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Lucky 13

Let's go back to 2008. Let's indeed. Paul Ford penned the epic Six-Word Reviews of 763 SXSW Mp3s as described on the tin. Not happening yet: Facebook, YouTube, Netflix (DVDs on Demand). Popular Streaming services: XM-radio, Sirius, and Pandora. People still Icecasted. We had a Squeeezebox. To review all of SXSW you download 4GB and crank up iTunes. To share with the masses, well, good luck with that.

But here we are now. Of the 827 I could fetch (via brute force) as of February 22 only 91 made the cut at 4-stars. The three 5-stars get a special callout this year. I built a few streaming playlists by hand. As per usu- the tastes are mine and the selection process capricious.

Noteworthy in 2019: abundant Spanish-language lyrics, fewer 90s soundscapes, more funk, more preivious year repeaters, fewer harmonies, more piano, more straight rock, more experimental.

Stream on.

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhN2kxWjgueLto6xRZYtFEib7M_NnJdCU

YouTube Music https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhN2kxWjgueLto6xRZYtFEib7M_NnJdCU

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6uBWcq1EE1LVsRI5W9v5w4

Soundsgood (exportable) https://play.soundsgood.co/playlist/sxsw-2019-5

Zip https://drive.google.com/open?id=13Z8rTUpu7vetCES83OH1pewqzF4o9hNU

Files https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wm3IV84twxX6f9T3arH74SXy1dEWRU82

CHAI  / N.E.O.

No connoisseur but I'm captivated with Japanese+Genre since BabyMetal and especially like this Kawaii Punk band. Musicianship is totally airtight. I cannot comment on lyrics, political statements, or degree of irony. Videos are extremely Beatles.

Chelsea Williams / Boomerang

Singer-songwriter typically grabs a spot on my top list. Since boomerang is way shorter than usual, bonus score: get to the point and leave us wanting more. Chelsea's voice is 100% memorable and her accompaniment deliciously sparse.

Jojo Abot / Gods Among Men

Not since Tanya Tagaq (2008) has something been this off-the center fantastic to me. I am not educated to what's happening and I don't want it to stop. The videos are fabulous with both highly developed performance and candid reactions from the audience (or city as it may be.)

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This shouldn’t take long...

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A Hot Year

This is a hot year (#12) for SXSW to me distilling 116 wonderful tunes from the most talented of people. Just a skimming of the frosting of the tip of the iceberg of the million or so teams of people who put their hopes and dreams in each other's care, serve up their art, connect us to our inner divinity and hopefully a little closer to our collective whole.

I make no bones about my strong prejudice for specific flavors of arrangements, timbres, twists of harmony, a heartbeat, getting to the point, and measured surprises.

Courtesy of HTML5 I put a little effort into making a single playable page with links to the artist info at SXSW as well as a listen and download button for each song. Artists provided these songs as showcases for their work and I hope you will find a few new obsessions and track them starting now.

Much love and ♩

-M

https://sxsxsw.tumblr.com/post/170854335053

(update: this page now has playback controls)

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SXSW 2018 Showcasing Artists ~ [email protected] ~ sxsxsw.tumblr.com

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Now Playing:

★★★★★

LungBottom of the Barrel

OhmmeFingerprints

★★★★

Hans NaynaMusic for the soul

Violetta ZironiDon't Make Me A Fool

Damien McFlyI Can't Reply

Joshua BurnsideTunnels pt 2

Stella DonnellyBoys Will Be Boys

Emma ElisabethDying Inside You

Lucy RoseIs This Called Home

FOXTRAXGrey Morning

Curtis McMurtryWrong Inflection

Justin Michael WilliamsHere With Me

WallowsPleaser

Liza AnneParanoia

Samantha GlassFirst Stairwell

Aisha BadruBridges

YonakaBubblegum

JuliettaBeach Break

Adam TorresHatchet

Lord BuffaloIndian Summer

Becca MancariArizona Fire

La Misa NegraSancocho

DYGLLet It Out

Lou RebeccaFantôme

Sturle DagslandNzinga

The BlackberriesFlowers Paint The Sky

The Teskey BrothersPain And Misery

Brooke AnnibaleRemind Me

Trophy DadLouis Sachar

Bad MovesThe Verge

Adrian DanielDeadly Attraction

VOWWSForget Your Finery

FlyteFaithless

BP Valenzuelabbgirl

Mozes and the FirstbornIf I

El Otro BorgesEstar en tus zapatos

The Warren Hood BandThe More I See You

Us and Us OnlyFull Flower

Lolo LovinaEarthlings

VARSITYSo Sad, So Sad

Mal Blum and The BlumsReality TV

UniAdult Video

Husky LoopsTEMPO

MothersCopper Mines

Ida MaeFeel Them Getting Closer

Scenic Route to AlaskaSlow Down

Frank TurnerThere She Is

Step RocketsKisser

DryspellYou Without Me

The ElliottsMore than a Man

GordiHeaven I Know

Caroline RoseMoney

NakuryNecesario

FebuederMorning Yawn

Kalu & The Electric JointToo Low To Get High

Divide And DissolveAssimalation

Oak HouseCut That Out

BeamsYou Are an Ocean

DomicoKonnano okashikunai?

Tino DrimaAngels

CaseroloopsGirls

The QualitonsGone To You

Sam FenderPlay God

machìnaneon

Chloe FoyFlaws

Dennis KallaCrack Your Skull

Thunder DreamerThe Bridge

Royal TeethTime Bomb

The MaríasI Don't Know You

André CymoneBlack Man In America

The Soft White SixtiesBrick by Brick

ESKAShades of Blue

ParsonsfieldStronger

Julia LucilleEternally

Courtney FarrenHard To Tell

Marty O'ReillyOff and On Again

Amy OSunday Meal

NoMBeFreak Like Me

LYLOYou Have Your Father's Eyes

Nox BoysMilitary School

Shelita BurkePenetrate

Gothic TropicStronger

The Lost BrothersEchoes in the Wind

LipHelp

Sloppy JaneMindy

DAVIETestify

The Money WarRecall

Club De SurfX-Ray Nation

Saint SisterCausing Trouble

HoodlemOld Friend

ZoologyMaroon

Kaela SinclairDon't Follow

Death HagsMetal Teeth

SegoWhatever Forever

Planet BootyNaked

Courtney Marie AndrewsMay Your Kindness Remain

CHAIBoyz Seco Men

The CommonheartQuestions

SaintsenecaMoon Barks At The Dog

EllevatorSt. Cecilia

Venzella JoyMy Love

InvokeThe Trace

Christy HaysRibbon Of Highway

Ian MooreYou Gotta Know

Cuddle MagicSlow Rider

Wilder MakerNew Streets

Renata ZeiguerBug

Harvey MclaughlinBigfootsville

BullyRunning

Ari RoarTake Me Over

David BarbePortuguese Door

Blood Wine or HoneyAnxious Party People

MantraWant

Larissa BaqClara

The Black SorrowsI Love You Anyhow

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Only 543 of the 935 artists show up as raw tunes (and some of them a little busted) but here we go...

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A Good Year in New Music

The hard way. For the better part of 11 years sxswtorrent has hosted the whole shebang of SXSW’s music showcase and it was pretty easy to get a hold of. This year they waited so long I had to do it myself with curl and sed along with a few of the usual suspects in the hackery-pokery of internety-weby things but I prevailed sorta.

Only 832 of the artists had publicly hosted mp3 tunez and after hashing through those those good friends at sxswtorrent released the whole torrent including sanitized tags and other wondrous ID3gasms. OK so a little paste and join later I now have 961±ε reviewed sorted scanned and re-reviewed downpiled into exactly 183 songs 11h 46m with an unusually high 5 instances of ★★★★★

Here they are, hosted in the weird docs-ery way in which docs does its thing, for your perusal. The genre selections are of course my own personal take and although YMMV, it’s hard to beat the price at $0

SXSW 2017 Picks

[sxsxsw]

A Good Year in New Music

The hard way. For the better part of 11 years sxswtorrent has hosted the whole shebang of SXSW’s music showcase and it was pretty easy to get a hold of. This year they waited so long I had to do it myself with curl and sed along with a few of the usual suspects in the hackery-pokery of internety-weby things but I prevailed sorta.

Only 832 of the artists had publicly hosted mp3 tunez and after hashing through those those good friends at sxswtorrent released the whole torrent including sanitized tags and other wondrous ID3gasms. OK so a little paste and join later I now have 961±ε reviewed sorted scanned and re-reviewed downpiled into exactly 183 songs 11h 46m with an unusually high 5 instances of ★★★★★

Here they are, hosted in the weird docs-ery way in which docs does its thing, for your perusal. The genre selections are of course my own personal take and although YMMV, it’s hard to beat the price at $0

SXSW 2017 Picks

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Pass #2, I rerate all the 3-star songs and either make them 2 or 4.

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Almost done here, forgot to up this a few weeks ago.

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One Mean Regression

Some 200 years ago mathematicians discovered something peculiar while observing large numbers of natural events. To paraphrase: all averages, on average, well, look pretty darn average. Individual nature is distilled into an aggregate saying something about everything in general more than anything in particular.

This is my 10th rating of the SXSW Music Showcase (that’s 10,000 songs now) and these picks are a lot like all my priors. By now it is no surprise that this effort largely results in revealing things about myself: I’m easily hooked on the same few gimmicks. I have a fondness for particular sounds and rhythms. It takes me a long time to notice there are lyrics.

At some point I stopped concerning myself about what is objectively good and focused on what I like and these I like. Enjoy.

SXSW 2016 Picks

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Prateek Kuhad ~ Oh Love

You remember that story, the one your friend likes to tell to people after they get to know each other a bit and it always gets a big laugh and now you’re all a little bit closer now? The one you never get sick of hearing even though you’ve heard it a dozen times already and it’s gotten really polished now and sometimes you forget and almost tell that story like it’s your own?

You know that movie with the trick ending, the one you watch every year just because it reminds you of the first time you saw it? The best part about that movie is the trick ending and it’s no longer a surprise but now the anticipation  is so much more delicious and the fulfillment almost sends you chills now. You’ll talk about it for the next two days, every time.

You know that sound of your own voice in your head that sings along with the tune that you love so much that you played seven times in a row yesterday? You’re just a little bit afraid of burning out the grooves on it but you can’t help yourself because at this point it’s like every song you’ve ever cherished and hell it’s in your own voice now and it’s wonderful to be in love with yourself for a change?

This song right here just gets right in there for me immediately. It’s full of gimmicks that I’m a complete sucker for: Catchy guitar rhythm and hooks, Breathy and reedy vox that counterpoint, Lots of repeated lyrical and melodic phrases, Big ol’ pyramid arrangement with more and more and more, Clever harmonic tweak just before the change, A nonstandard song structure, A fake ending, A really big real ending. It’s a dorito flavored ice-cream gin sandwich.

Come share a plate.

video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vP1CMK4I3Y audio http://soundcloud.com/prateekkuhad/oh-love artist http://prateekkuhad.bandcamp.com/ sxsw http://schedule.sxsw.com/2016/events/event_MS34812

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I’ll tell you a secret: I will not listen to all 2.6 days.

www.sxswtorrent.com/site/sxswtorrent/2016

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(Cracks knuckles. Gets to work.)

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SXSW 2015

I present to thee an offering of services rendered: a playlist tendered and divined from the deluge of new artists and musics that precipitate annually into the SXSW basin. This, like every other, reflects primarily my tastes and critique and is subject to the whims of the day and mood I am in. But it is indeed a poor showing this year, a mere 89 of 1287 reaching the listen-again bar. ZIP (650MB) http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0faoAOxEajhc1ROcFRmZXl5NEk/view?usp=sharing

Per-Song (89) http://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B0faoAOxEajhfnBLX1VyMnFSZFhRSlhLSzk5SkdXNGgxYS1CRTU1VFRSUEtWNzZhcHlIZWc&usp=sharing#list

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It Ends.

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it begins (part Ⅰ)