Saturday marks the last full day of the barrage of official and unofficial South By Southwest showcases. Yesterday, we presented a gigantic musical guide to the top showcases for evening shows (not even including daytime showcases), plus mini-mixes for our favorite showcases for Wednesday and Thursday. It’s hard to believe that SXSW 2011 is winding down already. They need to make it a 10-day deal, with some kind of little break after each three days of non-stop venues and bands.
This is the 25th Anniversary year for SXSW, the largest and most popular indie music, film and interactive festival/convention/conference in the world. SXSW is the key musical event – with New York’s annual CMJ marathon running a close second – for indie music bands, fans, bloggers, press, labels, promoters and just about everyone else in the ‘alternative’ music industry.
If you’ve followed IRC for a while, you’ll probably not be surprised by our choices for the showcases and bands we recommend, which pretty much stick to the ‘indie’ side of the spectrum, keeping in mind that nowadays, indie music seems to cover everything that isn’t “mainstream,” and even some that is, which makes it confusing, but that’s a post for another day.
Whether you will be at SXSW on Saturday and Sunday, or not, here is our top showcase and band recommendations for the last two days of SXSW 2011.
You might want to keep in mind that Saturday night showcases, especially for the more ‘popular’ or ‘buzz’ bands, are usually filled to capacity in minutes, so plan to arrive early, even if that means you have to wait three hours for your favorite band of the showcase to come on. Getting in and staying is a smart strategy, even if you’re a badge holder.
You can click on artist names to see other posts in our archives for that artist, including more songs, and also click on the album titles to purchase the artists’ latest album. The recommended showcases are arranged in alphabetical order by the venue, which should make it easier to reference if you need to come back to this page later (and you can get it via RSS).
Auditorium Shores at Lady Bird Lake is SXSW’s largest venue, and its final showcase Saturday starts early. We’re only skipping the first three shows, but starting at 3:30 pm, the magnificent Philadelphia singer/songwriter, Kurt Vile, will take the stage with his band, The Violators, to perform songs from his terrific new album, Smoke Ring for My Halo, as well as some of the tracks that were his break out songs. Up next, at 4:30 pm, another Philadelphia band, Man Man, will take the stage to play their version of experimental rock.
The relatively new indie rock band from Los Angeles, simply named, Man Man (even though there are three of them), will follow-up Kurt Vile. Then, at 5:25 pm, another Los Angeles rock band, Middle Brother, will perform, followed by The Felice Brothers, and the headliner, Bright Eyes.
“Jesus Fever” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011)
“In My Time” – Kurt Vile from Smoke Ring for My Halo (2011)
“Engwish Bwudd” – Man Man from Six Demon Bag (2005)
“Me Me Me” – Middle Brother from Middle Brother (2011)
“Shell Games” – Bright Eyes from The People’s Key (2011)
If you’re not up for going over to Lady Bird Lake, and wish to stay downtown Saturday night, there are also some great showcases there as well.
One of the best showcases Saturday night will be at the Central Presbyterian Church at 200 East 8th Street. An artist we are not familiar with, Haley Bonar (yes, yes), will open the showcase, followed by the wonderful vocals of Sharon Van Etten.
The Portland rock band Typhoon will perform next, followed by Toronto alt country rock band, The Rural Alberta Advantage. At 11:30 pm, Washington D.C.’s very own pop master Jukebox The Ghost will warm things up for the closing set by the popular indie folk band from Toronto, Great Lake Swimmers.
“CPR/Claws, Part2” – Typhoon from Hunger and Thirst (2010)
“Stamp” – The Rural Alberta Advantage from Departing (2011)
“Pulling On A Line” – Great Lake Swimmers from Lost Channels (2009)
After lunch time, early birds to Day Five of SXSW 2011, headed over to the Dot Com Day Stage at the Austin Convention Center for one-hour sets from Pete and The Pirates and the iconic indie trail blazer, Edwyn Collins, starting at 1 pm.
“Come On Feet” – Pete and The Pirates from Little Death (2008)
“A Girl Like You” – Edwyn Collins from Gorgeous George (1994)
If you like raw, lo-fi, garage rock, we recommend the Dirtnap Records showcase at the Habana Calle (607 E. 6th Street) although the SXSW schedule says the showcase is at Easy Tiger. Only from listening to a few free SXSW samplers (see below), did we first hear of most of the bands booked for this showcase. And as fans of the more raw, lo-fi sounds, it has a terrific line-up of the label’s roster, including Houston power punkers Something Fierce, Forth Worth’s pop punk band, Mind Spiders, Denton, Texas punk band, High Tension Wires, plus Memphis punk trio, River City Tanlines, two Ottawa pop punk bands, Steve Adamyk Band and White Wires, and Portland punk group Mean Jeans to close it out.
“Empty Screens” – Something Fierce
“No Romance” – Mind Spiders
“Backbone” – High Tension Wires
“I Fought For The USA” – Steve Adamyk Band
“Black Knight” – River City Tanlines
“Be True To Your School (Until You Get Out)” – White Wires
“Steve Don’t Party No More” – Mean Jeans
But of all of the showcases for Saturday, our money is down on the Sargent House/Rodriguez Lopez Productions double-header showcase at Emo’s. You really can’t beat the opportunity to see some or all of the sets of a 21 solid bands and artists. The big advantage Emo’s has on most other clubs is the two separate rooms, Emo’s (senior) and Emo’s Jr., plus the Emo’s Annex across the street. The combo of all three makes Emo’s a hard to beat destination for Saturday. It is almost guaranteed that with this line-upwill likely be crowded, if not filled to capacity, again, because of the grand slam line-up, featuring (in order of appearance).
Emo’s Main Room
In our opinion, the best shows of the night offered by the three Emo’s locales, is not in the main room, but, instead at Emo’s Jr. and Emo’s Annex. Some notable bands performing in the main room showcase include San Francisco pop duo, The Limousines and the melodic post rock of Provo, Utah’s Neon Trees.
“Internet Killed The Video Star” – The Limousines from Get Sharp (2010)
Flashback Track: “Video Killed The Radio Star” – The Buggles from The Age of Plastic (1980)
Emo Jr.’s
Emo’s “son” room (get it?) offers an excellent really indie showcase, and our first interest immediately is the new-to-us band Fredon, New Jersey instrumental indie folk rock band, Delicate Steve (not to be confused with Seasick Steve), followed by an IRC Band of the Week in 2010, LA’s folk pop band, Family Of The Year. Coming on next, at 10 pm, is the precious music of one of our favorite new-to-us bands, Jonquil, headed by indie star singer/songwriter, Jose Gonzalez. And if that isn’t enough, the next three bands to close out the showcase – Givers; FM Belfast and Lesands – are sure winners. However, it’ll be hard to stay put to watch FM Belfast, because IRC Band to Watch in 2011, Fang Island, will be rocking it at the Annex across the street starting at midnight.
“The Ballas of Speck and Pebble” – Delicate Steve
“Let’s Go Down” – Family of the Year from Songbook (2009)
“Life Coach” – Fang Island from Fang Island (2010)
“Daisy” – Fang Island from Fang Island (2010)