SXSW 2007

From the Austinist.com:

Last week, the Austin Chronicle reported that officials at SXSW are
delaying the release of their huge band list. The rationale is that a
late release will cut down on the rampant day party scene from last
year since party planners won't know who is playing until late in the
game. Given the unbridled love we have for day parties, we have our
doubts about the effectiveness of these tactics, but that still
doesn't get you a band list, does it?

To help ease the sting, we've sifted through MySpace, Done Waiting,
The Yahoo! SXSW Group, lots of music blogs, and Pollstar to compile an
Initial list of acts either confirmed or very likely to attend. We'd like to
emphasize that this list is not official, and that bands drop out of
SXSW all the time, so don't take this as gospel. That said, there's a good
Chance you'll see 98% of these bands at SXSW 2007 (list is after the jump):

AM
Ad Astra Per Aspera
Airbourne
Amy Millan
Andrew Winton
Apollo Sunshine
Aqueduct
Architecture In Helsinki
As Tall As Lions
Badly Drawn Boy
Beasts Of Bourbon
Bic Runga
Black Helicopter
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Black Rose Band
Blindspott
Bloc Party
Brave Radar
Call Me Lightning
Carly Binding
Castanets
Charalambides
Children Collide
Chris Mills
Chris Smither
Circa Survive
Cold War Kids
Crooked Still
Cute Is What We Aim For
Danny Saul
Devin The Dude
Die! Die! Die
Dimmer
Dirty Fuzz
Eilen Jewell
Elemeno P
Emmylou Harris
Errors
Evermore
Every Move a Picture
Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Field Guides
Foals
Gasoline Cowboy
George Byrne
Ghostland Observatory
Girl Talk
Go! Go! 7188
Great Lakes Myth Society
HY
Haunt (Matt Hebert)
Hazey Janes
Hedrons
High Dials
Hoodoo Gurus
I Heart Hiroshima
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness
Interpol
Jeffrey Foucault
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter
Jessie Deluxe
Josh Pyke
Kill Surf City
Kiosk
Kris Delmhorst
Kristoffer Ragnstam
LZ Love
Les Savy Fav
Lily Allen
Little Birdy
MV+EE
Macromantics
Magik Markers
Malajube
Margot and the Nuclear So And Sos
Mates Of State
Matt & Kim
Menomena
Mint Chicks
Money Waters
Monotract
Morrissey
My Latest Novel
New Buffalo
New Violators
OWKMJ (Ore Wa Konna Mon Janai)
Octopus Project
Okkervil River
Oreska Band
Ozomatli
Pagoda
Paul Kelly
Pete Townshend
Peter & the Wolf
Pig Out
Pistol Valve
Popup
RJD2
Rachel Fuller
Rahim
Rocky Votolato
Sarah Blasko
Sasquatch
Say Hi To Your Mom
Scissor Sisters
Scout's Honor
Secretary Bird
Shaky Hands
Snowden
So So Modern
Sonic Flyer
Spod
Starky
Stax 50th Anniversary Soul Review
Sunwrae
Tall Firs
Tally Hall
Temposhark
The 50 Kaitens
The Amity Front
The Big Sleep
The Black Hollies
The Caribbean
The Creteens
The Emeralds
The Frames
The Fratellis
The Gear
The Have
The Needles
The Panda Band
The Rise
The Shivers
The Soft Hands
The Stooges
The Theater Fire
The Walkmen
The Weird Weeds
The Wild Eyes
The Young Knives
The Zebras
Thinking Aloud
Thunderbirds Are Now!
Thurston Moore
Turbonegro
Under Byen
Union Of Knives
Via Tania
Viva Voce
Voxtrot
W-S Burn
Watson Twins
Wild Eyes
Winterkids
Winterpills
Wooden Wand
X-Wife
Yip-Yip
Youth Group
Zach Galifianakis

Someone must die.

The Hold Steady will be there, too, and rumor has it they might appear at the Found Magazine party. I luv that pub.

I am thinking about going just because it might be fun mainly but what is its current mission statement? I did attempt to find it on their website, lest anyone suggest that I am the type of moron who wouldn't try that. Plus I am interested in what real people say anyway.

I suppose that you could guess that a lot of these bands are basically indie bands who are performing in front of major label A&R moguls in order to make the jump to the big time? If so, that grosses me out a little.

Or, I guess as many big-time music journalists get to boondoggle on down there, it is still a good press showcase.

Last year the folks who do the Pinewood Stomp event in New Orleans as well as Offbeat magazine I think, put together a New Orleans event that the S x SW organizers included (there was also a club night with Houston rappers btw), I wonder if there will be any such events this year? Did Hot 8 submit a tape and stuff? I think you and I will need to remind/help the brass bands, because relying on the indie and roots rock leaning S x SW organizers to invite them does not look very promising.

When did I say that they did?

you didn't, but your post:

But there are also plenty of unsigned bands that don't get a shot to play SXSW because they're crowded out by all the bands that are doing well for themselves already.

implies that you think it's the fault of "bands... doing well for themselves," which of course doesn't make sense since any band can register for sxsw, and the fest is "curated" (if you will) by sxsw, etc.

It's just a sliver. The Japanese band showcases are usually pretty swell. Roky did a full set last year (non SX event though) and he was so unbelievably good.

The film and new media sections of the festival are far more bareable.

As if on a normal day you could see japanese bands play dive bars in the middle of the day for free.

You're making the assumption that seeing Japanese _BANDS_ means anything to me. To me, it just means a week of not being able to see the stuff that really represents Austin and having to fight tourist crowds and spend twice as much on drinks. I am not being willfully contrarian to be uber hip, it is just annoying to have your town taken over for something that means nothing to you.

When UR and Transmat host parties at SXSW I will change my tune...

As if scores of Austin bands don't use that week to play around town in counter-SXSW events--all the unofficial parties and gigs have become the best unintended consequences of that week. See ya at South By San Jose. I'll buy you a pricey drink at the pool.