The Belle(s) of The Ball

At this point it would probably be pretty redundant to go over again why I liked the following bands, so in the spirit of instant gratification, here's a quick little list of who I was most impressed by and an attempt to somehow forward you to a place where you can listen to their music since I haven't figured out/haven't attempted embedding mp3's yet.

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears:

By far the best discovery for me at SXSW. Here's their website. The main page has a music player on the top, start with 'Bitch, I Love You' and 'Gunpowder'.

Cursive:

From The Hips - Live on Letterman - off of Mama, I'm Swollen
Dorothy at Forty - off of Happy Hollow
A Gentleman Caller - off of The Ugly Organ
The Casualty - off of Domestica

The Avett Brothers:

Punk/Bluegrass. 'Nuff said.
Go to their Myspace and listen to 'Colorshow', the song that got me into them.
Two other gems off the same album are 'Talk on Indolence' (video here) and Distraction #74 (use the music player in the top right corner here)

The Thermals:

Lots of stuff to listen to on their myspace page. Start with Here's Your Future, We Were Sick, and Now We Can See

The Hold Steady:

Myspace. I was a late convert to liking this band. I just hadn't heard much of their stuff until the single Sequestered in Memphis came into the station. Start with that.

Marcy Playground:

Seriously, I know everyone is signing 'Sex and Candy' to themselves right now, but I was really impressed by these guys. Here's a song off the same album.