Saturday, October 11, 2008
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Check out the performances below to hear live songs, download mp3s from the artists, and learn more about our South by Southwest bands.
Keith Harris has been writing about pop music and other cultural curiosities since the late 90s. Between 1997 and 2002, he lived in the Twin Cities, and was music editor first at the Spokesman-Recorder, then Pulse, and finally City Pages. Late entry: I fought SXSW and SXSW won |
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Thursday 3/16
While it seems like a contradiction, Gomez is a British band known for its American roots rock.
Blackalicious has been performing their signature style of rap since 1992. Ever since the release of their debut single, they have been known for their smart, spiritual, and intense lyrics.
Tim Fite claims to have been one of a small number of babies born without blood. And perhaps it's the lack of blood in his veins that makes his musical style, a hodge-podge of railcar hobo guitar chords and psychedelic rap, entirely unique.
The 88 has landed a number of its songs on Fox's teen drama "The O.C." But even that can't take away from the group's great hooks and dreamy vocals.
Unpredictable Nicolai Dunger has never been known for creating accessible music. He is known mostly for recording a string of small-press experimental albums and collaborations with unlikely partners.
The group Editors celebrates the ambiguous. Band members say they want listeners to be the ones who determine the meaning of their songs.
The group Diamond Nights combines an appreciation for vintage heavy metal with a love of indie rock. The four-piece band from Brooklyn has been described as "The Darkness without the falsetto and the Freddie Mercury unitards." |
Friday 3/17
Coming from a varied musical background which spanned the realms of pop, punk, Latin, and folk music Jose's powerful ballads and soulful covers have garnered the attention of many in Europe.
The Sound Team's unique sound is a layer cake of traditional American folk music in the shape of a pop-song, and iced with the chunky spun sugar of early German synth music.
A side project of Superchunk's Mac McCaughan, Portastatic's lo-fi indie rock retains some of its parent band's upbeat quirkiness, but explores quieter, acoustic sounds as well.
IV Thieves (formerly Nic Armstrong & The Thieves) come from Nottingham, England. Their first album, The Greatest White Liar, garnered ecstatic reviews. The Guardian UK raved, "Melodies so instant they could arrive in a jar."
Surrealist folk outfit Magnet is mainly driven by singer-songwriter Even Johansen of Bergen, Norway. He merges ethereal melodies and soaring vocals with programmed beats and unusual instrumentation to create a warm, swirling, welcoming pop sound.
Hailing from Eel Pie Island in the south of England, Mystery Jets put on quite a lively show. They like to incorporate such outlandish objects as hubcaps, colanders and suitcases into performance, whanging away on anything that makes just the right sound.
A trio of tongue-in-cheek geek-rockers in the vein of The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand, We Are Scientists purvey a powerfully hooky brand of frenetic neo-punk. |






















