Sebastian Weikart is a digital guru who loves his music. A contributor to The Gig List and scene v-logger he recently fell a little bit in love with a certain music festival.

Hands up, who likes free stuff? Free beer, free food, even free falafels for picky vegans? Do you like sunshine, warm air and gorgeous year round climate?

Tell me, do you by any chance enjoy seeing awesome bands everywhere you stumble - in pubs, bars and countless outdoor events?

Did you ever had the faint feeling that some of these ingredients mentioned above might vastly improve British events such as The Great Escape and Camden Crawl. Or did you get off on lining up in the for an hour, just to get into a filthy Camden pub?

Well, I tell you what, in that case you should plan your next vacation to happen in March in Austin, Texas. There's a little festival there you might have heard of it, South by South West! It's a 5 day happening that takes over the whole of Austin (an island of liberalism in redneck Texas) mashing-up music with countless fringe events, movie screenings and digital showcases.

I got completely engulfed by the atmosphere over there, my virgin trip to SXSW soaking up what's hot and new in the world of awesome music. Go next year, that's my advice, and perhaps my short diary below will help persuade you. It is lovingly re-assembled (just for you) from my drunken memories of a tidy week!


Tuesday:

Arrived in the evening and met my host in a Coffee Bar called Flipnotics, and witnessed Erik Hokkanen playing his local residency. Seeing this bar with it's several levelled patios, colourful lanterns, warm air, fuzz-free vibe and cheap but decent beer, together with this amazing Jazz band playing, I remembered immediately exactly what I love about certain places in the US - just go into into the next local coffee shop and see some wonderful Jazz!


Wednesday:


Me and my accompanero wandered round the city, after seeing some rather disappointing music of some British bands. Pk we got free beer and free food but whoever they were still yawnsome.

We came across this house party, lured by the promise of some even more free beer, and saw some great bands whose names I unfortunately have forgotten. Ah beer, bleach for the soul!

We went back to the English music place afterwards no less than the official British Music Embassy (within the Latidude 30 venue) to see Band of Skulls who saved thankfully restored some British pride.

The day ended by catching Here We Go Magic and The Middle East, rounding up a pretty beautiful first day mainly dominated by indulging myself after a long English winter in the sunshine and getting a taste of the town.




Thursday:

Thursday we decided to give some fellow Brits another chance and this time unearthed a winner. Hailing from Yorkshire, Slow Club are definitely a great band and made for a promising start to the day!

However I couldn't stay there for too long. There were some bands I wanted to see at Beauty Bar. I was blown away when I got there, walking into the unfamiliar but brilliant immediately set of a great band I never heard before, called Young Prisms. They were easily the discovery of my SXSW.

They make some beautifully noisy, psychedelic shoegaze pop. By then I couldn't help myself,my ears were loving the good stuff and I was blown away by the next band as well!

San Francisco's very own Ty Segall! Raw, juvenile garage rock with fantastic songs, just what I wanted to hear.

Afterwards we strolled around town and stumbled across this amazing car park gig, lured by the sounds of a band called Soft Healers, apparently local Austinites, who sold me with their laid back pop tunes, played under a perfect blue sky!

We decided to hang all afternoon, as a whole string of really good bands lined up, among them Tobacco and Lord Scrummage. The grand finale however was Acid Mothers Temple!

The grand old Japanese psychedelic improvisation masters played in the middle of the crowd after the sun went down and completely dislocated my mind!

As night drifted in we visited fellow Londoner Kimberley, and then headed for the Longbranch Inn, for another string of quality sets. The Fresh and Only, then one of my favourite bands Woods, and then the embodiment of raw garage rock energy - the Thee Oh Sees!

What a day, the best day at SXSW for me.




Friday:

Friday morning started with the Brooklyn Vegan showcase in a place called Club De Ville. Twin Sisters were on and a band I've wanted to see since forever - Zola Jesus! She is amazing and I am convinced that she will make some big waves soon with her emergence from noise / drone into slightly gothic avant-garde pop!

Keen to explore a bit of the local scene, we headed to the south side of the river, where a local coffee shop and an antique furniture store called Yard Dog were staging their own alternative SXSW. They had some strong bands over there, including one of my favourites - Titus Andronicus.

Eventually we headed back to the East End to see the Thee Oh Sees playing in a record shop called Trailer Space! Seeing people crowd surfing to the Thee Oh Sees in a freaking record store was worth all that walking back and forth.

The day ended for me with a massive blast of Londoner underground noise from the ensemble Shit & Shine. They played with only 3 drummers this time, which was a bit of a disappointment in the start, having seen them in London playing with 5 drum sets! Mind you I can imagine shipping 5 whole drum sets could be a drag, not to mention the drummers.

They played one single hypnotic song for 30 minutes, leaving me very satisfied in the end. Shit & Shines very own, kind of self-destructive side project Todd was the final thing I saw that day and it left me with a big grin on my face.

Saturday:

Saturday was dodgy weather-wise. The sky was clouded and a chilly wind was blew through the town. Being a bit exhausted of seeing so many bands, I hung out with some friends, having some BBQ and checking out the local scene in the east side, off the main roads with an informed Austin resident.

Having eventually regained my energy, I went to the Woodsist showcase, to see, again, one of my favourite bands, Woods! This show was even better than the last one, they played a quite big venue which was packed out. Before that, a new incarnation of psychedelic kraut drone, Moon Duo, played and totally spaced me out. They definitely win an extra price for best song name for "Motorcycle I love You" which is on their new album.

Finishing off the day we headed to see British favourites Zun Zun Egui, who actually played in a posh Hotel.

No lack on diverse scenery here, that's for sure!


Sunday:

Good bye Austin! Tragically I had to go back to London. Perfect blue sky, bands under orange sunsets how I shall miss you! I will definitely come back next year and invest some more time, knowing I only touched a tiny fraction of this entrancing, whirlwind event.