LA's art rock band, Grouplove, will be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch post.By all accounts, Austin‘s spectacular South By Southwest 2011, was a huge success. Celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year, SXSW is an annual mecca for indie and alternative bands, artists, fans, promoters, publicists, record label executives, press and bloggers from around the world.
“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP
Whether or not you were at SXSW 2011, you may have noticed that we have been posting extensive playlist mixes featuring more than 200 great songs from artists and bands who performed at SXSW during the past week. Some of the bands we highlighted were “indie” favorites of ours, and many others, and a good number were bands that were “new to us.” In fact, stay tuned, next week we’re going to start a new playlist mix called ‘New To Us: Great Songs from Bands We Hadn’t Heard Before.’ Chances are that if you download all of the free samplers and MP3 mixes outlined below, you’re bound to come across some fine bands and artists that are new to you.
We pretty much learned of most of our recent new-to-us artists by listening to pre-SXSW playlists from a variety of websites and sources, plus about 10 free SXSW 2011 samplers that we’ve collected and organized here for you to pick and choose which you’re most interested in. For some of the Amazon free samplers, you’ll need to sign up for a free Amazon account if you don’t already have one; but it’s well worth the two minutes it takes for oodles of music from talented artists and bands.
Free SXSW 2011 MP3 Samplers
Blockbuster sampler from Spinner features more than 200 MP3 singles from bands appearing at 2011 SXSW. Comes in four zip files; likely not to be available for long.
Free Official SXSW 2011 iTunes Sampler: Featuring 21 free tracks from Bright Eyes, Brother, The Civil Wars, Foster The People, Glasser, Lucinda Williams, The Vaccines, Toro Y Moi and more.
Download a free 29-track sampler from Tunecore, Experience Austinfeaturing Bareface, Carnivores, Art of Shooting, Sun Hote, Scattered Trees, Dead Models, Thieving Irons, among others.
SXSW 2011 Live Sampler via iTunes: That was fast. Download for free dozens and dozens of live MP3s of performances at last week’s SXSW featuring bands like Beach Fossils, Dom, Neon Tree, Glasser, The Civil Wars and many others.
The NPRteam going to SXSW put the “Austin 100,” their must-see artists for SXSW 2011, and included 43 MP3 links from Yuck, Great Lake Swimmers, Damien Jurado, The Dodos and more.
– Austin Town Hall Sampler SXSW 2011: Featuring 27 Free MP3s from artists like Beach Fossils, Blair, Chikita Violenta, Cloud Nothings, Everyone Everywhere, MiniBoone and others.
Better Propaganda Sampler for SXSW 2011: Listen and download approximately 50 free tracks with artists ranging from A Classic Education to The Black Angels and Wye Oak to Portugal. The Man, to name just a few.
Emusic SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download a free six-track sampler with songs from Obits, Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Ty Seagull and more.
– Bloodshot Records SXSW 2011 Sampler: Featuring 8 free tracks from Eddie Spaghetti, Ha Ha Tonka, The Silos, Ben Weaver and The Waco Brothers and others.
Raw, lo-fi ’60’s rock sound has made The Strange Boys a Band to Watch – Tunecore’s Experience Austin SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download 29 free songs from bands like The Strange Boys, Bright Eyes, Natural Child, The Dodos, and many others.
– Dirtnap Records SXSW Sampler: Featuring 10 free MP3s White Wires, Mind Spiders and High Tension Wires.
– Don’t Mess With Texas SXSW 2011 Sampler: Featuring The Black Angels, Charles Bradley, The Generationals, Braids, Say Hi, Menomena, Surfer Blood, The Dodos, among others.
Filter Magazine’s 2011 South By Southwest Sampler : Includes tracks from SXSW 2011 bands like Royal Bangs, Datarock, Phantogram, Maps & Atlases, The Black Atlantic and others for a total of 20 free tracks.
Yuck took time out from their busy schedule to perform for a KEXP session at Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin during last week’s SXSW 2011. He’s probably sick of hearing it, but frontman Daniel Blumberg, at times, has a striking resemblance to a young Bob Dylan. Also, watch Yuck’s live set for NPR at SXSW.
“Forget” – Daniel Blumberg’ solo debut under the moniker Oupa. An EP is expected in June.
As with Grouplove, LA's Generationals, another big draw at SXSW, will be featured in an upcoming Bands to Watch post
IRC’s Free SXSW 2011 MP3 Bonanza
Get over 150 tracks from some of the best veteran and new SXSW bands and artists that we highlighted largely according to the recommended showcases that we featured last week during SXSW. With just a couple of exceptions, all of the tracks are from showcase bands that were part of official night-time SXSW events. We did not have time, unfortunately, to profile and include tracks from bands that were either scheduled for day-time showcases, or that were not part of an official SXSW event. In order to do that, it would take many days, if not weeks, to put it all together. After all, there were nearly 2,000 artists and bands that performed at SXSW 2011. Enjoy.
Fresh Tracks from SXSW Bands: Newly released songs from SXSW bands like The Strokes, Yuck, Generationals, Natural Child, The Strange Boys, Guards and more.
Best SXSW Band Showcases Mix I – A Mammoth Playlist Mix with 75+ tracks from bands like Okkervil River, Submarines, Beach Fossils, Generationals, The Dodos, The Joy Formidable, and many other praised SXSW artists and bands.
Fang Island was one of the big buzz bands at SXSW 2011
WXRT SXSW 2011 Sampler: Download, in three parts, more than 100 free MP3s from bands like Black Lips, Cloud Nothings, Cold War Kids, Deer Tick, Holiday Shores, Maritime, Josh Ritter, John Vanderslice, Paleo, The Raveonettes, Wye Oak and many others.
Note: You might also want to check back on this page in the next couple of days, as we will be adding more SXSW samplers and mixes as they come in or when we come across them in our post-SXSW reading – the wealth of reviews, videos, photos, music and accounts is overwhelming. Also, while we are on the subject, we should tell you that we regularly update posts after they have been published, sort of like a Wiki. In fact, at some point in the future, one of our goals is to actually create a separate wiki for Indie Rock Cafe so that you, and anyone else, can contribute relevant, useful and interesting information and media.
Philadelphia experimental rock band Man Man will perform at Auditorium Shores Saturday night
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.
A Brooklyn singer/songwriter, Van Etten’s splendidly diverse range of vocal styles, and warm, story-telling songs, has made her quite an indie hit in the past year. A member of the going roster at Ba Da Bing!, Van Etten performed a midnight show at Swan Dive on Wednesday. Her performance at The Central Presbyterian Church starts at 8:30 pm.
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.
“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)
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.
Okkervil River return to SXSW for the fest's 25th Anniversary! Happy Anniversary SXSW!
Celebrating its 25th anniversary year, SXSW is an indie and alternative rock lover’s paradise, a non-stop marathon of venues and bands, including more top notch artists per square mile during SXSW than probably any other locale in the world, except perhaps NYC during October’s CMJ.
The SXSW Experience
SXSW is where bands are born, and others fizzle away. As a participant, you can be watching a sparsely populated show with a classic rocker in his 60s doing a solo set at an alley bar, and 20 minutes later be in another venue packed with people as the buzz band of the day rips it up on stage. Ten minutes after that, you might find yourself up on a roof top watching an unofficial gig from a band who were featured on the cover of Spin six months prior.
You can then go grab a pizza and there could be singer/songwriter in the corner strumming and humming for a fraction of a fraction of attention in the whirlwind of performances in bars, clubs, hotel lounges, school auditoriums, churches, union halls, restaurants, back alleys, storefronts – just about anywhere that a band or performer can be squeezed into.
That’s the wonder and dynamic that makes SXSW such a thrill ride from start to finish. If you want, and you spend a little money, and are willing to stand in lines, you can literally attend musical performances from the late morning on a Thursday to the early morning hours on Friday. After 12 to 14 hours of mostly standing – and not seeming that long at all – your legs will be sore and your feet will ache, but you probably will have packed more into 12 hours than almost any other day of your entire life. That’s SXSW done hardcore.
Already, SXSW is in the waning days of a six-day romp, and you can bet that popular showcases that were easy to get into on Tuesday through Thursday, will be nearly impossible to gain access to on Friday and Saturday, and to a lesser extent on Sunday which is the final day, many participants have gone home, and there are many fewer shows.
So, we’ve created a list of showcases we recommend for Friday. Early Saturday morning, we’ll publish the top picks for Saturday and Sunday, the last hurrah for SXSW 2011.
But, first let’s start with shows we think will be top picks for Friday night, most of which are entire showcases, not just for the bands that are playing, but at the busiest times of SXSW, it’s best to stay where you are for a while.
The first excellent showcase line-up for Friday that we recommend is the The Billions Corporation showcase at Antone’s(213 West 5th Street) downtown. Scheduled bands include The Head and the Heart, Reading Rainbow, Yellow Ostrich, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, The Submarines, and closing out the showcase, Okkervil River. Check here for more details.
“Oh Deer Lord” – Reading Rainbow
“Know Better, Learn Faster” – Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, single (2009)
“Birds” – The Submarines from Love Notes/Letter Bombs – 12 am
“Mermaid” – Okkervil River from I Am Very Far – 1 am
If you’re one to wander instead of stay at one showcase all night, here are some of our suggestions. The Bat Bar will have Melting Season, Her Space Holiday and A Lull on stage starting at 10 pm to 2 am. The Billboard Bungalow showcase at Buffalo Billards (201 East 6th Street) will feature Beach Fossils, Screaming Females, The Joy Formidable, The Pain of Being Pure at Heart, with closing from A Place to Bury Strangers.
“Austere” – The Joy Formidable from The Big Roar (2011)
“To Fix The Gash in Your Head” – A Place to Bury Strangers from 10″ single (2008)
The Orchid showcase at Cedar Street Courtyard starting at 8 pm has one of the best line-ups of the night, starting with Keepaway, LA garage rockers and IRC Band to Watch, Generationals, the splendid music of SXSW favorites The Dodos, followed at 11 pm by Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band, The Black Angels, and to close out the night, The Soundtrack of Our Lives.
“Doves” – The Black Angels from Directions to See A Ghost (2008)
At Kiss & Fly (404 Colorado Street), the Noisey.com showcase has a wonderful line-up featuring Dirty Beaches, Oberhofer, JEFF The Brotherhood, Yuck, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti with closer Bun B.
“Lord Knows Best” – Dirty Beaches from Badlands (2011)
“Bone Jam” – JEFF The Brotherhood fromIndie Rocks! A Benefit Album For Malaria No More (2009)
“Round and Round” – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti from Before Today (2010) – with Bonus Tracks
Baltimore post-punk, new wave band Lower Dens will bring their stellar talents to Klub Krucial (614 E. 6th Street) on Friday as the opening band for the The Mexican Summer/Gorilla vs Bear showcase. Afterall, their stunning 2010 debut LP, Twin Hand Movement, is a winner from start to finish. In fact, all 11 songs on the LP are keepers, and that’s actually a rare occurrence. In addition, bands like No Joy, Puro Instinct, Toro Y Moi, Tamryn, Games and Nite Jewel will also play until 2 am.
“Tea Lights” – Lower Dens from Twin Hand Movement (2010)
Bonus:“Hospice Gates” – Lower Dens from Twin Hand Movement (2010)
“Stilyagi” – Puro Instinct from Headbangers In Ecstasy (2011)
“Still Sound” – Toro Y Moi from Underneath The Pine (2011)
Transcontinental Collaboration Bewteen AM and Shawn Lee Results in Limited Edition Single
By Maxwell Silver
The collaboration between recording artists AM and Shawn Lee started after AM heard Lee’s Music and Rhythm album on the radio in Los Angeles (KJazz’s Miles Perlich and also KCRW). After reaching out to Lee via a now defunct social networking site, the two became quick friends sharing a common appreciation for vintage grooves of 1960’s and ‘70s soundtrack music.
After AM played guitar for some of Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra shows in the summer of 2010, the two began to record together – but not really together, only in the sense of exchanging tracks back and forth online. Lee, armed with a four-track tape recorder, and other vintage tape machines in his London studio, started sending AM drum and percussion samples in December 2010. In response, AM wrote and recorded songs over the grooves, adding vocals, guitars, Casio synths and bass. He then emailed the mixed tracks back to Lee in London.
The process evolved whereas Lee then added more instrumentation tracks with as bass, keyboards, guitars, glockenspiel and other assorted instruments, mastering the final mix. The LA-to-London cyber collaboration resulted in a completely unique brand of “electro-soul.” Also unique, AM and Lee put their notes back and forth to each other on their Facebook page so that devote fans could following the progress of the recording. This kind of creativity and engagement with fans is exactly what all artists and bands need to do with their fans and the incredible power that can be harnessed using today’s technology.
So, here is a result of these truly innovative recording “sessions,” something to behold, for sure. AM’s smooth and fine-tuned vocals soar along a driving percussion section, and straight into walls of shimmering, blissful guitars and glassy keys, resulting in a dreamy and divine example of future pop. The track is likely to get a lot of play time, and has already been compared to a diverse cross-section of artists, among them, Gary Numan, Jorge Ben, and Ariel Pink.
“Dark Into Light” – AM and Shawn Lee from – Limited Edition, gold colored, 12″ of “Dark Into Light” available on record store day April 16th.
SXSW Showcase: AM & Shawn Lee will be performing “Dark Into Light” and other tracks they’ve worked on during their set at Austin establishment, The Ale House, on Friday, March 18th.
Artist Profile: Apollo Brown
By Roberto Gomez
Admittedly, we are not huge fans of modern rap and hip hop, with some exceptions. Honestly, so much of it is just so negative and hateful, and often sounds like the same ‘ole beats, that it just doesn’t jive with us. We are old skool – big Tupac and Biggie fans, not to mention NWA. As far as modern rappers, we dig Jay-Z, but also to be fair, we don’t really keep up on new rappers. However, we do like what we hear from producer, self-described “bedroom beat maker” and rapper Apollo Brown. He performed at the Fader Fort Levi’s show on Wednesday and will appear at a number of venues on Friday, including Cielo Night Club and The Light Bar.
“Desperation” – Apollo Brown
Even for music lovers who attend SXSW only for the live shows from late morning to the wee hours of the morning the following day, it is impossible to see all the shows one would like to. That gave us a number of ideas about ways to counter that dilemma, although there is no way to be in two places at one time, or at least Google or whoever haven’t figured out how to do that yet. Of course, one remedy is to look back and fire up playlist mixes highlighting top performances and showcases. Plus, this gives the majority of our readers not at SXSW, a chance to hear just some of the talent that is doing it Austin style.
This is a mix of songs from artists who performed mostly on Wednesday through Thursday. As you probably know, we’ve put together a fairly comprehensive list of bands to see on Friday (see above) and will be publishing another post early Saturday morning highlighting bands we recommend for Saturday and Sunday shows at SXSW.
So, here are a few highlights, blogger entries, cool links, free music and more featuring Day Two* – Wednesday and Day Three, Thursday – at SXSW. First, though, you might want to check out our on-site, around-the-clock coverage of SXSW 2010, with many great songs still available. We also did a SXSW playlist mix for SXSW 2009.
Huge list of free SXSW events through Sunday
Spin‘s Best and Worst of Day Two, SXSW
Official List of Showcase Bands for SXSW 2011
Download a free 29-track sampler from Tunecore, Experience Austin – Check back tomorrow for more free samplers from SXSW 2011.
A couple of announcements from SXSW official site: Lupe Fiasco and Cee-Lo Green have canceled their SXSW performances.
The Owl Magazine has a Day Two SXSW spread featuring photos and mini reviews of bands like Canada’s Gobble Gobble, the duo of Das Racist; not-from-Canada band The Rural Alberta Advantage, Britian’s rising band Grouplove, Austin locals My Jerusalem, Washington state’s The Lonely Forest, and buzz band Friendly Fires.
“Lawn Knives” – Gobble Gobble from deBonton 2nd Grab Bag (2010)
“Jump in the Pool” – Friendly Fires from Friendly Fires (2008)
“Colours” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP (2010)
Bonus:“Naked Kids” – Grouplove from Grouplove EP (2010)
“I Blame Us” – The Lonely Forest from The Lonely Forest EP (2010)
While Day One is the official kick-off of SXSW, historically things don’t start to really ramp up until Day Two through Day Five
The band Hooray For Earth
Other Friday showcases we recommend include
Great Songs from Bands That Played on Day Two SXSW
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“Austin’s Birthday”– The Burning Hotels from Novels (2010)
“Surrounded By Your Friends” – Hooray For Earth from Momo (2010)
Bonus: “A Place We Like”-Twin Shadow vs. Hooray for the Earth
“I Have Laid in the Darkness of Doubt” – Mazesfrom s/t debut
“Unpredictable” – Tahiti 80from Activity Center (2009)
Club de Ville – This was the showcase of the day in our opinion, just based on the line-up itself, featuring three newly breaking out bands that released their debut albums in the past few months – The Vaccines, Tennis and Yuck.
“Post Break Up Sex” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011)
Bonus: “If You Wanna” – The Vaccines from What Did You Expect From The Vaccines (2011)
“Take Me Somewhere” – Tennis from Cape Dory (2011)
Small Black at Red 7 Wednesday. Photo by Andy Martin
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p style=”text-align: left;”>Red 7 – What a stellar showcase from Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar/Dead Oceans at the Red 7. Kicking it off was the band Suuns, followed by IRC Band to Watch in 2011, The Luyas, followed at 10 pm by the mellower band, Little Scream. At the 11 o’clock hour one man Philadelphia band – an IRC Break Out Band of 2010 – Sun Airway, got up and did his thing. If you don’t have his recent debut, strongly recommended. And then it just got better when another IRC Band to Watch in 2011 (coming up in next special feature), Small Black, cranked it up and went to work on the midnight shift. Small Black were also included in our Break Out Bands of 2010 series.
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p style=”text-align: left;”>In an act of brilliance, the organizers closed out the night with a 1 am show from another band that just released a spectacular album, Parts & Labor. Plus, the Red 7 Patio, with it’s own showcase, included performances from John Vanderslice, The Cave Singers and Okkervil River.
Other shows on Wednesday worth noting (at least from our POV) were J. Mascis, The Black Angels and Queens of the Stone Age at La Zona Rosa; Houses, Brahms, The Delta Mirror, Dinosaur Feathers and New Villager at Maggie Mae’s (inside and roof); Davila 666, The Baseball Project and The Soft Moon at Nuvola; 1,2,3, Young Man, The Vandelles, Twin Tigers, The Antlers and The Dodos at The Parish.
“Tiny Spiders” – The Soft Moon from The Soft Moon (2010)
“Passive Idol” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves (2010)
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At the Red Eyed Fly on Wednesday, artists like New Zealand singer/songwriter Liam Finn, plus Leeds, England band, Pulled Apart By Horses, and Reading, England’s indie pop/post-punk band, Pete and the Pirates closed out the night set.
“Winter 1” – Pete and The Pirates from One Thousand Words – out May 20th
Bonus:“Eyes Like Tar” – Pete And The Pirates from Little Death (2008)
“The Struggle” – Liam Finn from Struggle (2011)
At the Soho Lounge, avant experimental band from Copenhagen, Denmark, Chimes and Bells started at 10 pm, followed in succession by the terrific post-psychedelic Denver band, Woodsman; the Brooklyn one-man electro-pop artist Warm Ghost, and Houston’s indie rock band, Indian Jewelry closed out the set.
“Open The Wormhole to Your Heart” – Warm Ghost from Claws Overhead EP (2010)
“Zing Zang” – Indian Jewelry
Over at St. David’s Historic Sanctuary, bands like Chapel Hill, North Carolina’s Lost in The Treeskicked off the all-night showcase, followed by Montreal band Valleys, and later, Minnesota indie stalwarts, Low.
Double-shot: “Fireplace” – Lost in the Trees from All Alone in an Empty House (2010)
“Ordinary Dream” – Valleys from Stoner EP (2010)
“Try to Sleep” – Low from C’mon
At Austin’s famous Stubb’s bar, the Time Out North America showcase included IRC favorites like London rising band Yuckand Denver’s teenage trio Smith Westerns, not to mention a closer from Duran Duran. Concurrently, bands like breakout Canadian rockers Bikini, plus two San Francisco indie rock bands – Geographer and The Fresh & Onlys, plus New York rockers Cults and Asobi Sesku at The Windish Agency House.
“Weekend” – Smith Westerns from Dye It Blonde(2011)
The Strokes on stage at Auditorium Shores Stage - from HoustonPress.com
Day Three at SXSW in Review: The Strokes, The Black Lips, The Kills, Owen Pallett, Twin Tigers and More
Traditionally, by the third day of SXSW, the festival really begins to ramp up big-time as more visitors and participants stream into Austin, and peaking on Friday and Saturday, especially for the free shows. That was evident as on Thursday as thousands of concert-goers poured into Lady Bird Lake, causing traffic jams, to see The Strokes free set at the Auditorium Shores Stage. You can watch the show on Levi’s Facebook page. The Strokes’ show will be their first at SXSW in 10 years, ever since their 2001 now-legendary performance at the Iron Cactus.
Update 3/18/11 – The Strokes broadcast at SXSW Thursday, complete with fireworks (watch here), still hasn’t been posted on the Levi Facebook page, and we’ve not been able to find it anywhere else. Hmm…
You can also download new tracks for free from The Strokes new album, Angles.
Gear Alley at SXSW
Another aspect of SXSW is the conference itself, held at the convention center downtown, where there is a full-on bonanza of exhibits, vendors, galleries, expos, and more. The Gear Alley Expo, following a successful debut in 2010, is a candy store and Willy Wonka’s equivalent of musical hardware, including guitars, keyboards, amps, effects pedals, mics, mixing software, DJ equipment, and so much more. There are also gear pros and presentations everyday , 10-minute sets from artists like Ringo Deathstarr and Natural Child, plus artist interviews from a former Sex Pistol.
More bands that played shows on Thursday
From Atlanta, Georgia, Vice Records recording artist The Black Lipsperformed an 11 pm show at Club de Ville (900 Red River Street), following bands like OFF! and the 2011 break out band from Puerto Rico called Davila 666.
“Starting Over” – The Black Lips from 200 Million Thousand (2009)
“Esa Nena Nunca Regreso” – Davila 666 from Tan Bajo (2011)
There were also individual shows within showcases on Thursday that featured lesser-known artists like Milan, Italy funk band Calibro 35 at the Scoot Inn (1308 E. 4th Street); grab a final show of the night by Baltimore recording artist J. Roddy Walston and the Business at Soho Lounge (217 E 6th Street) at 1 am; if you can’t get into that show, cross the street to Friends (208 E. 6th Street) to see a 1 am set from Dublin, Ireland singer/songwriter James Vincent McMorrow.
Over at one of our favorite SXSW venues, Emo’s Main Room, on Thursday, had a 11 pm show by The Kills, followed by Cass McCombs, and Owen Pallettclosed out the night. On the other side of the venue, in Emo’s Jr., participants were treated to Castanets, Magic Bullets, Royal Thunder, She Keeps Bees, and the Retribution Gospel Choir.
The venue Easy Tiger Patio had a showcase from Team Clermont/Greyday that included performances from bands like Gospel Claws, Kids of 88, The Heligoats, and a closing 1 am show from rising band Twin Tigers, who made a splash on IRC when we featured them last year.
“Passive Idol” – Twin Tigers from Gray Waves (2010)
Also on Thursday evening, the Karma Lounge and the Bond Music Group/Self Titled Magazine held a showcase bands like Vancouver electronic musician Teen Daze, Brooklyn-via-New Orleans‘ duo Home Video, the one-man electro band Blackbird Blackbird starting at 9 pm. The Lustre Pearl features the Dickies Sounds showcase that includes bands like Denver gypsy rock band, DeVotchKa, upstate New York duo, Phantogram, and popular Long Beach rockers, Cold War Kids.
“Smoke” – Home Videofrom The Automatic Process (2010)
“Summer Heart” – Blackbird Blackbird from Summer Heart (2010)
“100 Other Lovers” – DeVotchKa from 100 Other Lovers (2011)
At the Red Eyed Fly, there’s an awesome showcase from Barsuk Records featuring the following artists in order of show time starting at 8 pm with Vancouver pop band, Dizzy Eyes; plus, Spokane rockers The Globes; Austin’s rock band, The Wooden Birds; Seattle‘s terrific pop group, Say Hi; Chicago‘s progressive art rock band Maps & Atlases, and another Northwest legendary indie rock band, Menomena, from Portland will close out the night with a 1 am show.
“Let’s Break Up The Band” – Dizzy Eyes from Let’s Break Up The Band (2011)
“Stay Awake” – The Globes from Sinter Songs (2010)
“Solid Ground” – Maps & Atlases from Perch Patchwork (2010)
Stubb’s bar, and Austin landmark, held the AOL Music showcase that featured, in order that they played, Los Angeles post punk band Foster The People; plus, London’s indie folk rock band, Noah and The Whale; the popular band from Wasilla, Alaska, Portugal. The Man; Brooklyn’s R&B champions, Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band, and closer, and another Brooklyn band, and indie legends, TV on the Radio.
“Helena Beat” – Foster The People from Foster The People EP (2011)
“Five Years Time” – Noah and The Whale from Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down (2009)
Before we get going on today’s Fresh Tracks mix, we would like to give our condolences to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake/tsunami in Japan last Friday. The videos we’ve seen on TV and the web, plus images in print, are almost impossible to comprehend. If you would like to contribute any amount to the relief efforts in northeastern Japan, we always recommend sending donations to the American Red Cross or text 90999 for an automatic ten-dollar donation.
In celebration of SXSW‘s 25th Anniversary, which is happening all this week in Austin, Texas, we’re putting out a number of post mixes highlighting some of our most recommended Bands To See at SXSW 2011. In this first SXSW mix, listen to bands we recommend you check out if you happen to be in Austin for the festivities. And, see Friday’s Fresh Tracksmix – it’s a not-to-miss mix, and features some other highly recommended artists performing this week at the world’s largest and longest-running music fest and conference – SXSW.
The build-up to The Strokes’ new LP, Angles, out March 22nd, (and streamable from their website) has been just crazy, and fans have had a limited opportunity to hear tracks from the album, seeing that there are no album streams out there that we know of. Until last Friday, the band had only officially released one track, “Under Cover of Darkness,” and premiered the song, “Life is Simple in the Moonlight,” on Saturday Night Live earlier this month. But late last week, The Strokes released two more tracks, “Taken For A Fool” and “Machu Picchu.” Pre-order Angles on CD and vinyl via Amazon.
“Life Is Simple in the Moonlight” (Live on SNL) – The Strokes from Angles
here we go magic
Fresh Tracks From Here We Go Magic, and SXSW Showcasers Generationals and The Dodos
The Brooklyn indie band Here We Go Magic will release The January EP on May 10th, featuring leftover songs from the studio sessions for their LP, Pigeons. Plus, New Orleans‘ garage rock band Generationals’ will release their sophomore LP, Actor-Caster on March 28th, and The Dodos will drop their long-anticipated LP, No Colors, on April 12th. In fact, the first single from No Colors, “Black Nights,” has been a leading track on IRC for a few weeks now.
On Friday, Generationals and The Dodos will be performing during the same showcase at the Cedar Street Courtyard in Austin for SXSW.
“Hands in the Sky” – Here We Go Magic from The January EP – out May 10th
“Greenleaf” – Generationals from Actor-Caster(Exclusive MP3 version only on Amazon) – out March 28th
“Don’t Stop” – The Dodos from No Colors – April 12th
TODAY ONLY: Download now The Dodos New Album for only $2.99 via Amazon
Plan for Yuck’s SXSW Shows to Be Filled To Capacity
Last month, IRC featured Chicago rising indie band Yuck in the Bands to Watch in 2011 series. In the past couple of weeks, yet another single from Yuck’s debut album has been hitting the blogs and music sites. At this rate, the entire track listing of the band’s recently released, self-titled LP, is going to end up a “web hit,” if you will. The latest track making the rounds, and hearting in the Hype Machine, looks to be the sweet lo-fi track, “Get Away.” After listening to Yuck’s debut, we spotlighted them last month in a Bands To Watch in 2011 post.
Yuck are scheduled to play three shows – Club Deville, Stubb’s and Kiss & Fly – this week at SXSW in Austin, and we can guarantee they’ll be packed, if not sold out. Checked the official date and time for Yuck’s SXSW shows.
One of the best indie debut albums of 2010, in our books (Q: Where is that playlist mix? A: It’s in the works), was Secret Cities‘ spectacular LP, Pink Grafitti (vinyl edition). In fact, just hearing that the band were already prepping the release of a sophomore LP, Strange Hearts, for sometime this summer, was enough to spur us to go back and spin Pink Grafitti again – it’s that good. If this is your first introduction to the band, “Crime Love,” the first single from the new LP, might be all you need to get hooked into buying Pink Grafitti. Either way, you’re probably going to hear more about Secret Cities this year, as we can spot a break-out band in-the-making when we see one. And, hey, how often is it that we get anything good coming from Fargo, North Dakota? Still, in the beautiful big town you never hear about, Secret Cities are the shit right now for the local indie scene, and we can’t thank them enough for exporting their goods to the rest of the country. The mayor should declare the release date of Strange Hearts, March 22nd, as “Secret Cities’ Day” and give the boys the keys to the city. We’re sure if that really happened in the span of a week, it would get some press coverage.
Secret Cities will perform at Lambert’s in Austin on Saturday, March 18th in a showcase set with other notable artists like Botany, Callers and Wires Under Tension.
Natural Child and The Strange Boys Release Split Single
As part of the Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series, two of our favorite modern southern garage rockers, The Strange Boys and Natural Child, recently got together to record this split single. Living up to their namesake, Texas’ Strange Boys created “American Radio,” an audio collage that features clips of everything from jazz and bluegrass, to Delta blues and funk with a couple of incomprehensible voice recording samples for a nearly five-minute long sonic tour de force. But just before you throw your hands up and say, ‘what’s the point?” you realize that the whole thing is a clever accurate portrayal of the mish-mash of musical styles that have come from the American South.
On the much shorter track, “The Jungle,” Nashville‘s Natural Child present a stripped-down, sing-along jem with unified voices and warm acoustic strumming. The nostalgic lyrics call upon iconic American images, like boxcar travelers and 1980s optimism. The only thing we don’t like about this track is that it just suddenly stops at a place where it sounds like the song is prematurely cut off. But, we checked to make sure, and that’s the way they released it. Hmm…
“American Radio” – The Strange Boys from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
The Strange Boys will be playing shows at The Mohawk Patio and The Bat Bar in Austin this week for SXSW. Check their times here.
“The Jungle” – Natural Child from Scion A/V Garage 7″ Series (2011)
Guards Cover Vampire Weekend, Phil Cook Goes Solo, White Denim Drop New Single, The White Wires’ Question
In preparation for another edition of IRC’s mix series, Indie Cover Songs, we thought you might be interested to hear this recent release from the band Guards putting their own spooky spin on Vampire Weekend‘s “Taxi Cab.” Plus, Megafun guitarist Phil Cook shows off his slide guitar skills in this nice little instrumental from his upcoming debut solo album under the moniker, Phil Cook & His Feat. Is there a joke in there somewhere? Perhaps only his closest friends would know (even though it might be easier to guess if it was “feet”). Moving on, the psychedelic rock band White Denim will drop their fourth album, D, on May 24th via Downtown Records. The first single, “Drug,” from D is a bit more mellow, but somehow rugged at the same time. Also, the Ottawa, Canada punk pop band The White Wires just released this single, “Did You Forget My Name?” based on a bad dream the guitarist had one night.
“Ballad of a Hungry Mother” – Phil Cook & His Feat from Phil Cook & His Feat – No Known SXSW Shows
