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A SoundCheck SXSW Sampler
With SXSW right around the corner we preview some of the great Austin artists who are have showcases during the Music Festival.
Wednesday showcases
Band: Che Arthur | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Wednesday, March 14, 8 p.m. at Habana Calle 6 Patio (709 E 6th St.)
360 says: Sonically complex driving rock rooted in raspy raw emotion. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: The Band Of Heathens | Web site
Genre: Alt-country
Showcase: Wednesday, March 14, 8 p.m. at Momo’s (618 W 6th St.)
360 says: Band of Heathens might not possess such superhuman abilities as precognition, super-strength or flight, but who’s to say the powers they do posses — acute tonal hearing, enchanting four-man choruses, and an eerie foresight into what the others are going to play next — aren’t equally as helpful to mankind. —Will Mills
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Future Clouds and Radar | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Wednesday, March 14, 8 p.m. at Light Bar (408 Congress Ave.)
360 says: The former Cotton Mather frontman still knows his way around a spry melody, which is to be admired.
—Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: San Saba County | Web site
Genre: Alt-country
Showcase: Wednesday, March 14, Midnight at Momo’s (618 W. 6th St.)
360 says: Austin alternative country: definitely heartbroken, usually fun-loving, possibly drunk, often disorderly.
—Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Onion Creek Crawdaddies | Web site
Genre: Americana/Folk
Showcase: Wednesday, March 14, 1 a.m. at Jovita’s (1617 S. 1st St.)
360 says: A hearty hoedown full of quick-pickin’ and high lonesome harmonies woven with witty hooks. “Dusty, dusty Bibles lead to dirty, dirty lives,” brilliant!
—Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Thursday showcases
Band: Bavu Blakes | Web site
Genre: Hip-hop
Showcase: Thursday, March 15 at Club One 15, hosting (115 San Jacinto St.)
360 says: Bavu is one of the most recognizable voices in Austin hip-hop, if for no other reason that he’s been dropping science since the Clinton administration. But ever since he teamed up with DJ Rapid Ric, Bavu’s rhymes, his persona, his raison d’être, has become deeper and richer. —Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: D-Madness | Web site
Genre: R&B
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 12:30 a.m. at Club One 15 (115 San Jacinto St.)
360 says: Is there anything Dwayne ‘D-Madness’ Jackson cannot do, any groove he can’t play, any beat he can’t make swing and bounce and move like the one-man funkster he is? The answer — as many an Austin hip-hop and jazz and funk act who have relied on his skills can tell you — is no. —Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Big Chris Gates and Gatesville | Web site
Genre: Alt-country
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 1:00 a.m. at Lava Lounge Patio (405 E 7th St)
360 says: Singing in a husky rasp that has the miles and gravel of a railroad track, Gates and [his band] merge twang-tuned guitars with quavering organ and weepy pedal steel. —David Glessner
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: The Early Tapes | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 9:00 p.m. at Co-op Bar (400 E 6th St)
360 says: A light-hearted blend of psychedelic fuzz rock with a power pop sensibility and a hint or two of rock-a-billy attitude. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Ghostland Observatory | Web site
Genre: Electronic
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, Midnight at La Zona Rosa
360 says: (Aaron) Behrens’ falsetto-tinged voice keeps the audience dancing while (Thomas) Turner’s dastardly electronic beats set the pace.
—V. Marc Fort
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 9:30 p.m. at the Mohawk
360 says: …a rumbling bass line crucial to the tune’s melody, synths that could be guitars and vice versa, ethereal vocals mumbling about a perfect world that sounds just out of reach and a driving-yet-funkless beat. A collection of cold, Teutonic dot-dashes coalesces into a juggernaut whole — perfect.
—Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: The Mother Truckers | Web site
Genre:Country
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 12:10 a.m. at Whisky Bar (303 W 5th St.)
360 says: Josh Zee’s stellar ax runs and unexpected songwriting dim the lights for Teal Collins’ exuberantly clear and buoyant vocals. —Michael Corcoran
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Ter’ell Shahid | Web site
Genre:R&b
Showcase: Thursday, March 15, 11 p.m. at Club One 15 (115 San Jacinto)
360 says: This veteran ATX crooner delivers soulful vocals that are equally effective in breath-taking love songs and Stevie Wonder-esque urban commentary. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Friday showcases
Band: The Alice Rose | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. at Friends (208 E 6th St.)
360 says: “Phonographic Memory” won’t have major labels salivating. But there’s something to be said for bubbling under when the common inclination is to burst out. —Michael Corcoran
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Dana Falconberry | Web site
Genre: Singer-songwriter
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 8 p.m. at 18th Floor of Hilton Garden Inn (500 N IH 35)
360 says: Her voices ebbs and flows, but a steady core of strength underlies the waifish breathiness that laces her gentle tales of longing. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Ghandaia | Web site
Genre: Latin/World
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 1:00 a.m. at Copa
360 says: The nine-piece group steadily has been growing its fan base with its intoxicating mix of Afro-Cuban, reggae and samba music and literate, mind-boggling lyrics. —Ginger Cowles
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Mistress Stephanie and Her Melodic Cat | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 10 p.m. at Habana Calle 6 (709 E Sixth St.)
360 says: Tongue-in-cheek torch songs and faux krautrock for the disgruntled drag queen in all of us. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Pompeii | Web site
Genre: Rock
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 11 p.m. at RedRum (401 Sabine St.)
360 says: Pompeii isn’t exactly the first to add classical instruments to a rock band line-up in order to confer sophistication upon otherwise somewhat generic, slick-sounding indie rock/pop, but never let it be said the trick doesn’t work. —Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Carrie Rodriguez | Web site
Genre: Singer-songwriter
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 12:30 a.m. at Cedar Street Courtyard (208 W 4th St.)
360 says: A show-stealing rising star — a beauty with ringlets, she’s engaging, and, boy, can she play that fiddle. Her apprenticeship with Chip Taylor seemed like it might last a couple years before she went on to become a one-woman Dixie Chicks. —Michael Corcoran
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Danny Schmidt | Web site
Genre: Americana/Folk
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 11 p.m. at Creekside EMC at Hilton Garden Inn (500 N IH 35)
360 says: This adept singer-songwriter unwinds earnest tales over a rich Appalachian patchwork of sounds. Beautifully honest.
—Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Zeale 32 | Web site
Genre: Hip-hop
Showcase: Friday, March 16, 8:00 p.m at Zero Degrees (405 E 7th St.)
360 says: With MCs like Zeale, one wonders how long it will take for Austin to become a regional hip-hop powerhouse. —Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Saturday showcases
Band: Basswood Lane | Web site
Genre: Hip-hop/Rap
Showcase: Saturday, March 17, 12:35 a.m. at Zero Degrees (405 E 7th St.)
360 says: A rough and rugged Eastside crew representing the ‘23, they pack a head-nodding, fist pumping, trunk thumping anthemic blend which obliterates any doubt that the Capital City is indeed part of the Dirty South. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Cat Scientist | Web site
Genre: Pop
Showcase: Saturday, March 17, 11 p.m. at Red 7 (611 E 7th St.)
360 says: Melodic electronic pop musings for the post-hip-hop indie era. The kind of music Laurie Anderson might make after a round robin with Neko Case and Beck. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Grupo Fantasma | Web site
Genre: Latin
Showcase: Saturday, March 17, 11 p.m. at Emo’s Annex (600 Red River St.)
360 says: The irresistable, tequila-soaked border funk of Austin’s all-terrain cumbia unit landed them a residency gig at Prince’s new Vegas club and a series of a-list celebrity gigs backing the Purple One. —Deborah Sengupta
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: Lucas Hudgins and the First Cousins | Web site
Genre: Country
Showcase: Saturday, March 17, 10 p.m. at Jovita’s (1617 S. First St.)
360 says: This Austin honky-tonk band knows its old-school country; check ‘em out. —Joe Gross
Listen: SoundCheck
Band: The Summer Wardrobe | Web site
Genre: Singer-songwriter
Showcase: Saturday, March 17, 8 p.m. at Latitude 30 (512 San Jacinto)
360 says: Jon Sanchez’s prowess as a frontman and lead guitarist is singular as it weaves together flourishes of 1960s psychedelic rock, broader strokes of 1970s pop and crestfallen vocal melodies that at once sound original and faintly familiar. —V. Marc Fort
Listen: SoundCheck
Are you a local artist who’s playing SXSW? We’d love to add your music to our player. Submit tracks using our online form.
Comments
By Bobby
March 8, 2007 5:54 PM | Link to this
If you haven’t heard Brianna Sage you have missed one talented young performer. Check her music out on myspace.