Austin proves to be a musical mecca

If you think contemporary music is headed downhill, then I can probably guess where you weren't between March 12-16. You weren't at the South by Southwest Music Festival, the annual industry get-together held in Austin, Texas.\nI was there, and SXSW didn't fail to invigorate. The festival, which reportedly featured more than 1,200 artists and bands, draws critics, music executives and fans from around the world in the music industry's version of spring break. The event, which began in 1987, has become so popular that it now includes an interactive festival and a film festival. But the music remains the reason to visit.\nPanels often include discussions of current trends in music. Parties are often afternoon shows held by business entities looking to promote artists. \nBut the showcases are the highlight. At nearly 50 different Austin music venues -- the city takes its "Live Music Capital of the World" moniker very seriously -- different artists and bands perform on the hour from 8 p.m. until 1 a.m. nightly with sets typically lasting 45 minutes.\nThe abbreviated sets at SXSW serve as a way for up-and-comers to get into the buzz bin. For example, last year an unheard-of jazz singer named Norah Jones played. On the other hand, the festival also has worked as a way for established, major-label artists to show off their new songs, which is essential in an era where radio stations narrow their playlists to the point where only chart-toppers get airplay.\nSo the highlights emerged from both the obscure and better-known. Yo La Tengo previewed new songs from its forthcoming Summer Sun, another hushed but pretty record in the vein of 2000's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out. Psychedelic excursions met melody while the band reimagined its classic "Autumn Sweater" with bassist James McNew and drummer Georgia Hubley adding layers of rhythm to guitarist/keyboardist Ira Kaplan's plaintive vocals.\nMudhoney played a monstrous set, finally relieved that it's out of major label hell and back on Sub Pop Records. They made a strong case for last year's more avant-garde Before We Become Translucent and proved that while grunge is dead, they are not.\nRye Coalition played a dynamic set in support of its new Jersey Girls EP with lead singer Ralph Cuseglio, who looks like he could be an accountant or lawyer, swinging from the speakers hanging overhead. The band, meanwhile, fused dumb but funny lyrics (song titles include "One Daughter Hotter Than One Thousand Sons" and "ZZ Topless") with a fierce hard rock rhythm section and riff-crazy guitars.\nIkara Colt surprised as the British punk band nailed sharp songs with arty lyrics and a furiously energetic beat. Axewoman Claire Ingram could be the first bookish guitar goddess while Dominic Young's busy fills gave him the best case of drummer face, the look of an intense skinsman who barely has control of his limbs.\nLongwave proved intriguing with their airy, early-1980s keyboards accentuating thick guitars from the shoegazer handbook. Some compare them to a U2/Strokes hybrid, but while that might be naive, the breakthrough potential is warranted. \nAustin's own Bob Schneider, the town's equivalent to our John Mellencamp, showed that he might one day approach Mellencamp's national fame. He doesn't write populist anthems the way Mellencamp does, but he breaks up the monotony of the quiet, folky singer-songwriter with slightly offbeat, occasionally dirty lyrics and a tight horn section.\nGrandaddy offered more new bong-fueled psychedelic pop songs from its yet-to-be-released new album Sumday. The songs remain perpetually shaggy but retain the injections of weird keyboard noises that made 2001's conceptual The Sophtware Slump a major artistic statement.\nPerhaps nothing exhibited the free-form nature of SXSW more than The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players. The trio, featuring father Jason on keyboards and vocals, daughter Rachel on drums -- she's nine years old -- and mother Tina displaying slides obtained at yard sales and flea markets, were the larf of the festival rhyming "drunk uncle" with "Simon and Garfunkel."\nYou haven't lived until you've heard a nine-year-old girl between songs say, "Dad, merchandise!" to a forgetful father before he points out the table in the back of the room holding CDs and t-shirts.\nThis is only a partial list of bands that I saw, and there were many more I wanted to see but couldn't. I saw enough, though, to know today's music is more than fine.