World Famous In San Francisco

I've seen a lot of people bemoaning the state of SXSW. Its not as fun as it used to be. Its too crowded. The corporate sponsorships are too intrusive. And, worst of all, the music isn't that great. Well, ok. Its true. SXSW is way too big for its britches. I mean, this really isn't surprising. The festival is now old enough to drink, and twenty one year olds are troublesome when they decide to party.

Having never been before, I was overwhelmed by many of the festival's growing pains. From the desperate search for a hotel room, to the lines for shows, to the lines for after parties, to the bouncers who guarded the brightly colored wristbands that you needed to get into VIP shows (which, once you got into you couldn't figure out what the fuss was about). Its a bit much to go through just to see a few bands. Except that bands are so promotion crazed they're after as many shows as possible in four days. I heard some bands had show counts in the double digits. Its like sport fucking for bands! I noticed a lot of shows seemed to be under-attended, so in the end I'm not sure this strategy is really paying off.

Also, there's the joy of being in Texas. I know, I know, Austin is different but maybe the rest of Texas floods in for the festival to throw beer bottles at you for wearing white pants, or to hang out of their pickup trucks to scream at you that they (correctly) think that you're a faggot, or cosy up to you on the dance floor to try and chew (literally!) their way into your heart. But the real nail in the coffin for the festival was when the interactive section was added. The geeks are making their desperate grab for cool, and thats usually when you know its time to move on.

All of that aside, we still managed to have a blast. The trick is to go to the 'unoffical' events and bypass all the above silliness. These were much more laid back, friendly, and sonically interesting. I wrote a ton about The Smell/Deathbomb Arc showcase already but another fun showcase we hit up was the Social Registry/Cake Shop showcase which is pretty cool if you like some scuzzy modern psych (which I do). Speaking of, I was totally enjoyed Knyfe Hyts, one of the scuzziest, ugliest sounding bands. And they've got a look to match. Check out "Smoke The Milk" on their myspace page, it was seriously hypnotic live. Pictures!