"The Winter of Mixed Drinks"
Frightened Rabbit
"The Suburbs"
Arcade Fire
"Soundtrack To The End"
Communist Daughter
"Crazy For You"
Best Coast
"Treats"
Sleigh Bells
"Silver Soul"
Beach House
"Little Secrets"
Passion Pit
"Unhinged"
Eels
"Black Smoke"
Tindersticks
Synth-pop has never been afforded much respect by music critics. Like disco and techno, it has been accused of lacking soul, and its creators of being too lazy to learn and use real instruments. While there are plenty of examples that fit this description, it is not by any means an apt characterization of the [...]
If there were a way to measure the ratio of musical influence to the number of albums sold by an artist, Pixies would be up there with the Velvet Underground, Big Star and Television. Like those groups and many others, much of the energy of the Pixies came from the tension between its two principal [...]
It’s a tradition at South by Southwest: Japan Nite, where bands from the bustling island nation descend on Austin with their take on rock ‘n’ roll. This year’s Japan Nite showcase, happening Friday at Elysium, kicks off with the Osaka band JinnyOops!, a girl group that describes itself as “genreless” and as having “produced Real [...]
San Francisco indie-rock band Beulah never really settled on a single definitive lineup, and singer Miles Kurosky wrote most of the songs anyway, so it’s not such a surprise that the end of Beulah would mean a solo record from Kurosky. It sure took him a while, though: Beulah broke up in 2004, and Kurosky, [...]
It’s a fact of South by Southwest that sometimes you pick bands to see based solely on their names. For example, I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness in 2003, or I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch in the House in 2007. Not only does Ratas del Vaticano have an excellent name, the Mexican punk band [...]
House music may have originated in Chicago, but it was New York City’s Deee-Lite that put it on the map. A trio comprising vocalist Lady Miss Kier and DJs Towa Tei and Dmitri, Deee-Lite dropped their début “World Clique” in August of 1990. Best known for the hit single “Groove Is in the Heart,” featuring [...]
Not only is their second album a delightful leap forward, She & Him is bringing it to you live with a handful of shows at SXSW that come as part of a spring tour. Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward have outdone themselves on “Volume Two” (due March 23 on Merge): the vintage-style pop songs are [...]
Danish rock reaching U.S. shores in recent years has ridden a vintage sound, be it the stylish fuzztone songs of the Raveonettes or the garage-rock rave-ups of the Blue Van. Choir of Young Believers seems to have an eye on the future with its music — essentially folk-pop songs with lush, soaring arrangements and dreamy, [...]
The buzz that surrounded the Strange Boys at last year’s SXSW has only grown stronger, and the teenage garage-rockers just released their sophomore album, “Be Brave,” on super-cool indie label In The Red in the U.S. and Rough Trade in Britain. Listen, Dammit, saw them play last year in a packed tent on a sweltering [...]
There was a buzz last week when word filtered down that Big Star had added a show at SXSW. It’s going to be mobbed, of course (we’re glad we saw them last year in Brooklyn), but they’re not the only Ardent Studios band hitting Austin: Star & Micey will be there, too, with Big Star [...]
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