SXSW: Lemmy lightens the gloom

By Emma Sutton 1249PM GMT twenty-three March 2010

South by South West (SXSW), the annual song legal holiday of tacos, tequila and bands by the thousand, used to be all about new acts showcasing their wares. This year it seemed increasingly to be about for veterans and tip supergroup surprises.

News of the genocide of successful musician Alex Chilton from a heart conflict rippled opposite Austin last Wednesday night, and majority bands combined covers of numbers by his band, Big Star, to their sets. Big Star"s row contention incited in to a possibility for friends to compensate their respects, whilst their showcase on Saturday night morphed in to a reverence featuring thespian M Ward, REM"s Mike Mills and others.

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Although there weren"t maybe as majority artists representing the UK as in prior years, the British participation was clever old and new. Venerable punk DJ Don Letts was in locale to foster his new documentary about Clash thespian Joe Strummer"s charity, Strummerville. Elsewhere, listening to Lemmy from Motorhead broach a speak in Texan fever about how the roots of complicated steel are in the Black Country was honestly surreal.

Meanwhile, over at the French Litigation Centre, the throng reached hot point for immature Londoners the XX when they launched in to their cover of Womack and Womack"s 1988 strike Teardrops.

Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac"s initial central SXSW showcase was headlined by one of the majority sparkling unknowns in the universe New York"s Theophilus London. His multiple of hip bound and electronica saw him pointer a understanding with Warner Bros in the States at the finish of last year to compare the likes of Talking Heads, Madonna and Prince. He"s really one to watch.

The South Georgia stage has been heavily hyped by song bloggers worldwide this year. Its manifold acts such as Toro Y Moi and Washed Out, who played here to good commend be vexed the thought of being since a sold label, but are mostly termed "slow gaze". These are artists who love bringing old synthesised sounds behind in to the complicated mode of laptop song production.

Aside from the music, one of the majority interesting things about the legal holiday is the pointless A-listers unresolved out, and this year"s preference has not disappointed. Spotting actress Bill Murray, in locale for the overlapping movie festival, at the Very Best showcase in the Beauty Bar was a sold highlight.

On the last day, the continue took a decidedly cold downturn, creation it not utterly so easy to get swept afar by the music. But when the word leaked out that Snoop Dogg, classical 1990s R"n"B organisation Bone Thugz N Harmony and British thespian Estelle were behaving together to move record to a close, the vanquish to get in lifted the heat in the most appropriate probable way.