Show Diaries 01: SXSWXSF

SXSW starts today and the city feels a little empty with all of our talented musical friends making the trek to Texas, bringing with them a little bit of California. Today, we’re highlighting some of the SF Bay Area bands who made it to SXSW and a few honorable mentions who have or will be passing through on their tours.

Before we get started, I want to point out that we’ve included Bandcamp links for all the artists featured here and highly recommend picking up some merch or music to support them if you have the extra $$$!

Touring is mad expensive right now between gas and the general cost of feeding a whole band of people. Support working artists!

West Coast Goes South

Fresh off their album release last month, Lofi Legs has been on a mini-tour leading up to their festival debut at SXSW. They’re easily one of my favorite bands right now (as evidenced by my Instagram) and I love watching them grow musically. The photos I took at their album release show are some of my favorites I’ve taken so far.

You can see them at Thee Parkside on April 2nd!

Has anyone else noticed Fake Fruit played an incredible number of shows last year? Now they’re going to SXSW and I’m back home listening to the Spanish version of No Mutuals (No Mutuas) reliving those live show moments. I recommend reading the spiel Hannah wrote about music coolguys and how good it feels to sing in Spanish.

Are you even a BFF.fm fan if you’re not familiar with our beloved Alexi, DJ of Nocean Beach (Sundays 4-6PM PST) and front-person of the artists formerly known as The Y Axes? The name change is a welcome one and feels closer to home. It’s a new vibe, but the same band we know and love.

A staple in the SF music scene, Zelma Stone’s The Best EP features one of my favorite songs, Money Honey. You can watch, like, and share the music video for all to see.

The psychedelic songbird herself, Mae Powell, will be giving everyone at SXSW some weird dreams and dancing tunes.

[photo credit: Myron Fung, AKA @fungipower]

I haven’t had the chance to see Victoria perform but from Myron’s photos and some of the footage from last week’s show at Adobe Books, she’s a must-see.

Also, definitely check out more of Myron’s work – he’s literally my favorite photographer in the scene and I admire him the most.

Featured here in a session with BFF’s own Twin Shrieks Radio (now bringing the peak to the East Coast!) I’ve loved them since seeing them at the Laundry in 2019 and can’t wait to see them again sometime soon (possibly at Balboa Theater next month )

La Doña is a new love for me, who came to me through the research for this list. I’ll be sharing her with my mom when I see her next as a way we can connect musically.

It’s been a while since I last saw Shutups live, but there's a chance you'll catch me at their homecoming show at Eli’s next month .

Another one of my favorites that I’ll see again and again. I caught them at Noisepop last month and at Thee Parkside last week, where they introduced their new tambourine man since Max is now a father (congrats!!)

They put together a killer showcase this week and have a tour with Angel Du$t coming next month.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Another new favorite, I caught Advertisement at Thee Parkside on tour with Spiritual Cramp. They’ve made it onto my usual rotation of jams to write to.

[photo credit: Michael Lavine]

I was lucky enough to catch Breanna when she came through SF last week (playing with local lovelies Medscool and the smooth James Wavey) and fell in love with her voice instantly. Also, how can I not support a Breanna B when I'm a Briana B??

There’s so much more that I couldn’t cover in this write-up that are worth checking out like Sophia Shen, Patti, Smirk, Surfbort, Wombo, Girlpool, and Pink Siifu.

Find everyone on this Sp*t*fy playlist, or branch out to their individual Bandcamps linked above! And as always, I'll see you out there.