REPORTS

DAILY REPORTS FROM SXSW 2004

THURSDAY March 18

Austin, Texas-- It's sunny and 27degrees C in Austin which, even for Texas, is unseasonably warm mid-March weather.

The 18th annual South By Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference is boasting 1100 performers at 58 venues which suggests the organizers are trying to over saturate delegates as a way of dealing with the ever-growing encroachment of outlaw events. Instead of raising the quality of their events, they appear to have simply increased the quantity.

Yet given the choice of attending a snoozer panel this afternoon like "Finding a Grown-up Audience" or going to the Village Voice party at Red-Eye Fly where you can catch Calexico, Calla, Your Enemies Friends, The 88 and a DJ set by Ted Leo while guzzling brew gratis with your collegues, most delegates would likely choose the latter.

The big surprise here so far has been the shocking prominence of hiphop. While a handful of Indigo Girls fans turned out for the Daemon Records folky showcase at Momo's Wednesday night, there were thousands of sweaty hiphop headz packed into Emo's main room for the Rhymesayer's showcase to see off-the-hook sets from Atmosphere, MF Doom, Eyedea & Abilities (who stole the show), Soul Position, Brother Ali, Micronauts and others.

The sound was rock 'n' roll loud and clear while everything ran smoothly and on time. It really was a watershed moment for hiphop at SXSW and that's just the begining. At the same high-profile venue tonight it's backpack night with Aesop Rock, El-P, Akrobatik, Fakts One, Rjd2, Jean Grae, Beans, Vast Arie and Diverse which should be huge with SXSW's sizable collegiate contingent.

Tim Perlich