by Jessica Byme