As SXSW 2007 gets closer my excitement continues to mount. I've been (slowly) listening to the first batch of 700 or so MP3s that were released via bittorrent (get here) and I've managed to make my way up to Artists beginning with the letter E. Here's the goodness I've discovered so far -

Ana Laan
Ana Egge
Anais Mitchell
Andrew Winton Duo
Art in Manila
Astrid Swan
au revoir simone
beangrowers
bedroom walls
bermuda triangle
bishop allen
black moth
bonde do role
buddy
call me poupee
Carly Binding
Carmen Rodgers & Geno Young
Ceci Bastida
Chris Lee
colour revolt
Creature
Dan Mangan
dana falconberry
Danielia Cotton
David Karsten Daniels
dawn kinnard
Daylights For The Birds
Death Ships
Dionysos
doujah raze
drew smith and his band
Dujeous

Highlights include... everyone above - seriously though check out Au Revoir Simone, Ana Laan, Daylights for the Birds and Dana Falconberry. Im hoping to actually listen to everyone this year - I think last year I made it to the P's or something.

But getting back to Ghosts of SXSW Past - I got to see Toby Lightman for the 2nd time at SXSW 2004.. The name of the venue totally escapes me right now. I had seen her about 5 months before this show opening up for Howie Day in Houston. That show (which you can download here) was a stripped-down acoustic venture, while SXSW saw Toby (and her label) pulling out the full band and fairly-faithfully recreating the sound of her first record, Little Things.

Great show - full of energy, big drums and fat bass lines. Toby was at peak performance - soulful, sultry and sublime. And for you R&B fans, Toby belts out a fantastic acoustic version of Mary Blige's Real Love to wrap up the show.

Live MP3s:
Intro
Intro 2
Time For A Change
Coming Back In
The River
Front Row
Is This Right
Devils And Angels
Real Love

Labels: audience mp3s, austin, concerts, major, soundboard mp3s, sxsw