SCHED* SXSW 2011

Kingdom is a Brooklyn-based producer and DJ whose signature sets and productions have been gathering a rabid following since he released his first mixtape in 2006. Since then, DJs from Diplo to BBC’s Annie Mac have given his tracks spins, and with his recent signing to Fools Gold Records and the video for his debut single “Mind Reader” airing on MTV2, there’s no doubt that Kingdom is the young American producer to watch. Kingdom may play everything from kuduro to juke, but R&B is his first love, and it shows in his bass-heavy remixes and original tracks, often featuring R&B vocal samples on top of his trademark production style—what some have called “a Brooklyn take on the UK garage sound.” This vanguard of tropical blends, Latin stylings and bass-heavy, dance-savvy sounds from around the world is catching the ear of more than a few tastemakers. Kingdom has received positive press and praise from magazines such as The Fader and XLR8R, to trendsetting sites such as Pitchfork and Discobelle, but his eclectic, forward-thinking style blows right past the buzz. Bok Bok of the London-based Night Slugs collective attested: “The genres Kingdom dips into range across the board, but his mixes create within themselves a new logic, a gutter house aesthetic that just makes sense.”
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS13062

The gentleman you see wearing the bizarre attire is one Orlando; producer and performer behind the creatively named Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Originally hailing from the Greco-Roman stable, TEED has released three EPs with the Berlin and London party-starters. They are all superbly executed cross-sections of electronic mayhem. As Orlando explains, “It goes from 124 bpm to 140 bpm. It crosses lots of genres and sub-genres of dance music, and I don’t really know or care about all these genres, I think they’re a bit useless and unnecessary. It’s just dance music at the end of the day.” It was ‘Garden’ from last summer’s ‘All In Two Sixty Dancehalls’ EP that propelled TEED into the spotlight. ‘Garden’ is a gorgeous, sing-song house miniature featuring boy girl vocals (Dinosaur himself plus Luisa from Lulu and the Lampshades). Its balance of pop sensibility, sharp basslines and dance floor melancholy has charmed everyone from Annie Mac to James Holden. This was followed in November by the sonically ambitious ‘Household Goods’, championed by Radio 1, that’s made TEED one of the dance music’s brightest new talents. Raised as the son of an Oxford University music professor and still Oxford based, Orlando Higginbottom was lured into the countryside by the rumblings of early jungle. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs swings between overt musicality and scarily on-point dance floor intuition, ripping up gigs around the globe with his live show of bizarre instruments, glitter cannons and of course... dancing dinosaurs. There’s a sense of playfulness, sleight of touch and FUN that seems missing from many of his contemporaries. The BIG remixes of Professor Green, Darwin Deez, Fenech-Soler and Katy Perry have helped turn the wheels even faster. Having survived Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs has now signed to Polydor Records and will release a debut album this Summer.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14872

With the tons of hyped up dance music that comes out these days, it's pretty hard to stand apart from the herd; not the case with Toronto's Egyptrixx. In just over one year, his distinct sonic aesthetic has become an acclaimed presence in underground music, garnering praise from heavyweight DJ's, including Sinden, Mary Ann Hobbs and Drop the Lime, and influential publications such as Fader, Xlr8r and The Wire magazine. All of his recent records have also seen regular radio play on BBC Radio 1 and Kiss FM among others. His unique and energetic live sets are in-demand, with headlining gigs banked all over Europe and North America and a busy touring schedule in upcoming months. He makes celestial club music; jeep music for a Saturn desert. There is an exhilarating right-but-wrong tension that all of Egyptrixx' tracks share - a shifting balance between melodic and dissonant, rapturous and antisocial. His releases continue to challenge the status quo and impress with a unique style informed by elements of techno, house, dubstep and pop music. With critically acclaimed releases already out on Night Slugs and Ramp Recordings, and his forthcoming debut LP slated for an early 2011 release, the future looks bright for Egyptrixx.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS15118

The Dirty Ghosts are pale and unwashed, yet they are fresh. Though based on solid ideas, the band is always attempting to get new with their style!!!! They are basically like a kid in a mask shop, always putting on weird new music masks, then having a hard time taking off the masks, so when they pick new masks, they just pull them over the old masks. The genre of music they do should be called "Layered Mask". They are all musicians and they all want to make melodies that fight their way into your head like a controlling babysitter. Allyson handles electric guitar while Binks handles electric bass and Aesop Rock handles the beat machines and this suits all of them just fine. Allyson and Carson have been collaborating for years, playing out ideas in the basement until the songs arrive via mental fax machine. So put a quarter in the fax machine and listen to a singing piece of paper.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14357

PACIFIC! NEW ALBUM – NARCISSUS – ON VULTURE Pacific! are the sun-kissed, blissed-out baby of Bjorn Synneby and Daniel Hogberg - childhood friends from the Sweden’s seaside city of Gothenburg, with an uninhibited Scandinavian feel for the idyll. The band’s debut album Reveries surfaced in 2008 to wide spread critical acclaim on Swedish label, Dolores Records. A breeze of harmonic and melodic fresh air, it was a debut of rejuvenating danceable pop, and provided the dexterous palette of melody and versatility for the bands ambitious evolution into new album Narcissus. Recently picked up by Alan Braxe’s renowned Vulture label, Pacific!’s retro-futurist identity finds the ideal foil in this eagerly anticipated sophomore LP. Drawing conceptual inspiration from Greek mythology’s moralistic tale of vanity, unrequited love and unspoken truth, Narcissus is a formidable and all too rare pop endeavor. Whilst retaining the duo’s debonair signature sound, Narcissus sees the band progress into a world of delicately drawn scenes in sound, songwriting narrative and moving pop symphony. Conceived as a live performance to accompany a modern dance ballet, Narcissus is a testament to Synneby and Hogberg’s creative nous, and in a modern era of listless imitation, should be cherished at the vanguard of creative pop. Since the early days of the last decade, Synneby and Hogberg have been sewing a patchwork of manifold influences to imbue their delicately crafted pop-not-pop songs with a distinct joie de vivre. Harking back and whilst looking forward, the deft amalgam of West-Coast grooves, Baroque arrangement, Daft Punk production and unrestrained Beach Boys melody – love songs for the new century, dance music for outside the club, nonchalant romance for a carefree generation. Track listing ‘Narcissus’ 1. Arcadia - Introduction 2. Narcissus - Enter Narcissus 3. Cupid - The meeting of Echo and Narcissus 4. Unspoken - Echo singing her love for Narcissus 5. Ramble On - Narcissus getting bored 6. Halfheart - A heartbroken Echo is swallowed by the rocks and becomes a true echo 7. Venus Rising - Enter Venus 8. From Lips Divine - Venus singing her curse to Narcissus 9. King Of The Night - Narcissus falling in love with himself 10.The Gaze - Caught by his own reflection in the pool, he loses himself in his own vision 11.Voyager - Narcissus climbs down to the halls of Hades
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14435

Violens summon influences as diverse as 60s psych-pop, thrash metal, and Miami freestyle. Their music channels the sophistication of Roxy Music and the no-wave roar of Sonic Youth, all within the laughing nightmare spaces of Stanley Kubrick or Nobuhiko Obayashi. Since releasing a self-titled EP in 2008, Violens have toured the US and Europe, performing with the likes of Grizzly Bear, Bat for Lashes and Deerhunter. Now, after furthering their studio prowess with remixes (MGMT, The Very Best), runway scores (Patrik Ervell, Yigal Azrouel), and a seasonal mixtape series showcasing their influences and collaborators, the New York-based 3-piece recently released their debut album 'Amoral', as well as a split 7" with Twin Shadow for Terrible Records.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14437

The Death Set, from Brooklyn, originally hails from The Gold Coast, Australia. It was here where Johnny Siera met co-founding member Beau Velasco in 2005. Drawn to one another’s reckless care of music, the duo united to write fleeting songs with lifelong hooks and overdriven melody. Hell-bent on recording and touring, The Death Set moved the U.S. originally to the gnarly streets of Baltimore then to Philadelphia then finally to Brooklyn. Buoyed by the DIY network they found there, the band recorded and released the To (2006, Rabbit Foot) and Rad Warehouses Bad Neighborhoods (2007, Morphius) EPs, honing the noise of jury-rigged gear and overblown mics. The Death Set quickly became known for out-of-hand live shows, and carried that energy onto its first full-length recording, done at The Copy Cat in Baltimore, an artist warehouse studio where the band and many others lived at the time. The Death Set’s debut album, Worldwide, on Ninja Tune’s Counter Records imprint came in 2008 and fully filled twenty-five minutes with eighteen breakneck songs. Produced, engineered and mixed by Siera at The Copy Cat, with further mixing by Rob Girardi at Lord Baltimore Studios, Worldwide boaseds the endearing sound of unrefined creation. From the timeless call-to-upraise-arms of “Negative Thinking”, through the rallying anthem of “Intermission”; the love-buzz of “Heard It All Before” along the serrated edge of “Cold Teeth”; through the wistful chime of “Had A Bird”, and the high-voiced androgyny of “Day In The Wife”; The Death Set exploits consonance to the fullest. “Around the World” enters enemy dancespace, while “Listen To This Collision” puts crowds on a crash course with each other. With the addition of Jahphet "Roofeeo" Landis on drums (who has toured with Santigold, Spankrock, Amanda Blank, and Ninjasonik) and fellow Aussie expat Dan Walker on guitar, vocals and production, the trio set about touring and destroying all types of stages all over the world. From massive festivals like Fuji Rock in Japan and Dour in Belgium to DIY spaces to Parisian basements. The Death Set have found touring partners and friends in Girl Talk, Bonde Do Role, Spank Rock, Ninjasonik ,Japanther, Best Fwends, Dan Deacon, Ponytail and many more. While The Death Set’s sound is most like that of its punk influencers -- Black Flag, Minor Threat, and Buzzcocks – it also bears the distinct mark of hip-hop and electronic styles in production, and as interludes in their raucous offstage outbursts. The band were touted as the #1 biggest hope of the future by NME, “Best Live Band” by the Baltimore City Paper, The Death Set jams blindsiding minute-songs into compact spaces. Which brings us to The Death Set’s new sophomore album, “Michel Poiccard,” which sadly comes prefigured by tragedy. Just as the pair were about to embark on writing a new album together, Velasco, who had struggled with drug addiction on and off throughout his life, died of an overdose. The band were shattered, so much so that Johnny still finds it almost impossible to talk about. It wouldn’t have been surprising if the group had decided to call it a day. Relocating to Brooklyn and enlisting long time friend and Baltimore associate XXXchange (Spank Rock, Kele, The Kills) to man the desk, they created “Michel Poiccard,” an album which loses none of the charm of their previous “punk spazz” work but adds considerable depth, both in terms of the punch and bottom end that XXXchange brings to the table, and in terms of a sense of desperate loss or longing, which permeates everything on the record and reaches a considerable pinnacle on “I Miss You Beau Velasco” and the closer “Is It The End Again?” There are songs here about mammoth Ecstasy binges (“Chew It Like A Gun Gum”), Beasties-like celebrations of arcane handshakes (first single, “Slap Slap Slap Pound Up Down Snap”) affirmations of relying on positivity thoughout the roughest of times "We Are Going Anywhere Man", a celebration of one of the stars of A Bout De Souuffle (“Michel Poiccard (She Yearns For The Devil)”), tales of smashed equipment and angry promoters (“Can You Seen Straight?”), with a dose of familiar, snotty, punk anthems about French girls with a penchant for taking it up the shitter (“I Like The Wrong Way”). Diplo drops in for a fight and ends up giving them a keyboard line for “Yo David Chase!”. Spank Rock guests on “7PM Woke Up An Hour Ago”. Yes, all of them are instilled with the same manic Ritalin-and –Sunny-D-induced energy of their earlier records, but it feels like something deeper has happened here, too. Above it all floats the spirit of Beau Velasco, amused and laconic. Words of his were rescued from samplers and old ProTools sessions so that it is his voice that opens the record with words which could serve as the group’s mission statement, perhaps never so fully realised: “I wanna take this tape and blow up ya fuckin’ stereo!”
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14441

Although initially pegged in some corners as a novelty act audiences have now begun to identify with Diamond Rings unique brand of pop songwriting and his overtly glamourous live sets. Showcasing real human emotion and honest vulnerability is rare enough for a young man let alone one who matches his eyeshadow with his Air Force Ones while dancing about onstage with the reckless abandon of a teenager in the bathroom mirror. But there is something surprisingly mature shimmering beneath the glamour hidden in his immediately iconic voice and whip smart lyrics. It is this complete package that has even original Riot Girl Kathleen Hanna proclaiming herself a member of the growing legion of Diamond Rings fans.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14359

// MIAMI HORROR // ILLUMINATION // After years in the making here at last is Illumination, the fully realised debut album from Melbourne’s favourite psychedelic indie-electronic adventurers Miami Horror. With Illumination, Miami Horror has delivered on two years of teeth-cutting live shows and an ever escalating wave of buzz that’s made the group bonafide blog darlings the world over. But what’s most amazing about the grand arrival of Illumination is that the roots of the record stretch back countless moons to when Miami Horror began as just one synthesizer-obsessed producer huddled over a laptop in a bedroom-come-studio and the album itself just a spark waiting to be lit. The afore mentioned synth tragic was, and let’s face it still is, electronic young gun Ben Plant, who kick started Miami Horror out of a love of Roland keyboards and French house, landing himself on Pitchfork’s hot-list overnight and copping a barrage of high profile remix requests from the likes of Datarock, PNAU and The Presets. Yet it was while Ben was punching out 2008’s epochal Bravado EP that Miami Horror took off in a completely new and different direction. Characteristically wanting to flex his creative muscle and avoid the limitations of being stereotyped as simply a dance or electro act, Ben rewired Miami Horror’s genetic makeup, deputising the talents of Josh Moriarty, Aaron Shanahan and Daniel Whitechurch to form a new live band persona of Miami Horror, a whole new beast immeasurably more exciting than before. “It started out that I didn’t want to have any guitar on the album besides a little funk guitar or disco bass,” Ben grins while explaining the turning point for Miami Horror’s evolution. “But then Josh came in and started playing all these other parts that sounded amazing. Paired with what I was working on, nobody was doing anything like it, so I knew we had to turn those sounds into a live thing and just go wild.” It worked. Since the switch, Miami Horror has launched into dizzying new stratospheres, their well-polished chops as a group making for some unmissable sets at Australia’s biggest festivals, and that’s not to mention some A-list support slot call ups for everyone from Phoenix, Friendly Fires and La Roux to a hand-picked hook up from Lily Allen. All this time Ben had been further noodling away at Miami Horror’s long-awaited debut disc and with the vision for a fully-blown and creatively shared band now fulfilled Miami Horror was able to pour all of their energy into Illumination, the record that’s taken Miami Horror years to perfect and Ben a whole lifetime to get right. Bunkering down in Ben’s own studio in Melbourne, Illumination was recorded in typical Miami Horror fashion with the band opening themselves up to new styles and approaches which saw them call in a cast of guest stars including Swedish singer MAI, Melbourne based chanteuse Kimbra, Dappled Cities’ wordsmith Tim Derricourt for a lyrical assist and also Neon Indian and Vega prodigy Alan Palomo who Ben flew out from the US to add his distinctive haze to multiple tunes (Soft Light, Holidays, Ultraviolet). As well as crafting a truly classic album that begs to be consumed from beginning to end to fully uncover all the layers and engrossing sonic textures of each tune, Ben says the aim with Illumination was to present an accurate portrait of the band’s current core and not make things too “glossy” and “hi-fi”, with Ben himself producing and engineering the album from the confines of his bedroom. As such, listening to Illumination is like a guided tour of Miami Horror’s combined minds, with enormous flying grooves gliding through the speakers alongside nods to the deities of French house and vintage synth explorers like Giorgio Moroder and Jan Hammer, all mixed and muddled up with slabs of melting, fuzzy psychedelica, some wandering kraut rock bass-lines, enough star-gazing hooks to make Electric Light Orchestra blush, plenty of ear-catching pop swagger and Ben’s own studied cinematic aesthetics. Never content to stand still, Miami Horror ambitiously test their boundaries across the album, experimenting with lush, almost chillwave instrumentals (see the gorgeous Infinite Canyons), futuristic disco gems (I Look To You), summer-bound party jams (Holidays) and anthem-sized synth epics (Sometimes). Testing the limits of the Miami Horror sound evidently came naturally for the group, with Ben admitting that the band weren’t afraid to cut loose and indulge their desires to blend electronic sounds with bristling psych-pop flourishes. “At first I didn’t think it was possible for us to do something like that, but more and more we found ourselves making things that sounded a bit fuzzy. People don’t believe me when I tell them that we use slide guitar on five tracks because that just doesn’t sound like us,” Ben says beaming. “It’s not like Chris Isaak or anything though, we just call it disco-influenced prog-pop. I don’t think that’s a genre, but it works for us!” Although the band themselves admit to a serious case of perfectionism, spending months layering, refining, tweaking and endlessly perfecting Illumination, they’re at last ready to launch it out to eagerly awaiting ears. “We’ve spent about ten months alone mixing the album, which is a process that should normally take two weeks,” Ben laughs. “We always just said ‘f**k it, we have to make the album that we want to make’ and this is it. We made it.” Yes, this is their moment. And though it seemed like an electro-dreamer’s distant fantasy four years ago, Miami Horror’s same excited sense of wonder has only ballooned from then to now. If you haven’t already heard the gospel, expect to be converted to the cause any second now.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14360

Rooted in hip-hop with branches of indie rock, electronica, downtempo, dub, and dance, Inspired Flight gives life to a hypnotizing and influential new musical experience that listeners are finding refreshing and authentic. iF's use of turntablism and sampling along with live instrumentation and vocals, all centered around innovative songwriting, has given birth to an independently-released debut album featuring high-profile MC's and sparking global attention, and a live show that has compelled audience members to scream, "Where have you been all my life!?" Homegrown in San Diego, California, Inspired Flight fuses the talents of master turntablist, OpenOptics (Eric Poline), and seasoned guitarist/songwriter, Chavez (Gabe Lehner) who both discovered a passion for music at a very young age by falling in love with golden-era hip-hop. As teenagers OpenOptics became obsessed with turntables, collecting records, and DJ’ing, while Chavez became fixated on blues guitar, British rock, and songwriting. The two traveled their respective musical paths with true dedication and passion, honing their skills as musicians, and in 2006 they met when Chavez hired OpenOptics to do scratching on an electronica album he was making under the name of Mechanical Cats. With their shared love of hip-hop, electronica, and recording and producing music, it didn’t take long for the two to collaborate on their own project. The fusion of personalities, backgrounds, and musical interests provided the perfect balance for creating fresh, thought-provoking sounds, and what began as a casual collaboration quickly evolved into Inspired Flight. Adding a third dimension to the iF live show is vocalist/pianist Ashley Marie Mazanec. Ashley not only sings on four tracks of iF's debut album and one track from their earlier EP, but was the vocalist for Chavez's Mechanical Cats album, the prior musical project that lead to OpenOptics and Chavez meeting. With a unique voice and a talent for playing piano nurtured since the age of five, Ashley makes a strong addition to the sonic and visual aesthetic of iF's live show. An Inspired Flight show features live vocals and performance on guitar, keyboards, turntables, kalimbas, and melodica, used with multiple laptops and MIDI controllers. The euphoric, dance-inducing beats of an iF show merge what is mostly original production with tasteful and strategic sampling, leaving audiences "blissed out" and craving more. Since Inspired Flight's creation in 2007 the group has achieved many impressive feats for an independently funded, do-it-yourself act making music out of a bedroom and a garage. Inspired Flight has woven remixes for several artists, including a notable piece for the Australian electronic group, Tra La La Blip, which got serious attention on Triple J, the Australian national radio outlet. In 2008 iF released a four-song EP titled, "Through Sight And Sound," to much critical acclaim, and on June 1, 2010, released their debut album, "We All Want To Fly." This first full-length album, released under Inspired Flight's own record label, Create Fate, and which includes eleven iF tracks and a bonus remix track, steps out of the conventional box in how it marries analog instrumentation with digital soundscapes and melodic, memorable vocals. What is even more impressive about "We All Want To Fly" than the strength of it's groundbreaking sound is that the independent duo's album features performances by Inspectah Deck from the Wu-Tang Clan, Eligh and Scarub from the widely-respected hip-hop group, Living Legends, and Rugged Monk from the West Coast Wu-Tang affiliate group, Black Knights. Inspired Flight has also notably shared the stage with Buraka Som Sistema, Adam Freeland, Bitter:Sweet, and Louis XIV, though their most memorable show to date was their album release for "We All Want To Fly" at The Casbah in San Diego on June 5th, 2010. Eligh and Scarub of Living Legends, and Rugged Monk and Crisis Tha Sharpshooter of Black Knights, all came down to perform with iF, along with many other less-known friends and family who were part of the making of the album. Since that show iF's buzz in San Diego has been undeniable. Inspired Flight, though unsure of what exactly the future holds for them, is sure of one thing: they will continue to create original music with fervent passion and dedication, and work hard to be recognized as renowned producers, remixers, and performers. As one fan of iF puts it, who is an accomplished MC, "The magnitude of strength is astronomical in length. It's undeniable, the music that accumulates is great. Create fate...peace."
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12181

Dynamic Adam Tune on the drums, World Champion turntablist Jr‐Flo on turntables, and the ever soulful Matisse on the keys are doing nothing short of “re‐inventing the remix”. Like nothing you’ve ever seen before, Keys N Krates combine live instrumentation, turntablism and live sampling to remix existing pop music and samples from MGMT to Jay‐Z right before your eyes. Pushing the envelope beyond the ideals of laptop‐centric remix culture, this unique trio changes the game by bringing an explosive live analog presence to their sought‐after sound and performance. The live re‐mix trio was featured in Urb Magazine’s “Next 100″ issue and continue to receive countless co‐signed features by Urb Magazine, Vapors Magazine, Spinner.com (AOL’s premiere music site), Beyond Race Magazine, Evil Monito, Hip Hop Official, Format Magazine, Discobelle and many more throughout the blogosphere. Sharing stages with Kid Cudi, Steve Aoki, Questlove and Timbaland, KNK maintain a non‐stop tour schedule throughout all of North America. The trio has recently taken their live re‐mix sound to the studio crafting live compositions into signature recordings. Their latest mix 'Almost 39 Minutes' reflects the evolving sound of the trio’s remix style, showcasing their dynamic performance in this much anticipated live recording.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14301

When a band names itself after a structure that is pretty much mandatory in all great wet 'n wild debaucheries, you know you're in for quite a ride. The Oakland based quintet HOTTUB has been at it since 2006, when producer Jason Stinnett (aka Jaysonic) and vocalist Nicole Feliciano (aka Coco Machete) joined forces, later inviting Jennifer Ackerman (aka Loli PoP) and Amber Griffin-Royal (aka Ambr33zy) on vocals, and Mark Gregory (aka Funky Finger) on keyboards. HOTTUB draws from Dancehall, Punk, Miami Bass, and their live show is full of crowd antics, makeshift slip & slides and fun loving riots. The group recently toured North America with UK pop darlings The Ting Tings, who had been giving them shout outs in various blogs and magazine interviews, including a video interview with Perez Hilton. Their debut EP On Blast! is available on iTunes, released under their own independent record label LeHeat, a most appropriate name as they do bring some serious heat. LIVE: Peformed with M.I.A., Diplo, Santogold, MGMT, The Ting Tings, DJ Medhi, Rye Rye, Kid Sister, NinjaSonik, SpankRock, Bonde Do Role, Amanda Blank, Japanther, The Clipse, Cool Kids, Gravy Train, Flipper, Nizter Ebb, to name a few. PRESS: "They’re three really outrageous girls, kind of like Beth Ditto characters with spandex and disco balls on their heads. They sound like the Beastie Boys but with pop songs. It’s really bizarre, but they’re great performers.” --The Ting Tings' Katie White (MOJO MAGAZINE) "Hot Tub get the fans involved, whether it's dancing, grinding, or pouring beer on their faces." -- Misha Vladimirskiy (SPIN.COM) "[They] threw beer on the floor (before diving into it), jumped up on anything that was stable enough, and encouraged an all-out dance party. Yeah, I’m sure I’ve seen similar insanity from the likes of Yo Majesty, The Show Is The Rainbow, and so on, but Hottub still have that new music smell!" -- Jason Glastetter (CMJ RELAY) "Hottub draw energy from quality ancestors – The Selector, B-52s, Schooly D, MC Lyte, Beasties – but given contemporary sharpness and dirty mouthed savoir faire. Co-Co Machete, Loli Pop, Ambr33zy, Jay-Sonic and Funky Finger have Parliament-ary potential, i.e. funk superheroes waiting to happen." -- Dennis Cook (JAM BASE) "The Bay Area's premier party starters, this trio of spandex-clad ladies bump and grind over hip-hop beats while spewing zany, racy rhymes." -- (DETAILS MAGAZINE) VIDEOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghz9ODzkgn0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NhXjHLpIik
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12182

The movement known as Lance Herbstrong. Through stream-of-consciousness aural atmospherics, Lance Herbstrong takes you on a trip, sustaining musical momentum with sonic layers propelling the rhythms. The result is music that is ethereal and organic, of the air and of the earth, and always moving. The nation’s most esteemed climate change scientists described their first Lance Herbstrong show as a ‘motherf---ing Fun Bomb that just goes off inside you.’ Conceived in the fertile soil of the secret compost garden behind the Temple of Ra, founding member Kamal Soliman was born attuned to the natural rhythms of the universe. His talent for weaving the sounds of the inner world with the outer world through an electronic collective consciousness came early. As a youth he moved through the B-Boy scene, popping and locking with the best, until his belief that all musical forces should join as one moved him from the dance floor to the studio. It was in the studio one day soon after, that the Lance Herbstrong path was laid out to Kamal. In a cloud of smoke, an ancient sorcerer appeared and instructed Kamal to combine his golden ear with the talents of one Bill Sarver, the greatest undiscovered beatmaker West of the Mississippi. Before the sorcerer left, he entrusted Kamal and Bill with a magic maraca, capable of bringing even the worst of dancers to get up and cut rug. From that day on, the duo would channel their power through a series of mashups and remixes, all of which were released to critical acclaim. Creating dubby landscapes isn’t without cost, as Kamal is quick to point out, “Many plants have been sacrificed in the making of this music.” After serving a short house arrest sentence for pirating Kraftwerk 8-tracks, Bill Sarver was just another down on his luck carny with a pocketful of broken dreams. Then, late one full-mooned night, a fortune-telling lady looked into her crystal ball and foresaw a great change coming in his life. After she fell asleep, Bill stole her crystal ball and pawned it for a mixer. His life hasn’t been the same ever since. Bill has done programming for industrial metal acts 16volt, Scum of the Earth, and Soak. When he is not working with Lance Herbstrong, Bill is choreographing a dance battle he hopes will be used in “Spider Man the Musical.” When he was learning to play the guitar, Peter DiStefano’s music teacher said he’d “give his right nut to play with Perry Farrell.” Being young and a bit too literal, Pete did exactly that. “It was definitely worth it,” Pete said after joining Farrell to create Porno For Pyros. “In fact, I’d do it again, if, you know, I’d been born with three nuts. I wasn’t.” While many people know Pete has released several solo albums and collaborated with groups such as Stone Temple Pilots, few know of Pete’s song writing skills. When he was only seven, Pete wrote the lyrics “Hump-backed, grossed-out freaks like us, baby, we’ve got the runs,” and sent them to Bruce Springsteen. The Boss has yet to give Pete credit. Joining Lance Herbstrong for live sets are percussionists Ricky Gonzalez and Frank Orrall. When not playing for the Chicago Afrobeat Project and other bands in need of superior drumming, Ricky prefers to spend his time in a Panic Room eating Cheese Poofs. Frank, of Thievery Corporation and Poi Dog Pondering fame, has written over 100 hymns for Sarah Palin. Together, they create the movement known around the world as Lance Herbstrong. Listen to their layered sounds and the connected grooves. Let it get into your orifices. Your day will be better. This bio is degradable.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS13093

At a time when fans have come to expect only one good track on any given album, Bay Area act Zion I and Living Legend's front-man The Grouch have created something different: a record comprised of 15 varied, soul-drenched, equally impressive tracks. The latest effort from these two formidable hip-hop acts, Heroes in the City of Dope, will have heads hyphy, uplifted, and pondering social ills—all within one album. "Our past collaborations—Silly Puddy and Flow—were always fan favorites," explains emcee Zion of Zion I of why the two acts decided to collaborate, "and creativity, it just flows when we get together in the studio." "And, though I live in LA, we all share a strong connection with Oakland," adds The Grouch of the title that he says is also a spin on the Too $hort track on the 1989 Life Is...LP "A lot of beauty and hope has come out of the struggle here."
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS13525

From under the shelter of world acoustic music’s canopy, live electronica has bred a new beast built of brass band and glitch, dubstep and glockenspiel: the  musical trio Beats Antique.   Since the group’s conception in the wild underground of San Francsico’s performance art scene, Beats Antique has been notorious for making it nearly impossible to sit still. They meld their mediums as attentively as they fuse the cultures that inspire their sound. The trio create a unique collage: an animalistic, raw musical event that blurs the lines between the provocative, the spiritual, and the artistic, while still maintaining an allegiance to the muses of class and beauty.   The journey that led to Beats Antique today was a winding and twisted path from the San Francisco Bay Area, to the ancient trade routes of the silk road. The influence of their phenomenon spans centuries, with a long line of musical history and innovation behind every note and gesture. In this modern incarnation, the musical alliance of producers David Satori and Tommy Cappel is inspired and emphasized by their collaborative partnership with world-renowned belly dance performer and music producer Zoe Jakes.   David Satori and Tommy Cappel both trained classically before venturing to locations such as Bali, West Africa, and Serbia. With extensive backgrounds in multicultural music production, and the passports to prove it, Satori and Cappel command the spectrum of live and digital instrumentation.   Zoe Jakes adds a third dimension as the multi –cultural and –disciplinary dance counterpart to Beats Antique’s sound. Jakes is a member of 2 major dance troupes, Miles Copeland’s Bellydance Superstars and Rachel Brice’s Indigo Belly Dance Company, as well as a student of ballet and contemporary techniques. Jake’s additional history with Cappel in the Extra Action Marching Band and the Yard Dogs Road Show grants some insight into the caliber of performance that is Beats Antique’s standard.   All of this sets the scene for Beats Antique’s overtly ambitious stage show, a sensory overload conquest of the festival circuit’s most riotous events, such as Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits festival, and Outside Lands, as well as a catalog of proper tours that include a recent run with Les Claypool in early 2010. According to Satori, the trio is excited by their ability to create a huge sound from their relatively small setup. “It gives us this whole new world of musical opportunities that we’re just starting to scratch the surface of.”   In a prolific 3 years since Beats Antique emerged, the group has released 2 albums and a pair of EPs, with a third album, Blind Threshold, on the way. Notable features of the new release include vaporous violins and Danny Elfman-esque dementia; glitchy, laser-guided harmonica provided by Blues Traveler frontman John Popper; and 2 very different vocal tracks that range between restless pop hooks and vibrant Eastern European dance loops.   With their 2nd release having consistently held down number 1 on Amazon.com’s Middle Eastern category, reached the Top 10 list of most downloaded artists under World Dance, and pierced the Top 20 of most downloaded electronica albums, the expectation of a massive cross-genre reception for this latest work is high.   Each facet of Beats Antique’s resume is a part of a much larger package that is best described as a lost art. Beats Antique is best imagined as an innovative creature built from the cumulative heritage of the world’s music chasing its tail. However vivid that image, when a marching band groove crashes into bluesy folk chords only to be chased by electronic beats and Middle Eastern melodies, you’ll still be surprised.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS11881

Two fresh consists of an inseparable pair of twin producers, Sherwyn and Kendrick Nichols, who have been making beats and playing music together since they were fifteen years old. Now only twenty-one, the twins have released their first album entitled “The Baker’s Dozen”. This release contains a unique style of music combining elements of hip hop, jazz, soul, standout synth lines, creative sample chops, and heavy bass sections. The thirteen track album will be available for free download. It only takes one listen to tell that these two have something special. Following their first release, Two Fresh will be hitting the road with dozens of dates already scheduled in the forthcoming months. For more information check out www.twofreshbeats.com
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14814

Bird Peterson, or Texas born Andrew "Old Shep" Hoke, is just what the doctor ordered. He prides himself as the Elegant Gentleman King of Hot Jams, and retains this title by his own doings. He's a scholar in the art of bass, a pundit of booty shaking, and an authority on what makes the youth of the nation bounce. Working through a mix of contemporary rhythm, low end madness, and classic freshness, Peterson can only be limited by the amount of speakers in a venue. His originals have made him known across the globe. His remixing of artists like Three 6 Mafia, MSTRKRFT, Tiesto, The Wu-Tang Clan, Robin Thicke, Ocelot, Felix Cartal, Gucci Mane, Wale, and soooo many others have set the planet's ears aflame. He's shared the stage with such greats as MSTRKRFT, Diplo, Tiesto, DJ AM, Craze, The Bloody Beetroots, Rusko, Chase & Status, and soooo many others. He's a proud member of the acclaimed Undocumented Mgmt family and reins as art director for Teenage Riot Records. He's a publicly proclaimed "Wizard Of The Dance Scene" and it shows! Ladies and Gentlemen, use all the contraception you can, because Mr. Peterson came to spread his hot noise all over the crowds. BOOM!
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS11142