SXSW 2008 -- 20 Songs

Oh, this poor neglected song blog. Since the demise of Webjay, I've lost my mojo for finding great new music and wanting to share it. But somewhere I saw a reference to the new SxSW site being launched, and every year it's got piles of amazing new (and free) music from the bands playing and promoting themselves at the festival. I poked around a bit and found 20 songs I really liked, cutting across some genres, but mostly with good melodies and some interesting experimentation:

• Longwave -- No Direction
  ...a solid, polished indie rocker with just a hint of '80s pop in the vocals
  
• Zykos -- Keep It Light
  ...meandering, mellow gem with beautiful strummed bass and heartfelt singing
  
• Born in the Flood -- Anthem
  ...pretty, jangly verses building to an amazing and rollicking yelled chorus that gives me goosebumps
  
• Say Hi -- Northwestern Girls
  ...straightforward indie-rock with a tight, focused sound and a cool chorus that is probably repeated a few too many times
  
• Colour Revolt -- Naked and Red
  ...swaggers along with some neat twists and turns, a very nice mix of polished and raw, especially at the end where it kinda goes off the rails
  
• Brazos -- Mary Jo
  ...hard to classify, but it's a great, authentic sound with a mellow vibe I really like
  
• Bella -- Give It A Night
  ...a driving beat, perky synth, great female harmonies; what's not to like?
  
• Duchess Says -- Black Flag
  ...I wasn't sure about this one at first with the early '80s synth-pop and Blondie vocals, but this might be the most fun on the list
  
• Cloud Cult -- Chain Reaction
  ...complex, fascinating song from an incredibly talented band
  
• WHY? -- The_Hollows
  ...a very interesting sound with a sort of spoken-word approach, growling bass and cool samples. Not sure what kind of music this is, but it's cool.
  
• Son Lux -- Break
  ...innovative sound, maybe a bit disjointed, but beautifully layered
  
• Edison Glass -- All Our Memories
  ...odd rock song that sort of careens all over the place, never getting too comfortable for long...pleasing, though
  
• Pinstripe -- Closest Thing to Heaven
  ...poppy rock with a good beat and polished harmonies, not for fans of raw self-recorded indie
  
• Parkas -- Filthy Rich Kids
  ...this one reminded me a bit of the Weakerthans, with a slower, down-home vibe and real warmth
  
• Audrye Sessions -- Julianna
  ...maybe a bit emo; catchy, well-executed rock song
  
• Magnet School -- Crush
  ...very cool song, quite dark with a wall of sound that doesn't overwhelm the vocals
  
• Air Traffic -- Shooting Star
  ...super polished piano-rock a la Jack's Mannequin, if that's your thing
  
• Search Rescue -- Fireflies
  ...solid mellow rock with great harmonies
  
• Kate Bradley/The Goodbye Horses-Gold Body
  ...this one reminded me a bit of that fantastic Concrete Blonde album, maybe not quite so wonderfully dark, though
  
• Basia Bulat -- In the Night
  ...not my usual style of music, but there's something compelling about the sweet vocals and retro backing music

Oh, and you can just grab the playlist if you want to stream them all online.