Friends! It's time to fully get SXSW on the
brain. Below you'll find 10 artists that I'll
be trying my hardest to see this year. Dan
will have a few recommendations tomorrow, Noah will
breakdown some film choices on Friday and then Brad
will kick off next week with a special SXSW mix.
I'll also have some quick reviews from the film
portion of the festival that I plan on posting up
throughout the weekend. As for recaps of the
music part, expect those March 21-23. Yikes.
I already can't wait to take a nap.
Enjoy.
PS - If you'd like to see me ramble about SXSW as
it's happening, I suggest following me on
Twitter.
PPS - I didn't actually list shows that these bands
will be playing. That would have certainly
just been a giant mess, so instead I'm pointing you
to Do512,
Sched.org
and
Showlist Austin
and advising that you make the "search" function
your best friend.
- 10 Artists To See At SXSW 2011 -
:Charles
Bradley - The World (Is Going Up In Flames):
Aside from the fact that it would be all kinds of wrong to
have a SXSW without some soul from the good people at
Daptone Records, this wailer will be packing songs from a
fantastic new LP and he'll be backed by the great
Menahan Street Band. That's all-around can't miss
stuff.
:Tune-Yards
- Bizness:
While this choice partly stems from me realizing that it's
been far too long since I've seen Merrill Garbus own a
stage, it's also because I'm wildly curious about her
upcoming LP. What do the rest of the songs sound like?
I must know!
:Alexander
- Truth:
There's a nice handful of albums that I've become rather
attached to in 2011, and one of them belongs to this guy,
Alexander (of Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeroes).
Here's hoping that I'm correct in my assumption that his
material plays out even better live.
:Computer
Magic - Found Out:
Now that I've had plenty of time to fall in love with a few
synth-filled gems from this artist, I think it's time for
them to show me how good they are at playing said songs in
front of a crowd. Be sure to keep those fingers
crossed.
:Le
Butcherettes - New York:
If there's one band that I think might karate chop someone
in the front row and then kick over a stack of speakers,
it's this one. Now, who knows if anything that
cool will actually happen, but this band sounds like a ball
of pent up energy, and I can't wait to see it all unleashed.
:Yuck
- Coconut Bible:
There isn't anything about this act that doesn't embody the
slacked-out indie rock of the 90s that I hold dear, so of
course I'm slapping them on my must-see list. Well,
there's that and the fact that they're riding a nice sized
wave of buzz, and I feel as though this is the time to see
them.
:EMA
- The Grey Ship:
Here's my dark horse pick for 2011. I've only ever
heard one song from them and, while it's all kinds of
awesome, I can't help but think it's something that will be
very hit or miss live. Also, consider me intrigued to
check out whatever else EMA has up their sleeve.
:Generationals
- Greenleaf:
If someone were to take bets on which band has the best
chance to come out of SXSW with more chatter than they went
it with, I would pick Generationals. They've got a
great selection of pop tunes, and I can only imagine they'll
be winning over everyone that sees them.
:Oh
Land - Sun Of A Gun:
In some ways I suppose that this is also a dark horse pick.
Granted, she's definitely more well known than EMA, but her
new album has some bizarro, semi-Lykke Li stuff on it that
I'm more than a little interested to see performed.
:TV
Girl - If You Want It:
This act has pushed out catchy gem after catchy gem for the
last few months and, just like I noted with Computer Magic,
it's time to see how well the songs play out live. My
guess is that they'll work fine, but hopefully there's some
improvisation and other things to give it all a different
angle.
- Two
Honorable Mentions -
Neither one of
the acts list below have any available mp3s and they both
happen to be super groups, so I'm bunching them and
recommending that you do whatever you need to see each of
them at least once. Word?
Wild Flag - Features Carrie Brownstein and
Janet Weiss (both formerly of Sleater-Kinney), Mary Timony
(formerly of Helium) and Rebecca Cole (formerly of Minders).
Four Fists - Features famed indie rappers
POS and Astronautalis.
- John Laird -
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