SXSW Music Festival 2024: Tuesday, March 12 (Austin, TX)

I remember an earlier time when attending South by Southwest was an experience of getting bombarded by advertisements to see a band, buying something, or getting some drink specials. Being in Austin, Texas at SXSW 2024 is basically like being in Vegas, plua live music. However, cultural and political issues have been distractions to the week-long festival in recent years.

This week has been no different, as many bands dropped out in protest of SXSW accepting certain military and defense industry sponsors. As of Tuesday, more than 80 bands had joined the boycott led by the Austin for Palestine Coalition. For those in the music industry, SXSW is still a big deal, and boycotting is not a trivial decision—especially for up-and-coming artists and their record labels.

Kudos to those that boycotted and made the best decision for themselves, which is not a slight to those who didn’t. Quite a few artists made it a point to acknowledge the protest during their performances: Dream Nails, Babe Corner, and Wyldest to name a few on Tuesday. I wonder how the rest of the week will shape out.

The International Day Stage returned in a new location with the Registration Lounge moved to E. 5th Street just a couple of blocks northeast of the Convention Center—definitely a welcome change from last year’s less accessible location. Dutch post-punk band Tramhaus brought the beats and guitar riffs during its first-ever SXSW and U.S. show. Melbourne-based alt-country band Bones and Jones hit all the right notes during its late afternoon set. Lead vocalist Jasper Jolley recounted a story of getting invited for a horseback ride from someone the band met at a bar earlier that day. “[That’s] pretty Texas for us,” said Jolley.

At some point on Tuesday, I think people just felt like dancing, which was a bit wild to see happen in a crowd for a string quartet. To be fair, Vulva Voce is not your typical string quartet, and the band performed some very contemporary takes of some very old songs. (Here’s their repertoire list, but they have only released two singles on Spotify.) It was jarring to see people who danced to 16th-century interludes stick around at Seven Grand and use those same dance moves for the English punk rock trio that followed: Dream Nails. Outspoken for promoting equality through their music, Dream Nails performed with their hearts on their sleeves with songs that promote safeguarding reproductive rights and sexual freedom. The highlight was the set closer, “Ballpit.”

Manchester-based indie rock band Lottery Winners, late-evening replacements at the British Music Embassy, was probably the most demanding of attendees to dance, but you could easily forgive the band for wanting and needing to feed off the crowd’s energy. This was their fourth Tuesday show so far, and as lead singer Thom Rylance exclaimed, “I’m so f*cking tired.” Having made music and played shows for over a decade, Lottery Winners seem to have finally reached their breakthrough moment, as seen in the self-reflecting “Letter to Myself” that Ryland wrote to his 12-year-old self. Great energy, and I hope they finally got some rest that night.

Although my physical dancing did not match my mental dancing, I still found myself wanting a tempo break for the night’s last shows. Vancouver rock band Babe Corner performed many songs from its debut LP, Crybaby. I had so many bedroom pop vibes, I would’ve assumed most of the music was about sex, but love and loss lingered (“Cigarette”).

The 13th Floor hosted solo shoegaze project Wyldest, which was my second time seeing London-based singer-songwriter Zoe Mead at SXSW—my first was years earlier when the project was billed as more of a trio. But COVID happened, things changed, and Mead learned to embrace the music she’d originally dreamt to create. It was a poignant moment when I realized that her best musical self didn’t include her earlier bandmates, and that was okay for me as a passive listener. Honestly, everyone really is, and we’re all along for this musical ride.