Austin's annual mecca of music, technology and the arts, South By Southwest, is done and dusted for another year, leaving in its wake several days' worth of stuff to write home about.
However, as is our wont, we're sorting the musical wheat from the chaff to determine the local and international artists who made the biggest impact at the event and whose names are still buzzing hard now that the event is over and the countdown is on for 2018.
On the Aussie side of things, both Alex Lahey and Tkay Maidza seem to have emerged atop the pile as far as breathless coverage out of SXSW is concerned.
Both were featured in EW's write-up of standout acts, where Lahey attracted attention for her "deep arsenal of pop-punk hooks" and superior stage banter, while Maidza "demolished" her showing at Barracuda's outdoor stage with "a raucous set that proved her hip hop bona fides and EDM-oriented party savvy".
Lahey was also praised by both Stereogum ("a gifted songwriter who hopefully has many more hits left to write") and Brooklyn Vegan; Maidza, too, turned Stereogum's head and picked up plaudits from the Austin Chronicle.
Additional Australian acts to break from the pack include Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Woodes and Boo Seeka, who all earned a nod from the Toronto Star as being among their favourite discoveries of the event, as well as the much-hyped Middle Kids (the Irish Times was particularly taken with "their brew of bubbly, occasionaly bittersweet indie anthems in the making") and stalwart outfit All Our Exes Live In Texas.
RBCF, who even made it all the way to the notice of The New York Times, were pegged by the Star as "all your favourite Australian guitar bands — The Go-Betweens, The Church, Dire Straits — rolled into one exquisitely locomotive package", while Woodes landed props among a group of "women with loads of gear making compellingly dreamy slow-motion dance music" alongside the likes of Anna Wise and Overcoats. Boo Seeka made the cut for being "two cute boys from Australia playing slightly earnest but totally sticky electro-pop".
Internationally, the gloriously impassioned showmanship of New York's PWR BTTM bore multiple mentions across ensuing coverage — even from places such as WMOT Roots Radio, which lauded the band's ability to "shred and swagger with infectious joy, complete with backbends and solos and spangly outfits" — as did rapper DRAM, who, The Guardian gushed, is "the future of pop", and Chicago singer-songwriter Noname, who the Irish Times pegged as "one of the stars of the week".
Three-piece noise-makers Dream Wife — who were on the line-up for the Splendour & Falls Festival party — also earned a few mentions out of SXSW review coverage, the Star's writer effusing, "I would have taken in all nine of their SXSW gigs if I could" and EW musing that the band "performed like old pros, bringing tight precision to their razor-sharp songs".
True to several pre-SXSW predictions, Brooklyn indie-rockers Big Thief have earned themselves a bunch of new fans out of the event too, with NPR marvelling, "It felt like just the beginning for a band with a big, bright future," and the Austin Chronicle being left just a bit stunned at the folk-leaning foursome's ability to slay when the occasion calls for it (the Irish Times was into it too).
Meanwhile, LA singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers also seems to have had a brilliant South By, gaining the stamp of approval from both NPR's Stephen Thompson ("Hers is the voice I'm most eager to hear on the plane ride home," he said) and the folks at Brooklyn Vegan, among others.
We're sure there are heaps of other artists who've managed to rise above the mass over the course of the event but hopefully this has at least primed you with some excellent acts coming out of SXSW with whom you'll want to make sure you're acquainted as soon as possible, if you're not already.
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