Infinite Shuffle

At this point, I’ve listened to all the music I’m going to listen to and read all the background info I feel the need to. Now, it’s time to make some tough decisions and plot out where I’m actually going to go each day.

From everything I’ve read and heard, one of the best things about SXSW is all the unexpected treasures people encounter — stuff that they never would’ve planned for.

But at the same time, it’s important to have some sort of framework for each day so you actually get to see most of the bands you really want to see.

After pouring over the schedule and plotting out the venues on a map, I think I’ve got a pretty good lay of the land for the next few days. I only really focused on the daytime shows. If we decide to pay for any of the shows at night, that’ll be done more on a whim.

I even color-coded the venues that I hope to hit hard each day, which should come in handy for parking purposes.

TUESDAY

My friend, Sean, and I will be waking up in Tulsa, hitting the road and arriving at some point tonight, hopefully in time to get some free treats at the Ice Cream Man Party at at Club de Ville.

From there, we’ll head over to the PureVolume House for the “Syndicate Conflict of Interest Party” with a lineup that includes We Barbarians, Grouplove, The Lonely Forest and The Sounds.

WEDNESDAY (Blue markers)

This is the true start of the festival, with a ton of solid lineups scattered all over downtown. I’ll be focusing most of my attention the cluster of bars around 7th and Red River.

THURSDAY (Red)

This is the one day that we’ll get away from downtown and hang out south of the river at Yard Dog and Home Slice Pizza.

• Yard Dog … “Threadless/Schubas Roundup”
  Notable acts: California Wives, Screaming Females, John Vanderslice, Reptar, Alejandro Escovedo, Kopecky Family Band

• Home Slice Pizza … “Music By The Slice”
  Notable acts: The Boxer Rebellion (acoustic), The Wooden Birds, Apex Manor, Ivan & Alyosha, Great Lake Swimmers, Trampled by Turtles (6:25)

But there are plenty of other shows worthy of attendance, if you happen to find yourself near one of these venues.

• Flamingo Cantina … “JanSport presents Under the Radar SXSW 2011 Party”
  Notable acts: Violens, The Dodos, Yuck, The Dears

• Red River Garage … “MTV Garage”
  Notable acts: Friendly Fires, Matt & Kim

• East Side Drive-In … “Pitchfork presents #OFFLINE”
  Notable acts: Dodos, Times New Viking, J Mascis, Smith Westerns, Lower Dens, Dum Dum Girls

• French Legation Museum … “Other Music & Dig for Fire present the 2011 Lawn Party at SXSW”
  Notable acts: Edwyn Collins, Ted Leo, Low, Sharon Van Etten

• Rusty Spurs … “Texas Tornado”
  Notable acts: David Berkeley, Robbers on High Street, Brooke Fraser, Voxhaul Broadcast, Augustana

• Mellow Johnny’s … “KEXP Live @ SXSW”
  Notable acts: O.M.D., The Black Angels, The Joy Formidable

• Lustre Pearl … “Dickies @ SXSW”
  Notable acts: We Barbarians, The Naked and Famous, The Head and the Heart, Givers

• The Stage on Sixth (formerly Radio Room) … “2011 Paste Party in Austin”
  Notable acts: Sarah Jaffe, Nicole Atkins, Rural Alberta Advantage, John Vanderslice, David Wax Museum, The Submarines, J Mascis

• PureVolume House … “PureVolume After Hours”
  Notable acts: The Limousines, The Dears, The Bravery

FRIDAY (Green)

We’ll be heading back downtown to start the weekend. The best shows aren’t as tightly clustered as they were on Wednesday, so we may be forced to pick one venue and stick it out. Thankfully, there are several very good shows to choose from.

• Swan Dive & Barbarella … “BrooklynVegan, Partisan Records & KF Records Free Day Party”
  Notable acts: John Grant featuring Midlake, Wye Oak, J Mascis, David Wax Museum, Dolorean, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Deer Tick featuring Jonny Corndawg, Old 97’s, Middle Brother, Vetiver, The Dodos

• Flamingo Cantina … “Shure presents Under the Radar SXSW Party 2011”
  Notable acts: Surfer Blood, Telekinesis, Menomena, Okkervil River

• East Side Drive-In … “Pitchfork presents #OFFLINE”
  Notable acts: Class Actress, Cloud Nothings, Diamond Rings, Yuck, Edwyn Collins

• Home Slice Pizza … “Music By the Slice”
  Notable acts: Kopecky Family Band, Sea of Bees, Thao with The Get Down Stay Down, The Rural Alberta Advantage

• Mohawk … “March Into Softness 2011”
  Notable acts: Ted Leo (solo), Wye Oak, Sharon Van Etten

• Hotel San Jose … “South By San Jose”
  Notable act: The Kissaway Trail

• Mellow Johnny’s … “KEXP Live @ SXSW”
  Notable acts: Violens, John Vanderslice

• Cedar Street Courtyard … “Filter Magazine Culture Collide”
  Notable acts: Phantogram, Surfer Blood

• Waterloo Cycles … “SXSWaterloo”
  Notable act: mylittlepony

• Red House Pizzeria … “Music for listeners at the Red House Pizzeria”
  Notable acts: Jonquil, Bombay Bicycle Club

• The Belmont … “West Rocks”
  Notable acts: The Traveling Band, The Rocketboys

SATURDAY (Purple)

At this point in the festival, we hopefully will have seen a majority of the bands we set out to see, so the final day could be something of a toss-up. There are, of course, a slew of great shows, so it’s not really clear which ones we’ll aim for.

• East Side Drive-In … “FYF Fest and Fun Fun Fun Fest present Mess With Texas”
  Notable acts: Dead Milkmen, !!!, Surfer Blood, The Dodos, Ted Leo (solo), Thee Oh Sees, Deer Tick, Screaming Females, We Barbarians

• Ghost Room … “New Granada Day Party”
  Notable acts: Her Space Holiday, Sarah Jaffe, Oh No Oh My, Dignan

• Palm Door … “Bamm.tv “No Badge, No Prob” Fan Appreciation Party”
  Notable acts: Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Great Lake Swimmers

• Hotel San Jose … “South By San Jose”
  Notable acts: Sahara Smith, Jason Collett, Robert Francis, The Low Anthem

• Cedar Street Courtyard … “Filter Magazine Culture Collide”
  Notable act: Scars on 45

• Home Slice Pizza … “Music By the Slice”
  Notable acts: The Twilight Sad, Times New Viking, Wye Oak

• 1506 Eva Street … “3rd Annual Brooklyn Country Cookout”
  Notable act: The Orbans

• Lustre Pearl … “Dickies @ SXSW”
  Notable acts: Tapes ‘n Tapes, Okkervil River

• Latitude 30 … “Liverpool Sound City”
  Notable act: The Answering Machine

• PureVolume House … “PureVolume House Party”
  Notable acts: Augustana, Voxhaul Broadcast

• Fado Irish Pub … “Noise/Racket, Sitcom Serf present ‘Beasts of the Chase’”
  Notable acts: ARMS, Adam Arcuragi & The Lupine Chorale Society

SUNDAY

Say our goodbyes and head back to the monotony of everyday life — while already planning ahead to SXSW 2012.