SXSW Music is like Mardi Gras without the parades and beads. All the bars have live music and several blocks of East 6th Street are blocked off to car traffic. The crowd for SXSW music is more international than the interactive.  Today, I saw two Canadian bands play, Born Ruffians and Plants and Animals.  I really dug Born Ruffians immediately after hearing the first song.

To me, they sound like Echo and The Bunnymen with a little bit of rockabilly and Celtic. Coincidentally,  the film I saw today that featured another Canadian band, Broken Social Scene. I went to see “This Movie is Broken“. It was a great film.  If you liked “Before Sunrise” or the more recent “Medicine for Melancholy“, then you will like this movie. I am not familiar with Broken Social Scene’s music other than one song I heard on a episode of “Grey’s Anatomy”, so it was cool to get a taste of the band and watch a love story unravel.