Taken from Livedaily

20 bands to watch at SXSW 2010

Posted by Banks on Mar 11, 2010

Every year, a wave of anticipation greets the announcement of the SXSW lineup and, for a few weeks in March, the blogosphere and print publications kick into overdrive attempting to crown a Next Big Thing.

The Next Big Thing could be it a band, a stylistic movement or even a mindset. Come summer, it’s usually all forgotten.

Then, an act breaks and an analysis of their rise–especially in the rock realm–often includes some gig at an Austin venue that played a role in getting them on the fast track to fame. South by Southwest is the largest music festival in the United States. Now in its 23rd year, the music portion of SXSW kicks off March 17 and runs through March 21.

As SXSW has grown (officially it is up to nearly 75 venues, each with five or six bands per night over four days), the ability to boil down the festival to a single definition has become an impossibility, even if a visitor puts the blinders on and only catches metal acts, bands from Scandinavia or rappers. Lately, the festival has been a prime launching ground for British acts on major labels–Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae have made recent splashes–but it has become far more important for musicians looking to take the next step in their career, however that can be defined.

Few, if any, acts walk away from SXSW with major-label interest, but plenty secure new management or new distribution, get some ink for their music or do a collection of interviews. It’s a place for a band to build a team to move them up on the food chain.

It’s not just bloggers and hangers-on these people are playing to: Performers get in front of film- and TV-music supervisors, booking agents, radio programmers and people who connect bands with product promotions. If there is one significant change at SXSW over the last decade, it’s the apparent presence of non-music companies looking to hook up with musicians.

Truthfully, no act is going far unless they have the goods musically. Looking at SXSW as a stepping stone, there are a good number of acts poised to spring forward before the 24th edition of SXSW rolls around. In many cases, SXSW is part of an already laid out touring/marketing/publicity plan; elsewhere its a collection of performances–most acts play a showcase gig and at local parties separate from the festival–made with fingers crossed that this is the start of something special. Increasingly, bands appear at SXSW and then make considerable strides internationally: English folkies the UnThanks embark on European tour immediately after SXSW with an eye toward returning to the States in July.

With the belief that guy-girl duets, orchestral arrangements and identifiable roots are emerging trends, here are 20 acts, listed alphabetically, with considerable potential to take their careers to the next level.

Real Vocal String Quartet. The combination of violins, vocals, foot stomping, hand clapping and African percussion can make a listener forget they are listening to an interpretation of old-time folk music from the American South, Brazil and Africa. San Franciscan Irene Sazer, an original member of the Turtle Island String Quartet, founded the RVSQ, which released its self-titled debt album last month, an effort stunning in its breadth of styles and the performers’ command of the material.