2008 will be my first time at SXSW, and I couldn’t be more excited and overwhelmed. As dedicated readers/anti-Grandy stencilers will recall, I’m just two months into my new job here as music editor of the Stranger, so leaving town for a marathon four-day weekend of drinking and blog hyping is both a welcome music-crit spring break and a serious, anxiety-inducing assignment. Luckily, there will be anxiety-relieving substances. Like Norwegian Disco!

Like Sam, I’ve also hit up sched.org to work on my SXSW itinerary, and while there are still a lot of conflicts, I know for certain that my first night in Austin will be lit up by the nu-disco stylings of Diskjokke, Kim Hiorthøy, and Lindstrøm. I’m stoked.

Other acts on my impossible list: Islands, who will hopefully be debuting material from their forthcoming sophomore album; Why? (see previous post); Australian synth popsters Cut Copy; Pennsylvania drone ranters Pissed Jeans; Edmonton electro commies Shout Out Out Out Out, who killed when they played Club Pop here last year; so many more: Boys Noize, Ponytail, Santogold, BLK JKS, Sightings, Vampire Weekend, NERD, No Kids, No Age, Age Kids, No is the New Wolf, etc, etc, etc.

Also: Doomsday 1999’s Zack Carlson has promised to show me a taco that will “curl your eybones.” He also will probably be the only person I see for several days that could honestly ask me, “What the fuck is a Vampire Weekend?”