The Hottest Bands from SXSW 2009

I'd love to be able to say that I'm writing this whilst sat in the departure lounge of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, bloated from a diet of chili-dogs and lukewarm Budweiser, having spent the last week bouncing around the new music mecca that is the South By South West Music Festival.

Unfortunately the Whisper Mag budget doesn't stretch to sending me off on a jolly (yet), but that shouldn't get in the way of you finding out just which bands from the US will be soundtracking your festivals and episodes of Skins for the next 12 months.

I've been scouring the blogs and HypeM, picking out all the buzz bands that people have been talking about. To be honest I could have written about 20 more bands, but the following are just a few of my hottest tips.

The Golden Filter
Hailing from New York, Golden Filter played the V Magazine party on Saturday night. Electronic, with sweeping orchestras, and cooing vocals, they are pretty much the current vogue sound - bits Empire Of The Sun, bits Little Boots, both of whom The Golden Filter have remixed, along with Peter, Bjorn & John and Cut Copy.
www.myspace.com/thegoldenfilter

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Having already made a bit of a name for themselves in the UK before SXSW, they tour here in May, it's no surprise to see this indie-pop fourpiece get some exposure. Despite their American passports, their sound is a bit Mersey Beat - the La's, Pale Fountains and The Lightening Seeds are obvious touchstones, while on other listens you hear bits of the Ramones and My Bloody Valentine. Can't really say better than that for influences really.
www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart

Harlem Shakes
Harlem Shakes complete the trio from the Big Apple. If Bob Dylan fronted the Strokes, with a saxophonist. Thats all you need to know about these dudes.
www.myspace.com/harlemshakes

Girls
Such a Pitchfork band, it's unreal. In fact they should be called Girls (w/Pitchforks). West Coast breeziness, like a more upbeat Bon Iver. In fact, imagine if Bon Iver had actually married that Emma girl; this is what the resulting album may have sounded like. If Emma was a massive fan of Spiritualized, and played Ladies & Gentlemen We're Floating In Space around their woodland shed all day long.
www.myspace.com/girlssanfran

Local Natives
Of all the bands that I've looked at this week, I think these are my favourites. Folky, but structured, harmonic and complementary, at times they remind me of Gomez, and then later they remind me of Fleet Foxes. In fact the overall trend I've noticed is for very Fleet Fox-y type bands at SXSW 2009. Whether that is a good thing or not is open to interpretation, however I had hoped that there'd be a lot more blown amps, and lot more anger knocking around the lonestar state.
www.myspace.com/localnatives

Juiceboxxx
The best hip-hop in my opinion to emerge from SXSW. With 80's house beats, and 99p synths and handclaps, it reminds me of Yo Majesty, Vanilla Ice (yes, I mean that) and early 90's cancer awareness figureheads Snap!. Seriously you'd think with all those ingredients, the cake would be shit, but it is, in fact, the opposite. Not shit.
www.myspace.com/officialjuiceboxxx

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
They deserve a special mention, for that name alone. I've no idea what they sound like. I don't care, I just want a t-shirt.
www.myspace.com/natalieportmansshavedhead