SXSW 2008 Pre-Party
Whether you're going to Austin, Texas, next week or not, it's always good to update your music collection with bands appearing at the annual South by Southwest music conference and festival. There are a few big names like R.E.M., but this isn't Lollapalooza (or Austin City Limits for that matter). SXSW is all about discovering new music, and with more than 1,600 bands booked this year, you may need a bigger iPod. Check out the free playlists below to hear some of our picks (we'll put together a Best of SXSW after the event), and let's get this party started!
R.E.M. The post-Bill Berry R.E.M. has at times seemed confused about its larger purpose, but new LP "Accelerate" employs a time-tested cure: simplify your rock. Recorded quickly and roughly, it brings back the rugged guitars and gutty vocals that we once labeled as "college."
Paramore We knew the current generation of arena punk-poppers was starting young--Panic! at the Disco had a hit record years before they could drink to it--but Tennessee's Paramore set a new age minimum. The tweens prove angsty beyond their years, issuing the genre's trademark guitar surges and hurt lyrics.
Ice Cube The L.A. MC, who emerged nearly two decades ago from seminal Compton act NWA, has long been a star contributor to movie soundtracks. The film connection makes perfect sense for raps that are fierce, funked up, and socially shrewd. "In the Movies" catalogs Cube's history of cinematic songs.
Yeasayer In the pre-Vampire Weekend era (i.e., last month), indie world-rock was getting made most smartly by Brooklyn's Yeasayer. The group combines thumping non-Western rhythms with quite Western (read: hipster) fragile vocals. Impressively, it's NY world-tinged art-rock that doesn't ape David Byrne.
Sia The new millennium might've just found its Tori Amos. Or its Shirley Manson. Or quite possibly its Kate Bush. Sound contradictory? Then you haven't heard how Sia sounds. The Zero 7-affiliated chanteuse is a pop chameleon, blending the colors of fragile folk, whispery trip-hop and brassy soul.
Moby For a vegan, Moby offers serious red meat on his latest; "Last Night" plays like prime rib to "Hotel"s tofu loaf. The concept piece distills the club music of two decades to a single night out, blasting forth with classic techno and house, and even, thanks to Grandmaster Caz, seriously early rap.
The Helio Sequence Many song smiths graduate from guitars to synth tricks. The Portland Sub Poppers are reversing that and showing bliss in the regression. Helio's latest work is a Modest Mouse-y (for good reason) spell of marching drums, billowing electric guitar, and pinched poetry.
Abigail Washburn This Colorado college girl semestered in China and returned a changed woman. Now with both a warm fondness for Appalachian folk music and a deep respect for Eastern culture, Washburn does more than entertain, she inspires.
Camp Lo The Bronx outfit's mid-'90s smash, "Luchini," seemed to flow like liquid from summer boom boxes, its mix of billowing horns and cocksure vocals drenching parched city blocks. Lo's recent stuff is again viscous and vintage, as thick effect washes are studded with percussive flows.
Vampire Weekend Call it a "Graceland" for the hipster era. The Columbia University crew's debut mixes ambitious world rhythms with twee pop balladry, plus geek-rock lyrics about architecture and grammar arcana. What could be precious is saved by playful melodies and hugely addictive percussion.
Kate Voegele Sara Bareilles' mega-hit "Love Song" is proving that vocal pop can compete with hip-hop at the top of the charts--a revelation that should open doors for Ms. Voegele. The young Ohioan's MySpace Records debut, "Don't Look Away," matches her soaring pipes with steady guitars and sturdy songcraft.
Does It Offend You, Yeah? These sardonic Englishmen almost sound like they want us to dislike their music. We won't give them the satisfaction. Nope, this debut doesn't offend us--not such head-snappingly good rhythms and a house/rock hybrid tight enough to compete with team DFA.
The Raveonettes On "Lust, Lust, Lust," the Danish pair go a step further in their presentation of retro rock as something vicious. Surfy guitars, always packing switchblades, and dressed to kill, here get matched with a sketchy programmed template. The genre's early days have been translated to its most modern.
Nada Surf "Popular" earned Nada Surf heavy MTV airplay in the '90s, but the alterna-rockers have actually been recording their best stuff in the last several years for Seattle's Barsuk label. New '08 album "Lucky" again showcases jangly, clever indie pop that's deliciously infectious and an absolute delight.
Cassettes Won't Listen Cassettes' indie-tronic sound features deft interplay between pianos, guitars, and synths--which is either more or less impressive when you find out it's all just one dude. Regardless, this is a distinctly modern thing, echoing in the freshness of its approach.
Tokyo Police Club Most of the sharpest post-post-punk has so far come from Britain, but these upstarts show that Canada is out to conquer one more indie rock subset. Debut long-player "Elephant Shell" is a surprisingly assured set that adds some crackle and fizz to the scene's diamond-cut guitars.
Say Hi If, when you sing, what comes out sounds like half Win Butler, half Conor Oberst, you should become an indie rocker. Eric Elbogen properly fulfills his obvious destiny on possible breakout LP "The Wishes and the Glitch," both mastering his synth ideas and emerging as a frontman to be reckoned with.
Bon Iver Justin Vernon comes by this project name--sorta-French for "good winter"--honestly, having cut his LP in the snowy isolation of rural Wisconsin. There's a reason we mythologize such outings. This is pristine lo-fi, run through with icy acoustic guitar and fragile vocals.
Throw Me The Statue In the Secretly Canadian group's debut LP, Jeff Mangum's raw folk aesthetic meets, of all things, the sort of distortion fogs now obsessing the Magnetic Fields. Topped with a Vampire Weekend-esque interest in grammar and a Shins-y tragicomic touch, it amounts to sublimely blended indie rock.
Jens Lekman Lekman's warbly whimsy has long evoked Belle & Sebastian, and his stylistic shift on "Night Falls Over Kortedala" even mirrors those Scots' recent turns. Like Stuart Murdoch, Lekman is now enamored with grandiose production and kitschy hooks. Thankfully, his melodies prove equipped for rowdy fun.
