Hundreds of rocks bands are disembarking at Bergstrom airport, and like the huddled masses at Ellis Island, they are yearning to breathe the air that is a non-existent SXSW record deal. As a rock fan, it’s a bit overwhelming to know that there are so many bands in town that you know nothing about, but still hold the possibility that one could be your new favorite band – the FOMO is strong in this regard. Luckily, we’ve gone ahead and sifted through the sands for you, so that you can enjoy these gems we’ve found without the audial self-flagellation that we’ve inflicted on ourselves.  Here are ten rock bands that are worth a trip into Downtown Austin for.

 

Mute Swan 

 

 Swirling guitar hooks, off-kilter drumming, Yo La Tengo-y backing vocals, Mute Swan feels like a less jittery Of Montreal or an extension of Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips. Their up-to-the-moment, artful psych lifts you to a dream-space desert and wraps you up in reverb and reassurances.

 

Stuyedeyed 

 

Irrepressible, loud, direct, fuzzed out — Stuyedeyed are an unhinged skull rattling atop a spine, snapping to intensity and directing your attention to our reality, right now.

 

Dan Luke & The Raid 

 

Though the four members all hail from the same scene and town, they bring diverse influences to Dan Luke’s sound. Shultz’s roots are primarily in foundational rock and punk—"things like the Velvet Underground and Jefferson Airplane and the Mamas and the Papas,” he says, “and then Television and Talking Heads and the Germs and the Dead Boys, all the way up to the Strokes.” 

  

Bizou 

 

Bizou is the sum of it’s parts: propulsive post-punk bass + wall of sheeny shoegaze guitars + shifting scales of synths + the propulsive rhythms of darkwave — all fused together with dreamy vocals ala’ Curve, Cranes, Garbage or PJ Harvey.

Giungla 

 

Giungla is Italian artist Ema Drei. Bringing together atmospheric electronics with Ema’s guitar work, in turns artfully angular then brashly anthemic and with her passionate vocals – her music is riotous exuberant indie-pop. as dazzling, tricky and bursting with life as the ‘Jungle’ she named herself after.

 

Morabeza Tobacco 

 

Gustav and Vanilla met when he saw her DJing at an underground club in Norrköping and was blown away by her set. Introductions were made, songs were swapped online and they decided that their shared musical taste made collaboration seem a worthwhile endeavor.

 

Beshken 

 

Beshken effortlessly coalesces elements of indie, experimental dance, ambient, psychedelia and dream-pop. 

 

Rev Rev Rev 

 

Rev Rev Rev remetabolize shoegaze and psych rock elements in a loud, woozy, fuzz-driven sound. 

 

 

Saint Pe 

 

After 10 years of touring the world in Atlanta’s legendary Black Lips,  guitarist and vocalist Ian Saint Pé needed a change. As he put it, “The only thing you can’t change is time, So it was time that changed me. I loved the Black Lips, but I needed to enjoy new environments. So I got a brand new bag: Saint Pé.“

 

Warmduscher 

 

Warmduscher are a group of miscreants, known only by aliases, but we know Saul Adamczewski (Fat White Family) is the main instigator. Ardent fans, Iggy Pop and Marc Riley have only gleaming praise to heap on the band, and in return, Warmduscher have blessed them both with immortality. 

Argentina worships its rock stars and puts a premium on music culture, which makes it no surprise that the Argentine delegation of artists arriving for SXSW 2019 are passionate and inventive. Casa Argentina is set up at 78 Rainey street but you can catch these artists all over Austin starting Monday.

 Capsula 

A swirl of Bowie, the Cramps and Sonic Youth, this trio has injected a psych-glam agent into a distorted garage host – and the fever is contagious.

 

Boom Boom Kid 

The Iconoclast frontman from Fun People is off on his own and stirring up crowds with his Bono-like vocals and Perry Farrell antics.

 

Amor Elefante 

Sensuality mixes with psych rock elements as this heavily female group pours their hearts into the music.

 

Tirman Kid 

Inspired by the new wave of dream and psych pop artists, Tirman Kid rescues the sounds of the ’80s wtih reverberation and synthesizers.

 

Silvina Moreno 

An excellent musician, composer, arranger and singer with a gifted voice and superb performance. Her music is a combination between pop and alternative sounds. 

 Too much self-serious indie, lackadaiscal shoegaze, and monotonous rap can grate the nerves after hours of SXSW’ing. The quantity of music alone, can begin to callous over the most avid music fan. This is the moment one needs to administer a healthy dose of electro-funk and just dance the pain away.  These ten DJs and electro acts have the juice to get your body moving and, perhaps, conjure the elusive SXSW magic that makes lifelong memories.

 

 I Know Leopard (AUS)

I Know Leopard continue to establish themselves as one of Australia’s most unique and exciting art pop outfits. The Sydney quartet explode their emotions into a musical kaleidoscope, finding catharsis in the ethereal bliss of pop’s plastic, proggy past. 

Pleasure Jams (NYC)

 Pleasure Jams is a Brooklyn-based DJ trio who play disco and house music.  The group has collaborated with DJs such as Juan Maclean, Nancy Whang, Jacques Renault, JKriv, Frits Wentink, Kraak & Smaak and Justin Strauss.

 

Breezah & Lolo (ATX)

Breezah and Lolo are open format DJs with a style firmly rooted in disco, house, and pop, and these roots continue to inspire their DJ sets and mixing style. Known for flavored house beats that are sexy, bass-y, driven, and soulful with nods to indie, hip-hop, nu disco, retro and rock. 

 

Skratch Bastid 

Known for his comfort and versatility in different styles – hip hop, funk, disco, club, rock and just about anything that makes people dance – Skratch Bastid has showcased his skills in over 30 countries. 

  

Das Body (NOR)

Das Body are friends making music that is listenable and undeniably pop, their sound feels like a newly-thrifted favorite T-shirt: comfortably worn, slightly sunfaded, and with a cigarette burn on its sleeve. Das Body is writing pop music without the sentimentality that oversweetens so much currently on radio rotation.

 

Femme (UK)

 Her DIY invention has stemmed not only from necessity – learning how to launch electronic loops live so she didn’t have to drag her keyboard to early pub gigs – but also from a desire to retain total creative control. Several major label overtures have been entertained down the years, but ultimately Bettinson has always preferred to pursue her own artistic vision.

 

Mougli (COL)

Mougli mixes tropical sounds with current electronic trends,and through its music, the represent the diverse cultures that compose Colombia´s multiculturalism. By  using sounds from all over the country and mixing them with modern electronic sounds, they create what they call "Jungle Beat".

 

DCN XTR (THA)

De connextor or simply, DCNXTR, is an electronic act that explores the dichotomy between dream pop and soothing dream-like atmospheric synthetic sounds filled with energy and exquisitely laid melody. 

 

 NeverNude (ATX)

NeverNude has become known for their distinctively dark and melodic low-end techno and house grooves. Their unique take on techno and house music creates a sound that is far from the influx of monotonous “deep house” music. 

 

Mansionair (AUS)

Mansionair is an Australian indie electronic trio formed in 2014. 

 March 8th is International Women’s Day but you don’t need to remind these five ladies because they are owning shit the other 364 days of the year. Strong opinionated women know how to dominate the mic and get their message heard – and these women are no exception. While each their style is unique, they are all forces of nature that demand your attention.

Nadia Tehran (SWE)

Growing up in a Muslim Iranian family in a small Christian town in the middle of Sweden, Nadia Tehran was seemingly destined to explore the limits and boundaries of personal and political identity – right in the gap between systems and beliefs, belonging nowhere and everywhere equally.  

 

Ivy Sole (North Carolina)

Sole is the product of the gospel and soul upbringing afforded by her hometown, the mainstream R&B and backpack hip hop of the late 90s and 2000s, and an organic obsession with indie rock that she’s cultivated into a soundscape that’s all her own. 

 

Da Chick (POR)

It’s easy to stumble on the idea that listening to Da Chick is like travelling back in time: maybe to that New York era where Disco and Punk, New Wave and Hip-Hop would cross styles and shake the dance floors. Nothing wrong with that idea: there’s a lot of that classic Boogie spirit, with a strong passion and straightforwardness, a sassy attitude and a groove drinking from the best sources. 

 

Holiday Sidewinder 

Holiday Sidewinder has been dubbed one of the next pop provocateurs and her “unapologetic thot bop” is a soaring celebration of sexual liberation inviting “undeniable comparisons to Madonna”.

Bbymutha (Tennessee)

Joining Southern rap’s legacy of originality, by choosing local flairs, non-apologetic attitude, & candidly blending life experiences into hard-hitting bars – Bbymutha pointedly brandishes her sexuality in the face of respectability politics & unapologetically celebrating women for their ambition, savvy, sexuality, & vulgarity.

 

 Populism is on the rise, repressive governments act with impunity and the wealth gap steadily widens, but punks across the globe are still channeling their discontent and rage into music that is worth a listen. Punk has so many permutations these days that nailing down the sound is a fool’s errand, but luckily at SXSW, we get to imbibe it all in one week. So we’ve compiled five international groups that are going to make the end of the world, a party worth going too. 

 

 

Amyl & The Sniffers (AUS) 

An explosive punk band from Melbourne, Amyl and the Sniffers quickly developed a reputation for their unhinged live performances, in which manic lead singer Amy Taylor can often be seen crowd surfing or climbing up the walls. 

 

Otoboke Beaver (JAP) 

 A punk-rock-garage quartet from Kyoto, their off-kilter self taught compositional and confrontational performance skills, together with the band’s incredible musicianship make for a thrilling and unmissable live act.

 

Drinking Boys & Girls Choir (KOR) 

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir are a skate-punk trio from Daegu City that sing in Korean and English, making for a dynamic sonic range embracing melodic hardcore, pop-punk and indie rock. Their songs tackle unreasonable government, police power and the corruption of Park Geun-hye’s government.

 

Nancy (UK)

The enigmatic songwriter was raised in subdued North East England and not unlike many others, Nancy dressed & acted in ways that seemed out-of-the-ordinary. Combined with androgynous and abnormal physical features, “Nancy” was both a punchline &label throughout the songwriter’s formative years

 

Psychedelic Porn Crumpet (AUS)

Take the trail out of Perth via Leederville and keep on driving, and you might just stumble across an old horse shed – one where weirdness roams free. Across the bridge from said shed, house parties rage until the early hours and beyond, while around the corner there’s a sky-high pile of trash that acts as a makeshift home for the local rat population. It’s here, amongst jam sessions that would last six-hours plus, that the wacky, sprawling sound of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets was born.