Every year tens of thousands make the trek to Austin, Texas to attend South by Southwest – the premiere music, film, and tech festival and conference held in the live music capital of the world. With all the events that are packed into just five days it's impossible to catch every single act, and superstars like Lady Gaga, Coldplay, and Kendrick Lamar draw away crowds from hidden gems across the city. Daily Beat was lucky enough to be in attendance this year for SXSW '14, so without further ado here are our five shows you may have missed.
1. Future Classic @ Empire Garage
Aussie record label Future Classic brought their A-game to the Empire Garage & Control Room early Friday afternoon. The outdoor show featured some of our favorites acts of the moment: indie-pop janglers Panama, criticially-acclaimed disco duo Classixx, and trendsetting producer Cashmere Cat. We caught the latter half of the day's lineup with DJ sets from future bass favorite Wave Racer and a well-attended (ahem) What So Not performance.
2. Sailor Jerry's Officially Unofficial Kickoff Party
Rum, live rock, and free tattoos. Destruction Unit, Cosmonauts, and many more filled out this kickoff party early in the week of SXSW festivities. Did I mention the free tattoos? Lo-fi indie rocker Kurt Vile capped off the night with a special acoustic solo set.
3. Peter Rosenberg's Rap & Wrestling @ Parish
The last minute cancellation of Tyler the Creator didn't take away at all from this stacked lineup at the Parish on Friday night. Hot 97 host and hip-hop aficionado Peter Rosenberg hosted a slew of talented performers including up-and-comers Bishop Nehru, Kevin Gates, and veterans like Slaughterhouse. The highlight was a one-two punch performance from TDE's Isaiah Rashad and Ab-Soul.
4. Louis Futon @ Barcelona
6th Street is a sea of noise throughout the day, which made stumbling into this gem of a show in a club basement that much more special. Rising Philly producers Louis Futon burst onto the scene with two EPs and a handful of singles. Daily Beat saw them perform live for the first time at Terrorhythm's early evening showcase featuring label owner Plastician and his roster of grime and bass producers.
5. The Green Room @ Brew Exchange
Blog buddies Beautiful Buzzz and The Most Definitely curated an amazing lineup with some of the most buzzed about indie, electronic, pop, and dance acts at SXSW. The Brew Exchange had enough room to hold two stages on each side of the bar with bands trading off sets. Performances from Badboxes, Parade of Lights, Touch Sensitive, and COIN were especially memorable just because they all rocked the fuck out. Also they had Macaulay Culkin's Velvet Underground cover band called The Pizza Underground so there's that. Check out the whole line up here.
