Each year, artists travel halfway across the country to the South By Southwest Festival (otherwise known as SXSW) in Austin, Texas to participate in one of the nation’s largest festivals of culture, art, and music. This year, the Bay Area was proud to have a number of local acts representing the scene in official showcases, which took place between March 9th and March 18th.

Listen to a playlist of the artists below!

The debut album from NYC duo Anna/Kate Band, called How To Hold, is set to drop on March 23rd at the Downstairs Theater at La Mama in the East Village. Anna Gothard and Kate Foster have compiled nine of their songs into an album of queer folk-pop anthems with gripping harmonies, all of them recorded over six months in Ingrid Michaelson’s revered Grand Street Recording Studio. Both Anna and Kate are trained in the art of jazz singing, which can be heard in the soulful delivery of their stories. They have already released two singles from How To Hold: "I Run With You" has received plenty of traffic on Spotify in both the US and the UK, and "Even Over Odd" has grabbed the attention of Fordham University’s radio station, which called them an "Act To Watch" this year. Stream the Anna/Kate Band’s latest single from How To Hold, called "Shipwrecked (In My Motel Room)", below. – Will Sisskind

It’s rare that an artist sheds new light on a phrase as overused as “less is more,” but that’s exactly the feat that Santa Cruz singer-songwriter Katie Ekin accomplishes on her newest single “Little Moon” (streaming below), which is set to be included on a forthcoming EP. This simple track gives her dreamy harmonies room to shine, while also showcasing the power of a stripped-down sound. She is currently finishing up a string of local shows, with a performance on the 23rd at the NexTies Awards and another on the 24th at Aroma Cellars. – Lilly Milman

Under the Trace Mountains moniker, Dave Benton makes folky, lo-fi tunes that blend in synthesizers and post-production effects for quirky and occasionally noisy compositions. Benton, who’s also a songwriter in beloved indie rock quartet LVL UP, sings with a tender delivery fit to the gently building arrangements of his tracks while crunched up drum machines and softly strummed guitar propel his voice onward. On A Partner to Lean On, due March 30th on Figure 2 RC, he brings together recordings of new material and updated versions of previously released songs. The album release will coincide with a show at Alphaville where Trace Mountains will be joined by Operator Music Band and Spirit Was, which features Benton’s LVL UP bandmate Nick Corbo. – Cameron Carr

Deliriously rocking beings,

Once a year, The Deli publishes an issue of The Deli that is NOT exclusively focused on NYC acts, but on artists based in all the 11 scenes we cover. That time of the year is now, an that issue is the 8th Austin issue of The Deli, which you can now read online here. The print version of it, in its glorious 7 inch format, will be available in print next week in Austin and in NYC shortly thereafter.

On the mag’s cover you’ll find Toronto’s noise rockers FRIGS, whose debut album Basic Behaviour has been rocking our world in the last few weeks.

The issue features other incredible emerging artists, including hip hop genius Nnamdi Ogbonnya, talented goofball popper Caroline Rose, and Los Angeles’ alt-rockers The Beaches among others – you can listen to all of them in the YouTube playlist below.

Also in the issue, an article entitled "Will Rock Explode Again?" which poses pognant questions about the future of rock’n’roll.

As usual, in the final pages you’ll find a section focused on the guitar pedals and synths involved in our Austin Stompbox and Synth Expo, scheduled for March 16/17 at the Chuggin’ Monkey in Downtown Austin!

Enjoy!

The Deli’s Staff