Every March, Austin, Texas puts its money where its mouth is to back up its self-proclaimed status as the “live music capital of the world.” As the SXSW Music fest takes over the city for four days and nights of nonstop live acts in every venue and location possible, thousands of musicians, fans, and industry types descend from around the world to transform it into a veritable music metropolis.
Our Texan odyssey this year was filled with the usual sonic information overload, but in between catching phenomenal performances by Marina and the Diamonds, Nneka, Free Energy, Muse, Metric, and a host of fresh acts, we also found ourselves taken by the plethora of strangely costumed characters we found around town.