The list appeared late this morning on South By Southwest's web site, a few days later than usual -- the lovely folks that run the nation's largest music-industry conference usually get the list of offical showcase music acts out by the first weekend in February -- but it's finally here. And it's quite interesting.
For the first time in my memory, Houston-area acts have claimed more slots than North Texas acts: 45 to 41. The majority of musicians from Space Town appear to be hip-hop acts, a phenomenon surely spurned by the still-strong chopped-and-screwed Houston rap style.
Of the local acts many are sage picks, including Calhoun, the Crash That Took Me, Fishboy, Glen Reynolds, Mom, Record Hop, Play-N-Skillz and a recently re-formed Centro-matic. Others are, well, odd (Ryan Cabrera? Lumba? C'mon). Post-emo act the New Frontiers made the cut, possibly thanks to its helping out down-on-its-luck acts such as Mississippi's the Colour Revolt (which made it again this year) in 2007. Also in: the hyper-artsy ambient electro-noise duo Tree Wave. Big local names: Bowling for Soup, Brave Combo, the Feds, the Drams and classic-rock wayback-machine torch bearers Kenny and the Kasuals.
On an international level, second-tier nationalities on the world's popular-culture rubicon appear to be championing their pop-music scenes to SXSW more than ever. Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and the Netherlands all have multiple acts performing at showcases. Iran's got three (and it may be the last chance for bands from that country to come in quite a while if the political atmosphere continues to devolve in Tehran), and acts from as far away as mainland China (FM3), Slovenia (Volodja Balzalorsky), Latvia (Mona De Bo), Indonesia (the s.i.g.i.t.) and Uzbekistan (Navruz) have snagged spots.
Am I gonna see any of 'em? I doubt it. But judging from this list, SXSW's offerings have leapt to a new level of stylistic broadness in 2008. And I'm not sure that it's a good thing.
