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Each year for one week in March, the international music industry descend on the self-proclaimed "Live Music Capital of the World" Austin, Texas, to check out the best new music from across the globe. More than 2000 bands play the official schedule, but the number is greater with many unofficial shows planned across the week.

Established and emerging artists play side by side, where deals are signed, buzz bands discovered and musical history made. In 2008, Florence Welch from Florence and the Machine, played a small, packed showcase, jumping into an indoor fountain mid-set and cementing herself as that year's must-see performer. Last year, a similar fate fell on The XX, where fans queued around the block for their shows. It is also not unusual to find yourself watching an unknown band next to Steve Lamacq, Alan McGee, Michael Azerrad, Moby or even Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips. Anything can happen and usually does.

Already this week, The Foo Fighters have played a secret show and Jack White treated fans to a short solo gig at the Third Man Rolling Record Store, which had been set up in front of the Frank's Diner venue in Austin.

Vic Galloway has been in the thick of it. He has been going to the festival for the past nine years and is currently in Austin to make a TV documentary for the BBC, host the Scottish music showcase and present his weekly radio show. Who better to tell us about the buzz bands, rumours and highlights of SXSW 2011....

Feature Type: 

• New Music

Tags: 

• SXSW

More about: 

• Jack White
• Florence and The Machine
• The XX
• Moby
• Flaming Lips
• Foo Fighters

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