South by Southwest Festival

The Worst Things About SXSW 2013

This year, our sister papers at the Houston Press music blog Rocks Off and Dallas Observer music blog DC-9 at Night teamed up to bring you only the choicest moments from last week's SXSW madness. See Also: -The Scene at SXSW: Here's What You Are Missing -SXSW 2013: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Spai ... More >>

SXSW 2013: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Phosphorescent, Natalie Maines, Richard Thompson, China Rats and More: Review and Photos

This happened: Laura Cantrell, a New York-based country singer and songwriter, shared a stage with two friends, Rosie Flores and Kristi Rose, backed by Fats Kaplin and Mark Spencer, two of the finer musicians in a town that, on this or any week, affords some stiff competition. The trio of voices fil ... More >>

The Five Biggest Sellouts at SXSW

SXSW is not a music festival so much as it is an experiment in excess. If Coachella is a glass of water that keeps getting bigger until it more resembles a kiddie pool, then SXSW is a flood with a neglected cup somewhere in the middle. The natural result is rampant crowds and ever more rampant lame ... More >>

SXSW 2013: Critically Important Questions Raised By This Year's Event

Editor: We have so many questions here in Austin. Here are 50 of them. 1. Will I like the pedicab costumed as The Hulk if he gets angry? 2. Are we all really just in New York? 3. Is this t-shirt rad? 4. Do you want to get some 'za, which is now absolutely the slang for pizza? 5. How far can yo ... More >>

The Scene at SXSW: Here's What You Are Missing

By Craig Hlavaty Awwwww, I know it is a shame you aren't here with us at SXSW in Austin. I can only imagine the aching and longing in your heart for walking aimlessly and standing in long lines for no reason, and sweating through your cardigan to see a band you heard on one of the Twilight soundtra ... More >>

SXSW 2013: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Spain, Ivan & Alyosha and More: Review and Photos

Kneeling down at the edge of the stage at the big outdoor venue of Stubb's in Austin, Nick Cave cradled a young man's head in his hands and sang his death-filled take on the deathless "Stagger Lee" myth. The jammed-in crowd laughed a little nervously. Cave stared down at the kid, who just kept noddi ... More >>

The 20 Most Overused Terms In SXSW Band Bios

By Craig Hlavaty Before I take any trip to Austin and SXSW, I always take more than a few days to peruse the schedule and check out a few of the hundreds of names on the roster and read their bios. Some years there are more bands with "wolf" and "space" in their monikers than usual, and some year ... More >>

The 50 Commandments of SXSW

You're going to South by Southwest, right? Or you're already there? One of those things is bound to be true. Well, we here at RFT Music have got some advice for you, and we've managed to format it all into the style of commandments, because one of our favorite things to do is pretend we're angry God ... More >>

The End of SXSW 2012: Too Much Portland to Count and a Little St. Louis

Friday, March 16, 2012 2:15 p.m. By mid-afternoon the South Congress strip had become a not-quite-debauched Mardi Gras parade of young and old, hip and unhip, crunchy and coiffed, and dogs, lots of dogs, all taking in the food trucks, boutiques, vintage apparel encampments and day parties, lots of ... More >>

The Worst Moments from SXSW 2012

The last few days, Village Voice Media's indefatigable music staff has been regaling you with stories of the best from SXSW 2012. In the midst of these discoveries, we've been culling another list: the worst shit. The acts that ranged from huge bore-fests to downright lame. Below, you'll find our cr ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Friday 3/16/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music editors have selected t ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Thursday 3/15/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music e ... More >>

Fiona Apple, Tennis and Corporate Sponsorship: SXSW 2012 Days 1 and 2

Tuesday, March 13, 2012 6:25 p.m. I've been coming to SXSW for over a decade now, and pre- and post-apocalypse days off are as much essential rituals as 2 a.m. taco runs and sleep deprivation. This year, there'd be no day-before day off, as SXSW has extended the music portion of the festival/confer ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Black Milk at the Gramophone, 3/11/12: Review

Black Milk | J. Pinder | A.Dd The Gramophone March 11, 2012 One of the Motor City's finest underground emcees, Black Milk, made a stop in the Grove last night, bringing with him an impressive lineup of hip-hop acts from across the country for his Claps and Slaps tour. Unfortunately, hardly anybody ... More >>

Cult of Youth

9 p.m. Monday, March 21. Apop Records, 2831 Cherokee Street.

Vandalyzm Drops a New Song, Info About His New Album

Just before he hits SXSW, Vandalyzm checked in with a new song and some info about his upcoming release, Vandalyzm Is The Stepfather. It'll be coming out this spring, for starters, and he has features from Tanya Morgan, Naledge of Kidz In The Hall, Diz Gibran, Marvwon, and Nickelus F (among others). ... More >>

St. Louis at SXSW 2011: Who's Playing Where

Annie ZaleskiNato Caliph at SXSW a few years ago​It's hard to believe, but the music portion of the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2011. In the last quarter-century, the annual event has evolved to become the gathering place for music-industry darlings, wann ... More >>

So, Who's Going to SXSW from St. Louis This Year?

Image via​In a little over a month, bands from all over the world will converge on Austin, Texas, for this year's edition of SXSW. The lineup, as always, has a mix of legends and upstarts -- everyone from the Bangles to Cloud Nothings and Das Racist are appearing. (The list of bands showcasing ... More >>

Five Questions: Vocalist Brian Kelley of Irish Lo-Fi Band, So Cow

courtesy of Tic Tac Totally Records​At a day party on the last official day of SXSW, aggressive, garage punk filled the small confines of Trailer Space Records. Sharing the bill with the likes of West Coasters Thee Oh Sees and Nodzzz, Ireland's So Cow breezed through their ninth SXSW appearanc ... More >>

A Mexico-Based Competitor to SXSW Kicks Off this Weekend

The mammoth SXSW 2010 has competition this year from a new, independent music and arts festival south of the border in Monterrey, Mexico. Called Festival de Musica y arte para todas las Edades -- or simply MtyMx -- the three-day festival lasts Saturday, March 20 through Monday, March 22, and is bill ... More >>

SXSW Day Two: KDHX/Twangfest Day Party, Ray Davies, John Hiatt, Morning Benders, Roky Erickson/Okkervil River -- and More

Hating on South By Southwest is too easy. Just look around: Shit-faced lawyers waxing bizness gobbledygook to shit-faced salesmen of exercise bikes, members of psych-metal bands (probably called Red Octopus or Purple Cobra) barely remaining vertical for all their unbathed rock studiousness, the endl ... More >>

Who Is Responsible for YouTube Video Sensation iamamiwhoami?

Few viral campaigns have so successfully captured the attention and imagination of the increasingly hard-to-shock Internet public like the recent iamamiwhoami sensation on YouTube. The series of hypnotic videos -- the latest of which was released on Sunday -- feature a disguised, blond-haired woman ... More >>

SXSW Day One: Billy Bragg, Broken Bells, Miranda Lee Richards, Jason Collett, Fanfarlo more!

Big Star's shadow is looming large at this year's SXSW.​The text that Alex Chilton had died came through just before midnight on the first full day of South By Southwest 2010 in Austin. I was on my way to the sleeze-and-cheese-and-bathroom-cologne club Prague to see the anti-Alex, Billy Bragg, ... More >>

Five SXSW Best Bets: Sleigh Bells, Best Coast Three More Acts to Watch

SXSW is the Kentucky Derby of American music festivals. It's a quick race to the finish for up-and-coming bands to test their might and merit against their fellow musicians and friends -- all while enjoying as much free beer as possible. Here's a look at five of the favorites who have a chance of br ... More >>

SXSTL: St. Louis sends several representatives to Austin for this year's SXSW festivities

Bands! The SXSW Application Deadline Is Looming!

Just received word that Friday, November 6, is the last day that bands can apply for a showcase at next year's SXSW festival via Sonicbids. The link is here! $40 gets you applied and a free six-month subscription to Sonicbids. What a deal! If you have any doubt that SXSW is a blast, just take a look ... More >>

First Batch of SXSWi Programming Confirmed

​Last month we told you about the St. Louisans vying to get their panels on the program at the 2010 South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin this coming spring. Well, the first batch of panelists was announced yesterday, and we were pleased to see our fair city represented on this li ... More >>

Hoots and Hellmouth

9 p.m. Saturday, June 6. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

RFT Music Feature Subject Little Steven Introduces Living Things, Who Proceed to Burn $$$

Crystal Wiebe at the Pitch penned an interesting blogpost yesterday about a press release she received about a Living Things gig at SXSW, during which the band set fire to money onstage. She says:The stunts were done in protest "Wall Street's dirty ways" according to the release. The band also had t ... More >>

SXSW Report: Saturday with PJ Harvey and Beyonce's Little Sister, Friday with New York Dolls and Camera Obscura

Where to begin? I should start with the ornamental comb, like three white gleaming stakes from some Gnostic purification ritual, holding a jet-black stack of hair atop the fiery head of Polly Jean Harvey. She's never wanted for making an impression. Wrapped in white, backed by a hard avant-garde blu ... More >>

Okkervil River, Roky Erickson, Minipop, Soundtrack of Our Lives at SXSW

SXSW Local News: The Aftermath, featuring Ludo, So Many Dynamos, Magnolia Summer, Earthworms, Gentleman Auction House

Liam Finn, The Golden Dogs, Joseph Arthur, Heloise & the Savoir Faire at SXSW

The Kills, Lightspeed Champion and Sons & Daughters at SXSW

The RAC MP3 Collection: A Sonic Companion to this Week's Cover Story

St. Louis Bands at SXSW

Ludo, Earthworms, Nato Caliph Playing SXSW

Shame Club Signs to Small Stone Records

Bring Back the Guns

9 p.m. Monday, November 26. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.

Siblings at SXSW

Turbo Fruits

7:30 p.m. Friday, January 19. The Acoustic Café at the West County YMCA (16464 Burkhardt Place, Chesterfield).

Attention, Local Bands: Get Out of Town!

Don't Mess with Texas

A dispatch from SXSW

South St. Louis?

There wasn't much of the Lou at South by Southwest

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Radar Station's going to SXSW and you're not

Southern Exposure

South by Southwest welcomes some St. Louis acts that merit the spotlight -- and one that doesn't

STL by Southwest

Local heroes Nadine drove hundreds of miles to perform at SXSW, the music industry's biggest clusterfuck. Was it worth it?

Local Heroes

Bonus points to St. Louis bands for warming the winter

Days of Heaven