SXSW 2012: Please Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself (Festival Roundup)

I love this city, but it is misnamed. It should not be called Austin, but Exhaustion.

From the high of seeing Bill Murray standing astride the bar in a country saloon, singing along to Jack White's set-closing classic 'Goodnight, Irene' to the low of fleeing a full-blown brawl between rapper A$AP Rocky and friends versus a drunk and disorderly crowd at a Vice afterparty, the 26th SXSW music festival was as memorable as ever.

The music industry's annual conference and bacchanal in Austin continues to represent the future of music, in both theory and practice, despite its advancing age. Over the past week, 25,000 or more attendees mingled with at least as many locals and March Break-ers on the closed-off downtown streets as 2,000 odd bands, rappers and DJ/producers filled every available venue in town, from dive bars, BBQ joints and rock clubs to warehouses, parking lots and posh hotel pools.

As ever, you could roam from 30 people in an exposed-brick basement club watching Swedish electro-pop starlet Vanbot to a couple thousand at the Fader Fort swaying to the laptop rock of Chilean-born New Yorker Nicholas Jaar. (Admittedly, the free drinks may have contributed to the swaying.) You can watch MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer join Tom Morello on 'Kick Out the Jams' or spot Matthew McConaughey playing congas with the Cult. And, sometimes, you can get into Nigel Goderich's post-Jack White Third Man Records afterparty in Lance Armstrong's bike shop where Arcade Fire and Bob Mould were DJing, John C Reilly was looking country and Erykah Badu was blocking everyone's view with her hair. (Or, for that matter, ask the wet-haired girl in the elevator if the rooftop pool is warm, only to have Norah Jones turn around and answer.) Check Out SXSW 2012 in Photos But this year's SXSW took an interesting turn. While the festival is famed for discovering new talent, the 2012 edition reserved its biggest buzz for returning heroes.

Sure, there were a few new kids who made an impression, including Montreal's avant-pop star Grimes, who delivered on the hype she rode into Austin on, and her French-Canadian cohort Ariane Moffat who's big-in-Quebec electro-pop more than filled a small Texas bar. As did the sounds of Scottish art-school dance-rockers Django, adorable Australian rockabilly lady Lanie Lane and mixtape rappers like Mississippi MC Big K.R.I.T and Atlanta's 2 Chainz, the latter of whom received a coveted co-sign from surprise guest Kanye West. Of course, the biggest newbie buzz was reserved for charismatic MC A$AP Rocky and his A$AP Mob, the punk-infused NYC rappers who seemed to be playing everywhere all the time and garnered the most chatter long before their audience brawl.

But there was nothing new to compare with, say, Amy Winehouse's striking arrival on the scene in 2007 just before she broke wide.

Instead, SXSW 2012 was about return engagements by the long-gone likes of Fiona Apple, Santigold and, to a slightly lesser extent, Miike Snow. Apple kicked the festival off with a powerful, moving return to form after nearly five years without a show outside L.A., blowing away crowds at both her official Stubb's showcase Wednesday and Pitchfork's church show the following day. Miike Snow, meanwhile, proved to be the prototypical SXSW buzz band. Having established their original rep at SXSW 2009, the Swedish-American epic electro-pop purveyors cemented it this year, test-driving their new songs and pumping up their old ones during three packed-out, arms-up midnight shows in a row.


Santigold had been gone almost as long as Apple, but her successful return was marked not with a grimace but a wide smile plastered across her face during her Spin magazine headlining slot. Though her initial performance at Warner's showcase was marred by poor sound that buried her voice too low in a too-quiet mix, this second gig proved we were not dealing with fool's gold. Amidst her five-year-old favourites like 'L.E.S. Artists' and 'Creator,' came several new tunes which fit with but did not replicate her past success. Backed up by her unsmiling singer-dancer-hipster S1Ws waving croquet mallets and gold pompoms, Santigold let loose with her still-potent mix of hip-hop, indie, R&B and Diplo-matic world beats. Also, there was someone in a horse costume, but I have no idea what that was all about.

Then, of course, there was Jack White who claimed the hottest ticket in town for his Third Man Records showcase, which was an impeccably art-directed indoor/outdoor event that saw the former White Stripes indie god perform two full sets (one with a girl band and the other with a boy band, same as on 'SNL') while his artists like Gothy girl group Black Belles, actor John C Reilly and the aforementioned Lanie Lane charmed everyone in the back patio within earshot (much as Karen Elson won over those within eyesight).

While proving the usual space for reunited and returning icons like the Cult, Jesus and Mary Chain and Jimmy Cliff, this year's festival was also known for having absurdly big stars who hardly needed the festival's awareness-raising powers. With a No. 1 album on the charts, Bruce Springsteen paired his keynote address with an all-star quasi-protest concert in the same venue where Jay-Z and Nas performed. Eminem, meanwhile, provided the requisite rumoured all-star appearance to vainly motivate people to care about his former protege 50 Cent and his desperate full-album run-through of 'Get Rich or Die Tryin'.'

The festival's surge in corporate branding was best (or rather worst) embodied by Doritos, who turned their stage into a giant three-story high vending machine surrounding paid stars like Snoop Dogg. Red Bull managed their own massive free street party with far less obnoxiousness as they brought in Erykah Badu (alongside Crystal Method, Z-Trip and Jazzy Jeff, the latter of whom had earlier had an epic drum-off with Questlove at the Roots gig), who reeled off covers of Dead Prez, N.W.A. and Snoop himself among her own inimitable tunes.

But even the increasing corporate crassness of what was once an indie-oriented festival gets overwhelmed by the sheer chaos that takes over Austin's downtown core each night. From Skrillex to Lionel Ritchie, Lil Wayne to the Shins and Sleigh Bells to Kaiser Chiefs, SXSW has something for literally everyone. But mostly it acts as a tonic to the music industry that is its raison d'être.

As the city becomes overwhelmed with the massive sea of humanity who turn out to see every imaginable genre of music from artists of every imaginable rung on the ladder, it proves that the ultimate health of the music business is rooted not just in the sale of records but in the love of music which seems bigger now than it has ever been.