mxdwn Best of SXSW 2015

It’s that time of year again folks, that time where we make our selections for the best of this year’s South by Southwest Music Festival. For the 2015 edition of this list, we again continue our tradition of having one list for Best New Artist and one list for Best Established Artists. True to form, each list contains a wide variety of acts from across the musical map. This year, the new champion is the one and only Tink. Tink is a rare talent, who has the chops, attitude and flair to be a superstar. On the established side, The Dillinger Escape Plan pretty much decimated the competition (once upon time they ranked at #2 on our Best of SXSW for Best New Artist, so it’s no surprise). For those curious, here are the winners for each year we’ve done this so far:

Best New Artist:

2009: Akron/Family
2010: The Sleepy Sun
2011: Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All
2012: Santigold
2013: Haim
2014: Crosses

Best Established Artist:

2009: Jane’s Addiction
2010: Demolished Thoughts
2011: Kanye West
2012: The Roots
2013: Billy Bragg and Amanda Palmer
2014: Sleigh Bells

Without further delay, here are mxdwn’s selections for the Best of SXSW 2015:

Best New Artist

1. Tink

2. Speedy Ortiz

3. Torres

4. East India Youth

5. Halsey

Best Established Artists

1. The Dillinger Escape Plan

2. Charles Bradley

3. Doomtree

4. Failure

5. Laura Marling

All photos except Halsey by Raymond Flotat