Last weekend South By Southwest in Texas celebrated 25 years on the go. In the intervening time it has grown from provincial beginnings to become the biggest live music showcase on the planet. There were plenty of big names this year, from Kanye to The Strokes – but SXSW is all about the future – so who were the 20 best upcoming acts? JIM CARROLLhas the answers
EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas, so we shouldn’t be too surprised at the size of Austin’s South By Southwest (SXSW) festival.
It wasn’t always like this. In 1987 four locals put on an event to highlight acts in the southern and southwestern states, and SXSW was born.
As the event marks its 25th anniversary, it has become the biggest live music bash on the global music calender.
The scale of SXSW is staggering. There are film and interactive strands, both of which attract huge crowds in their own right. When it comes to the music strand, there’s an industry conference with panels and keynote speeches, and a trade show for anyone who wants to network.
But it’s SXSW’s live music content that draws the crowds. There are more than 2,000 bands in town for the event, and they’re playing shows at all hours of the day and night in what is the self-proclaimed live music capital of the world.
Aside from the official showcases, you have day parties in every venue in town – and you also have spaces turned in to live venues for the duration of the festival. Cycling around east Austin last week, it seemed as if every building or backyard in the hood was hosting some sort of live music event.
Aside from hundreds of new acts hoping to get noticed over the week, established acts use the Austin spring break – and the fact that every media outlet on the planet seems to be here to cover SXSW – to plug a new album or upcoming tour or take a big corporate pay cheque.
This explains why SXSW’s musical fix included Kanye West and Jay-Z playing in a power station, P Diddy pimping for a car company, Foo Fighters boring all with their dumb power rock, The Strokes playing a packed-to-capacity open-air free show, TV on the Radio flexing their muscles ahead of a new album and Snoop Dogg doing his shizzle for a soft drinks brand.
The real draws for many, though, are the bands you may not have heard about yet. SXSW has a fantastic record of showcasing new acts who go on to be huge. It’s where The White Stripes, Norah Jones, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Janelle Monáe, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes and countless others first came to prominence. A band you see today playing to a dozen people in a tent on East 6th Street could be tomorrow’s festival headliner.
Here, then, are 20 new acts who impressed at SXSW 2011.
ODD FUTURE
They came, they saw, they stagedived at every opportunity. Los Angeles teen mob Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All arrived in Texas with a deafening buzz behind them, and they didn’t disappoint. Every gig – well, bar the official showcase in a terrible venue called Buffalo Billiards, which ended with the group walking off stage after three songs – was a jawdropping blend of chaotic stage behaviour, dirty beats, offensive lyrics, punk-rock attitude and loud-mouthed panache.
You know the way some people go on about legendary gigs? Well, Odd Future at the Thrasher party, the Fader Fort and the Mess With Texas bash are three to add to that list.
Beyond the onstage madness, though, it’s clear that Tyler the Creator, Hodgy Beats, Left Brain, Syd da Kid (the collective’s production wizard and sole female member) and co really do have the skills and smarts to tear things up. What hip-hop’s future looks and sounds like. Oddfuture.com
JAMIE WOON
We knew before SXSW that Jamie Woon had a good nose for the sharp remix – see Ramandanman and Hudson Mohawke’s takes on Night Air and Lady Luck respectively – but the Brit School grad has serious pop-soul chops too. Backed by a band who knew when and how to keep things subtle, Woon slayed ’em with a soft voice and off-kilter, slender, atmospheric tunes.
myspace.com/jamiewoon
K.FLAY
The only instance of an artist talking about "existential reckonings" at SXSW 2011 came from Kristine Flaherty. The Chicago-born, San Francisco-based rapper, singer and beat-maker keeps it smart and sassy with tough, sweet and very nimble rhymes such as Messin' With My Head. kflay.com
YOUNG THE GIANT
Here's a band who know what they're doing. California's Young the Giant are all about crunchy, robust, radio-friendly anthems. The tune that is going to do most of the heavy lifting for them this year, as they journey to arena and festival stages, is My Body, but there's much more where that came from. youngthegiant.com
YOUNG BUFFALO
The band from Oxford, Mississipi, came back for a second bite of the SXSW cherry after a promising initial appearance a few years ago. Fans of sparkling, swaggering indie-pop tunes with a tough folky underbelly and lashings of harmonies are going to swoon over fully developed songs such as Catapilah. youngbuffaloband.com
HOORAY FOR EARTH
Boston-born and New York-based Hooray for Earth's trippy, tribal jams and spacey, groove-fringed alt-anthems were given an extra dash of oomph by members of Zambri on backing vocals. Forthcoming debut album True Lovesshould see them gathering even more fans.
hoorayforearth.net
BRAIDS
There’s a lot of love out there for the Calgary four-piece’s beguiling debut album Native Speaker, but their hazy beats and layers are even more breathtaking live. This was a show that cast Braids as kings and queens of a new beautifully spun, dreamy avant-pop frontier. So good I went back another day to see them play again. myspace.com/braidsmusic
OH LAND
Danish popster Nanna Fabricus’s name seemed to be on a lot of tip sheets by the end of the weekend. Her live show is an entrancing affair, with the former ballerina and her fine band shining those tough-as-a-nut pop tunes to a sparkle. Her forthcoming self-titled debut album is worth making a date with, especially forthe Lykke Li fans in the audience. myspace.com/ohlandmusic
FOSTER THE PEOPLE
Pumped Up Kicksis the Foster the People tune every self-respecting indie-pop hipster stuck on his or her summer mixtape last year, and the good news is there's many more boom tunes where that peach came from. In Austin, the LA band's charming, sunny pop had the masses dancing at every turn. Don't be surprised if Pumped Up Kicks gets a second lease of life this summer.
fosterthepeople.com
FITZ THE TANTRUMS
Few saw Fitz The Tantrums at SXSW 2010, but all changed this year. One of the biggest draws on the daytime party circuit, frontman Michael Fitzpatrick, hyperactive soul sister Noelle Scaggs and their sharp- suited, hot-to-trot band were all about throwback soul-funk cuts that were impossible to resist. Money Grabber is the tune that will probably see their Motown and Stax sound crossing over to the mainstream.
fitzandthetantrums.com
AVA LUNA
Brooklynite Ava Luna’s gleeful, joyous, life- affirming pop is going to put smiles on a lot of faces. One part ESG, one part Dirty Projectors, Ava Luna star three backing singers providing a brilliant girl-group shimmy, a gaggle of superb musicians throwing down an arty, sparse beat and a frontman doing a frenzied, funky stomp like he has David Byrne’s ants in his pants. A sound and sight to savour.
myspace.com/avalunaband
AUSTRA
Much of the pre-SXSW buzz around Katie Stelmanis and her band was that Domino snapped her up earlier in the year, and it's quickly apparent what made them reach for their chequebook. Austra's electropop has a dark veneer and, although comparisons to Fever Ray are inevitable, there's a bigger, brasher groove going on here. Live, The Beat The Pulseis the tune that currently sets the Austra agenda. myspace.com/austra
CHARLES BRADLEY
The minute Charles Bradley opens his mouth to sing and that tough, ragged roar of a voice belts out, you know you're dealing with the real thing. Until recently, the sixtysomething soul trooper could be found singing James Brown cover versions in a Brooklyn bar. Now, backed by the on-point Menahan Street Band, the ex-plumber and chef is sending audiences home sweating with pure-bred, emotional soul nuggets such as The World Is Going Up in Flames. thecharlesbradley.com
TUNE-YARDS
Austin’s Central Presbytarian Church is unlikely to witness as wild a spectacle as Merril Garbus and her band at full pelt. Playing tunes from forthcoming album w h o k i l l, Garbus brought a tribal intensity and dirty blues to bear on her vocal loops, oddly shaped rhythms and idiosyncratic flights of musical fancy. An outrageously dramatic show.
JUICE VOCAL ENSEMBLE
There are many live acts who will stop you in your tracks in Austin, and not always for the right reasons. Without doubt, Juice were the only all-female trio bringing the noise to Texas with a bout of choral beatboxing. Juice are a beguiling blend of classical, folk, experimental and improvised song. They have an album due later this year.
myspace.com/juicevocalensemble
GROUPLOVE
I lost count of the number of times I heard Grouplove’s signature tune Colours booming from some venue or other in Austin as the LA band (who allegedly met while holidaying in Crete) enjoyed a busy SXSW with their ramshackle, energetic, uplifting country-fried indie. grouplovemusic.com
CLOCK OPERA
Six months ago, Clock Opera’s live show at Manchester’s In The City festival was one of that event’s highlights, but they’ve gone and moved to a whole new neighbourhood in the meantime. This was a seriously impressive display, a show full of great tunes (try Once and for All and A Piece of String) and confident direction from frontman Guy Conelly. myspace.com/clockopera
GRIMES
Montreal producer Claire Boucher’s one-woman show was a masterclass in tweaking and twisting loops and layers into an infectious, geeky, ghostly indie, r’n’b soundclash. Her cute-as-a-button pop smarts worked time and time again.
myspace.com/boucherville
DIRTY BEACHES
Bad-ass, streamlined, switchblade rockabilly'n'roll with a snarl and a sneer is what you get from Alex Zhang Hungtai. Whether knocking out lo-fi rough diamonds from his own catalogue or giving Iggy The Stooges' No Funa slap in the face, the dude from Vancouver – by way of Taiwan – is never less than compelling.
myspace.com/dirtybeaches
JAMES VINCENT McMORROW
The pick of Irish bunch, James Vincent McMorrow was ubiquitous at SXSW 2011, playing shows as diverse as celebrity chef Rachael Ray’s hoedown, the brace of Irish showcases and the day stage at the convention centre, among others. All those gigs paid off, with much wowing about McMorrow’s dramatic songs and soulful, sparse lilt. He’ll surely be back for more in years to come. jamesvmcmorrow.com
James Vincent McMorrow will play a fully seated show at Dublin’s Olympia on Friday, October 21
