The Mercury News' blog has a post on the candid panel discussions with The Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde and The Kinks' Ray Davies, who just released a new solo album. The thrust of the post was Hynde's comment that she "probably wouldn't" record again.

Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders, a trio lead by Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, got a write up by liveDaily. Of a band showcase, Jon Zahlaway wrote, "Hawkins succeeded at carrying an entire 45-minute rock show while seated behind a drum set--no easy feat." The band's self-titled debut comes out Tuesday on Thrive Records.

Here comes the backlash: The Austin American-Statesman asks of SXSW: "Is it too big?" "Even people with $575 music badges, which take priority over the $130 to $150 wristbands, can't count on getting into the big shows," wrote Renuka Rayasam. Chicago Tribune music writer Greg Kot underlined the problem of overcrowded shows. "SXSW has become almost too good at what it does and attracts too many people," he said. "And if I'm press and I need to do my job and I can't get into a show, that's a problem." Free shows, though, are plentiful and ever multiplying.

On that note, check out the videoblog section of the SXSW website. Jason Gross of Perfect Sound Forever has a videoblog (lots of short video posts). One is with Ed Ward, a music writer and one of the original organizers of the event. Of what he sees 20 years after the first SXSW conference, Ward told Gross:

"It sure has gotten big, and it sure has gotten out of control in some ways in that it seems people no longer come here to learn about the music industry so much as they come here to attend parties during the daytime. I've been sort of disappointed. The panels were once my responsibility here and there doesn't seem to be much in the way of panels this year because nobody goes to them. They're too busy out partying and drinking beer at two in the afternoon. (I'm too old to do that.)"

Continue reading "SXSW Notes: Hynde, Hawkins, The Backlash" »

[music jobs] Director of Content at Dada Entertainment; New York, NY.