SXSW is ramping up and looks to be really good this year. DoneWaiting.com has an unofficial SXSW Blog that looks pretty good and worth keeping updated on.

Don’t plan the album’s funeral just yet. The LA Times lists Fall Out Boy, Bloc Party, and Arcade Fire as examples that the full album format is alive and well. (Link)

To hell with lyrics. Robyn Hitchcock on songwriting:

“I think if you’re not a fan of words it’s harder to get my stuff,” offers Hitchcock. “Though, I don’t personally think the words are that important. The melody is the most important thing because that’s what carries the emotion. Songs are basically feelings. You have a feeling and you try to find the words to go with it. I’ve always hated clichés. I think it’s the death of thought. I suppose that can put one in rarified air in places. It’s a good filtering process, though there were loads of dumb Beatles fans and the Beatles were the greatest group on Earth.” (Link)

Goodbye glossy? The Independent examines why there is such an appeal for singer-songwriters despite the increasing glossiness of entertainment and talks with four of them – Ray LaMontagne, Willy Mason, Jack Savoretti, and Emily Maguire:

Above all, Mason believes that the time is right for the particular perspective that a singer-songwriter can bring to bear. “The problems and spiritual confusion that people are feeling right now is getting worse and I think the music of the singer-songwriter is a good form in which to discuss those problems,” he says. “You can talk about things from personal relationships to the state of the environment in a way that you can’t do so easily in other genres.”(Link)

Jesse Jesse. Singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes talks to Harp on being an emotional songwriter.

“I’m noticing an almost emotional McCarthyism,” she says. “If you wear your heart on your sleeve and you don’t have a problem expressing your emotions, people are pretty freaked out by that. I feel like it’s almost as bad to be called an intense person now, as it was once to be called a Communist.” (Link)