South by Southwest: Music Marathon

"I hope you've had a good time this week in Austin, Texas," local icon Alejandro Escovedo told the out-of-towners during his show at the Continental Club at the end of the long weekend that was South by Southwest 2006. "This happens to us on a daily basis."

Austin is one of America's greatest music cities. It was surely the biggest in the world from March 15th to March 19th, when about 1,400 acts played official showcases for 10,000 SXSW registrants (a conference record) at more than fifty venues. Among the notable young guns who took over the town: British guitar-fire band Nine Black Alps, highly touted Minneapolis pop surrealists Tapes 'n Tapes, Seattle Gothic-country combo Band of Horses and local psychedelic minimalists the Black Angels. Australian quartet End of Fashion whipped together flashes of Big Star, Black Sabbath and T. Rex in songs from their imminent U.S. debut album, and singer-guitarist Carl Barat, once in the Libertines with walking car crash Pete Doherty, showed off his new razor-glam band, Dirty Pretty Things.

Established stars such as Neil Young, the Pretenders, Morrissey and the Beastie Boys also came in record numbers for SXSW's twentieth anniversary, mostly to prove they were still moving forward. "People want to know why you don't make your most famous record over and over again," Young said in his keynote interview. "Because it's death."

From Iceland's Jackobinarina to Texas' own Riverboat Gamblers, check out five of the hottest buzz bands that rocked the Lone Star state's biggest music festival.

Riverboat Gamblers

Jakobinarina

The Octopus Project

The Sword

The Len Price 3