Are you going to SXSW this year? Well, lucky you. Unfortunately, I am not able to attend this year (IndieMuse’s contributor, Nick, is going and will be keeping everyone up to date via IndieMuse and our twitter feed @musicfloss). I wanted to go ahead and include some bands that I highly recommend checking out if you do make it down to Austin. This list is far from complete, but with the overwhelming number of bands performing, we thought it would be a good idea to share some “IndieMuse approved” artists. A lot of these artists are more on the alternative folk side, but if you’re looking for “indie rock” music recs, check out Nick’s post. If we missed anyone, please include them (and a Myspace link) in the comments!
note: some of these artists are playing multiple days so check SXSW.com for venue, dates, and times.
Wednesday
Bowerbirds, Califone, The Veils, Fanfarlo, Frightened Rabbit, Born Ruffians, Joe Purdy, Princeton, Dustin O’Halloran.
(mp3) Bowerbirds – Northern Lights
(mp3) Joe Purdy – Wash Away (Reprise)
Thursday
Midlake, Centro-matic, Miles Kurosky (Ex-Beulah), Rogue Wave, These United States, Le Loup, Avi Buffalo, Seabear, The Rural Alberta Advantage, Lissie, Cary Brothers Band of Horses, Broken Social Scene, and Amber Rubarth.
(mp3) These United States – Will it Ever
(mp3) Avi Buffalo – Where’s your Dirty Mind?
Friday
Dosh, Vandaveer, Twin Sister, Jail Guitar Doors (Documentary showing), Memory Tapes, Tape Deck Mountain, She & Him, Zeus, The Low Anthem, Metric, and Sebastien Schuller.
(mp3) Sebastien Schuller – Balançoire
(mp3) Vandaveer – However Many Takes it Takes
Saturday
Forest City Lovers, Electric President, Pretty Lights, and Hey Marseilles.
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I saw The Wheel open for Laura Marling last month, and were there actually enough space to permit me being knocked on my ass, I would have been splayed out on the ground about a minute into their set. Lead singer Nathaniel Rateliff has one of the most powerful and affecting male voices that I’ve heard in a long while. He can be real quiet, low and grumbling. He can be sweet, lilting, almost Bon Iver-y.
But what really gets me is when he reaches down into himself: beyond the vibrating vocal chords and the bleeding heart, past the lungs taking desperate gulps of hot air, right down into the pit of his hollowed-out stomach. Then he shuts his eyes against the loud haunt of his own voice, and he just bellows. It echoes inside his mouth, tumbling out in a raw rush before colliding, absorbing itself into anyone lucky enough to be within earshot. But Nathaniel Rateliff booms, so in this case, the term “earshot” has a pretty sizable radius.
Rateliff’s upcoming solo album, In Memory of Loss, will be released on April 27th, and if its first released song “Early Spring Till” is any indication, Memory will be another notch in what is fast becoming an impressive musical belt. “Early Spring Till” isn’t really sparse, but it’s certainly not overcrowded either. Instead, it feels decidedly whole, featuring that gale-force howl of his, resonate harmonies and atmospheric electric guitar strums tip-toeing around the song’s edge.
Nathaniel Rateliff’s music is sad and slow and makes me feel like if he didn’t write these songs out, he just might collapse or implode or something equally destructive. And it’s this feeling of essentiality, this feeling that he really needs this music, that keeps knocking me (space permitting) on my ass. So give it a listen. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself splayed out and overwhelmed on your bedroom floor while Nathaniel Rateliff just keeps surging from your speakers.
In Memory of Loss (2010)
(mp3) Nathaniel Rateliff – Early Spring Till
Desire and Dissolving Men (2007)
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I’m leaving for Austin in a few days to cover South by Southwest for the Boston Phoenix. Before I leave, here is a playlist of ten or so bands I’m really keen to see. (All these bands are playing more times than listed.)
Japandroids
Japandroids are responsible for the best show I’ve ever seen in Boston. Four-chord grunge anthems about drinking too much, falling in love and forgetting about it all the next day inspired the entirety of great Scott to crowd surf and stage dive. I wish drinking actually felt like Japandroids.
(mp3) Japandroids – Young Hearts Spark Fire
3/17 @ Emo’s
3/18 @ Yard Dog Gallery
DD/MM/YYYY
When I saw DD/MM/YYYY, it was like the Blood Brothers vocals fronting Animal Collective’s rhythm. Shit was epic, totally insane and undeniably compelling. Dueling drum sets beat out schizophrenic rhythms deep within whirlwinds of guitar and bass. It had me reeling for days. I’m not sure whats real anymore.
3/17 – Verge FM Radio Session
3/18 Magic Jewels Party
(mp3) DD/MM/YYYY – Bronzage
The Black Angels
The Black Angels play droney, psyched-out acid rock that sometimes sounds like the Velvet Underground blown through a shit-ton of post-production distortion, sometimes like the smooth descent into a one-way coma. All drenched in reverb, all slightly reminiscent of a punch in the face. But in a good way.
(mp3) The Black Angels – Black Grease
3/17 @ Emo’s
3/18 @ Mohawk
Beach Fossils
I was recently introduced to Beach Fossils at the Butcher Shoppe in Allston. Their song “Vacation” follows sparkling arpeggios along waves of reverb, above choppy, syncopated drums and a tremolo’d vocal melody. Sounds like a vinyl left undiscovered in your parents collection for the last thirty years. Sounds like something recorded in your kitchen yesterday.
(mp3) Beach Fossils – Vacation
3/17 @ Red 7
3/18 @ 2908 Cole Street
Sleigh Bells
Like the Stooges Raw Power, the production behind Sleigh Bells is intended to destroy any and all sound systems it touches. The guitar fuzz on single “Crown on the ground” had me thinking I’d blown my speakers. I was pissed, until the smooth M.I.A. style vocals dropped, rounding out this part club-banger, part basement thrasher.
(mp3) Sleigh Bells – Crown on the Ground
3/17 @ Parish
3/18 Mexican American Cultural Center
Bear in Heaven
Bear in Heaven sound like the reasons why people like the Knife, only way better. Their most recent release, “Beast Rest Forth Mouth,” is underscored by chugging, minimalist keyboards that somehow evolve into soaring I-want-to-be-drunk-and-seventeen-style choruses. With a fat, drony low-end, and a shrill tenor lead vocal, Bear in Heaven are sure to kill live.
(mp3) Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers
3/17 @ Emo’s
3/19 @ Red House Pizzaria
Magic Magic
Magic Magic are at the point locally where I’m out of things to say. Smooth, surf-guitar leads, crooning chamber-pop vocals a-la Grizzly Bear/Beach House blah blah blah. They’re sweet, they’re local, they’ll own SX.
(mp3) Magic Magic – Sleepy Lion
3/17 @ Spill Bar
Local Natives
I wanted to not like Local Natives. They play a type of sincerely melodramatic alt-country akin to Okervil River or even Death Vessel and sing choruses like “I want you back” and “I promise not to lose her again“ and “Omg, like so in love.” Ok, so that last one was just me being bitter. Still.
(mp3) Local Natives – Sun Hands
3/18 @ Parish
3/19 @ Emo’s
No Age
By now everyone knows No Age, since they pretty much did for noise rock now what the Strokes did for garage rock in the 2000s. Still, these guys are pretty rock and roll. From their album Nouns, “Eraser” feels like a summer’s day, all swaying guitars under the sun and “Teen Creeps” is a punk epic, distorted vocals over a handful of disgusting, swirling chords. Easy listening recorded at the outskirts of a hurricane.
(mp3) No Age – Eraser
3/20 @ Barberella
School of Seven Bells
Since shoegaze became cool again, School of Seven Bells is the band that most effectively captures the My Bloody Valentine sound without sounding like a total knockoff. Their album “Alpinisms” has all the shoegaze staples: droning guitars, harmonies swirling in the ether, and a female lead to fall in love with. The songs feel effortless, yet could easily score a John Huges film in that same self-indulgent way as M83’s “Saturdays=Youth.”
(mp3) School of Seven Bells – Half Asleep
3/19 @ La Zone Rosa
3/20 @ Stubbs
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I’ll be tweeting from @musicfloss (IndieMuse’s Twitter!) and from the phoenix’s blog (thephoenix.com/sxsw). Interviews with most of the above mentioned to come.
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All I wanna do is clap/All I wanna do is sing/I don’t wanna sing another song in anger sing Zeus on “Kindergarten”, and I couldn’t be happier about all the musical things they do or don’t wanna do, because Say Us is a seriously good time. It’s got hand claps, group singing, parlour piano, bumbling bass lines and enough ooh’s and ahh’s to fill a swimming pool.
Zeus make no attempts to hide the fact that this Say Us is a pop album through and through. Sure, it has some buzzing, straight-up rock moments (“You Gotta Teller”) and sure it can simmer (“Heavy On Me”), and sure Zeus can do the buzzing, simmering thing well, but it’s when they give in to every pop-loving instinct in their bodies that the album comes so vibrantly alive.
Say Us has a grinning approach to music that just reeks of good times, often bringing a very Kinks-esque silliness to the songs that I completely adore. And I could sit here listening to the album on repeat, pinpointing exact moments where Zeus bring to mind other musicians from yesteryear (because their sound can indeed be described with a lot of sounds-likes), but I’ll leave that to somebody else who’d rather pick apart the origins of Zeus’ hook-laden awesomeness than just enjoy the hook-laden awesomeness for all its awesomity.
And check out the equally a-word video for the album’s first single, “Marching Through Your Head”:
Click here to view the embedded video.
Say Us (2010)
(mp3) Zeus – Fever of the Time
(mp3) Zeus – Kindergarten
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Just the other day, I was listening to Band of Horses and this thought swept over me: “When the F*** [yes, I curse in my head] are BOH releasing their next album?!” Then, as if my inner-voice rained down on them from the heavens, they announced their upcoming album. It was magical. Their album is called Infinite Arms, and it comes out on May 18. It will not be released on Sub Pop, which means my April Fools report from a few years ago was dead on.
According to our friends over at Pitchfork, frontman Ben Bridwell said, “in many ways, this is the first Band of Horses record.” I guess we’ll see who makes better music–Ben Bridwell or Ben Bridwell & Co.
(mp3) Band of Horses – Ode to LRC
(mp3) Band of Horses – Monsters
Cool video from Lollapalooza:
‘continue reading’ for Tour dates:
Tour Dates
03-15 Boulder, CO – Fox Theater
03-16 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
03-18 Austin, TX - Stubbs BBQ
03-19 Austin, TX – Central Presbyterian Church
04-08 Paris, France – La Fleche D’or
04-09 Brussels, Belgium - Orangerie
04-10 Rotterdam, Netherlands – Motel Mozaique
04-12 London, England - Koko
04-14 Cologne, Germany - Kulturkirche
04-16 Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller
04-17 Gothenburg, Sweden - Tradgarn
04-18 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
04-23 Raleigh, NC – Walnut Creek Amphitheater *
04-24 Raleigh, NC – Walnut Creek Amphitheater *
04-27 Gainesville, FL – University ofFlorida’s Rion Ballroom
04-28 Miami, FL – The Fillmore
04-29 Orlando, FL – House of Blues
05-01 New Orleans, LA - Jazzfest
05-30 Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater #
05-31 George, WA – Sasquatch
06-05 Bangor, Ireland – Ward Park !
06-09 London, England – Roundhouse
06-12 Glasgow, Scotland - Bellahouston Park !
06-19 Toronto, Ontario – Olympic Island $
09-25 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
* with Widespread Panic
# with She & Him
! with Snow Patrol
$ with Pavement, Broken Social Scene
If you’re a fan of this rendition, the generous Pomplamooses have made it and all of their covers available for FREE download. Right here. How lovely of them. Don’t forget to check out their original material as well—it’s not to be missed. Ha. Ha. Ha.
Click here to view the embedded video.Pomplamoose Covers (2010)
(mp3) Pomplamoose – Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
Pomplamoose VideoSongs
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I’m in love with NPR, and in particular the podcasts “This American Life” and “Radiolab.” They should be mandatory listening, as far as I’m concerned. Apart from featuring incredible stories, and addressing fascinating questions, they also contain really, really good music. As you may know, “This American Life” recently became a TV series on Showtime (you can stream on Netflix!), and their soundtrack includes some music from the band, Pale White Moon. If you are a fan of instrumental music definitely check out the debut album that released today called, Call of The Wolf Peach.
Pale White Moon’s music has an elegant, baroque sound that I really enjoy. “Heirlooms” and Yann Tiersen-esque “Sir Basil Humphrey’s House Oh The Hill” are my two favorite tracks on the album. And believe it or not, the band was able to somehow pull off using cicadas as instruments in the song, “The Seven Year Cicadas!” It’s actually enjoyable to listen to and they get major points for quirkiness. Instead of buying a sound sample of cicadas, frontman, Doug Slawin, went around New Haven, Connecticut to record. Awesome.
I think the story behind this album is really cool. Instead of Pale White Moon being a band, it’s more of a collective started by Slawin. He dedicated the album to his hometown of New Haven, CT and got various people around his community to contribute. Read more about Pale White Moon at the New Haven Register.
Call of The Wolf Peach (2010):
(mp3) Pale White Moon – Heirlooms
(mp3) Pale White Moon - Sir Basil Humphrey’s House On The Hill
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Jordie Lane’s music is one of the best kept secrets out there. Lane’s 2009 debut album, Sleeping Patterns, literally makes me want to go door to door and spread the goodness. His music and songwriting is beautiful and refreshing in every sense of the word. Sleeping Patterns is a must hear for any music fan (especially recommended for fans of Wilco, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash).
One thing I love about the album is its diversity. Lane has a gift for connecting genres in a way that expands what I imagine is most listeners’ comfort zones. His album is influenced by folk, bluegrass, country, and other genres. While his folk songs “I Could Die For You,” “The Day I Leave This Town,” and “War Rages On” are gems and most like the music I typically listen to, tracks such as “Fell Into Me” “Walking that Way,” and “John W. Thistle” are throwbacks to the 60s (“There Once Was Life to Come” is fantastic and brings Johnny Cash to mind). Lane’s music is extremely cultured and is a great homage to all the musicians who have helped us get where we are today in music.
It blows my mind that Jordie is only 25 years old, and wrote most of Sleeping Patterns when he was 21. He is based out of Melbourne, Australia, and makes up one half of the duo Fireside Bellows, alongside Canadian songwriter, Tracy McNeil. He’s shared the stage with Neko Case and Cat Power, and it’s only a matter of time before his music spreads far and wide.
Sleeping Patterns (2009):
(mp3) Jordie Lane – I Could Die Looking At You
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There’s a really cool new site called Kickstarter that allows people working on independent projects to raise funding through friends, family, and awesome folks around the internet. And better yet, funders usually get some really neat swag in return (i.e. an artist trying to raise money to record an album, will often times send it to a supporter for free). You are bound to find amazing people on this site–and given they are seeking help from the community, it’s fair to say most of them are extremely modest, unlike some of their industry “(insert mean word)” counterparts.
One project that gets a big IndieMuse stamp of approval is called Sound Through Sight: A Gonzo Road Trip to Understand Music In 2010. It’s started by Tom Williams (writer), Sarah Mulligan (photographer), and Rahawa Haile (filmaker).
Here’s a small blurb from their Kickstarter page explaining the project:
Picture Chuck Klosterman and Alexis de Tocquevillie joining Hunter S. Thompson, going not on a drug-fueled rampage across Las Vegas but on a trip of discovery across America, seeking to understand where music and the music industry stands in 2010, how we got here, and where we’re going. We are three passionate young music lovers who intend to do just that. To understand these questions and to look for answers, we are going on a Gonzo road trip, searching for insights and answers on the back roads of America. We will then write a book on the trip which attempts to answers those questions we just posed. We will also create a book of photography from our travels across North America and a short documentary about the music we encounter on this trip.
The money we are seeking to raise here will go towards printing the first edition of the book, as well as the gas, food, and other minor travel expenses we’ll need to complete this trip. (more)
If you have a few extra dollars in your pocket, you should consider helping out! A $15 donation will even score you a free copy of the book once it’s published!
Song of the day: Avi Buffalo – Where’s Your Dirty Mind
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I’m really digging Cuckoo Chaos’ new EP, We Are from Deerplants. The band will be releasing their debut later in the year, and this is a sign of good things to come. If you’e a fan of Devendra Banhart, The Bowerbirds, or that general folk sound, I highly recommend checking them out.
My favorite track on the EP is “It’s Easy, Ya Know. ” It’s short and catchy, and among my favorite songs of the year. I’m also drawn to the tracks “Hymn Number Twelve,” and “Preparing for the Eternal Winter, We,” both of which creatively incorporate eerie, staticy voices to fully drive that lo-fi sound. Overall, just a solid EP. Keep your eyes on Cuckoo Chaos.
Cuckoo Chaos is based out of San Diego, and is fronted by Scott Wheeler.
We Are From Deerplants EP (2010)
(mp3) Cuckoo Chaos – It’s Easy, Ya Know
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