Texas ranger

Every March 1,400 bands and 10,000 "industry people" converge on Austin, Texas to discover who's about to be who. Jim Carrollenters the alternative reality of the South by Southwest music festival

Tuesday: the calm before the storm and the gig in the garden centre

It's a long way to come to visit a garden centre. The Big Red Sun is a pretty store out in the east of Austin, Texas, where local folk go to buy cactuses and other plants which will survive the area's heatwaves and droughts.

But for this week, like so many buildings and patches of grass all over the Texan city, the Big Red Sun finds itself pressed into rock'n'roll service.

It's doing so because of South By Southwest (SXSW), the extraordinary festival which turns Austin into the centre of the music world for a couple of days every March. This year's 21st annual outing will bring more than 1,400 bands and 10,000 music business folk to town. Space for shows is at a premium so even garden centres are transformed into venues. The real SXSW business begins tomorrow, but there are still shows and parties tonight for the early arrivals.

This Green Party hop is to launch a website (wwwitsyournature.org) for the National Resources Defense Council to show the music business how easy it is to be green.

There a couple of bands (including Scissors For Lefty), a man proudly showing off his impressive solar-powered mobile stage and bottles of rainwater ("real rain made between heaven and earth over Dripping Springs, Texas") for everyone in the audience. A new kind of reality is about to take over for a few days.

Wednesday: one Brazilian and a bevy of medieval wenches

Idle moments rarely occur at SXSW. By day, you can fill your head by attending panel discussions and interviews at the convention centre or by walking around the trade show.

Or you can fill your belly with barbecue grub at various daytime parties thrown by brands, record labels, blogs and mags and feed your ears on the host of hot bands providing the live entertainment.

Gilberto Gil, Brazil's minister for culture, is the first of many star interviews I conduct at SXSW HQ. The hippest politician you'll ever meet, Gil talks about the expansive cultural programme under way in Brazil and his role in the radical Tropicália cultural movement of the late 1960s.

"It was the last classically modern and first post-modern movement in Brazilian culture," he recalls. "It involved a lot of fights, disputes and cursing. It had a huge impact on our personal lives. It was painful, we ended up in prison."

When night falls, the attention turns to Sixth Street. There are about 50 festival venues lining a couple of city blocks, and every one features bands selling their wares to music business pros, out-of-town music fans and locals.

Pick of the night is Bat For Lashes, a bevy of Brighton ladies all attired for some reason as medieval wenches. Dark, atmospheric, romantic and emotional, Bat For Lashes have songs to stun. Singer Natasha Khan could well be Kate Bush's long lost younger sister.

Were the roof to cave in while Beirut are playing, the entire American music blogosphere, who seem to have gathered inside, would perish. Zach Condon and friends provide a soundtrack for the jam-packed room which is woozy and wobbly, all Technicolor brass and space-age torch songs.

Other acts making it onto the recommended list from tonight's crawl include Jo Mango (delicate folk songs from Scotland), Cyann & Ben (wonderfully slow-motion ambient noir from the Parisian quartet) and The Ettes (super-scaled garage bubblegum pop).

Thursday: Emmylou, greenwashing and The Gossip

There is no sweeter sound to begin a day than Emmylou Harris singing. An early call at the convention centre features the country queen talking to film-maker Jonathan Demme, remembering Gram Parsons (she explains how they hooked up via her babysitter) and singing Love Hurts and Orphan Girl.

When Tom Anderson begins his SXSW interview, he has 163,080,103 friends on his MySpace profile. When the social networking site's founder finishes talking to Sex Pistol Steve Jones 45 minutes later, his friend count is up to 163,091,709. A succinct example of MySpace's continuing buzz.

At night, there's the Stax Records 50th Anniversary bash with Booker T & The MGs acting as a heavenly house band for William Bell, Eddie Floyd and the mighty Isaac Hayes. For those keen on more superstar jams, Slash and Perry Farrell join Tom Morello for his Nightwatchman outing.

Then, there's the thrilling electrified stonk and swagger of Fujiya & Miyagi, The Shout Out Out Out Out and the truly awesome Octopus Project.

But it's The Gossip who steal the headlines. Just when you think the blistering Yr Mangled Heart is the night's highlight, Beth Ditto scats a few lines of Teen Spirit, flings off her dress and rocks the house in her bra and knickers to Standing In The Way of Control. Naturally, she finishes the show by jumping into the audience.

Friday: Iggy vs John Wayne and the return of Thomas Dolby

It's Iggy's day. The Stooges are in town to plug The Weirdness and there's a hell of a queue for their interview by Rolling Stone's David Fricke.

Although all three Stooges are onstage, it's Iggy Pop's stand-up comic's sense of timing which dominates the chat. The best bits are when he recalls recording Funhouse in Los Angeles and how the album nearly didn't get finished. "John Wayne almost ran me over on Sunset Boulevard," Pop chuckles. "That was cool."

On the live music trail, synth-pop pioneer Thomas Dolby, Swedish melody makers Loney Dear and the hard-working Architecture In Helsinki (who seem to be playing at least half a dozen parties every day) impress.

Flaming Lip Wayne Coyne was one of many toe-tapping parties at teen rockers Tiny Masters of Today, while the euphoric indie roar of Annuals seems to be getting louder with every passing show. Mexican electronic duo Instituto Mexicano de Sonido also get a mention in the despatches for their kooky blend of 'lectronics and Mex-groove.

Tonight's standout are Bonde Do Role, bringing the noise from Sao Paulo. Now signed to Domino and with the Diplo seal of approval, the three resemble CSS's younger, brattier siblings and tear down the house with a punky, funky ravetastic soundclash.

Saturday: drunken begorrahs and bopping to polka-dot pop

The last day is about picking up the pieces. Diners linger longer over breakfast at the iconic Las Manitas cafe and dollars change hands at the Flatstock poster exhibition.

On the daytime party circuit, there are last chances to bop to the choreographed polka-dot pop of The Pipettes, hear why Norwegian singer Katie Havnevik got seven songs placed on Grey's Anatomy and fall for Oklahoma psychedelic pop machine Colourmusic.

Today is St Patrick's Day and the drunken blarney and begorrahs on Sixth Street mean huge crushes at every turn. The night kicks off with a sterling performance from excellent Northern Irish rocktronica duo Oppenheimer, before the much tipped White Rabbits bang out a clattering, confident set.

There's another chance to see The Octopus Project, this time collaborating with Black Moth Super Rainbow, while the melodic, dreamy, folky pop of Midlake is a reminder to check out their wonderful The Trials of Van Occupanther again. A quick look at Delorentos showing Austin how to do the edgy pop thing and it's time to call it a night and a week.

Only 51 weeks to go until SXSW 2008.