Since I won’t be making it to the SXSW, I’ve been waiting all year for this. Anxiously checking and re-checking the SXSW website like a kid at Christmas.

I even ‘bookmarked’ the page like it’s 1998.

Then, today, it arrived. This year’s 2.5GB BitTorrent of showcase musicians (and 667MB of film trailers if you prefer).

Now, where am I going to find 2.5GB?

I’ve got a smart iTunes playlist set up entitled ‘Getting Things Done’ – it holds my tried and true favorites, songs that are just the right combination of ‘covering background noise’ (lawn mowers and road construction) and ‘keep me motivated’.

Specifically, the list contains tracks I’ve rated greater than 2 stars that aren’t in my ‘Most Played’ list (play count > 18) and aren’t podcasts or audio books.

So it’s a nice mix of 118 songs. Right off the bat That Much Further West played from Lucero. A great tune by a band reminding of the best parts of Uncle Tupelo, the Replacements, and any number of long broken up indy country bands.

Lucero came to me via the SXSW 2005 Showcasing Artists download. That’s right 2.6+ gigs of indy music – and I’ve got 70 unplayed songs left. Lucero and 615 others stay, all the death metal – gone.

Other surviving SXSW Showcasing Artists:
Go Betty Go
Daphne Loves Derby
Richmond Fontaine
Melissa Ferrick
Hayes Carll
Linus Pauling Quartet
Rob McColley