SCHED* SXSW 2011

One of the most promising bands of Colombia, 69 Nombres is an Alternative rock band formed in Barranquilla. Produced by the legendary Phil Vinall (Placebo, Zoe, Pulp), this band has developed a very particular sound in the Latinamerican indie world. The band has 2 Records (Alba LP, 2002 and Tiempo EP, 2009) that were released as independent and has let them participate in many festivals all around the country, playing as openers for important artists such as Juanes, Cafeta Tacuba, Molotov, Babasonicos, Robi Draco Rosa, Spinetta and Aterciopelados. Tiempo, has received the best critics by the music press, including two nominations in the Premios Shock as Best Record of the Year and Best Rock Band, and a nomination in the Premios Subterranica as Best Rock Artist of the Year. In 2010, 69 Nombres released two more songs produced by Phil Vinall, too. In which is found Tientame. This song was chosen to be part of the most rated Colombian TV show Amor Sincero. This took the band to be nominated in the first edition of the Sayco Awards (Society of authors and composers) as Best New Artist and to give a live show to play the song.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14456

Pedropiedra is the name that Pedro Subercaseaux chooses to name his music and his personality. Straight and simple, his nickname rules itself according to his own musical rules: search for the pop song without resort to big words and say much with little. With that intention, Pedropiedra edited by middle 2009 his debuting homonym becoming soon pretty popular thanks to the rst single “Inteligencia Dormida” sounding in different radio stations and calling the attention of divers Chilean virtual publications, Pedropiedra managed to take his music to a massive and popular elds in just a couple of months being catalogued as one of the top musical leaders (according to 2009 ranking from El Sabado magazine from El Mercurio, an important Chilean newspaper). His pop proposal, heiress of acoustic and electronic sounds, consolidated the path of Pedropiedra after being part of the successful band CHC, a hip hop collective in which he formed three studio albums, then Yaia where he combined pop, country and surf and Hermanos Brothers, a hip hop duet awarded in 2003 as best independent group of the region according to MTV. After adding up a nourished repertory of presentations in Santiago de Chile together with his old bands, Pedropiedra decided to live for a period of time in Mexico City in 2008 to prepare what would be his rst soloist album. In one of his different promotions, he meets Leonel García- ex member of the Mexican ballad duet Sin Bandera- who decided to support Pedro from the executive production of his debut album. The thirteen songs that forms Pedropiedra, shows a taste for pop song and the possibility of composing simple lyrics about diverse topics such as love, social relationships or dead. As a life journal transformed in an album, the debut of Pedropiedra was received by Chilean press as the most intimate registration from the singer. At the same time, his sticky refrains and melodies where dened as one of the best examples of Nuevo Chilean pop, making it comparable to Gepe’s and Javiera Mena’s productions. Parallel, Pedropiedra composed in 2007 part of the soundtrack of the prime opera from Sebastián Silva: La Vida me Mata. The Singer collaborated once more with Sebastian in 2009 adding up the song “Ayayayay” for the movie La Nana, a lm awarded as best movie on the Sundance Festival in that year.Thanks to La Nana success in the United States, the song was selected between the themes to compete as best song at the Oscar’s. In addition to this international recognition, he adds his participation as special guest to the 2009 edition of the Feria Internacional de Música de Buenos Aires, plus his appearance in the Día Mundial de la Música in Chile, an event that gathers an audience of more than 50,000 people. Back in Mexico, in December same year, Pedropiedra toured different Mexican stages as guest of the third edition of Festival Neutral at the Multiforo Alicia, the musician released his album at Centro Cultural España and also was a guest in the sixth edition of Festival Diego Rivera. At the beginning of 2010, Pedropiedra surprised the audience of Vive Latino festival with a really intense show. The singer’s fans acclaimed all of his repertory over passing the audio of the compound. This showed the impact the singer had between Mexican audiences who knew every single song because of the rotation of his music on local Mexican radio stations. At the same time, in this new trip to Mexico, Pedro made some presentations along with Gepe taking the occasion of recording part of his new material: “Cripta y Vida”. In May 2010,Pedropiedra travelled through Spain, country he visited for the rst time in company of Javier Mena, Chinoy and Gepe with dates in Madrid and Barcelona. Actually, Pedropiedra works on the last details of “Cripta y Vida” while he maintains a tight agenda of live presentations. PEDROPIEDRA PRESS: Extravaganza! Magazine (Chile, May 2009): “The rst soloist album of Pedro Suber- caseaux, a.k.a Pedro Piedra (Hermanos Brothers, Yaia and CHC) it’s an ensem- ble of simple melodies and lyrics, with metaphors charged with emotion, irony and a pretty good dose of good humor, that give as a result a disc with an admirable naturalness” Super45 Magazine (Chile, June 2009) “The quality on the voice and recording (realized at Sin Bandera’s- Leonel García studio) are some of the reasons to understand why this disc is one of the best that has been released this year” Sumplemento Wiken (Chile, Sep- tember 2009) Pedro Piedra is one of those persons that thanks to his unreachable behavior inside the rules of social interaction ended being a funny guy: a guy a little bit weird and pretty much unique. The same as his songs” El Mercurio (Chile, 2009) Pedropiedra is pop with distinction, with a personal humor and mood in his lyrics, with accurate melodies and his voice always in forefront. Everything he says is part of a good melody and its pop music sing with absolutely no tics at all, another good reason to nd him good” POTQ.CL (Chile, June 2009) About Pedropiedra: “More than 40 minutes that is divided in 13 songs that never lower their level. The pop, the guitars and memorable lyrics intercalate each other to assemble a very sticky work and also very good for hum- even, leaving a place for the heartfelt obeisance that is Mi Mamá (…). A gesture of tremendous honesty, that doesn’t distune because precisely, all this plate feels honest from beginning to end” Mus.CL Magazine (Chile) “Pedro Subercaseaux arrived just a couple of weeks ago to Santiago from Mexico City. Without too many plans, he spends the summer heat in a department close to Plaza Italia and keeps composing and recording. What matters him the most is to play live his recently nished album: 13 sticky, happy and very melodic songs with reexive lyrics, from a funny melancholy that he registered in the north of the country and that is already ring on in live capital concerts”
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12667

23 years old. Singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. California-born and raised until moving to her current hometown of Santiago, Chile at age 13. She is currently launching her second album called Buen Soldado ("Good Soldier"/ Independent, March 2011) which she produced with Vicente Sanfuentes (Sr.Coconut, Gepe, Matias Aguayo) and Mocky (Feist, Jamie Lidell). Her songs range from piano pop rock, to some more jazzy, or even folkly tunes. In them she talks of everything –from social critique and political commentary to girlie angst or intimate reflections. Her first album, Muérdete la Lengua ["Bite Your Tongue"] (Independent, November 2007) contains 10 songs in spanish and 2 songs in English. It was written and composed by Francisca and produced by Mauricio and Francisco Durán of Los Bunkers. The album went Gold in her country Chile, and allowed her to tour all over the country and the globe -from the World Expo Shanghai 2010 and 2008 LAMC Festival in NYC to a Homage to Chile in Pompeii to Vive Latino Mexico 2010- and was highly praised all over Latin America. Rolling Stone Chile named it 16 in it's 50 best albums of 2007, Alter Latino awarded Francisca the 2009 "Favorite Latino TV Newcomer Award", her 5 singles rotated on MTV and she was selected in the 2009 "15 x 15: artists to Watch" campaign. Buen Soldado [ "Good Soldier" ] (Independent, March 2011) contains 12 songs in spanish. All composed and written by Francisca Valenzuela. Produced by Vicente Sanfuentes (Sr.Coconut, Gepe, Matias Aguayo), Mocky (Feist, Jamie Lidell) and Francisca Valenzuela. In January 2011 the first single "Quiero Verte Más" ("I want to see you more") hit radios in all Latin America. National Public Radio (NPR) in the US highlighted the "lovely chilean songstress" Francisca and her song as an "ain't too proud to beg ballad". Club Fonograma called her the "most glamorous pop artiste in Latin America". The album will be released in March 2011. She has collaborated and performed with numerous artists such as Latin Bitman, Beto Cuevas, Inti Illimani, Los Bunkers, Los Jaivas, and Café Tacuba among others. She has also made music for cinema and theatre and participated in international tribute albums for Violeta Parra, Inti Illimani, 31 minutos and Joan Manuel Serrat.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14087

Mexican indie rock outfit Chikita Violenta have signed with Arts & Crafts ahead of the release of their new album, TRE3S, the culmination of a long-standing friendship with the label and former Broken Social Scene producer Dave Newfeld. Newfeld produced Chikita Violenta’s 2007 release, The Stars & Suns Sessions, as well as TRE3S, which was recorded over three trips to his Ontario-based studio/church compound in 2008 and 2009. The album will be released in Mexico August 17 and will roll out across the rest of the globe in early 2011. Chikita Violenta continues to display a unique sound, intensely crafted and expanded in the spirit of North American and British alt college lo-fi rock. Where once the band’s bold English-language approach was unheard of in Mexico, Chikita Violenta has become one of Mexico’s biggest indie acts, praised simultaneously for their compelling songwriting and all-consuming live performances. Chikita headed out on a North American tour starting in August with Built To Spill before joining Ra Ra Riot in late September. The band will close out that run at the Corona Capital Festival in their hometown of Mexico City on October 16, sharing the stage with the likes of Interpol, Pixies, Metric, Temper Trap, amongst others. Ahead of TRE3S’ North American release, the band is eagerly making available the album tracks, “Tired” and “All I Need’s A Little More”. You can grab them at the band's site www.chikitaviolenta.com Chikita Violenta is: Luis Arce – bass, vocals Armando David – keyboards, bass Cheech – guitar, bass Andrés Velasco – guitar, vocals
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS13633

The music of Peruvian rock band Emergency Blanket is fully charged with life and energy. With influences from rock classics from the 60’s, 70’s and 90’s “the Blankets” achieve a very classical but yet very fresh and original sound. The EP "What is the Emergency Blanket?" was recorded in 2005 after a solid year of playing live in various local venues and had rave reviews. That year Rolling Stone Magazine (Latin America) released a 2 page article which headed "The band who is breaking the language frontiers in South America". Their song "Next Passenger" was a hit and was played in the most important radio stations in their country. The LP "Combi + Nation" (2008) was the band’s first full fledge album. This production includes a new concept which includes songs in Spanish, English and songs that even combine both languages. This new concept worked well as the band experimented with different sounds and rhythms such as "Lando" a traditional Peruvian genre and "guitarra criolla" a Peruvian style guitar. "Combi + Nation" also makes reference to the diverse and rich culture that Peru represents to the world. The LP contains 11 tracks and was mixed and mastered at Lima 32 Avenger Studio, Los Angeles California by Peruvian sound engineer German Villacorta (who has worked with musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Stone Temple Pilots among others) who gave the album a very powerful and rich sound. In March 2008 the band participated in the 1st "Festival Claro" (the most important music event in the country) where they won the "Rock & Pop" Category with their song "La Conexion" which appears in the album "Combi + Nation". Thousands of bands participated in this event. After that they went to play in front of crowds of 15,000+ in cities like Trujillo and Ica in support of Peruvian pop singer “Gian Marco”. In 2009 they opened for Faith No More in their “Second Coming World Tour” in Lima. In 2010 they won the Peoples Music Awards (Metal/Punk/Indie/Rock) in London and also completed their first European tour playing in 3 countries and 9 cities in total. In Zurich they opened for legendary Spanish band “Hombres G”. They received positive comments from the judges at the awards such as “I am very impressed by their energy and enthusiasm and the quality of their writing and playing. Sign them somebody so I can work with them!” - TONY PLATT (Producer: Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, The Who, Rolling Stones among others) and “They show great promise and can expect interest from anyone with ears for good music.” - Mick Glossop (Producer: Van Morrison and Frank Zappa) Emergency Blanket is currently working on the pre production of their new album to be released early next year and have been selected as support act of Stone Temple Pilots this 16th of December 2010 in Lima, Peru.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS10918

Music goes beyond melodies, harmonies, arrangements, lyrics and live performances. There's something that no artist in the world can manufacture or control, even though it makes perfect presentations and has catchy songs: energy. That invisible thing that comes with the musicians and the music makes us feel butterflies in the stomach, inviting our bodies to the dance floor, swing our feet or simply smile. This energy does not translate into attitudes or melodramatic performances on stage, much less on songs millimeter thought to excite or amuse. Because it's something so subtle and true - this energy - that we know when they are trying to deceive us. That's how we separate the common bands from the bands that seem to change our lives after the show. And one of the bands that represent this gem of combining delicious songs, exciting presentations, and such thrilling energy that addicts you into it is Some Community. Juliana Vacaro in charming and delirious vocals, Veronica Vacaro and an impressive class on keyboards and guitar, Marco Frugiuele, who is a sideshow in the creative drum, Gabriela Gonzalez and her great contribution (disguised as shyness) on guitar and Fernando Fernandes, fundamental guitar of this mixture. All this is punctuated by casiotones and melodica played by all of them, in arrangements that dose sweetness and beatings, packaged in the unpretentious former prep school mates getting together to make music with a surprisingly professional result. It is in the air, for those who hear the songs or watch the show, a climate that they are there doing what they like, the way they wish, without caring much about what you'll think. At the same time, they want you to join them and jump on the stage, if possible.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14459

Few independent Brazilian bands are getting everyone's attention as São Paulo's Holger. The band first appeared with The Green Valley EP, that brought a collection of songs that could be described as influenced by the "classical" indie rock from Pavement, Flaming Lips, Wilco and Dinossaur Jr. Soon their energetic and unpredictable performances gained the attention of the ones more in tune with the country's emerging new music. Playing concerts all over the country, they had the opportunity to share the stage with bands like Dirty Projectors, No Age, Matt & Kim, Super Furry Animals, among others, and also traveled abroad for festivals like South by Southwest and Pop Montreal. In the latter, they gained the recognition of Paste Magazine, that appointed them the "best discovery of the festival." At the beggining of 2010, the five piece act locked itself on the studio with american producer Roger Paul Mason and came up with their first full lenght Sunga, released by Trama - same label that brought CSS to the world and had artists like Tom Zé, Gal Costa and Nação Zumbi on its roster. The record incorporates a series of new elements to the band's sound, such as sinthesizers, percussion and plenty of african-brazilian rhythms. Sunga is out now in Brazil and in March in Japan. :: soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/myholger :: myspace http://www.myspace.com/myholger :: twitter http://www.twitter.com/myholger "But the thing about Holger is: Cake Shop could have been overrun by rabid wolves. New York City could have crumbled into the ocean. And they’d still be one of the most enjoyable live bands out there.- MTV Iggy (http://blog.mtviggy.com/2010/09/27/concert-review-brazils-holger-at-cake-shop-nyc-short-and-very-very-sweet/) "Best discovery of Pop Montreal" - Paste Magazine (http://www.pastemagazine.com/high_gravity/2009/10/best-discovery-of-pop-montreal-so-far-holger.html)
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS10956

On a random afternoon in 2005 Mauricio, Gerardo, Hugo and Rodrigo, childhood friends, got together to talk about all the music and ideas they had in mind, from Led Zeppelin, to the Allman Brothers to Radiohead and The Strokes, and then decided to start creating music together. They created a place where they could be free and generate a personal dogma through their own music. This space was called: Dirty Karma. Throughout all those afternoons new songs were borned and with them the idea to release an EP. So 3 years later, at Topetitud studio (property of Paco Ayala and Tito Fuentes, members of the well respected mexican rockband: MOLOTOV) under John Gibbe and Camilo Froideval’s production, they recorded 5 songs that gave form to an EP called Dirty Karma. After the recording and mix of the album they decided to master it with Chris Geringer (Madonna, Molotov, Dandy Warhols, etc.) at the Sterling Sound Study in New York. The songs were very well received by the critics and Mexican press, as well as by a solid fanbase that kept growing steadily. The band continued playing, rehearsing without stopping, working each one in its instrument to master their performance. The EP got great reviews from important magazines and as time went by more curious fans began to attend their shows. Constructing a good reputation as a live act, Dirty Karma was invited to de 2009 edition of the “Vive Latino” festival, the most important rock festival in Latinamerica, in which they conquered a very demanding audience. On 2009 they decided to make their first LP repeating the same team of producer / engineer (Camilo Froideval and John Gibbe respectively) and the same studio (Topetitud) to record “Four Elephants”. This time the adventure continued at Sonic Ranch Studios in Tornillo, Texas, property of Tony Rancich, who was captivated by their music and decided to write and record a song called “Water Tower”. They launched “Tiempo” as a pre-single, which was chosen one of the best songs of 2009 by Reactor 105 (the most important radio station of alternative rock in Mexico City). The video for this song placed them in MTV´s rotation for a long time. Shortly after the recording of "Four Elephants", they decided to invite Cariño Maldito to make the artwork for the album. Months later Cariño Maldito assumed the band’s management and legal representation. Now they are promoting “Four Elephants”, which includes the singles “Entresueño” and “Amatlán. The LP has had a great reception from fans and music journalists so far. The songs in “Four Elephants” denote a clear maturity in their style and, although there has always been something magical surrounding their on-stage performances, their LIVE ACT captivates more spectators every time. Numerous bands and musicians show their interest in working with them and a handful of up-coming bands want to record their songs with their unique and characteristic sound. They continue to do what they like the most and they make it better every time. More songs are written day by day, and every night they play, they create a unique and memorable atmosphere… without a doubt, the best is yet to come.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14458

The Plastics Revolution is a group of 20-year-old friends who, after separately playing in different projects for years, finally decided to join into a single band in Fall 2007. The most unique quality of the band, which clearly sets them apart from others, is the evident strong bond that unites the six members, all of them being already best friends before the project started. The chemistry among them is not only patent during their energetic and highly interactive live performances, but also in their compositions, which present a balanced, original, and well-integrated mixture of the diverse ideas and backgrounds of all members. Of all their influences, those which can be perhaps more easily noticed in their music are bands such as The Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips, Broken Social Scene, Belle & Sebastian, and The Klaxons, among others. So far, The Plastics Revolution has recorded a 6-song EP and a 9 song LP. They are currently working on their next album. Their first EP was recorded at their home studio in 2008. Although recorded only as a demo for their upcoming full-length LP, the quality of the production was good enough for the songs "So They Wait" (the band's first single) and "Ahora somos parte" (the band's first Spanish single) to make their way into Mexico City's most important rock radio station (Reactor 105.7fm), as well as into other radio stations across the country. On August 2009, the band realesed their first full-lenght LP independently, featuring 9 songs (2 in Spanish and 7 in English). This homonymous record, sold mainly through indie record stores and indie lifestyle stores in Mexico, sold out in just 3 weeks and keeps generating good sales via Web retailers such as iTunes, Napster, Emusic, Rhapsody, etc. At the same time of the release, the band released the single "Saturno", wich made its way into the main rock stations in Mexico. Furthermore, their single "Cars From Mars" helped them get noticed internationally, drawing the attention of MTVmusic.com as part of their "Needle in the Haystack" feature. In May 2010, the band released "Kibera", the first single of their upcoming album, which got the band heavy airplay in Mexico's top rock radio stations, as well as thousands of digital downloads via a free download promotion with Mexico City's main radio station Reactor 105.7.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14629

After Sao-Paulo, one of the most brazilian exciting musical scene of the moment,lets go to Brasilia now, the cult-city built by Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa to discover LUCY AND THE POPSONICS. That duo, united in life as on scene, joined together with a bass, electric guitar and a laptop, had probably produced the most fun, Fresh and exciting album from the Lula’s country. "A Fábula (ou a Farsa?) de Dois Eletropandas" ‘ s album released on Monstro Discos (one of the most important independent Brazilian label) in 2007 has been rated as one of the best promising act of the new Brazilian scene by the media. Folha de Sao Paulo, Vogue, Rolling Stone, MTV have been immediately seduced by the Electro-punk music of that sexy duo of Brasilia offering at the same time, the possibillity for the band to tour in the big festivals. They made that mix of nervous rock striked of major chords, with a linear but powerful bass on an Electro-pop base coming back to the roots (Kraftwerk, Devo).This album,leaded by the spontaneous Young and mischievous Fernanda, offers in 40 minutes,an accelerated drive in the complex avenues of the UFO-City. In 2007 and 2008, Lucy and the Popsonics played a lot in Brazil and worldwide with artists like Devo, Lilly Allen, The Rapture, Tokyo Police Club, CSS, Datarock, Diplo, Potion, Kasabian, Black Lips, Les Corps Mince Dês Françoise, Vivian Girls, Battant. They also been touring in the USA (South By Southwest), Middle-West and East Coast (Knitting Factory/NYC), then in Europe, with very good feedback of the audience in Germany, Spain, France (I.D.E.A.L Festival) and Portugal (Fade In Festival). Picked out in 2008 by Nacopajaz, and seen at PopMontréal Festival where they really impressed, they’ve been considered by the influential VOIR magazine like one of the biggest revelation of the festival, they’ve been also touring France with Big festival like « Printemps de Bourges » « Festival les Femmes s’en mêlent » where the audience verified their incredible energy on scene. For 2010, they just recorded the new album with one of the biggest Pop producers in Brazil, John Ulhoa. He´s part of the most important Pop brazilian band of the last 20 years, Pato Fu.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14628

Empress Hotel at it's core is an assembly of musicians from both New Orleans and afar. Spearheading this New Orleans pop ensemble are brothers Ryan and Eric Rogers on guitar and drums, backed by Patrick Hodgkins from Portland, Maine on bass, Leo DeJesus on keys and percussion and fronted by the lovely Julie Williams on keys and the ever so amorous Micah McKee on lead vocals and guitar. The music is inspired by 70s one hit wonders such as Ace and The Dwight Twilley Band and drawing influence from legends like Prince, Sparks, and Roxy Music. Empress Hotel brings a personal, human story to their interpretation of pop songs. It's implemented through stream of consciousness lyrics, dynamic vocal melodies and rhythmic harmonies from individuals who love the glory days and still go see new bands play live more than most. They lust for a music that is inclusive, crowd pleasing and honest. Empress Hotel asks for you to sing along, and dance within it. It wants your company.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12766

Sunshine, sarcastic, and sullen, Brass Bed are a quartet of wide-eyed pop dreamers born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana. Their music elevates the unrestrained power pop of Big Star and the guitar heroics of Television with the 60's pop revivalism of bands like Dukes of the Stratosphear and the Elephant 6 collective. In 2010, Brass Bed released their second LP "Melt White" on Park The Van Records (Dr. Dog, Generationals) Recorded in Austin, TX with Danny Reisch at Cacophony Recorders and Good Danny's studios, the album presents the potent live Brass Bed sound on tracks like "Pop Mission" and "Bums On The Radio" and studio playfulness of their home recordings on "Aria" and "God Save The Thieves".
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS13219

The Spinto Band have just competed their third full length album. The recordings were self-produced in their Delaware studio over the course of 2010. In the coming months they are preparing for the release of the album and an accompanying tour. In addition, the band helped create the soundtrack for the 2011 film The Beast Pageant.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14382

Native America is a creative outlet for Ross Farbe, a 20 year old songwriter from New Orleans. He spends countless hours in his bedroom, surrounded by an array of thrift store keyboards, craigslist-ed tape recorders, and whatever cobbled-together noisemakers he can get his hands on. An infatuation with physical space and natural reverb would then lead him to break into warehouses, campus parking garages, and abandoned spaces around the wilds of New Orleans, risking his spotless criminal record solely to lay down a few songs. Dancing About Architecture is the inevitable product of this process. Beautiful, reverberated, and springy, yet at times dissonant and exploratory, this collection of patchwork songs is the first Native America release and is available on Park The Van records. Native America is also a band. The first shows in early 2010 were Ross with a guitar and a banjo, but now the ship's crew has been completed by John St. Cyr (bass/vocals), Ray Micarelli (drums), and Kyle Hines (guitar/vocals). They set out on an ocean of fuzz, fending off sonic seamonsters with dreamy folk-pop songs.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS15170

The nom de plum of writer/producer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Seth Kauffman. Has released one, self-titled, album on Park the Van Records in 2009. The sound incorporates non-traditional influences (such as calypso, motown, bossa nova) into a somewhat classic rock infrastructure. The band works often on the road and studio with Band of Horses, Bryan Cates, Lissie, Georgia Fair, Courtney Jaye, Dr. Dog. New album 'Desert Etiquette' mixed by Band of Horses' Bill Reynolds, due Feb. 2011.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12765

It’s been an active summer for New Orleans’ Generationals. Grant, Ted, and drummer Tess Brunet wrote several new songs during a housesitting session at The Spellcaster Lodge (home of Quintron & Ms. Pussycat) in New Orleans. They tracked their second LP, ACTOR-CASTOR in Washington DC with Con Law producer Daniel Black, then left for Austin in August to record a four-song EP with Bill Baird at Baby Blue. They tracked in a sweaty, distinctly sound-porous box by day and swam in Barton Springs as an evening reward. It was the first time Generationals had recorded a body of work with anyone else.
 In their second release, Trust (EP), the band is audibly transitioning from a jangling, sun-kissed sound in the vein of Aztec Camera or Felt to pop drones distinctly more hypnotic, textured, and challenging to conjure accurate comparisons for. This is certainly not to say to say that the sun no longer shines in the Big Easy. The shimmering hooks, girl-group choruses, and late-summer breeziness of Con Law remain intact in EP’s title track ("Trust"), but are joined by feedback loops, drum-machine beats, and abstractly dubbed-out, wobbling basslines throbbing organically in the mix. Con Law’s “When They Fight They Fight” may be Generationals’ early-career singsong anthem, but songs like “Say For Certain” and “Victim of Trap” are their lilting, droning annunciations of their burgeoning post-pop sound.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12762

Mürfila is Rock. Rock written in capital letters, rock as a lifestyle... and that is what she shows in “I love Ü”, her most personal record to date. After her two previous albums, Mar Orfila (Mürfila) gets involved in an incomparable adventure in the Spanish music industry. The project involves the making of a TV series through the internet that openly criticizes music business. This is the plot for a half-autobiographical story and also an outline for the lyrics and melodies of her new record. A fiction sitcom turned into a record or the other way round. A project that only an interdisciplinary artist such Mürfila can do. She writes her own songs, makes her own clips and other audiovisual projects. She also plays her own role or as an uncool artist (La Chari) or exceeds all possible limits on stage. In strictly musical terms, we find a deep and aggressive Mürfila without loosing the dancing tempo of her previous record (“Miss Lios”). In this new album, she finds the perfect speech. Eclectic in sound and in format. She deepens in her darkest side of rock but also incorporates rhythmic bases that combine organic sounds with synthesizers better than ever before. We find diverse musical references with total creative freedom. In “I love Ü” we discover an authoress that is being classified as an unusual artist in the music industry. An industry that is used to too many naive singers camouflaged in an anti-natural folk style and with a total lack of speech in the last few years. In this project, Mürfila laughs at the music industry but starts through the most honest way: laughing at herself. This is because both the TV series and the album were born from the real situation of Mürfila being fired from a major label (Pony). She achieves all this leitmotif, in songs of a rock-punk nature such as “Lady La Llama” or “Problemas”, catchy songs such as “La Gran Sensación” or “El Mundo Se Equivoca”, emotional jewels such as “Vendaval” and, specially, “Azul y Gris”. A timeless rock and dance album that leans on audiovisual resources, websites, social network, merchandising mechanism hard to imagine in any other Spanish artist.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14521

ELIS PAPRIKA: 6 Years of career en 4 CD’s under her belt. Discography: - Give Me Love (2005) - EP2 (2007) - Express EP (2009) - Maldito (2010) One of the most representative bands, from the new generations, to rise from Guadalajara. Named Revelation Artist by R&R Magazine, Reactor 105.7 FM during 2006. MySpace Top 10 Artist in Mexico thanks to visits. Has participated in famous festivals like Vive Latino, Corona Fest, SXSW. Invited artist during Manu Chao’s, Julieta Venega’s and Belanova’s concerts. Invited artist during the 2006 Festival of Cine of Guadalajara. Participated in a Juan Gabriel’s Tribute Album with the cover track “Hasta Que Te Conocí”. Thanks to their amazing 2007 debut, she is one of the most important artists with followers all over Mexico. Her first single “Give Me Love” reached Top 30 National Radio airplay. With four video clips, “Give Me Love”, “No Puedo” “No me van a callar” and “Hasta que te conoci” they are part of the most important Video Channels rotation throughout the country. With only one album they have gained Radio and TV’s attention. Their four videos are placed at MTV’s TOP 20 most voted. Two MTV VMAs 2006 nomination for “Best New independent” Invited artist during Belanova 2009 Show Auditorio Nacional in Mexico Myspace TOP 20 most viewed artists.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS12121

New album "Espera la pálida" in english "The pale waits" (Subterfuge records) released on january 19th 2010 Tulsa is the world´s capital of petroleum but it is also the world´s capital of the lack of love and/or affection. Tha band, having as front woman Miren Iza proved with their previous album "Solo me has rozado" (Subterfuge 2007) how you can extract musical gold from the well of disillusion and discourage. Now they come back again to demonstrate it with their new album "Espera la Pálida", and still with a better and bigger eloquence. They still stick to the American sounds in their more alternative feature, but they move over rock, country and mid west pop, with some honest spanish lyrics, even though she used to write in english. "I would only write in english again if i would fall in love with an american guy, he would take me to live to Wichita and after 20 years living there in our caravan, i would feel the desperate need to comunicate with my neightbours" says Miren in a letter. Certainly "Espera la pálida" could have been named "Solo me has rozado, the revenge" bu the truth is that this album is a different beast, a more calmed one and at the same time a more wild one, if this makes any sense. Yes it does: because her strenght lies in her calm bitterness and in the gentleness of that detail. This album was produced by Karlos Osinaga (Lisabo) who seems to have inspired the band to eliminate all the superfluous parts, and to concetrate in the essence of sound and feelings...recording live - and without shaking to many sounds, saving the voice - in order to capture the real pulse of truth. We could compare it with South San Gabriel, but it is maybe better to talk about Centro-Matic, because of the album´s more naturalized sound. Lyrics talk about the end and lack of love, of course...Tulsa it´s about this, she is the mecca of the broken hearts. "Something inside of has broken/has broken like a nut/ I had asked this not to happen to you and me", sings Miren in her song "Something has changed for ever"... the efects of her music are painfull at the same time that they are a pleasure...we talk about music for sinking drugadicts. Still there is also a lot of capitulation, of admitting the concept of "consequence", stops and reflection before starting a new series of catastrophic (or inspiring, depends on the point of view) unhappiness. You can definitively see a new maturity in the band.... The end of the CD is near -better in vynil, digital or as the Nick Cave´s style- so with the last stop, you can feel how your wounds start to heel. The Pale waits: repairs and protects.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14624

Created in 2001, this band from Guadalajara (México) has developed a unique voice. Based on the idea of the contrast between emotions in a brief period of time, their songs are a clear consequence of years of zapping and fragmented information from the media. The result is funny, disturbing and moving. With influences such as Mike Patton, The Locust, Regina Spektor, Danny Elfman, and with a wide variety of genres running through their music, (punk, noise core, lullaby, country, rock n roll, cabaret, etc.) they manage to be sinister and amusing at the same time. Since 2005 they´ve been continuously working, and they´ve recorded their first album(Paper Dolls, Intolerancia 2007) witch has had an amazing reception from the press in México, and has been considered one of the best starting points for a band in the history of rock music in this country. They´ve opened concerts for Sonic Youth, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La Tengo, Explosions in the Sky, Stereo Total, beside important bands from the Mexican scene. They´ve also released their first video on the song “My Sweetest Headache Waltz” and are working nowadays on the material for their next album, to be released by early 2011. Their act is energetic and theatrical, using disguises to create bizarre scenes, as a canvas being deconstructed during the show.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_MS14956