(I wanted to get this out before South By Southwest started, but events conspired.)

It’s here. The largest music festival in the world. Spanning four days/five nights and playing host to more than two thousand artists, it is a music lover’s ideal. Or so I hear. See, I’ve never been to South By Southwest (SXSW for those out there who appreciate the abbrievs), but I have heard the veterans speak of it with a reverence typically reserved for free breakfast tacos.

It’s also awesome because, unlike nearly every other major music festival, it doesn’t take place on giant stages where most of the crowd is a few lightyears away from the band. Rather, it is staged everywhere: bars (every single one of them), clubs, bike shops, churches, pizza parlors, record stores, houses, backyards, and street corners. Last night I saw a band playing in the back of a school bus. They loaded it up with people and drove off still playing. That is SXSW. Music everywhere.

You might now be asking, “How do I get at this glorious sonic heaven?” You have three options in increasing order of damage to your wallet. You can buy: 1. Nothing 2. Wristband 3. Festival Badge

Let me start with the badge. It gets you into everything. For free. Done. If it’s happening, you can get in. (Exception: if the venue is at maximum occupancy; then no one gets in.) And you get to skip the lines that characterize the South By experience for the unruly badge-less masses. The catch: it’s like 700 big ones. Pre-tay steep if you ask this guy. Moving on from that prohibitive price point, we arrive at the lauded wristband option, my weapon of choice. Badges still own you, but you beat the people too cheap to buy anything and you don’t have to pay for any official event.

Lastly, you can abstain from making any purchase at all and strike out with only your charisma to discover what SXSW has to offer. To your advantage is the fact that almost everything during the day is free. Venues will host showcases, as they’re called, with lots of bands, few adequate sound checks, and (frequently) free beer. The downside is that most nocturnal showcases are badge/wristband only. So that’s less cool.

Alright, you’ve got your “ticket” (or not). Now what should you see? That’s the hardest question at SXSW. The right answer is “the best new band out there,” but finding that can be a bit daunting. I’ll describe what I did to prepare and also what I will be doing differently next year. A friend of mine started an online spreadsheet that he and others continuously updated with showcases that they found. I would go to the website of each one and RSVP for it. It doesn’t matter if you think you’ll go to it or not – don’t even worry about that. Just RSVP for everything so that if you wind up there you can get in. The venues don’t always use the RSVP list, but it can come into play as the space approaches capacity.

As the festival got closer and bands started publishing their set times and locations, I made a Google calendar and updated it with shows that I wanted to see. It’s impossible to see everything, so I tried to limit it to the ones I really didn’t want to miss. I later learned about sched.org, which has a whole host of official and unofficial SXSW shows and allows you to create a personalized calendar. I will likely be using that in the future.

That covers bands I already know. But what about discovering new bands? That’s really what SXSW is all about, after all. The primary mechanism here is random chance – happening upon a set that totally knocks your wristband off – but you can increase your odds by sampling as many bands as possible beforehand. This year I relied, as always, on NPR Music. Their best-tuned musical ears (those of Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Stephen Thompson, and Ann Powers) each listened to over 1,300 songs from bands playing at SXSW. Thompson then compiled a 100-song list of standouts, and the four of them recorded an hour-long discussion of their favorites on All Songs Considered. I listened to that podcast and a good portion of the 100 songs, but for the most part I simply went with their recommendations rather than listening and discerning on my own. Next year I’m going to do my homework well ahead of time and listen to as much music as I can.

So…

What SXSW is? Check

How to see some music? Check

How to decide exactly what music you’d like to see? Check

All check.

Which brings us to the music I am really looking forward to. These are mostly bands I’ve liked for a while but have never had the opportunity to see live. Of course, there are a couple that really got me from NPR’s research.

Lost In The Trees – An orchestral folk band from Chapel Hill, NC, they are about to release their sophomore album, entitled A Church That Fits Our Needs. 2010’s All Alone In An Empty House was one of my favorites of that year, and I’ve been trying to see them in concert since. I should be set; they are playing many times over the course of the four days.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_avFrymbP4]

Typhoon – The Newport Folk Festival introduced me to this 13-piece Portlandian ensemble back in August. Despite the huge number of musicians on stage – which included two drummers, three horn players, and two violinists – they are remarkably tight, and their capacity for build is nearly unmatched in today’s indie rock scene. Thankfully they, too, are playing many shows.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHRFhLxuLj8]

Polica – This is one of my favorite new discoveries. They just formed back in September and released their first album, Give You The Ghost, in mid-February. Their sound is founded in electronica but spiced with post-rock influences, two drummers (there’s a trend here), and singer Channy Leaneagh’s beautiful, auto-tuned vocals.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl03afAqeFQ]

Of Monsters and Men – I’ve said it for a while now: this band is gonna be huge. The Icelandic sextet is finally treating the States to a tour, with SXSW as the first stop. They are poppy folk rock of the highest caliber. And like many other bands, they are also playing tons of shows.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g-1UG8rX1o]

Now on to a few NPR recommendations.

Kishi Bashi – I was hooked after just one song. “Bright Whites” is happy, vibrant electro pop that, like much of that genre, is astoundingly catchy. Kishi Bashi is the project of K Ishibashi, a touring member of Of Montreal.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wcZb80f5VE]

Ben Howard – Buoyant British folk in the vein of Nick Drake or, more recently, James Vincent McMorrow. This is his first jaunt across the pond, but I expect there will be many more to come.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzzCthKw_C0]

Dry The River – Also from London, this folk rock quintet is destined for continual comparisons to Mumford & Sons. But a band could do worse. There are a lot of influences in their music; it’s centered around folk rock but there’s an almost post-punk aspect there as well. Very much hope to see them.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iUHfAChgBA]

Some additional bands that I’m excited to check out: Horse Feathers, Sharon Van Etten, Daughter, Fun., Adam Arcuragi, Zola Jesus

I’ll do another post sometime next week that goes into my experiences over these four days: best shows, worst shows, surprises, and general SXSW craziness.