Another year, another SXSW. Or is it? The typically endless email flurry of party invites, press releases, secret show rumours (Metallica! Jane's Addiction! Kanye West!) and queries about whether you're "heading to Awesometown for Spring Break" have been filling inboxes and iPhones.

Yet it's not just another year for Austin's 23rd annual South-by-Southwest music festival, not with The Great Recession's dark cloud hanging heavy over the global music industry's biggest get-together, a five-day bacchanal of bands, beer and BBQ.About 135 Canadian bands have headed south to join the other 1900 or so acts across almost a hundred stages scrambling for attention and even last night the streets were alive with music, ranging from cutting-edge acts like electro-rap star Kid Sister and indie rock heroes The Decembrists to forgotten Brits The Proclaimers.

Tens of thousands arrive Wednesday as the music fest properly kicks off-the police are shutting down streets while workmen errect stage sin parking lots and laneways-but overall attendance is reportedly down 10-15 percent. (But much of that was made up for by the rise in the adjunct interactive festival last week-so many twittery tech geeks were in town that AT&T had to double capacity to handle all the iPhones).

Of course, the music industry has been in its own downward spiral all decade but generally the major labels' loss has been the indie scene's gain, since they always made most of their money off live shows, and the best buzz is built here at ground zero, where the world's music media, industry and fans wander the streets searching for the next great thing.

Every SXSW is unique of course-my first year here I began by eating a Denny's breakfast one table over from Little Richard and ended it walking a few kilometers back downtown with Metric's Emily Haines after the cops busted a Vice magazine party at a biker compound.

During other years I've seen the Flaming Lips play a parking lot, Gang of Four spark fistfights on a rooftop and Amy Winehouse wail in a dingy hundred-person bar. I've watched Moby spin "Paradise City" surrounded by Playboy bunnies and seen senior citizen Iggy Pop crowd-surf.

But what has always remained the same is the festival's inexorable expansion. More people. More showcases. More unofficial events. Nearly every label, promoter, booker, website and blog hosts its own day shows or after-parties.

But some bands have been dropping off the bill, unwilling to spend the money, while the mid-level bands with new records that would once roll into town conquering heroes, were once headliners here, like Neko Case, are happier to stick to their own tours and avoid Austin altogether.

Some of the recent bloat may be trimmed away-though that's still almost 50 percent more bands than a half-decade ago-but it's as important as ever for reputations to be forged here, for the wheat to be separated from the chaff, the hype from the buzz.

Will buzzy Brit-rockers Glasvegas steal the festival with a mind-blowing live show like TV on the Radio did in 2004? Or lose momentum like Vampire Weekend, whose laconic live show sunk under the hyped-up hipsters under the weight of expectations. Can Britain's latest lady singer Little Boots fill the shoes of last year's star Duffy? Can Portland's premier punks The Thermals possibly play a dozen shows without passing out? Which Canadian band, Thunderheist or Handsome Furs, will be blogged about most? And will the reunion of Devo live up to the new wave icons' legendary rep?

Right now there are only questions-and as much as the economic collapse may change things, SXSW's anything-can happen anticipation is one of the festival's perennial pleasures.