There’s a reason industry mavens and music geeks alike spend 51 weeks a year looking forward to Austin, Texas’s South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival and conference. With 1,600 bands playing over the course of four days (not to mention countless unofficial showcases, day parties and random buskers), it’s hard to think of an event that compares.

It’s also impossible to take it all in. Any attempt to provide a “best of the fest” would be woefully incomplete and entirely arbitrary. Then again, so is almost any “best of” list, but they’re still fun to make. In that spirit, I’ll be offering daily updates with the most amazing acts I’ve seen since the start of the fest. It’s hard to believe it’s only Thursday.

Catfish Haven — Their drummer was a gorilla, their bass player was 100 per cent rock ’n’ roll white trash and the singer was completely unintelligible, but this Chicago outfit still rocked like the 1970s had never gone out of style.

The Hard Lessons — A Detroit three-piece with a dwarf on drums, this group contributed an early contender for the week’s best-worst lyric, with “When you say alright, it makes me feel alright, alright!”

The Hands — Another straight-up rock ’n’ roll act in the vein of CCR or, more recently, Jon-Ray and the River, but with a whole lot more grit than the latter. Their epic take on “Wade in the Water” was simply undeniable.

Laura Barrett — This recent Paper Bag Records signee plays charming little ditties on the kalimba, or thumb piano, an instrument that sounds more than a little like the music boxes your grandma would buy.

The Raveonettes — Granted, these Swedes have come to Calgary more than a handful of times, but I’ve never found time to check them out. There’ve been a few bands taking up the mantle of the new Jesus and Mary Chain lately (including the old Jesus and Mary Chain), but The Raveonettes pull it off with a perfect Nordic efficiency.

The Mae Shi — Good lord, this is what live shows are all about. Band members scaling the stage, the singer frantically flying about and frenetically shouting (not screaming) choruses; everyone who saw this set has been raving about it.

Akron/Family — Like some bastard child of The Grateful Dead and Black Dice, Akron are unbelievably proficient with their instruments, but also more than happy to indulge in a circuit-bending, avant-noise breakdown. Playing in the Austin Convention Centre was less than ideal, since the carpet muffled the crowd’s stomping along, so I’ll be seeing them again this afternoon.

Bon Iver — What a perfect way to round off the night. I already raved about this Wisconsin singer-songwriter’s solo debut, For Emma, Forever Ago a few weeks back, but that doesn’t change the fact that everyone reading this should go listen to it right now.