Austin Sound

The bands that came into SXSW with the biggest buzz this year have thus far proven to be uncharacteristically fantastic. Usually the hype overwhelms the talent, but most of the bands that we were excited about (see our SXSW Buzzkill! for a taste), have surpassed expectations. So you have two more days to get out [...]

You may have survived the first day of SXSW, but there are still three more to go, and things are just starting to heat up! Today your options our myriad, but we have you covered with our picks for the best free shows going on. Check out our live blog to see what we’ve been [...]

We don’t engage in too much snark here at Austin Sound, just ‘cuz that’s not our style. But somewhere in the midst of plotting out our schedules and rifling through the thousands of bands flooding into the city for SXSW, our cynicism took over. So rather than simply present the national acts that we’re excited to see and rehash the usual over-hyping bullshit, we decided to take another track. Make no mistake, these are the bands we’ll be going out of our way to catch over the next few days, and we encourage you to as well, but we needed to flush our systems of hipster snark so we could start fresh. So without further ado, we present Austin Sound’s SXSW Buzzkill! We have 30 bands covering this year’s biggest buzz, to the familiar indie powerhouses, to the under the radar groups who we think will make a splash at SXSW 09. Give us your best buzzkill in the comments!

SXSW kicks into full swing today, so whether you’ve got a VIP-chain swingin’ from your neck or empty pockets and a yearnin’ for free beer, these next few days are going to provide, provide, provide! Here we have a by-no-means-comprehensive list of suggestions for getting your local fix on Wednesday. If you’re looking for the [...]

2008 was declared by our mayor to be “The Year of Austin Music,” which was intended to focus attention on helping Austin’s struggling musicians that keep the Live Music Capital of the World thriving as the music industry continues to go through turmoil. The declaration could have just as easily been a recognition of what was another excellent year of music in the Capital City, however. We saw some big breakouts with the amazing return of Alejandro Escovedo and the stunning step forward for Shearwater, while the Black Angels channeled classic Roky Erickson, James McMurtry continued to spit poetic spite, and the Sword drew blood nationally on tour with Metallica. It was also an exceptional year for younger artists that have been featured on our past Sound Advice comps: The Lovely Sparrows, The Strange Boys, Brothers and Sisters, Brazos, White Denim, Black Joe Lewis, and Balmorhea, just to name a few. And this year’s Austin Sound compilation features 21 more local artists that have excited us over the past year and that we think you should hear!