I’m making the trek to Austin for South by Southwest this year. They announced the initial (very incomplete, I’m sure) list of bands that will be playing a few weeks ago; I’m familiar with quite a few of them, but not all of them.
So educate me: any personal favorites? Anyone who shouldn’t be missed?
I’ll just highlight my favorites:
Annie (Bergen NORWAY) - cute scandinavian pop singer, but with better songwriting and more interesting production than someone like Kylie Minogue
Dengue Fever (Los Angeles CA) - indie rock band whose schtick is that they’re cambodian. Interesting and weird songs, and made one of the better records of the past year.
Destroyer (Vancouver BC) - Fronted by Dan Bejar, of the New Pornographers. One of the greater living songwriters with a reedy, adenoidal voice; think David Bowie meets Syd Barrett.
Gogol Bordello (New York NY) - Often called a “gypsy punk” band, they’re a very weird and kooky band of real-live gypsies making music slightly reminiscent of Mr. Bungle. Super-weird, and absolutely AMAZING live.
Tom Verlaine (New York NY) - Frontman of highly influential seventies NYC art-punk band Television. No idea what his solo stuff may be like.
Belle and Sebastian are my favorite band so I’d definitely say not to miss them! They used to be gentle, folky, almost twee pop but have become glammer since their last album was produced by Trevor Horn, and frankly they have lost some of their charm. I like Cat Power, but it seems to be commonly agreed that her live shows suck (I’ve never see her live). Cat Power is the stage name of Miss Chan Marshall, a singer-songwriter/guitarist who somehow manages to avoid the trap of being boring or too weird for her own good. The Go! Team put out one of my favorite albums this year, though it was actually released in the UK last year. They use a mix of samples and live instruments to make fun music that owes a lot to old school hip hop and cheerleading chants. Magnolia Electric Company used to be called Songs: Ohia. I loved several S:O albums but haven’t followed them much since they changed the name and went from solo performer (Jason Molina) to a full-time band. I’d describe their style as somber country rock. I don’t know much about The Adored except they did a couple of songs with guest vocals by Pete Shelley and seem to have derived much of their sound and album cover style from The Buzzcocks. I think Dashboard Confessional may be the worst band in popular music today this side of Nickelback.
The Plimsouls are back together? That’s interesting.
Susan Tedeschi is often compared to Bonnie Raitt. She’s got a great voice and has become a strong guitar player.
Neko Case has an amazing voice. She’s also one of the members of the New Pornographers.
Elbow has often been described as “like Coldplay, but better.” I don’t know if that floats your boat or not, but I was satisfied the two times I’ve seen them.
The Magic Numbers look like the happiest band ever when they perform. Their songs are good, too.
I’d be interested in seeing Belle and Sebastian, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Secret Machines live.
I’ve heard good things about Gogol Bordello and The Most Serene Republic, but the songs of theirs I’ve heard haven’t done much for me.
The Cribs are a lot of fun. And The Arctic Monkeys are supposedly the next big thing.
I’ve seen her live - her music is good but she has the biggest case of stage-fright I’ve ever witnessed by a professional performer. Quite frankly I don’t why she puts herself through it…I saw her here in DC at the 9:30 club about two years ago. A few times she stopped a song and started over (seemed like insecurity), she doesn’t do well with people in the audience shouting (she’d been known to walk off stage about that) and she avoids eye-contact at all cost so I have no clue why she would submit herself to a major venue like SXSW.
I love her stuff but it pains me to see her perform
Cat Power writes some good songs, but Chan’s live performances are painful, partially because she’s got terrible stage fright.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are a New York band that has been compared to the Talking Heads. I don’t necessarily see that, but they do have a classic sort of New York sound. I’d catch them if I could, but they’ve been hyped to death in the last half of 2005, (and rightly so–their record is great) so that show is going to be horribly crowded.
Dengue Fever is a surf band fronted by a Cambodian singer of some acclaim. I’ve been impressed with both albums I’ve heard, and I wish I could see them.
I’d check out Echo & The Bunnymen, but it could either be a great set or suck. I really have no handle on how they play live.
The Go! Team are awesome. Much happier than I usually like, but there songs are disgustingly infectious without being annoying. No telling how this will come across live, but I’d check it out for sure!
The Hellacopters fucking rock.
Lady Sovereign is a female rapper from London, and one of the leaders of the “grime” movement. I’ve heard like two songs and didn’t like either one of them. I like The Streets better. But lots of people seem to dig it. Live hip-hop is always dicy, though.
Peaches is a female rapper noted for being totally vulgar. It might be fun, but the Memphis show she played about a year ago didn’t get good reviews.
Robert Pollard is the former leader of Guided by Voices. Gotta see that one. He’s always great.
The Secret Machines are a Pink Floyd ripoff band for the 21st Century, but I’ll bet their live show is good.
Interestingly, I’ve never heard of either one of the Tennessee bands on that list.
Saves the Day, Dashboard, AND Echo are playing? I might just drive over there, never having seen Echo in concert. They’ve never been to Florida to my knowledge in the 6 years I’ve been looking … 
I gotta disagree with Dashboard. Their newer stuff isn’t all that great, (but still miles ahead of the too-cool-to-let-yourself-go faux rock that I assume still gets played on the air such as Nickelback, Puddle of Mud and Creed.) But their older stuff is pretty good, and really great to sing along with in concert. My first show I didn’t really know any of their stuff, and even though literally half the lines were sung by the audience I still really enjoyed their concert.
[QUOTE=vibrotronicaThe Go! Team are awesome. Much happier than I usually like, but there songs are disgustingly infectious without being annoying. No telling how this will come across live, but I’d check it out for sure![/QUOTE]
The Go!Team are really fun live too. One thing about SXSW is that it can be really frustrating to get into the “hot” shows. Packed, you have to wait forever, and then the band only plays their short set. One thing I’ve done for the past couple of years (didn’t go last year tho’) is to go to a theme night (like Japanese night). It’ll be a bunch of completely unknown bands but usually very fun.
Because it’s the only way an indie musician like her can make any money.
I wouldn’t call myself a fan of Belle and Sebastian, but I’ve always enjoyed their music. My love of Neko Case’s music is only outweighed by my utter lust for everything about her. It’s odd that she and Destroyer are both listed, but that the New Pornographers are not; maybe they just haven’t made definite plans.
I also like (as in, I actively listen to on a regular basis) CYHSY, Robert Pollard, Of Montreal, Mag. EC, and a few others. I’m a big fan of Nickel Creek, and not so much of Dashboard Confessional. I thought Tom Verlaine’s name sounded familiar, and now I know why. I’ve heard great things (outside here) about Googol Bordello, The Hellacopters, the Arctic Monkeys, and The Magic Numbers. I didn’t get into The Go! Team’s album (probably just not in the mood at the time), but I bet they’re fantastic live.
I thought they were incredibly underwhelming live. 98% of what makes the album a great listen is the melange of mashed-together samples; sonic youth guitars over go-go beats and cheerleading chants, and so on. Live, it was just five people playing normal instruments, trying to recreate the sound of the record and completely falling short. It reminded me of seeing early No Doubt or something, though I mean that in the worst way possible.
A little more info:
According to Pitchfork, the Matador showcase on the 15th will feature Belle and Sebastian, Mogwai, Cat Power, and Pretty Girls Make Graves.
The Billions showcase on the 17th has Neko Case, Marah, Over the Rhine, Sharon Jones & Dap-Kings, The Heavenly States and Tim Fite. (I’m a fan of those first three.)
Rumor is that the Flaming Lips will be playing somewhere. The Minus Five will be there for the Yep Roc showcase.
Pink Floyd ripoff? Really? I suppose they may have some Floyd influences, but their songwriting is far too straight ahead and pop to warrant any serious comparisons to Floyd. I’m not really a fan of either band, but they don’t sound similar to me at all.
And Peaches isn’t a rapper. She’s an electronic artist in the punk-disco vein of groups like Le Tigre and Chicks on Speed. Her vocals are more pseudo-spoken word interspersed with screaming, and the backing tracks are not hip-hop. I think she’s great, especially the album “The Teaches of Peaches,” but it’s one of those albums you either love or hate.
Personally, the bands I’d go see on that last are:
Annie
Artict Monkeys
Belle and Sebastian
Be Your Own Pet (out of curiosity–they’re a high school-aged band out of Nashville)
Neko Case (DO NOT MISS HER!)
Cat Power
Echo & the Bunneyman (for nostalgia)
Flogging Molly (what’s more fun than Irish folk punk?)
The Go! Team
Of Montreal
Beth Orton
Peaches
The Plimsouls
I would see the Hellacopters again. Last time I saw them they had 6 guitarists on stage (it was ludicrous in a good way) and they do go off.
Wolfmother are the latest big thing to come out of Australia. You know how Jet sound just like the beatles (apart from “lust for life”, I mean “Are you going to be my girl”)? Well Wolfmother sound like Led Zeppelin/ Black Sabbath/ Deep Purple/ Uriah Heap and grow on you (I initially thought they were a joke, but they have been doing the same thing for 18 months now so I guess not). I quite like them now.
I saw Cat Power last year and if you like her, don’t go see her live.
Faker are quite good heavy rock - the latest in a line of pub rock bands.
Clap your hands and say Yeah are getting some airplay over here and some people like them.
Echo and the Bunnymen were good to see,
The Morning After Girls are that slow surf (Jack Johnson/ Xavier Rudd/ Pete Murray) stuff mixed with reggae.
Belle and Sebastian would be a lot of fun to dance around to
Peaches is quite good (she is part of Chicks on Speed though isn’t she?). When I saw her she put a dildo on a female back up singer and fellated her on stage. I do like Fatherfucker though.
But have a great time. and go with what you think.
I’d go just to hear Neko Case.
Cat Power, Mates of State, and Magnolia Electric Co. would be bonuses.
I only know two Aussie bands as live acts, Faker and Wolfmother and in fact I have both CDs. Flowch has pegged the Aussie acts pretty accurately although I would say Wolfmother are entirely a Zep ripoff.
The Faker site has video and sounds.
The Wolfies site will give you an idea of where they are coming from.
Both bands were excellent live. I saw Faker at an all ages gig so they may have toned things down a little but they rocked very hard.
The world’s best radio station Triple J has free downloads of MP3s. This week’s include Arctic Monkeys and The Morning After Girls.
**Clap Your Hands Say Yeah **performed at my college a few months back (free show + small venue = woo!)… I’ve heard lots of people say that they suck live, but I enjoyed their show a lot. You can tell that the band only assembled about a year ago; they’re still slightly awkward and don’t move around too much. However, their songs sound fantastic live, just as catchy and way livelier than on the record, and their lead singer has a very unique presence. Plus, their bassist looks exactly like Pippin from the “Lord of the Rings” movies. 