While 2022 marked the return of the exceedingly popular South by Southwest (SXSW) conference and festival as an in-person event, it also marked the second year in a row that Flagpole would cover it virtually. The fact is that there was too much uncertainty surrounding the time during which travel, lodging and other important coordination would need to be handled—generally the months immediately preceding the event’s March dates. Having covered SXSW in person for over a decade now, and knowing full well exactly how sloppy and careless large festival crowds can become, especially during late-night unofficial gatherings, I declined to attend in person. A fresh breath of Texas air can be wonderful during normal times, but I wasn’t about to take a chance on that air being full of whatever virus variant is about to pop onto the charts.
That said, many of our Athens brethren did make the trip, and by all accounts their journey was successful and yielded the strong reactions and audience pleasing moments each hoped for. Specific shout outs should go to Linqua Franqa (Mariah Parker), The Pink Stones, Neighbor Lady, Kishi Bashi,
Nana Grizol and Blunt Bangs. Apologies to anyone left off this list. I assure you it was inadvertent.
When SXSW shifted successfully last year to an online-only event, it’s already tech-heavy presence increased dramatically in terms of traffic load and content availability. This year, the online offerings were necessarily slimmer, but the increased production values were still on display. So my experience, while more than a bit stilted and wildly outside my traditional range of coverage, still ran as smoothly as possible. The ability to rewind, pause and save certain featured events were a huge aid as well.
Musically speaking, I thoroughly enjoyed Tufan Derince (Diyarbakir, Turkey/Netherlands), Nancy Sanchez (Toluca, Mexico/United States), Belako (Mungia, Basque Country, Spain), Yayoi Daimon (Osaka, Japan), and Ceramic Animal (Doylestown, PA). There’s always the temptation at SXSW to seek out and engage the hottest, most talked about, up and coming acts from the United States because that’s what our press and social media concentrate on and what our friends and peers are talking about. However, it’s a woeful mistake to spend one’s time experiencing SXSW by chasing down sets by the buzziest artists simply for clout and clicks. I mean, if you happen to be a super-fan of whatever current indie flavor of the month is playing right at your doorstep then vaya con dios. But it still seems like a whole lot of lost opportunity when there are artists in the room next door that have literally travelled across the globe and who, more than likely, you’ll never see again.
The talks, interviews, and live conversation sessions that take place at SXSW ground zero (AKA The Austin Convention Center) are always generally well-produced and thoughtfully curated. This year was the same. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation between Nabil Ayers (US President Beggars Group) and journalist Andy Langer. Ayers—whose resume includes co-founding Seattle’s Sonic Boom Records as well as founding his own label, The Control Group, and being the former US label manager of 4AD—was eminently personable and seemingly approachable. His autobiography, My Life in the Sunshine, is due out in June via Viking/Penguin. Further, Ayers imparted a sense of rational pride balanced with an uncharacteristic—for the music industry at least—sense of sincere humility and thankfulness.
A pleasant surprise was watching Beck being interviewed by preeminent music journalist Amanda Petrusich (The New Yorker). While I maintain that Petrusich is easily one of the most insightful and important critics in music history, Beck is an artist I’ve basically never really enjoyed and have been totally comfortable letting his career pass me by over the past three decades. This talk between the pair, though, might have me reaching for my headphones to do some historical penance and give him another chance. Beck was utterly engaging, a great storyteller, and expressed some serious level of being mystified at his own success. Speaking on his breakout 1994 hit “Loser” he said, “Everyone was shocked. I was the most shocked!” Later on when Petrusich remarked that Beck’s 1996 album Odelay was the one that “[She’s] always thought of as [his] Tusk… it turned 25 this year…”, Beck’s razor sharp, immediately delivered reply was “It’s still living at home, though.”
Among the most anticipated keynote presentations was the conversation between Lizzo and I Heart Media’s Angela Yee. It was delivered on the cusp of the release date of her new Amazon Prime series “Watch Out For The Big Grrrls.” Touching briefly on current Texas politics—Lizzo was raised in Houston—she remarked that she was proud to represent Houston but not Texas as a whole at this moment in time. Yee said, “Sometimes I feel like artists don’t want to get involved in politics, but how can you not?” To which Lizzo replied, “How can you not reflect the times as an artist? Because what we do, we’re a conduit for the people hopefully. We represent for the people. We put it on a platform, we put it on a stage… hopefully, you know, I can do my small part to speak for the people and represent and just keep pushing. That’s why I’m here. You know what I’m saying? I’m gonna show up because I’m a big Black girl represented for what the fuck I need, and I’ve got people on this show who need to be represented so I’m here.”
And that feels about as good a place to end this year’s story as any. Although it’s been two years in a row now that in-person SXSW reporting hasn’t been feasible, here’s to hoping this pattern never repeats.
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