Our weekly look ahead is altered a bit this week by the presence of the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX. True, it's a long way to Austin, but the line-up is so mammoth, it more or less shuts down the touring circuit for cities all over the country-- Portland this week is no exception. With that in mind, we'll turn some of our attention to Austin, including some of the better lesser known acts we found scouring the festival's MP3-rich website-- the diamonds in the SXSW rough, if you will. Chances are you've heard of the likes of R.E.M., Spoon, and Nada Surf, all of whom are playing this year's fest-- but what about Black Joe Lewis? Or The Delta Spirit? Or Doug Burr? Those seem less likely, and we think you should hear them.
►MP3: Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears- "Gunpowder"
►MP3: The Delta Spirit- "Trashcan"
►MP3: Doug Burr- "In the Garden"
►MP3: Hymns- "I Can't Be What U Want"
►MP3: Black Tie Dynasty- "Tender"
►MP3: Emmy the Great- "Easter Parade"
►MP3: Lemurs- "My Definition"
►MP3: Phosphorescent- "A Picture of Our Torn Up Praise"
►MP3: The Strugglers- "Morningside Heights"
There are several Portland and northwest-based acts making the trek to Austin, too-- by no means an exhaustive list, but here are a few:
►MP3: A Weather- "Spiders, Snakes"
►MP3: Blitzen Trapper- "Wild Mountain Nation"
►MP3: The Builders & the Butchers- "Bottom of the Lake"
►MP3: Laura Gibson- "Hands in Pockets"
►MP3: Old Time Relijun- "Tightest Cage"
►MP3: The Helio Sequence- "Keep Your Eyes Ahead"
►MP3: Castanets- "This Is the Early Game"
►MP3: Carolyn Mark- "The 1 That Got Away (With It)"
►MP3: Sera Cahoone- "Only As the Day Is Long"
►MP3: Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden- "Faster Than Cars Drive"
►MP3: Throw Me the Statue- "About to Walk"
►MP3: Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands- "Cody's Dream"
►MP3: The Choir Practice- "Red Fox"
►MP3: No Kids- "For Halloween"
Scores more for the taking, known and unknown, at the SXSW website.
Want to discuss something you heard here or suggest another hidden gem? The thread is open.....
March 9, 2008 at 3:16pm by Tony
The festival's a treasure trove of MP3s...among the 1600-1700 bands listed are a few from the PNW, like Portland's Steven Wray Lobdell, A Weather, Little Claw, and Sleep. Seattle's Ian Moore, The Boss Martians, and Carolyn Mark from Victoria, for example Please be sure to let us know whose MP3s are worth checking out.
March 9, 2008 at 3:45pm by Jeremy Petersen
Thanks, Tony.
I still have to check a few those out myself, but I think the A Weather song ("Spiders, Snakes") is very good-- I'll play it later tonight. The funny thing about the vast majority of the Portland-based acts is that they're not offering any MP3s-- at least not on the SXSW site (most of them offer downloadable files through their own or their label websites, however).
I'll be posting a few links later on...
Thanks for listening.
March 9, 2008 at 9:04pm by Tony
The Sera Cahoone song was one I found and liked from my first pass through the SXSW MP3 showcase...I forgot she was from Seattle; she was one of the artists recommended when I listened to the SXSW Preview podcast that Carrie Brownstein and the 'All Songs Considered' people did recently.
Thanks for the MP3 links...I'm loading them into my iPod right after I post this message. Like Carrie said in the SXSW preview, with all the music that's out there, it's curated content that helps us find good songs.
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