As most music nerds know (current company included!), it’s difficult to decide what show to see when there are more than a couple to choose from, so if you find yourself at South by Southwest this year, and are faced with literally HUNDREDS of choices each night, we figured it might help to have a little context – and perhaps a bit of guidance.
So here, in no particular order, are 20 of the shows happening this year at SXSW in Austin, that we might potentially classify as “unmissable,” and in some cases, “worth standing in line for way too long.” And for one or two, BOTH.
We also included a second list of bands we know NOTHING about, other than their AWESOME BAND NAMES, which weirdly enough, is often our preferred method of music discovery (note to artists: pick a rad name for your band!).
Also, we’re just always looking for an excuse to hype up music we love, new and old – so heck, even if you don’t go to SXSW, this list should provide a whole lot of listening joy and hopefully a few discoveries along the way.
SXSW x 20
THE APPLESEED CAST
Legendary emo band from Lawrence, Kansas whose sound evolved into a more experimental progressive post rock. They’ve got a sprawling discography, and not a bad record in the bunch.
DRY CLEANING
UK post punk, but with an indie pop bent, like a softer focus, female-fronted Fall: sinewy, wiry, jangly, cheeky, laconic, acerbic, and impossibly catchy.
HO99O9
Damaged and disturbing punk rock / hip-hop horrorcore from New Jersey. Imagine the sound of other experimental outfits like clipping, JPEGMafia, Death Grips, etc. but fused to something way more hardcore.
BAR ITALIA
Lo-fi jangle pop / post punk from London. The worn-sweater warmth of old school nervy, wiry slackers crossed with a timeless, drawled indie stoner sprawl. Gorgeously minimal and mesmerizing, moody and low-key catchy.
BRENDAN BENSON
Most folks probably know BB as Jack White’s foil in the Raconteurs, but dig a little deeper and unearth a treasure trove of practically perfect power pop.
And if you can find a single bum moment on 2012’s One Mississippi, you’re wrong:
MIDNIGHT
From the bleak hellscape of Cleveland, Ohio comes a one-man, black-thrash juggernaut Midnight, whose live shows are a tribute to all things metal and Satan, and well, you get it:
SNÕÕPER
Nashville, Tennessee’s Snõõper manage to bring serious silliness to hardcore, sounding like a lost new wave oddity closer to Devo than Black Flag, with a stage show that includes matching tracksuits and an array of paper mâché puppets.
Fun:
TIA CARRERA
Not the actress from Wayne’s World but a psychedelic, stoner rock, power trio from Austin, Texas, who’ve been kicking out the epic, instrumental, desert jams for years now.
Psychedelic warlords disappear in smoke:
GEL
New Jersey has a ridiculously rich hardcore history, which is being kept alive by up-and-comers Gel, who perfectly embody the modern sound of classic hardcore, noisy and energetic, fast and furious.
PORTRAYAL OF GUILT
Having slowly mutated from a manic screamo outfit to a wildly ambitious sort of symphonic blackened noise group, POG continue to be one of the coolest, weirdest, and most original sounding metal-adjacent acts doing… well, doing whatever the hell it is they do.
SEX MEX
This band could easily have been included in our list of bands we want to check out based entirely on their names, but **ahem** it, we somehow actually heard them, and so here we are. Blown out and buzzy, lo-fi, punky, power pop with synths all over and hooks for days.
PERENNIAL
This long running, self-described “art project” specializes in energetic, soul-infused, garage rock crunch, but that core sound veers wildly from a yowling, high-energy, almost post hardcore stomp to woozy, abstract, space-age bleep & bloop. Plus, any band that claims both Stereolab and Small Faces as influences is worth a listen.
SHANNON & THE CLAMS
Modern girl group / indie garage darlings Shannon and her trusty Clams fuse everything we love about the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and… well heck, pretty much everything we love from always, into one of our favorite groups going.
SECRET EMCHY SOCIETY
Gothic queer country royalty from Oakland. Imagine Patsy Cline covering Nick Cave, or maybe Neko Case backed up by the Tindersticks, or better yet, don’t just imagine it…
OMNI
New wave angularity wound around sharp pop hooks and fuzzy, jagged, post punkiness, this Atlanta power trio somehow straddle decades, channeling early power pop and skinny tie crunch and bop, but filtered through a hazy, stoner / slacker lens.
JOHNNY JEWEL
Italians Do It Better head honcho, half of Glass Candy and one-time Chromatic, JJ continues to push boundaries, now infusing his Italo Disco sensibilities into seriously stirring soundtracks and sprawling atmospheric moodiness.
THE MARSHMALLOW GHOSTS
Kitschy, Halloween-obsessed horror pop, organ-drenched indie creep, lo-fi garage gloom… whatever you call it, the perfect soundtrack for your adult indie rock Halloween, no matter what time of the year.
WACO BROTHERS
Not from Waco, not brothers, but why should they let that stop them? This Mekons offshoot took that group’s ramshackle punk twang and twisted it into something just a bit more country. Plus, Jon Langford is an alt country icon.
THE PINK STONES
Featuring members of Drive-By Truckers, the Pink Stones sound much more laid back, exuding a sort of back porch, sun-going-down, hoedown energy, rife with pedal steel and drawled folkiness, flecked with spacey psychedelia and gospel groove.
MEAGRE MARTIN
They’re from Berlin, but frontwoman Sarah is from Boston, and yet, sonically they sound like they’re not necessarily from either, making a gloriously clangorous racket that lands smack dab between laid-back, slacker, indie rock and FX-drenched shoegaze.
Mmmm:
YOU HAD US AT ______ [BANDS WE HAVEN’T HEARD BUT ARE DYING TO, BASED JUST ON THEIR NAME]:
- BONG WIZARD
- TIGER! S H I T! TIGER! TIGER!
- F U C KNADO
- DEAD TOOTH
- BLACK SMURF
- DOOHICKEY CUBICLE
- TEAR DUNGEON
- CHAMELEON LIME WHOOPIEPIE
- CUMGIRL8
- THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER
- SLOTHFUL INDUCTION
- PSYCHIC SEATBELT