A psych inspired quartet that doesn’t mind embracing a Southern styled grit, Vision Arcade channels a blend of Audioslave, the Black Keys and Rival Sons. The young rock group has already scored shows at venues such as the Mohawk, Come and Take It Live!, and Emos but the release of their debut single "Afterglow", soon to be accompanied by a music video, will continue to raise their profile. The band purveys 70’s influenced alt-rock with bluesy undertones and the four piece consisting of Max Robison, Rory Kendall, Connor Torres and Evan Brock are on a steady track to a larger fan base.

 

 Amyl and the Sniffers Doing Drugs Onstage

Lead singer, Amy Taylor, smashed her mouth on her mic at the Thrasher showcase, so she was already bleeding midway through her raucous set when she announced onstage  “I heard there was a guy in Austin who makes his own poppers and calls it Double Scorpion”  On cue, a guy in the front row holds up a bottle of poppers and invites her to sniff, and then the entire band proceeds to put down their instruments to line up and do poppers, delaying their set until they got a whiff, and then returned to said instruments and launched into the next song.

 

City Morgue Causes Bizarro Mayhem

Zillakami, one half of City Morgue, was arrested when he landed in Austin on an outstanding warrant. However, he also nearly incited a riot revving up the crowd at City Morgue’s Thrasher showcase. Moshing and stage diving left numerous fans bleeding, yet still smiling, while a dystopian crowd slammed into each other gleefully raging to the morbid trap-metal. When a fan is moshing around while holding a chucky doll, you know the scene is apocalyptic.

 

Otoboke Beaver Bull Rides A Fan

 An all-female punk band from Kyoto that attacks the crowd with their music, literally attacked a crowd member at their showcase at the Main. Their aggressive music stylings and fast-paced delivery bubbled over to where guitarist, Yoyoyoshie, jumped on to a large fan in the front row and literally rode the fan around while shredding her guitar. The fan who had the guitarist’s legs wrapped around his head seemed to be more than fine with what had happened to him.

 

Band Survivor at Dozen St.

Some cringe worthy band turmoil took place at the unofficial showcases at Dozen St. bar on the East side. Band names will be withheld to save them the embarrassment but midway through a set, a bandleader informed his guitarist that his guitar was out of tune and instructed him to tune it. The guitarist was unable to tune his own guitar and literally walked out of the venue trying to find someone to tune his guitar. Upon not being able to tune it, the lead singer told the poor guitarist to leave the stage and that he was fired. Ouch!  I was also informed by a house bartender of another firing, where a guitarist who had been playing out of key their entire show was given a lesson onstage by the lead singer, guiding his hands to the appropriate frets, until he gave up and fired the guitarist.   SXSW-harshed on two counts!

 

David Fricke Makes An Appearance

If you are a music journalist, a Rolling Stone magazine fan, or just haven’t had your head in the sand for the last fifty years – you would know the name David Fricke.  The former Rolling Stone editor and music review god suddenly materialized at the Brazilian music showcase at Lucille and jammed out to psychedelic vibes of Boogarins. The absolute legend was hanging out with Austin Chronicle cronys, Raoul Hernandez and Michael Toland. The guy who gave Cobain’s last interview, shined a light on 70’s punk and guided the world’s best rock magazine through its golden years was head nodding to the music just like the rest of us.

  If you had already been onto one of these five bands, that’s great, feel free to hipster shame me online or in person since your music radar supersedes my own. However, if you haven’t gotten down with any of these beautiful gems, then I beseech you to bathe in the purifying waters of SXSW discovery. The music from these bands will undoubtedly supplement your music playlists like an anabolic into the gluteus maximus. 

Memory Keepers (Austin, TX) Fuzzy, scuzzy and psychedelic with a strong undertow of addictive melodies, Memory Keepers is a local band that has flow stealthily under the radar yet clearly has the goods to emerge as a force.  Literally the first band to play on a 30 band bill at Hotel Vegas for the Side One Track One vs. Austin Town Hall showcase, Memory Keepers played an amazing set that impressed the eight people present.

 

Castlecomer (Sydney, Australia) First appearing like a burned out and haggard arrangement of Aussie musicians nursing a hangover, Castlecomer ended up being a daytime highlight at the Aussie house.  Power pop with winding guitars and a pulsing rhythm section, Castlecomer emanated charisma and a livewire energy that started a dance party in an unlikely place.

 

Drama (Chicago, IL) Heaven is waiting until 1am at an obscure SXSW venue and then getting hit with the best performance of SXSW 2019.  DRAMA is a soul electronica duo that I knew I would like within 30 seconds of their first song, but ended up worshipping by the end of their set.  Had every other note of music at SXSW been terrible, this set would have made the hell week well worth it.

                                                                                                                                       

Haiku Hands (Melbourne, Australia) Brash and bawdy with afrobeat rhythms cascading around Spice Girls-esque delivery, Haiku Hands brings in your face power pop with some feminine thunder from down under (meaning Australia). A high energy stage presence with dance-laden beats gave this trio an extra glossy sheen at the Do512 showcase at Barracuda.

 

 

 

Bixiga 70 (Sao Paulo, Brazil)  A 9-member group crammed onto a tiny stage at Lucille on Rainey for the Brazilian showcase ended up being one of the most bombastic and funkadelic performances at SXSW.  Afro-Brazilian dance and an empowered horns section brought an urban and unfiltered energy which caused a pseudo-samba dance party bursting with posi-vibes.

 

 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. 

Traffic, big brands and more Californians tend to give Austin locals a negative conception of SXSW, but for music lovers it is a smorgasboard of new bands and under-appreciated genres that are suddenly thrust into tangibility. While Austin has a handful of industrial bands, SXSW 2019 is offering a plethora of global options to choose from, and if gritty gothtronica is your bag, you need to check out these five acts below. The Negative Gain showcase on March 16 at Valhalla on 710 Red River St will be a cornucopia of industrial talent worth investigating as well.

 DSTR (GER)

East-German electronic project DSTR has an all new line up with three veterans of the German electronic music scene. They are back to infuse a fresh new sound straight from the heart of post-Soviet Germany.

 

Odonis Odonis (CAN)

Odonis Odonis has continued to push their sound further into the depths of post-apocalyptic experimentation. The band is on their fourth LP and venturing into a starker and more dance-floor friendly space.

 

Gallops (UK)

Gallops has been revitalised, rejuvenated and driven to create music that has stretched their horizons, and is driven by the propulsive charge of electronic music.

 

Grun Wasser (Chicago)

The music of Grun Wasser is inspired by the juxtaposition of beauty and tragedy in the world. They stands in solidarity with all people who have been disenfranchised by the negligent powers of society. 

 

Goo Monday (AUS)

 Goo Munday is a music producer and performer from Sydney Australia. Her music is a hypnotising mix of dark electronic beats, jolting screams and ethereal vocals. 

The golden age of Houston rap (Geto Boys, Swishahouse, Screwed Up Click) may be a distant memory, despite some continuing to rep the city (Z-Ro, Paul Wall, Devin the Dude etc), yet there is a new generation (not talking about Travis Scott) that is rising to carry the torch and hold down ‘Screwston’ as a hub of quality rap. Luckily, 160 miles West from H-Town, is the largest music festival in the world, so it’s only right that SXSW gets a glimpse of the next class of powerhouse rappers emerging from the ‘City of Syrup’. Here are five up-and-comer acts that are looking to impress at SXSW 2019.

Megan Thee Stallion 

The newly crowned queen of Houston rap, Megan Thee Stallion aka Tina Snow, has incisive lyrics that are as clever as they are provocative. Young, ambitious and undeniably talented, Megan is giving Austin once last glance before she takes over the world. 

 

Tim Woods 

Poet, MC, flower-child, or hippy, Tim Woods has gone by a multitude of names. That alone should speak volumes about his versatility and creativity.

Doughbeezy  

Doughbeezy a.k.a The South East Beast has been exciting crowds and gaining fans since high school where he got his start doing impromptu concerts at the lunch table. Since recording his first song in 2003 Doughbeezy has continued to progress as a recording artist, live performer, and a successful brand. 

 

Rizzoo Rizzoo 

When it comes the infrastructure of the modern Houston sound, The Sauce Factory has played a pivotal part into the way the rest of the nation looks at Texas’ emerging soundscape. One of the X Factors in the collective that has been gaining steam is Rizzoo Rizzoo.

 

Doeman 

 Born and raised in Southeast Houston, Doeman’s flows are largely about his experiences as a Mexican-American man. It is no surprise, then, that his lyrics focus less on typical hip-hop subjects such as women and material possessions, and focus more on social statements and current events. 

 Some of the most intricate sounds and exciting artists will be emanating from the African continent for SXSW 2019. A diverse contingent of musicians, from every corner of Africa, will be bringing high-energy performances to Austin, and these five acts listed below are a great reason why you should get out and see them.

Kokoko! (DRC) 

Sprung from the ghetto and downtown clubs of the Congolese capital, Kinhasa, Kokoko! had to createin between the government-imposed power cuts. Strong ideas combine with DIY and constructed instruments to create a powerful and unique vehicle for their sound.

Siimba Liives Long (ETH)

A third culture kid raised in New York, New Jersey and Ethiopia, SIIMBA SELASSIIE is just as familiar with the streets as he is with the jungle. Since planting roots in Brooklyn, NY, Siimba has headlined his own national tour and supported artists like Rae Sremmurd, Ty Dolla Sign and Cam’ron.

Alternate Sound (NIG)

The band’s meticulous panache and deft instrumentation has been paired with many of the best African talents and featured on the most prestigious stages across the continent.

 

Jojo Abot (GHA) 

A Ghanaian artist expressing herself through music, film/photography, fashion, literature and performance art. She uses music as an ongoing project to explore the self and as a provocative tool in the discovery, exchange and evolution of her identity.

Stoneybwoy (GHA) 

Livingstone Etse Satekla is a Ghanaian Afro-pop artist, from the Volta region, who integrates dancehall and reggae influences to create an upbeat sound.

  

  Taiwan is an island nation that’s dwarfed by its larger neighbors like China, Japan and the Phillipines, but at the SXSW 2019, THEY are the behemoths, with an extremely talented showcase.The country has a rich music history, but having only sent ten music acts to Austin, the quality of their contingent is something to be admired. The Taiwanese showcase will take place March 13th at Elysium at 705 Red River St.

 Chiu Pi

  Avant-garde music that has an ethereal and introspective style, Chiu Pi is changing the general perception of electronic music. 

 

My Skin Against Your Skin 

Their music ranges from garage and psychedelic rock to electronic pop  and they use surreal plots to spin narratives.

 

 The Fur. 

 An indie dream-pop band with sensual vocals and shimmering synths.

 

Elephant Gym

 Elephant Gym is an instrumental rock band that is known for clear and memorable bass lines, emotional guitar riffs and melodic drumming. 

 

I Mean Us 

I Mean Us is a Dream Pop/ Shoegaze /Indier that romantically combines the 1990s analog sound with psychedelic style.