Much to the dismay of a few musicians and true music fans, SXSW had its “white critic wasted” moments this year. Most of the crowds at day parties and early night sets didn’t tolerate actually listening to music, and instead, tore through free booze while their “bitch, don’t kill my vibe” mentality kept rolling. That’s not to say it was all bad – some of our favourite artists slammed sound guys and even Justin Timberlake became relevant again – it’s just audiences should have paid more attention to the Earl Sweatshirts, the Danny Browns, the Destruction Units and the Savages. These artists will rule a good chunk of your 2013 and seeing them destroy a tiny bar space doesn’t happen twice.
But who are we to judge? We were close to getting mohawks and hitting kickflips during our last days in Austin, and even our Associate Editor re-enacted her own version of “No Church In The Wild” before getting back to reality.