The Four Worst Sites For SXSW Coverage.

For the most part, music festivals typically yield mediocre reviews at best. Hazy recaps, a few blurry photos, and when yours truly happens to be writing it, a whole lot of "wah, it's too hot outside!"

But, with South by Southwest being a veritable haven of up-and-coming blog buzz bands, we've been sitting back in Brooklyn, waiting for word to be spread about new bands to check out and fresh tunes to listen to instead of the same ol' nonsense reviews. And, while some have given us a great glimpse into what's going on in the South, others, well...let's just say they fall pretty short:

Huffington Post. Hiring an artist to convey what the fest is like from a musician's point of view might have been a good choice, but picking one that performs French ballads (a completely unaccessible genre) and is absolutely awful at writing wasn't. With Marianne Dissard's 700 words of complaint about how much money she's losing from performing and even admitting in her column that getting to write for HuffPo was a last-minute fluke, it's a missed opportunity, on both behalfs.

Filter. There's only one update and only four photos of their own freaking showcase. Total and complete fail.

Pop Tarts Suck Toasted: Pop Tarts is one of my favorites, and to go without for a few days because of a forgotten camera cord is a total bummer. Someone get him replacement, quick! We can't wait to see what he's seeing, especially since we'll be refreshing the page constantly once he gets home.

Stereogum: There are three people from the site in Austin, and there are only two photo galleries and a mini-review up on the site. Granted, if they're out having a ball and getting wasted on a mix of BBQ ribs and beer then hey, more power to them, but something more than throwing it to each person's Twitter account for updates would have been nice for us stuck with regular grub and non-sponsored booze back in the borough.

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oh, thanks:

photo via Spin

Preschool Failed Me.

I was raised to believe that if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all.

But, obviously, that didn't stick.

Doesn't Stereogum's redesign look two thousand times better when they have an ad on it? If I had money and something to promote, I'd spring for a full-site wrap just to replace that sad "ho-hum, it's a drearily cloudy day, don't even want to leave the house, don't want to talk to humans, i guess ill just stay in and watch a Toro y Moi video and then sleep another fourteen hours to Neutral Milk Hotel on repeat" grey background.

I think that shade is getting to me.

WHYYYYYY

Listen — I'm doing my best over here to make this morning go well after two vodka drinks last night did me in, since I apparently have the tolerance of a fourteen-year-old girl at a basement party. Zonked-out tired, chugging pulpy coconut water in the attempt that it'll make me feel "replenished" (it doesn't) and just wanting to scroll past some She & Him news item to click play on Stereogum's one-in-four-songs-is-good mp3 player, I head to the site and see this:

A college newspaper's entertainment website.

But then there's the "are you sure you're not bullshitting me?"-flavored icing on the cake — the GIF.

THE GIF! THE GIFFFFF. IT JUST KEEPS BOUNCING UP AND DOWN. I can barely focus for the entire time it takes to type "Ster—" into my browser before it auto-suggests the site, let alone leave this bouncy ball just sitting in the browser. It's like a fucking cat toy for distracted twenty-somethings who just want to know when Toro Y Moi is coming to town.

Guess I'll be spending more time on Pitchfork. Blurg.

UPDATE: Either every computer I own is cached to the max, or they nixed the flashy gif. Feel free to embrace your music news without going into a miniature seizure.

File Under: Too Fucking Cute.

The part with the pillows gets me every time.

(found on stereogum.)