For the first time ever, South By Southwest squeezed its film, interactive and music components into a single week. For those of us who go for the live music (and maybe a comedy show as a palate cleanser), it meant that showcases from 1,200 or so acts would be spread over seven nights rather than four. And as much as we love Austin, who can afford to spend a full week in a city where hotel rooms average $600 a night? (Yeah, we have a few friends in Austin. But they left town and rented their homes to visiting musicians.)
But even over the few days we could manage, we caught a few dozen artists. With so much sensory overload, it’s hard to draw conclusions about much of anything. But several things stood out: 1) Either the bands are getting younger, or we’re getting older; 2) more artists are saving money by performing over recorded tracks; 3) the self-styled British Embassy is still the best bet for new discoveries and great sound; 4) marquee acts were few and far between (unless you still consider Alanis Morissette and Five For Fighting marquee acts); and 5) spring weather in Austin is getting even more extreme (94 degrees on Sunday, 44 on Monday).
For years, the Austin Convention Center was the heart and lungs of the event. Now it’s been replaced by a massive hole in the ground as the city embarks on a multi-year rebuilding of the complex. For us, the fenced-in pit was simply another thing to walk past on our way to the next band. We didn’t particularly miss it.
Another thing we didn’t miss were the crowds. Since SXSW resumed after a two-year pandemic break, it’s been noticeably quieter. Sixth Street can still feel like a war zone late on a weekend night, but the size and scale of the music portion felt more like the good old days, when smaller clubs were the preferred destination. Which was fine by us. And so were these eight bands that left an impression for various reasons.
—Steve Fennessey and Hobart Rowland
CASHIER
In administering its pummeling assault on SXSW 2026, Cashier was all business. They slinked on- and offstage with little fanfare and nary a wasted note (except when adjusting their alternate tunings between songs), leaving ringing ears and slack jaws in their wake. As a point of reference for the oldsters, the Lafayette, La., foursome sounds like a cross between Dinosaur Jr, Swervedriver and Lush. But it’s likely many of their young fans could care less about the ’90s. Or maybe we’re not giving them—or Cashier—enough credit.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Low, for now. Seems they’re resting up after an epic 16-show run at SX. But you can listen to their new EP, The Weight (Julia’s War), and check out our podcast with the band.
THE BAND LOULA
The north Georgia duo of Malachi Mills and Logan Simmons have been singing together since they were kids in church. In Austin, they played for the SXSW congregations—and bigger crowds at Willie Nelson’s Luck Reunion. The Band Loula (also pictured up top) even did a hilarious pedicab karaoke. Named for Simmons’ hometown of Lula, Ga., they toggle soulfully from murder ballads to Southern stomps. Simmons’ voice—smoky and strong, like an Appalachian Dusty Springfield—makes an immediate impression. But it’s Mills’ steady guitar and yearning, empathetic vocals that anchor the songs.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Moderate. They’re currently touring the South and Midwest behind their 2025 EP, Sweet Southern Summer (Warner Music Nashville).
STILL BLANK
Still Blank had one of the more interesting pedigrees among this year’s crop of SXSW buzz acts, with singer/multi-instrumentalist Jordy Fleming hailing from Kaua’i, Hawaii, and guitarist Ben Kirkland from Manchester, England. The duo’s self-titled National Anthem/Capitol debut sounds less shoegazey than Fleming and Kirkland do onstage with a full band blowing behind them. Are they My Bloody Valentine lite? Are they a Gen Z update of Belly? Maybe a little of both. But they’re also a compelling approximation of themselves, which bodes well for their future. And truth be told, Fleming would make an infatuating frontwoman for any band.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Excellent—if you live in Europe, where they’re opening for Royal Otis this summer.
MEEK
Released barely two months ago, Meek’s “Fabulous” has already reached anthemic status among LGBTQ listeners thanks to its addictively defiant “But I look fuckin’ fabulous” chorus. Georgia Meek’s SX appearance was a different sort of coming out, as it was her first time performing in the U.S. as Meek. At 31, she’s been working in music for years in the U.K. under her given name. Supported by a pair of backup singers and a drag-queen pickup troupe from Austin, she careened through a brief-yet-joyous outdoor set on a hot spring afternoon. The set included some promising new material from her upcoming LP (release date TBD), including the infectious, unabashed “Gay As It Gets.”
Chances Of Seeing Her Live: Not likely anytime soon.
HECTOR GANNET
Sort of like Jethro Tull, Hector Gannet is the band and not the guy. Frontman Aaron Duff is a singer/songwriter from North Shields, a village on the banks of the River Tyne in Northeast England. The band name is a tribute to a fishing trawler his grandfather managed to escape after it sunk in 1968. That juicy piece of information—along with the almost 800-year maritime history of his hometown—says a boatload about what makes Hector Gannet so unique. The band’s epic new single, “The Jetty’s End,” is part Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald,” part Richard Thompson’s “Mingulay Boat Song” and part Springsteen’s “Badlands.” If they could lean more heavily into the latter, they may find an audience in the United States, but that would mean trading the trombone for a sax.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Pretty good—if you live across the pond. The group is also finishing up its first new album in three years.
KID PHENOMENON
We first stumbled on members of Kid Phenomenon in the middle of the day on a lonely Austin overpass that spans I-35. They were handing out promo cards for their set later that night. At the time, they looked like what they are: three Japanese teens sharing some laughs. About 10 hours later, in a large-ish club, they were something altogether different: a dance band evidently costumed by a blind man that still managed to elicit ear-splitting shrieks from the underage girls who somehow made it past the guy checking IDs. Their “Tokyo neo pop” visually incorporates anime and gaming into a well-choreographed shtick. Like every boy band, the septet is as synthetic as plastic and apparently just as indispensable, judging from the crowd. Check out the clip below, and you make the call.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Close to zero—unless you live in Japan.
KING NO-ONE
Around for more than a decade, this English alt-indie trio is just getting around to releasing its first album, The Burden Of Empathy (Canvas), on April 24. At King No-One’s rousing SX showcase, lead singer Zach Lount spent a good part of the set everywhere but onstage. At one point, he scaled the bar, then stood on a stool while enthusiastic fans cheered and took to their phones as if wireless mics were an exciting new technology. From the stage, he accepted a cowboy hat as a gift from an audience member, then proceeded to wear it backward. “Do I look more American?” he asked. Umm.
Chances Of Seeing Them Live: Iffy right now, even in their home country.
LEE BAINS
Eighth-generation Alabamian Lee Bains’ relationship to his roots and his homeplace are conflicted. But unlike most Southerners, he’s excavated this tension in ways both provocative and raucous through his work with the Glory Fires. As a solo act, he comes off a bit like Billy Bragg—if the celebrated populist folkie traded his working-class East London accent for a Southern drawl, wore overalls, worked a day job in construction and sang about Bull Connor. Between songs at the 13th Floor, an Austin club where the soundboard seemed pinned at 11, Bains railed against the bombing of Iran, the oligarchy’s attempts to divide us and the oppression of the working man (and woman).
Chances Of Seeing Him Live: Not great, though he does have a few shows in April.
