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At SXSW, the Sounds of Philadelphia

Repping Philadelphia in a red throwback Julius Erving Sixers T-shirt, Chill Moody held the crowd rapt Tuesday night at the Main, a capacious club on the Sixth Street strip in Austin, Texas, on the opening night of the South by Southwest music festival.

Philly band Vita and the Woolf (Jennifer Pague and Adam Shumski) at the Main in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.
Philly band Vita and the Woolf (Jennifer Pague and Adam Shumski) at the Main in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday.Read moreColin Kerrigan for the Inquirer

AUSTIN, TEXAS - Repping Philadelphia in a red throwback Julius Erving Sixers T-shirt, Chill Moody held the crowd rapt Tuesday night at the Main, a capacious club on the Sixth Street strip in Austin, Texas, on the opening night of the South by Southwest music festival.

"I want you to raise one hand in the air," the West Philadelphia rapper instructed the pretty much packed house just after rocking the room with "Concrete Jungle," his gritty 2015 single, featuring Mack Wilds, at the Amplify Philly party sponsored by music incubator RecPhilly and tech industry instigator StartupPHL.

"And then with your other hand, I want you to take out your phone and" - he couldn't help cracking a smile - "follow me on Twitter and Instagram at @chillmoody."

There you have the gist of this Lone Star State soiree that is the music industry's biggest annual gathering: It's an oversize party that's all about self-promotion, a sprawling mega-event held in scores of mostly midsize and small venues that brings fans and music industry insiders from across the globe to see thousands of acts even hungrier for attention than they are for Texas barbecue.

For the last two years, the music conference - first held in 1987 and since expanded to include a film festival (which runs until Saturday) and a technology interactive conference (which wrapped Tuesday and hosted President Obama) - has included a RecPhilly-programmed official SXSW showcase of all-Philadelphia bands.

This year's was bigger than last and headlined by old-school hip-hop legend DJ Jazzy Jeff that pulled in crowds, with Elkins Park-raised comedic rapper Lil Dicky. It also included rising hip-hop talent such as West Philly rapper Joie Kathos, who released her ocular-inspired EP Floaters last year, and indie-rock duo Vita and the Woolf, who opened the show with a stirring set.

Amplify Philly, which provided selfie ops with a replica of Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture, was by no means an all-encompassing Philadelphia-at-SXSW event. There are scads of other 215 bands in town, from buzzed-about riff-rock fivesome Sheer Mag to ribald rockers Low Cut Connie to North Philly rapper Lil Uzi Vert to Havertown-reared songwriter Alex G, among many others. The Roots, house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, have also been added to the docket, hosting a jam session on Saturday night.

But along with trade show presentation booths at the nearby Austin Convention Center, the Amplify Philly event aimed to promote the connections between the city's tech and music scene and build bridges among music genres. "It's all about collaboration and diversity," RecPhilly co-founder Will Toms, 24, said shortly after an emcee wearing a gold crown shouted out to the event's corporate sponsors ("Independence Blue Cross, Comcast - where you at?")

RecPhilly works with "talented artists who don't have the business acumen they need," the Warminster native said. It aims to help to transform "small entrepreneurs into sustainable businesses" by hooking up songwriters, for instance, with videographers and publishers.

While in Austin, Toms and his RecPhilly and StartupPHL cohorts, who worked with the support of the City of Philadelphia, took to the streets to promote the city as a millennial destination. Conversations about the perception of the 215 in the 512 usually began, he said with a laugh, with words to the effect of, "We know about your great cheesesteaks."

The uphill battle showed progress in the number of attendees at the showcase: Last year's slate, on a busy Friday night, drew 450 people through the evening. On Tuesday, Amplify Philly, which took place just as the music fest was getting going - with events at a mere three dozen venues, as opposed to the closer to 100 that will host acts Wednesday through Sunday - had hit that number by shortly after 9, hours before DJ Jazzy Jeff was to hit the stage.

"This is good, because there's not that much going on tonight," Austinite and Cherry Hill native Rebecca Flores, 30, said of an evening in which one highlight was a SXSW opening party that featured Argentinian band Capsula playing David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in its entirety, plus a DJ set by Lauren Mayberry and Martin Doherty of Glaswegian indie-pop band Chvrches. "Tomorrow, it's all names in bright lights."

For bands such as Vita and the Woolf, coming to SXSW is a key part of the growing process. The duo of singer-keyboard player Jennifer Pague, 24, and drummer Adam Shumski, 22, also played the event last year, without an official showcase.

As SXSW has swelled to a massive event that pairs bands with the corporate brands that have stepped in as the music business has remade its business model in this century - Samsung and McDonald's are two unavoidable in-your-face names this year - the fest has become a round-the-clock affair, with bands playing as many day parties as possible, in addition to official showcases such as Amplify Philly.

So Vita and the Woolf are playing not one but six shows at SXSW, with three Thursday afternoon. "Everything we did last year, we learned from," Shumski says.

The band sold EPs at the Amplify showcase, and with a new album planned for release this year, they're looking for label deals in the U.S. and U.K.

Along with their manager, Rachel Barrish, marketing director of the New York music venue the Knitting Factory, the group played a series of shows on their way to Texas, crashing with friends along the way.

"They're proud to be from Philly, and this is an opportunity to get them on an official showcase," Barrish, 25, a Bucks County native and Temple grad, said of the Amplify gig. "Right now, they're a band that just needs to get more people to hear their music."

ddeluca@phillynews.com

215-854-5628 @delucadan

www.philly.com/inthemix