Here's a snapshot of SXSW as our contributor and photographer navigate the hundreds of bands playing throughout the city of Austin. With so much to see, we asked for a "best of" viewpoint of the week. Visit SXSW.com for more highlights and leave your comments below if you were here.
Word by Chris Pacifico
:: Images by Dave Vann
Day 1: 3.15.06
BEST 3 BANDS I SAW TODAY:
The Sun: Columbus, Ohio crew that played to a packed house at the Velvet Spade and kept the crowd grooving with their own brand of synth tinged albeit psychedelic power pop.
Of Montreal: Members of the loosely based Elephant 6 Collective put on a dancy and bass ridden set with flamboyant stage getups and quirky grooves that were emitted all across town
The Black Angels: Austin’s own psych wizards boggle minds with a mind blowing set of droning trippiness and spaced out jams.
BEST BAND THAT I SAW TODAY THAT I NEVER HEARD OF:
Serena Maneesh: Norwegian collective who have been collecting quite a bit of buzz within the online music media, live up to it and then some with a psychedelic and noise laden set with smoky harmonies and a kaleidoscopic aura that hovered over the crowd and left them breathless.
Day 2: 03.16.06
BEST 3 BANDS I SAW TODAY:
Celebration: An amazing array of punk fueled jazzy cabaret as front woman Katrina Ford danced like she had a massive case of the heebie jeebies . Ford made sure that the crowd got moving too as she jumped in the crowd, tambourine in hand to make sure that everyone got down.
Lion Fever: Perhaps one of the most criminally overlooked bands in America today led by the throaty voice of Jennifer Pearl, Lion Fever wowed the crowd with their abrasive and sometimes foreboding swampy hybrid of blues and psychobilly musings.
The Capes: Britpop may be long dead but these cheeky UK lads put on a set full of huge shiny hooks with a jolly good guile that only the English pull off.
BEST BAND I SAW TODAY THAT I NEVER HEARD OF:
Tapes N' Tapes: Minneapolis crew who are much buzzed about within the blogger world, show their cred with their enchanting and pepped up pop guile.
Day 3: 03.17.06
BEST 3 BANDS I SAW TODAY:
Apollo Sunshine: These Boston boys threw down an amazing set of twangy sixties laden pop as boy wonder guitarist Sam Cohen showed that he is quite possibly the most underrated guitarist in America today.
The Spinto Band: The next great hope in all of indie pop played their own brand of jittery and spunky tunes which kept the crowd bouncing and begging for more.
Band of Horses: One of the top bands to keep your eyes on for 2006. Imagine the sweet, sugary harmonies and melodies of the Shins with the elastically ethereal instrumentation of My Morning Jacket.
BEST BAND THAT I SAW THAT I NEVER HEARD OF:
Grand Champeen: Austin's own play a mix of raw, rugged roadhouse rock that is non threatening and with a boogie twist. At the end of their set they left with a bang by giving their own kick in the ass to Elvis Costello’s “Radio Radio”.
Day 4: 03.18.06
BEST 3 BANDS I SAW TODAY:
Amusement Parks on Fire: The band whose name is basically the nom de rock of 20 year old Michael Ferrick blasted out a whole lotta fuzz and feedback at Filter magazines party with his foggy voice and excellent synergy from his backing band. Move over, Bright Eyes!
The Gris Gris: This trippy collective adds puts the psycho in psych-o-delic as their set at Beerland brought about the LSD soaked vibes cut from the cloth of Syd Barrett and Country Joe and the Fish.
The Subways: UK teen trio whose garage pop guile made the whole crowd feel young at heart.
BEST BAND THAT I SAW THAT I NEVER HEARD OF:
The Morning Girls: While this Aussie quintet actually has only one girl in the band, they came all the way to SXSW from the land down under to enchant the concertgoers with a misty set of rawkin as well as swirling vibes.
The Slip at Friends
Steel Train at The Dirty Dog
Smoosh at The Parish
Fiery Furnaces at Stubbs
Dresden Dolls at Stubbs
Clue to Kalo at Zero Degrees
Gomez at Stubbs
Nickel Creek at Stubbs
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