We don't always delve into music on Pop Culture Happy Hour, but this year's South By Southwest music festival gave us a nice opportunity to spread around a few recommendations. I'm already renowned for never shutting up about the six-hour playlist NPR Music calls The Austin 100 — which, it turns out, you can still stream and download in its entirety until March 31 — but what we've got here is a slightly more digestible discussion of 2018's SXSW highlights.
Host Linda Holmes didn't make it down to Austin, Texas, this year, but she's convened a panel — NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael, music writer Katie Presley and me — and asked each of us to bring two songs for your consideration. Rodney chose Tierra Whack's " Mumbo Jumbo" and Buddy's " Find Me," Katie went with Fatai's " Roll" and Gato Preto's " Dia D," and I highlighted Dermot Kennedy's " Moments Passed" and Nailah Blackman's " O'Lawd Oye." And, of course, we've got a few other thoughts on this year's festival along the way.
Finally, we close as always with What's Making Us Happy this week. I wax ecstatic about an eight-hour concert Katie and I got to watch while lying in beds on a big stage. Rodney has been reveling in an unlikely Elton John cover. Ever on brand, Katie loves a funny, moving book about death. And Linda praises an enormously good-natured new Netflix show about failure.
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