While many people flocked south to Austin, Texas last week for this year’s South By Southwest festival, which showcases more than two thousand artist performances alongside label presentations, technology reveals, and discussion panels, some of us had to settle for attending Couch By Couchwest from home. I spent the past week digging through a spreadsheet of 2,121 artists who were slated to play during SXSW 2015, and after whittling down the list and listening to 622 of them, I have selected 76 independent acts that warrant further attention now that the festivities have ended. Read a short blurb on each artist below along with a prime track among their discography, or skip ahead to the full playlist on SoundCloud by clicking here. Continue reading “76 independent artists to watch following SXSW 2015”
John Mayer
These are one hundred songs that stayed in my heavy rotation throughout 2013. In a year that saw personal advancements including eight weeks studying abroad in France and graduation from college, these songs soundtracked my year, each song appealing to me through instrumentation, lyrics, or just its overall mood. Read on for descriptions of each track, access the whole playlist on SoundCloud to listen, and judge away.
Continue reading “Kurt’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2013”
Though there were a lot of great albums released throughout the entire year, it seemed that the biggest concentration of great albums were found in the early summer and early fall. Among releases mentioned earlier in the list, those such as Walk The Moon, Best Coast, and The Temper Trap stood out as superior summer releases, while The Script, Matchbox Twenty, and P!nk got their turns in my playlist when the leaves turned outdoors. In these next ten albums, comprising numbers 30 through 21 in my year-end list, many of the artists represented were the soundtracks to my summer semester at school and the beginning of my junior year.
The Script moves into the top spot with “For The First Time,” leaving Maroon 5’s “Misery” at #2. They add a new song, “Give A Little More,” at #3; the week’s only other debut is a live John Mayer track that enters at #38.