SXSW 2022: Recap

Bands seen:

Saturday March 12th
@Antone's
Ryan Sambol
Spoon

Monday March 14th
@GSD&M Party
Abraham Alexander
La Doña
Me Nd Adam
Charley Crockett

Tuesday Marth 16th
@Ray Benson's Birthday Bash
Tomar and the FCs
Me Nd Adam
Sir Woman
Asleep at the Wheel (With Shinyribs and Joshua Hedley)

Wednesday March 16th
@Mohawk

Blessing (partial)
Just Mustard
Ceramic Animal
Cuffed Up
Horsegirl
Petey
@Cheer Up Charlie's
Ian Sweet (partial)
the Convenience (partial)
@Cedar Street (British Music Embassy)
Strawberry Guy
W.H. Lung

Thursday March 17th
@Luck Reunion
Jackie Venson and Suzanne Santo (song swap)
Jonny Burke (partial. outside Chapel)
Danielle Ponder (Revival tent)
Abby Hamilton (partial. outside Chapel)
Lily Meola (Lukas Nelson joined)
S.G. Goodman (partial)
Adia Victoria (partial. outside Chapel)
Lost Gonzo Band with Michael Martin Murphey
Allison Russell (Revival tent)
Charley Crockett
SUSTO (Revival tent)
Sunflower Bean (Saloon)
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Willie Nelson and Family

Friday March 18th
@Pershing (Paste 20th)
Sugaray Rayford
Joshua Ray Walker
Stuck (Chicago)
Runnner
IAN SWEET
Sour Widows
Water From Your Eyes
Boulevards
49 Winchester
(L) Fieh
(L) W.H. Lung
@Hotel Vegas
(R) King Hannah

Saturday March 19th
@Antone's Records
Theo Lawrence
@Dogwood
Jeff Lofton's Electric Thang
@Cedar St.
Hamish Hawk
@Urban Outfitters
Baird
Niko Rubio
Japanese Breakfast

SXSW 2022: Wombo

Still looking for Wednesday opportunities. Here is the lineup for Wednesday at Cheer Up Charlie's.

Outside
Water From Your Eyes (5:45)
Priya Ragu (5:00)
Barrie (4:15)
Ian Sweet (3:30)
Le Pain (2:45)
Wombo (2:00)
Psymon Spine (1:15)
Enumclaw (12:30)

 
Inside
George Riley (5:15)
Mamalarky (4:30)
the Convenience (3:45)
S. Raekwon (3:00)
Benét (2:15) 
Plato III (1:30)
Marina Allen (12:45)
Maria BC (noon)

From the bands I know it looks to be dreampop/electro-pop/indie rock. The weather should be great for the outdoors.  Floodfest is at Mohawk so if it's not crazy crowded we could hop between venues, at least until it gets crowded.

This is a trio out of Louisville.  Post-punk. Nice sound. 

SXSW 2022: George Riley

Wednesday is still unsettled for me.  The C3 party has bands we'll be seeing at Luck Reunion.  Right now my choice is between the Paste Party at Pershing and the British Music Embassy party at Cedar Street. Paste has 2 stages and bands every 30 minutes.  Cedar Street has this with no set times yet:

WH LUNG
STRAWBERRY GUY
GEORGE RILEY
SPECIAL GUESTS
ELIZA SHADDAD

George Riley is a 23 year-old singer and law student from London. Here's an article about her. Soul/R&B. All I heard was pretty mellow. This looks to be a mellow day except for WH Lung.

SXSW 2022: Katie Toupin

I've covered almost everyone playing the Tuesday Paste party at The Pershing but I skipped this one. I didn't recognize the name but we've seen her before when she was with Houndmouth. She left the band and is now solo.  Here she is singing "Casino (Bad Things)" live with Houndmouth back in the day.

The songs I've heard are mostly poppy. This is good.  She plays at 5pm between Seratones and S.G. Goodman.

SXSW 2022: King Hannah

Brooklyn Vegan has released the band list for their Thursday and Friday afternoon parties at Cheer Up Charlie's but they don't have set times or days yet.  I'm getting impatient...

This is a duo out of Liverpool that is playing one of those days. They are also playing Thursday at Pershing for the Paste Party at 5:30pm.  They also play Hotel Vegas on Friday but there is no set time yet. 

Stereogum gives them the "Band To Watch" treatment, saying:

Sometimes the music stretches out into post-rock expansiveness (“The Sea Has Stretch Marks”), while elsewhere it feels like Springsteen took a wrong turn down a dingy side-street from his highway to freedom (it wasn’t a surprise when the band covered Nebraska highlight “State Trooper,” one of the creepiest songs the Boss has ever put to tape, in 2020).

You can hear their version of "State Trooper" here. Very cool.  That whole performance is great. Makes me want to see them live.

Pitchfork says about them:

King Hannah songs typically begin with an ominous rumble before gradually erupting into spark-shooting discord, following a similar path from the swamp to the scrapyard as Nick Cave and PJ Harvey before them, while coasting on a dirty-dub undercurrent that suggests a truckstop Portishead.

They're coming back to Mohawk Indoors on May 11th.  We'll be out of town.

"Crème Brûlée" is really good.

This song has a Nick Cave vibe.

SXSW 2022: Silver Synthetic

Another band on the Chronicle's "101 Essential Bands to see at SXSW".  They're from New Orleans.  They are signed to Third Man Records.  This article says of their music:

Their new self-titled debut album jingle jangles its way through the grooviest bits of the 1960s and 1970s, from the Velvet Underground to Television, not forgetting to pay its dues to the swinging psych of The Byrds. The world might be a mess, but Silver Synthetic have just given us a sonic ejector seat.

They play San Jose on Thursday.  Here's the stacked lineup:

Surfbort
Yard Act
Horsegirl
Ezra Furman
BLACKSTARKIDS
Silver Synthetic
Hey Cowboy!

 "Unchain Your Heart" has a T. Rex feel.  Lots of that going around this year. This is a new song.

SXSW 2022: Me Nd Adam

This band is playing 11 sets during SXSW, which could be the record.  Here's their schedule. It's a duo originally from New Orleans but now in Austin.  This interview with them calls their music:

Through a raw and crude mix of americana, country, rock and a slight hint of trap, is how the American band Me nd Adam, based in Austin, Texas, conveys the new concept of trashwave music.

They are playing the GSD&M party on Monday and Ray Benson's Birthday on Tuesday.  If we don't get into either of those they also play Guero's on Friday.

I like the song below.  "I Only Feel Alive When I'm Stoned" is one of their newer songs.

 

SXSW 2022: Ezra Furman

I don't usually preview bands we know but Ezra Furman just tweeted out a great thread about coming to Texas and Abbott's transgender attacks.  See it here. A sample:

I am coming to show transgender resilience, dissent, protest, rage and joy. I am coming because i won’t let them prevent the thriving of this trans-led small business. I am singing in solidarity with trans kids and their families, with ethical doctors and responsible citizens.

She is playing Container Bar at 4pm Wednesday, San Jose Thursday at 4pm, and Empire Garage Friday at 2pm. At the shows: 

We’re playing trans rocknroll and registering people to vote (with @headcountorg) because Governor Abbott has to go. Trans people must be allowed to survive and thrive. This sickness, institutionalized transphobia, is spreading across the country rapidly and dangerously.

 

SXSW 2022: Pillow Queens

 One more from the Austin Chronicle list.  It says:

Pillow Queens are a fourpiece band from Dublin making impassioned indie rock. The band charges behind braided guitar tones and the twin Irish lilts of vocalists Pamela Connolly and Sarah Corcoran. Where the band's previous full-length, In Waiting, surges behind bass-heavy production, the two singles from their forthcoming album, Leave the Light On, sound like a concerted effort to create some space. The intertwined guitars and heart-pumping drums are still there, but on songs like "Hearts & Minds" the band sounds effortlessly synced – musically and spiritually.

They play the Paste party at The Pershing on Tuesday.  It's "A Celebration With Women That Rock".  Here is the lineup:

1:00 – Moon Kissed
1:30 – Hannah Jadagu
2:00 – Barrie
2:30 – Madison McFerrin
3:00 – Pillow Queens
3:30 – Sir Woman
4:00 – Pom Pom Squad
4:30 – Seratones
5:00 – Katie Toupin
5:30 – S.G. Goodman
6:00 – Sunflower Bean

Very good lineup if you want to get started on Tuesday. 

"Be By Your Side" is good. Here's another.

SXSW 2022: W.H. Lung

Another band on the Chronicle list is this trio out of Manchester.  The Guardian calls them "One to Watch".  It compares them to LCD Soundsystem.  "Simpatico People" is a mix of them and The Cure.  It also says:

 the key is their ability to seamlessly meld genres – krautrock, post-punk and synthpop, most prominently – to create songs that are fresh and exciting yet familiar-sounding and accessible.

They play the British Music Museum at Cedar Street Courtyard on Friday at 5:30pm before Strawberry Guy. Could be worth checking out.

I like this song.

SXSW 2022: Petey

The Austin Chronicle just came out with the "Field Guide to the 101 Essential Acts at SXSW". Since it doesn't look like NPR is putting out a list this will be the fallback. No way I can go through all of them so I'll again try to find the ones we have a chance to see.  Their summary of this artist:

Petey doesn't enclose himself in a performer's image, music genre, or even a specific side of comedic TikTok. The multifaceted entertainer expands beyond the realms of indie-rock and electro-pop, ultimately forming his sound through blunt lyrics on mental health, relationships, and masculinity. By combining personal reflections with shouted words accompanied by distorted edits, the native Midwesterner creates a year-round playable vibe of relatability and transformative experiences

He now lives in L.A. and even got the New Yorker treatment.   Our chance to see him is Wednesday at Mohawk 

Outdoors
4:30 p.m. — Pussy Riot
3:00 p.m. — Petey
2:00 p.m. — Horsegirl
1:00 p.m. — Luna Li
12:00 p.m. — Just Mustard
Indoors
3:45 p.m. — Kristin Hersh
2:30 p.m. — bbymutha
1:30 p.m. — Barrie
12:30 p.m. — Ceramic Animal
11:30 a.m. — Blessing

A really solid lineup.  

"Lean Into Life" reminds me of LCD Soundsystem.  The song below reminds me of Band of Horses. I really like what I've heard.

SXSW 2022: Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

Here's another band profiled by Austin360.  This article says: "Welsh quartet Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard have quickly garnered a reputation as one of the UK's most promising rock upstarts with outlets like NME and The Guardian gushing about their intoxicatingly cool vibes."  It says about their song "Double Denim"

...finds the four young gentlemen looking and sounding like T Rex-era 70’s glam gods, full-clad in tight fitting denim outfits, casually clapping along to their infectiously fuzzed-up single.

Here it is. Fun song. They just released their debut album. They play Cedar Street Courtyard for the British Music Embassy party on Friday along with Me Rex and Penelope Isles.  That would be a fun day.

SXSW 2022: Priya Ragu

Austin360 put out a list of bands to see at SXSW in the paper today. I'll cover the ones we have a chance to see. First, as they describe her:

The breakout R&B singer scored a hit last year with “Good Love 2.0,” a woozy ode to romance with a slick club backbeat. She told Hello magazine that the song was inspired by the “love marriage” of her parents, who fled Sri Lanka during civil war in the 1980s. Raised in Switzerland, where she grew up singing in her father’s Tamil band, Ragu is now based in London. She also told the U.K. publication that she wrote many of the songs for her debut mixtape, “damnshestamil,” a smooth selection R&B bops, at the Brooklyn studio of her friend, rapper Oddisee. 

It looks like she grew up in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Cool!

She plays Cheer Up Charlie's Wednesday at 5pm.   

SXSW 2022: Joesef

This looks to be a big buzz act.  Our chance to see him is Friday at 3pm at Mohawk. I'll let this article describe him:

Joesef is a twenty-five-year-old soul singer from Glasgow, Scotland. His music is the perfect amalgamation of heartbreak, commitment, regret, blind joy, and impending disappointment over upbeat Amy-Winehouse style production. 

He's also playing the Rolling Stone/Twitch evening showcases at 3Ten, which are streaming live on Twitch as well.  Here are their lineups:

March 15:
Paris Jackson
Sasami
Joesef
Poppy Ajudha
Buffalo Nichols
Andrea Russett

March 16:
Japanese Breakfast
Girlpool
Geese
Mattiel

That's an impressive list.  Nice to see Buffalo Nichols getting such a high profile showcase.

Mellow soul/ballads.  

SXSW 2022: Just Mustard

Playing at noon before Luna Li at Mohawk on Wednesday is this band out of Dundalk, Ireland. They're getting big in Europe.  Some quotes from their bio:

“Just Mustard are the real deal. The Dundalk five-piece are currently crunching their way across the UK, their electrifying live sets causing massive word of mouth hype.”- Clash

“A beguiling combination of smoky shoegaze and jagged, harsh noise, like Warpaint wielding a chainsaw” – Noisey

“The heavy atmospherics and stifling textures of the Dundalk group’s strong first album Wednesday make being young sound like chaos and disorder.” – The Guardian

It also says: " Just Mustard were handpicked by Robert Smith to support The Cure at Malahide Castle and their electrifying live show also earned them bookings across leading summer festivals Green Man and Electric Picnic."

Brooklyn Vegan calls their style: "shoegazy, dubby, electronic-inflected sound".

"Frank" was one of their breakout songs from their debut self-produced album.  They just released their second.  This is from that album.

SXSW 2022: Luna Li

Flood has come out with set times for their day parties at Mohawk.  Given the limited number of day parties this year I have a feeling the only way to get in is to arrive early. 

This multi-instrumentalist is playing Wednesday at 1pm. It's the moniker of Toronto based Hannah Bussere Kim. Her album is getting great reviews. Pitchfork says:

Over the course of its 13 tracks, Li and producer/bandmate Braden Sauder pass a thread through the buoyant harmonies of late-’60s Beach Boys and ELO, the acidic soul of Shuggie Otis and Eddie Hazel-era Funkadelic, the space-age synth-phonies of Stereolab and Air, and the post-chillwave R&B of We Are KING and recent Tame Impala. (The album’s daydreamy milieu is disrupted only by “Star Stuff,” a garage-rock sprint where Li channels her inner Karen O.) 

This article talks about her inspiration for the album:

  to provide a safe place for people who feel like they don’t belong. It’s something that the 25-year-old Toronto musician can relate to well, her experience of growing up between two cultures sometimes leaving her feeling like she didn’t fully fit in with either. “I’m half-Korean, half-Canadian so [I was] trying to find this balancing act of the two cultures that I come from,” she explains.

Apparently Japanese Breakfast is a big fan.  She has opened for them on the last tour.  John Laird from 101X Homegrown picks her as one of the "8 Must-see live shows" of SXSW.

SXSW 2022: Niko Rubio

Playing right before Japanese Breakfast at Urban Outfitters on Saturday is this musician from California. From this article:

A California girl with deep Mexican roots, Niko Rubio cannot help but pay homage to both elements of her background in everything she creates. Her self-described “pop-indie-rock” music is at once ethereal and buoyant, yet grounded by a thrumming bassline. In other words, the perfect soundtrack for riding in a seafoam-green convertible, top down, along the familiar Pacific Coast Highway, which Rubio feels “fucking spoiled” to call her backyard. 

Sounds good.  Let's see what else: "she counts Linkin Park, Incubus, Natalia Lafourcade, Paramore, and Twenty One Pilots (tattooed on her hand) as influences".  Oh my. 

She is signed to Atlantic Records.  This song has 600K views. I guess she's popular.  Dance/pop.

 

SXSW 2022: Baird

Urban Outfitters released their lineup for Saturday:

Baird 4pm
Niko Rubio 5pm
Japanese Breakfast 6pm

From this article: "Baltimore-raised, LA-based Baird blends electronic and acoustic stylings to the nth degree. "  It also says: "A move to Mexico City, where Baird lived above a busy restaurant, helped influence the making of Vol. 2."  "Lo Que Tuvimos" comes from that endeavor.  Nice.

From another article:

From one installment to the next, Baird has grown exponentially as an artist, mixing a singer/songwriter’s mentality with electronic productions. Having worked both as a writer and producer with fellow up and coming artists, including Arlo Parks, BROCKHAMPTON, Dominic Fike, Yendry, Berhana and more...

His 3rd album comes out March 11th.  Nice mellow music.

 

SXSW 2022: Pom Pom Squad

Brooklyn Bowl Family Reunion is taking over Empire Control Room on Friday and Saturday with some heavy hitters: White Denim, Claud, Jackie Venson, Heartless Bastards...They don't have times or days yet so we'll need to keep an eye out when they are announced.

This band is the moniker of Brooklyn-based Mia Berren.  They are busy during SXSW: the Paste Party, Stubb's showcase with The Lemonheads, and this stacked lineup.  They are coming back on tour April 24th again playing Empire Control Room.

NPR says of their latest album: " I'm sensing two sides to this album: There's the grungier, darker side, and there's the 1950s and '60s, Phil Spector, traditional pop side."

Rolling Stone has a good article on her upbringing in Orlando. About her teenage years:

Berrin says, she was beginning to develop into “an angry kid.” Queer and mixed (she is half-black and half-Puerto Rican), she felt alone in the predominantly white, Christian, heteronormative “semi-South” where she grew up.

“I think when you’re growing up, you learn a little bit about cruelty and the ability to be cruel,” she says. “It was just so hard to believe, and it was hard to understand. I didn’t know what to do with that or how to deal with that.”

Here's their performance on KEXP.  Indie rock/punk.  The first song on it, "Drunk Voicemail", is good.

This is the title song of the new album.

SXSW 2022: Sun Room

This is the final band at Friday's Yeti party.  They are out of Southern California and play Surf Rock although they prefer to say they just play Rock.  This article calls their music "So-Cal, the ‘60s, psychedelic and garage rock, and surf sounds." This article says:

One thing that can be undisputedly taken away from a Sun Room show is their insane energy. These guys have the ability to get a room moving and floor shaking. When asked about how they ensure execution on this enigmatic presence, Anderson said, without hesitation, turning the volume to 11. 

"Red Dress" is old 60s/Ramones style garage rock. This is more surf rock: