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So you’re in Austin for SXSW. Perhaps you’re a label A&R looking to sign the next big thing or a music journalist researching another think piece on Macklemore’s privilege, but I’m going to play the odds and assume you’re among the 99 percent wandering the streets on a mission to get loaded on free booze. If there’s a band playing, all the better.
In the name of pure fun, here are 30 SXSW bands that will shake your rump. No shoe-gazing allowed.
Representing the hometown team are Latin stalwarts Brownout and Grupo Fantasma, along with the dirty R&B of Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears and white boy funk of T Bird & the Breaks. Heavy Light rediscoveries Kool and Together and yhe Relatives round out Texas contingent while Jovanotti, Cinemacinco, Café Tacvba, Crew Peligrosos and Bonde do Role all crossed international lines to reach Bat City. Brooklyn deserves special mention here too. as home to both the Indian wedding meets second line brass of Red Baraat and Daptone Records, which is showcasing nearly the entirety of its stellar lineup at Thursday night’s Super Soul Revue.
Have fun out there. And in the words of my guilty pleasure pick of this year’s festival, “Shake ya ass, show me what you workin’ with!”
