by Bill Pearis, Fred Pessaro and Andrew Sacher

Savages @ CMJ 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

SXSW gets underway today (3/13) in earnest, with 83,207 bands* playing SXSW this year. Trying to figure out who to see can be an overwhelming feeling. (Actually, just standing on 6th St. on Friday night is an overwhelming feeling.) Hopefully this post will give you some inspiration if you're among the throngs of people. Or maybe just some new stuff to listen to if you're not there.

Of course you could just hang out at all our day parties (our first starts at noon today!) and evening showcases, as we're really proud of our line-ups. But there are bands who we are pumped to see who aren't playing too. So here are 40 bands we're genuinely pumped to see in Austin this week. We made a Spotify playlist of all the bands (at least the ones on the service) you can stream below.

Check out our list below...

*not the actually number of showcasing bands. But it feels accurate.

Continue reading "40 artists we're excited to see at SXSW"

photos by Sarah Frankie Linder

DOWNLOAD: Fat Tony - "Hood Party" (ft. Kool A.D. and Despot) (MP3)

Milk Music/Fat Tony/The Blind Shake @ Bruise Cruise, Austin, TX, 3/10/2013

Though the music portion of SXSW isn't in full force yet, there are still some shows that have gone down, including yesterday's (3/10) Bruise Cruise with Milk Music, Fat Tony, The Blind Shake, and Outer Minds. Like Bruise Cruise lineups always tend to be, it was a good party-style way to kick off SXSW with three punkish bands and an energetic rapper to top things off. Pictures from that cruise are in this post.

All four bands have other SXSW shows coming up, and Milk Music will be at our Thursday day party on the outdoor stage with Cloud Nothings, METZ, The Spits, Death, Rough Francis, and Single Mothers. It's free with RSVP.

Fat Tony also just released the song "Hood Party," which features Kool A.D. (formerly of Das Racist) and Despot), and will appear on his new album, Smart Ass Black Boy, which is due out on June 11 via Young One Records. You can download that track above or stream it below.

The Bruise Cruise was thrown by booking agency Panache, who also has other upcoming SXSW shows too.

More pictures below...

Continue reading "Milk Music, Fat Tony, The Blind Shake & Outer Minds played the Bruise Cruise at SXSW (pics)"

photos by Chris La Putt; words by Bill Pearis

Duchess Says / The Blind Shake at Public Assembly, 8/23/2012

A lot of bands have a frontperson who attracts the lion share of the attention, but there are few groups where "you can't take your eyes off her" is as much a warning as it is a statement. The second or third time Duchess Says singer Annie-Claude went into the audience, she was armed with a Sharpie and I thought, "oh boy here we go." But apart from drawing a couple Xs on our photographer Chris La Putt's arm, she kept the cap on the pen but it served as an audience/band detente. Stay off your phones or else.

I have seen the squelchy Montreal electro-punks Duchess Says play to packed houses with a swarming pit and to half-full rooms full of confused/terrorized audience-members. (Public Assembly leaned toward the latter last night [8/23].) Annie-Claude never lets things get boring either way, whether it's pulling you by the shirt, putting the mic in your face or holding eye contact for an uncomfortable amount of time. Last night, it included a breather. For their most popular song, "Black Flag," she had the whole crowd sit on the floor as she prowled around the room. But it's more mischevious than menacing. And a lot of fun too as long as you're paying attention.

Duchess Says' tourmates for this rare Stateside run are Minneapolis trio The Blind Shake who were really terrific last night. Dressed in matching outfits that had them looking like extras from a post-apocalyptic dystopian b-movie, brothers Mike and Jim Blaha kicked out out ferocious krautpunk with a dose of early '80s Dead Kennedys twang with pile-driving drummer Jim Roper crushing his kit. These guys pack a serious whallop (Also: somebody put them on a tour with METZ, stat!). You can stream their 2011 album Seriousness below.

NYC will have a couple more chances to see The Blind Shake in October: they play Cake Shop on 10/10 and Death By Audio on 10/11. Meanwhile, their tour with Duchess Says rolls on, playing Columbus, OH tonight.

All tour dates are at the bottom of this post, along The Blind Shake album stream and more pictures from last night's Public Assembly show (including openers The Wiccans who were not the Austin punk band of the same name).

Continue reading "Duchess Says and The Blind Shake played Public Assembly (pics, review); The Blind Shake will be back in October"

by Bill Pearis

Duchess Says at BVSXSW 2010 (more by Tim Griffin)

If you're looking to put a little excitement into your showgoing life, you might want to hit Public Assembly on Thursday, August 23 to catch Montreal electropunks Duchess Says who are playing with Minneapolis' The Blind Shake (who also play Brookyn Fireproof the day before [8/22]). Advance tickets for the Public Assembly show are on sale.

Going to see Duchess Says is an interactive experience, due entirely to firebrand singer Annie-Claude whose onstage persona recalls Linda Blair in The Exorcist... in a fun way, and minus the vomit. Duchess Says' appearance at Pianos during CMJ 2009 (and Austin during SXSW 2010) are amongst the most memorable BV festival day show performances I've personally witnessed:

Another set I knew would be fun was Montreal's Duchess Says who played one of our CMJ day parties last year. While their more aggressive take on Devo-style protopunk is fun, it's all about singer Annie Claude who looks very cute and innocent... until the music starts. She shrieks, jumps in the audience, tackles people, pulls them to the floor, and causes general mayhem. It's more mischief than menace though. There are lots of other singers who do similar things, but never anything quite like her. After you've seen them once, part of the fun is watching other people experience them for the first time.

The band were supposed to have been in the States for the Hopscotch Festival but have since pulled out of that but will also play Chicago on August 26 at City Build with The Blind Shake. The band's latest album is In a Fung Day T, which came out last fall, which you can stream via a Spotify player below, along with a list of all The Blind Shake dates.

Continue reading "Duchess Says canceled Hopscotch Fest appearance, but are playing other US shows (Public Assembly included)"

The 2012 edition of Calgary, Alberta festival Sled Island is set to take place from June 20-23 at venues throughout the city. This year includes over 200 bands performing at 30 venues plus a large comedy schedule, film screenings, and art shows.

Sled Island 2012 will once again use outdoor venue Olympic Plaza as its main stage, featuring performances by Feist, The Hold Steady, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Dudes, Shabazz Palaces, Parlovr, and others.

Acts including Russian Circles, Hot Snakes, The Antlers, Boris, Thurston Moore, Willis Earl Beal, Trust, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, Terry Malts, Neil Hamburger, How To Dress Well, The Evaporators (aka Nardwuar's band), DJ Jonathan Toubin, Hannibal Buress, Andrew W.K., Tim Heidecker, Archers of Loaf, and many more will be performing at various bars and venues. Check out the full lineup at the bottom of this post.

Festival passes, individual tickets for some clubs shows, and tickets for the Olympic Plaza events only are all on sale. The full festival schedule iwill be announced in June.

Full lineup and 2012 festival trailer below...

Continue reading "Feist, Stephen Malkmus, The Hold Steady and lots more playing Calgary's Sled Island Festival (full line-up)"