SXSW 2012

!!! - THR!!!ER “I suppose it's never enough / you get what you want, then you want what was / but I’d rather worry about my existential crisis / laying on a beach where the sun sets the nicest” – “Get That” !!! will release their new album THR!!!ER on April 22, 2012 on Warp Records. It is the fifth full-length from the sonically adventurous sextet and its third for Warp. THR!!!ER finds the band reconciling its love for building playlists from disparate dance singles with its continued devotion to the cohesive album format. Famous for its off the hinges live shows and relentless touring...

!!! DJs is currently Allan Wilson of !!! (chk chk chk). Dude plays sax/percussion/drums/keys at !!! shows, and likes to play house/tech/diva/club/kwiato/disco/leftfield shit for you afterwards. You'll dig his set or he promises you his entire SXSW fee.

((SOUNDER)) is the music project of Mike Aho, who splits his time as a
musician, visual artist and video director. In recent years Aho has
directed videos for Mando Diao, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and RTX in
addition to creating video and commercial work used as international
campaigns for Volcom Clothing, Ride Snowboards and Roger Skateboards.
Aho is the co-creator and director of the cult-status surrealist
skateboard comedy series, ‘The Internet Shack’ for Thrasher Magazine,
which features Michael Sieben and Will Oldham, among others. He lives
in Austin, Texas and has shown his visual ar... Read more

Under the banner of "Party 'Til Dawn" stands Riders Against the Storm (RAS), curating a magical experience, for whatever audience is in attendance. The award-winning husband and wife hip-hop duo do more then put on a hair-raising show. There is the sense that the unseen currents between everyone within radius of the stage has been turned on electrically - as Chaka Mpeanaji and Tiger Lily humbly accept their role as conductors. Chaka is a man with the knack for structural development and raw urban art with mystical edges. His career stretches from teaching in High School classrooms to guerrilla... Read more

The heartbeat that sparks the third song on 1, 2, 3’s debut LP isn’t just a flutter effect meant to set a melancholic mood. It literally symbolizes the start of a new life. Or in the case of Nicolas Snyder and Joshua Sickels, a crucial state of rebirth—the next logical step after the “classic rock ’n’ roll casualty story” of the duo’s last band, the Takeover UK.
While that project took more of a straight-laced approach to pop music, 1, 2, 3’s songs are as stubborn as their name. In other words, good luck reducing New Heaven down to a tidy set of buzz words.
Or as Synder puts...

Like the mythological 12th Planet (popularized by controversial author Zecharia Sitchin), our 12th Planet flies perpendicular to the system. His beats are off axis and his subsonic frequencies send you into your own orbit. America's first king of dubstep is ready for impact.http://facebook.com/12thplanet2012

West London duo 16Bit are two of the most respected electronic producers working today. Not many producers can count among their fans; Bjork, Plan B & Professor Green. All of whom have enlisted 16bit’s productions for their upcoming albums. Bursting onto the scene with their huge Chainsaw Calligraphy, the track received Radio 1 airplay from the likes of Kissy Sell Out and Mary Anne Hobbs, with DJs as diverse as Flying Lotus, The Gaslamp Killer and The Scratch Perverts all regularly featuring their productions in their sets. Recent remixes for the likes of Plan B, Professor Green and Noisia’s... Read more

http://2Chainz.com

For 2:54, everything comes from somewhere deep inside; that shared sisterly bond between Hannah and Colette Thurlow that manifests in their matching, messy hand gestures, the mirroring tattoos down their right arms, and their darkly triumphant, guitar-driven epics. Their relationship and the music they’ve been making together since they were teenagers are so intuitive that they struggle to describe it; but when they do, you know exactly what they mean. “The songs just feel like something that needs to come out,” explains Hannah, the quieter of the pair. “It’s something I actually feel...

2Face Idibia was born Innocent Ugah Idibia in Jos, Nigeria. He hails from Okpokwu local government area and from the Idoma ethnic group in the southern part of Benue State, in central Nigeria. Internationally known, 2face has performed throughout Africa and around the world. His most recent album Unstoppable (The Intl. Edition) won 2 MTV African Music Awards in 2010 for Best Male and Artist of the year. In 2011, he won a BET Award for Best International Act. In addition to his solo music endeavors 2face is the lead vocalist of the Sony All African 08 Project alongside 7 other music artists across... Read more

3 Dudes & a Mullet's beginning goes back about 5 years, when Fish (lead vocals, guitar and ukulele), Miots (bass, violin percussion, clavichord, oboe), Poni (everything Miots doesn’t want to play) and Bueno (drums and percussion), decided to team up to play their favorite cartoon show themes, such as: Alf, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats, G-Force, Silverhawks…which they consider to be master pieces, and were unable to find on Napster or anywhere else. Inspired by characters such as Mr. Miyagi or the Goonies, their first gig was in a school festival and, still nameless, right before... Read more

Forcing hard drives and making turntables tremble, 3BALLMTY (pronounced: Tribal Monterrey) hails from the rocky mountains of the Northern Sultana, a group that with its incomparable "tribal guarachero" style revolutionized the Latin music scene and conquered stage after stage in Mexico, the United States and Europe. Wandering through the flea markets of the city of Monterrey, Toy Hernández, renown producer and taste-maker better known as Toy Selectah, was discovering and collecting albums when he came across these young DJs/producers. Due to the unique sound of their mixes and productions, he... Read more

Introspective post-modern rock striped with moody guitars and smokey vocals, 3rd Line Butterfly is a Seoul-stationed quartet that sublimely soars with velvety sounds from the Korean underground. /MEMBERS/ NAHM SangAh - Vocal/Guitar
SUNG Kiwan - Guitar/Vocal
KIM NamYoon - Bass/Electric Effects
SEO HyunJung - Drums /AWARDS & HONORS/ 2013 Korean Music Awards (Album of the Year - Nominee)
2013 Korean Music Awards (Song of the Year - Nominee)
2013 Korean Music Awards (Artist of the Year - Nominee)
2013 Korean Music Awards (Modern Rock Song of the Year - Nominee)
2013 Korean Music Awards (Modern Roc... Read more

4th Pyramid is an MC/Producer/Songwriter from Toronto, Canada. In December 2011, he launched the imprint, Silk Ivory, a boutique label that was quickly signed to Universal Music for distribution. Set for release in March 2012 is the imprint’s first project and Pyramid’s debut solo album, The Pyramid Scheme. The album encapsulates 4th Pyramid’s up-all-night jet-set attitude and features Greg Nice, Saukrates, Marco Polo, Rich Kidd & more. Coming up the ranks as a producer and engineer, 4th Pyramid has quietly stacked credits for the Black Eyed Peas, members of Wu-Tang, MF Doom, and Pete Rock...

"The music of producer/songwriter Bruno Miguel mixes the electronic and the organic in a way that’s intimate and intricate. There’s a poetry to it that speaks of complex natural processes" - MTV Iggy "Beautiful sounds" - BBC Introducing "Otherworldly pop... destined for inclusion on the soundtrack to a very cool movie about five years from now" - AOL Radio "Cruel beauty" - Impose Magazine "Dark, near-industrial dance groove and singing that oscillates between angelic whispers and vocal manipulations" - Refinery29 "Approved: Glacial cool..." CMU Music Network "Shoegazing, electronic pop dream... Read more

A Classic Education Italy’s most interesting band finds inspiration in an unlikely place and crafts a timeless masterpiece. While Call It Blazing is A Classic Education’s first proper LP, it is instantly recognizable as part of the great tradition of early rock and roll – an album full of stories, character and time. The band wrote the record in their hometown of Bologna, Italy, soaking in the vintage photography of Danny Lyon, Diane Arbus, Wlliam Gedney and Mario Giacomelli – fever dreams of bikers, roads and dirt, the Chicago Outlaws, and the leather-clad city kids of long-gone yesterdays...

A Fine Frenzy was introduced to the world with the 2007 album ONE CELL IN THE SEA. The project established her as one of the most talented young singers and songwriters around; it received rave reviews, was widely exposed through songs being licensed to numerous television shows, and reached Number One on Billboard's "Heatseeker" charts.
With the follow-up album, BOMB IN A BIRDCAGE revealed another side of A Fine Frenzy. While the album retained the tuneful charm and whimsical language of the debut, it added new colors and textures, with louder guitars and beats that sometimes veer into New Wa... Read more

A Giant Dog's music encompasses the passion, the modern survival of winged tipped shoes, seahorse androgyny, moon-rivers and bingo, and is heavily influenced by beer, The Coasters, The Stooges and Velvet Underground. The band reached its inception during summer 2008 in Austin when Sabrina Ellis and Andrew Cashen, bored and looking for a new escape, started writing songs together. The rhythm and harmonies which started as acoustic jams during after parties quickly formed into songs and later transformed into an energetic garage punk style they portray today. At the end of the summer, Graham Low... Read more

Brooklyn-based trio, A Great Big Pile of Leaves got their start in 2007 when guitarist/singer Peter Weiland and drummer Tyler Soucy took time from their prior projects to start writing material of their own. The first six songs came together as the self-released EP The Fiery Works, which the duo put out as a free download on their Web site. As word spread online, the band’s fanbase grew along with Weiland and Soucy’s excitement to get back to recording. Continuing with the formula of self-producing, The Fiery Works II followed shortly afterward and was also released as a free download. Within... Read more

“With the band’s catchy, emotive sound — equal parts dusty alt-country and lovelorn late ’90s alt-rock — we’re surprised debut EP track ‘Let Back’ isn’t as big a hit as ‘Pumped Up Kicks’.” –L.A. Times It’s hard to believe that I Want Us To Be Remembered is A House For Lions’ first release. The band’s debut EP is the kind of indie folk rock that can make even the coldest heart melt. Daniel Norman, now songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist of A House For Lions, moved to Los Angeles four years ago to pursue the Tinseltown dream that is all too familiar. Finding acting...

A Lot Like Birds is a post-hardcore band from Sacramento, CA, known for their tendency to flawlessly blend a wide array of genres; from ambient soundscapes to aggressive punk-fueled anthems to unpredictable prog-rock freakouts. The band was initially the brainchild of guitarist Michael Franzino. Franzino invited a couple Sacramento-based musicians and friends to perform with him, the result being Plan B, the band's debut album. After solidifying a consistent lineup, the band started to pick up buzz in the Sacramento scene, with their dynamic and energetic live shows getting rave reviews. In early... Read more

It takes great vision for a band to refuse to rest on their previous successes and instead focus on what they need to become. That’s exactly what Lodi, California’s A Skylit Drive achieved with the sextet’s third full-length album, Identity On Fire. Marrying the defining, intrinsic elements of A Skylit Drive’s signature sound with a bold new palette of tones, textures and song structures, the aptly named Identity On Fire serves up a double meaning, not only standing apart from the band’s prior works but also defining the band from this point forward.

“This record has everything to do with setting fire to the things that you don't want and don't need, and are only slowing you down,” notes Michael “Jag” Jagmin. “It’s about creating your own identity, and being who you want to be. We feel like that's what we've done with this album.” A Skylit Drive — comprised of vocalist Jagmin, guitarists Nick Miller and Joey Wilson, bassist/screamer Brian White, drummer Cory La Quay and keyboardist Kyle Simmons — officially burst onto the scene in 2007 with the She Watched The Sky EP, followed by 2008’s Wires And The Concept Of Breathing. The al... Read more

Josh Graham
(Battle Of Mice, Blood And Time, Neurosis): guitar, vocals, synthesizers, banjo, piano
Domenic Seita
(ex Tombs): bass, backing vocals, percussion
BJ Graves
(US Christmas, Generation of Vipers): drums
Andrea Black
(ex Howl): guitar
Nerissa Campbell
vocals at select performances AS THE VALLEY OF DEATH BECOMES US, OUR SILVER MEMORIES FADE: MAY 17 2011 Apocalyptic metal band A STORM OF LIGHT have completed work on their new album, entitled “As The Valley Of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade.” Formed by multi-faced artist/musician Josh Graham (Neurosis, ex-Red Sparowes/Battle Of Mice), A STORM OF LIGHT have become a whole new musical entity on its own merits, taking singer/guitarist Graham’s experiences from his previous musical repertoire and finding its own unique voice through the vessel known as A STORM OF LIGHT. With their... Read more

The Brick Squad Monopoly is headed west through Interstate Traffic. One of the most exciting, talked-about crews in Hip Hop, led by star rappers Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame is showing its California branches through a collaborative album, courtesy of Compton's YG Hootie and Pittsburg's A-Wax. Southern and Northern California connect on Interstate Traffic, which features BSM's Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka, coming through BSM / Illburn Records this Spring. After appearances on six-figure-selling releases like Flockaveli and Ferrari Boyz, YG Hootie paired his buzz with Bay Area independent titan... Read more

Calgary native A-Mac has impressed since the moment he announced himself on the 108bpm scene. His take on A-Trak's remix of Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Heads Will Roll helped put North America's Pacific Northwest on the map as a hotbed for tropical bass' progression - fast-forward two years and the development is obvious. Having two Moombahton Massive events at U-Hall in Washington DC as well as last years SXSW Moombahton XLR8R party under his belt this years SXSW performance will be one to not miss. His remixes and original productions have been championed by Industry heavyweights Diplo, Tittsworth, Smalltown... Read more

No longer is it a crime to mash a hip-hop acappella into a techno track. In this arena, A-Trak, aka Alain Macklovitch, leads the pack. The 31 year-old Montreal native rides the line between hip-hop and electronic beats in a refreshing hybrid of everything ass-shaking.” (BPM Magazine, issue 86) Very few DJs can jump from club sets to high-profile festival performances, to Kanye West’s larger-than-life stadium shows with ease. In today’s DJ culture, A-Trak holds a truly unique place. He and partner Nick Catchdubs founded America’s most trendsetting new label, Fool’s Gold, launching the...

The Cowboys, the Grassy Knoll, J.R. Ewing, the Stanky Leg… Dallas, Texas, is known for lots of things. Progressive, forward-thinking hip-hop has, until now, not been one of them. That’s all starting to change, thanks to A.Dd+ (spoken aye-dee-dee). The quirky yet streetwise, fun-loving yet dead serious duo of Paris Pershun (a.k.a. 24-year-old Arrias Walls) and Slim Gravy (Dionte Rembert, 24), moves easily between slang anthems (“Likeamug”), light-hearted stories about drug addiction (“Can’t Come Down”/”Erica & Jamie”), and weighty raps about father figures and Black male incarceration...

Aan is a fearless experimental pop band from Portland, Oregon, mixing richly textured guitars and acerbic lyrics with sugary three-part harmonies and sprawling soundscapes. Aan began as a once bedroom pop project of freakish folk balladry, but as of late, its more straightforward side has given way to deeper sonic explorations of more subliminal (and occasionally animalistic) territory.
Aan tours and performs as a four piece, often turning versions of their recordings upside down. Frontman Bud Wilson reaches octaves of the late Jeff Buckley, while maintaining a grittier timbre. The rest of the band follows suit by matching Wilson's caterwaul with cooing harmonies and a measured rhythmic pulse. Aan's blend of discordance and harmony has earned the group touring support with alt rock juggernauts like The Smashing Pumpkins and indie legends Built to Spill. Aan has also performed alongside indie stalwarts like Wye Oak, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Red Fang, Gardens & Villa, Bosnian... Read more

http://topdawgmusic.com

Abandoned Pools “Face your fears
Bottled up some where
The thick skin of years
You can erase yourself if you dare”
-Unrehearsed Sublime Currency, the long-awaited third album from Abandoned Pools, is the culmination of an eleven-year journey. In many ways, the album tells a new chapter in the narrative of Tommy Walter, the songwriter and musician behind the band. Tommy, who is from Westlake Village, CA, began the project in the early ‘00s, initiating his own visionary project after leaving the band The Eels. In the beginning, Abandoned Pools was entirely a solo endeavor. Their 2001 debut, Humanistic, crafted alone in Tommy’s apartment, is a focused collection of tracks that conveyed bittersweet sentiments abo... Read more

ABBY are a four-piece band from Berlin, fusing electronic, alternative and classical styles with perfectly crafted pop songs.
January 2011 saw the release of their debut EP 'Welcome Home' and since then they have enjoyed national radio play, numerous packed-out shows at clubs all over Germany, France, Iceland and more recently, London.
After spending the summer of 2011 in London recording their upcoming album with swedish producer Andreas Olsson, ABBY are now getting ready for the release of their upcoming album in Spring 2012. Following support shows with Everything Everything, ...And You Wil... Read more

Above All Entertainment was formed by CEO Clinton (Checkmate) Davis Jr. in 2002. He determined to follow thru with his father's dream. That dream was making music, and forming a dominant record label. His whole life changed after the loss of his father in the W.T.C. 9-11-01 tragedy. Since this day he has put his heart and soul into making this career successful. Checkmate even dropped out of college to put more hours into promotions/marketing. In 2006 Checkmate secured a distribution deal with Bayside/Tower Records. Above All released their first worldwide album on july 25th 2006 (Impac - Almost... Read more

In 2007, Ace Hood landed a deal with DJ Khaled’s We The Best Music Group and Def Jam. He released his debut album, Gutta, in 2008 followed by Ruthless in 2009. Now with three albums under his belt, Ace’s career continues to rise. The first single from Blood, Sweat & Tears, Lex Luger-produced single “Hustle Hard”, smashed the streets and killed the airwaves. The infectious hood anthem attracted Rick Ross and Lil Wayne to lay verses for the official remix. Ace Hood continues to grind, splitting his time between the studio and various performance dates across the country. His third album...

A riot in a petting zoo, awkwardly captivating and viciously enticing - that is the mesmerizing musical experience of Acollective. With a seemingly infinite arsenal of genres and musical instruments, this energetic Tel-Aviv seven piece band have sparked a distinct freewheeling feeling to their sound - mixing up boogied-folk, electronic-jazz, psychedelia and a Middle Eastern-bluesy twang into a anarchical spree of drunken honest joy. One of Israel's most extraordinary indie successes, Acollective have been playing monthly shows to 1000+ capacity sold out venues, whilst headlining some of Israel's... Read more

http://www.actionbronson.com

Don't place bumper stickers on a Bentley. BUSY.... focusing on my music career.

Sometimes the most startling new music is the stuff that sounds somehow familiar. With FLICKERING FLASHLIGHT, Montreal's ADAM & THE AMETHYSTS have lit up a box of homemade fireworks, firing psychedelic folk and pinwheeling pop, crowing for the love of all the old songs and all the young ones, too: the Beach Boys and Kurt Vile, Os Mutantes and Woods, George Harrison and Chad VanGaalen. FLICKERING FLASHLIGHT is also the highest-fi lo-fi record you'll hear this year. Much as it evokes Van Dyke Parks' ensembles and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, this bold blushing sound was recorded in a single tiny... Read more

After twelve years of making music on the road and at home, local darlings Cruiserweight disbanded in 2010. Siblings Stella and Urny Maxwell took a brief pause from the spotlight and international touring and then jumped head first into a new project- Adam and the Bullshark. Half rock band, half original musical stageplay for kids of all ages, the undertaking is ambitious, to say the least. While never dismissing the sincerity or success of their former band, the Maxwells agree: Their new venture has teeth.
What started as a silly story about a strawberry jam-loving bullshark years ago (made u... Read more

According to NPR, Adam Arcuragi is 'a Philly soul with the old school power of Van Morrison', but this troubadour grew up listening to his grandparent’s collection of old soul, gospel and country records, which lead to music that spans a multitude of genres, a hybrid that some like to call 'Death Gospel'. As an award winning poet and playwright, Adam’s songs spill over with compelling and poignant lyrics that garner continuous praise, or as All Music Guide states: “There is unbridled joy inherent in even the saddest of these songs, and unforgettable images in almost every verse”. Arcuragi...

Drawing comparisons from Townes Van Zandt to Tim Buckley to Otis Redding... Adam Faucett is most known for his powerful, almost operatic voice and intricate finger-picking. The Arkansas native's sound has been described as "somewhere between Otis Redding's soul shout and Cat Power's swampy poeticism." A true road runner, Adam has been criss-crossing the country for 5 years, sharing the stage with Lucero, Calexico, The Legendary Shack Shakers, Vetiver, Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Damien Jurado and Elf Power. Faucett's most recent album More Like A Temple pushes out in all directions, simultaneously... Read more

Having made a career out of making music about the things he loves, Adam WarRock has carved out a place among the Internet’s best performers and musicians. His mixture of pop culture, hip hop and just general enthusiasm has become a mainstay of every corner of cultural fandom. In the words of so many fans on and off the web, Adam WarRock is “not just Internet good. It is goddamn brilliant” Call it nerdcore. Geek music. Whatever. Adam WarRock raps about the comics, TV, movies, video games, and culture that he loves and makes it personal. His story is one of do-it-yourself, independent determination... Read more

Agent Ribbons isn't just a band--it's a tree house club of post-feminist dreamers trying to find their place in the scheme of things, like a hand-sewn and lovingly-crafted garment in a modern, disposable world. Listening to everything from Eartha Kitt to the Velvet Underground and taking notes from bands like the Shaggs, the Boswell Sisters and the Zombies, they miraculously reconcile seemingly-unrelated genres, sounding something like Girls in the Garage doing the Three Penny Opera. Waxing sentimental over the eerie beauty of all things lost to time, the emphasis is undoubtedly in the lyrics... Read more

"Any other artist, dead or alive have ever made anything like this. It´s totally original! Agnes Mercedes creativity and very own expression is so great that one wonders if she is mad or brilliant, but however that may be these melodic tales are more than music. They are work of art". -Zero Music Magazine, Sweden Last year Agnes Mercedes started this music project, and made a tour that included about 200 big venues and art galleries all over Sweden. Now her awaited debut album is here, filled with word gluttony and "pop-up-poems" as she call it herself. These melodic fairytales are told in her... Read more

Agridoce is the new project of Brazil's most important new generation rock artist: Pitty. Joined by the guitarrist/singer Martin, a longtime music partner, they've recorded their first album this year, in a one-month-isolation inside a house with the exact atmosphere they needed for the album's spirit. The result is an impressive mix of brazilia music, Nick Drake's folk, Morrissey's wit and Serge Gainsbourg's male-female tension.

The Aiana SQ, praised by the Durango Herald as “spirited, precise and full of energy,” has performed both in the US and abroad, and is consistently lauded by audiences for their highly emotional interpretations. The quartet was recently awarded the 2011 Coleman-Barstow Prize for Strings at the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition, and is very pleased to be the newly appointed Young Professional Quartet in Residence at the University of Texas in Austin, where they are under the mentorship of the Miró Quartet. In the artistically rich city of Austin, the Aiana SQ hopes to further...

Aint No Love, an electro hiphop group from Toronto, with a sound cultivated in Montreal, have perfected the craft of body moving music with an attitude. Rappers 1990 and Beanz control the crowd with ease, as Saidahs smooth voice hypnotizes the room, all over top of heavy melodic backdrop production. Some reviewers have labelled their sound as Renegade Pop while others simply call it exciting. Their live show is always memorable, critically acclaimed and they have shared the stage with the likes of Iggy Azalea, Rockie Fresh, Steve Aoki, Calvin Harris and Redman. They have played countless industry... Read more

Airbird is the solo project from Joel Ford, bassist of Tigercity and one half of Ford & Lopatin. After a split-cassette release with Megafortress on The Curatorial Club, Ford releases Airbird’s first single, City Vs. Mountains on his own label Software. Airbird - Trust (EP) is due out in late spring on Software, and you can expect to see Airbird (live) in your city later this year.

http://akafrank.com

Akina Adderley & The Vintage Playboys is an Austin soul band whose unique sound blends elements of rock, funk, and old-school R&B. Front woman, vocalist, primary songwriter and band leader Akina Adderley lights up the stage as 'the little woman with the big voice.' Her powerful presence is irresistible, and KUT 90.5FM declared her "phenomenal vocals call to mind the sounds of classic soul and R&B." Granddaughter of jazz trumpeter Nat Adderley, grandniece of jazz saxophonist "Cannonball" Adderley, and daughter of Nat Adderley, Jr. (producer/pianist/band leader for Luther Vandross), Akina brings... Read more

This third generation Austinite was front man, bassist and songwriter for Spirit on its '72 album, "Feedback". Ditto the Staehely Bros. album for Epic Records two years later. He wrote and performed on "Crazy Like A Fox", the first single for Who drummer Keith Moon’s only solo album. He toured Europe with Nick Gravenites (The Electric Flag) and John Cipollina ( Quicksilver Messenger Service) and recorded the album "Monkey Medicine" with them in Hamburg, which included three of his songs. Staehely's solo album was released in Europe on Polydor Records in '82 and released for the first time in... Read more

The story of the Alabama Shakes begins in a high school psychology class in Athens, Alabama. Brittany Howard, who had started playing guitar a few years earlier, approached Zac Cockrell and asked if he wanted to try making music together. “I just knew that he played bass and that he wore shirts with cool bands on them that nobody had heard of,” says Howard. They started to meet up after school and write songs sitting on Howard’s floor. “It had that rootsy feel, but there was some out-there stuff,” says Cockrell. “David Bowie-style things, prog-rock, lots of different stuff. We started...

Alberta Cross More than clever verses and catchy choruses, truly timeless albums offer listeners the keys to another world; they catapult you into another frame of mind and jostle your soul along the way. The members of Alberta Cross, as evidenced by their debut Broken Side of Time and their soon-to-be-released second album, are masters of capturing this transformative sound. A cathartic, kaleidoscope of influences from Depeche Mode to The Band, Alberta Cross is also the sound of it’s two principals: frontman/guitarist/vocalist Petter Ericson Stakee and bassist Terry Wolfers. Born in Sweden...

A colloquial nightmare who has spent years honing his unique musical style on the back streets of Brixton, in the shebeens of Shinjuku, the shanty towns of Brooklyn and warehouse parties in Kingston, Jamaica, Aleister X has long since retired to his dark little flat on Tollinger Lane. Aleister X adds darkness to blackness and takes the musichall to the dancehall. From 2009 EP "Bangers And Beans," 2010 EP "The Git," both on label, Steev Mike, to the most recent 2011 digital album, "Black Skull Music Mixtape Vol. I, Aleister X delivers "unique tripped-out rock anthems, bangers, dark trippy rap, punked... Read more

There are songwriters who sing their songs, and then there are songs who sing their writers. Alejandro Escovedo is one with his muse and his music. Over a lifetime spent traversing the bridge between words and melody, he has ranged over an emotional depth that embraces all forms of genre and presentation, a resolute voice that weathers the emotional terrain of our lives, its celebrations and despairs, landmines and blindsides and upheavals and beckoning distractions, in search for ultimate release and the healing truth of honesty. Sometimes it takes the form of barely contained rage, the rock of... Read more

San Antonio, TX

Fiercely emotional Mexican-American street rock. This vetted Texan guitar legend and his crew bring on the sweet chili heat mixed up with little bit of punk, a little bit of alt-country and a whole lot of southern-fried soul. Leather vests and trophy buckles optional.  

 

 

Austin troubadour Alejandro Escovedo’s journey has taken him from Texas to California to New York and back again to Texas, encompassing a breadth of music as varied as the many bands he was part of before embarking on a solo career. In the 1970s, he surfaced on San Francisco's punk scene, a guitarist in the Nuns; Rank & File helped unite the disparate worlds of punk and country in the 1980s; and after he moved back to Austin, the True Believers combined all manner of Americana music in a harbinger of what was to come in Alejandro's solo career which begun in 1992 with the album Gravity. Since... Read more

One of the leading names of Chile's new vibrant pop scene, Alex Anwandter has just released one of South America's most critically-acclaimed 2011 albums, "Rebeldes" (Rebels). 80's-influenced pop, current chilean house and emotional songwriting are all conjured up in a very danceable and engaging live performance.

Alex Cuba is a rebel. "When it comes to creativity, I need to go to places I've never been before," he says. With the wanderlust of a world traveler, the Cuban-Canadian singer-songwriter explores new sonic spaces on Ruido En El Sistema / Static in the System. Following the compass points of rock, soul, pop, and Latin-funk on his fourth album, Cuba continues his journey as a critically acclaimed independent artist who's charted his own destiny across the world stage while earning a growing legion of devoted listeners at each new juncture. As rebels are often wont, Alex Cuba views his music as a... Read more

DJ/promoter Alex English is a mainstay on the New York club scene. The co-creator of Girls & Boys at Webster Hall, English (who hails from Houston, by the way) has booked everyone from Skrillex to A-Trak to Steve Aoki to play his popular night. Since he keeps such good musical company, it’s no surprise that he’s also quite the DJ, rocking dance floors with his seamless mixing skills.

The Tampa Bay area's Alexander & The Grapes are a revelation. Young minds and hearts meld with influences worn boldly on their collective sleeves. We won't say indie or alt-country. We won't declare them breezy singer/songwriters. But... with 'wise beyond their years' touches of The Last Waltz sprinkled in with sounds of peers and contemporaries Fleet Foxes or David Bazan, we will say all of the aforementioned exist within the realm of The Grapes. Their as-yet-to-be-named debut full length on New Granada Records is right around the corner. Keep an ear out. New Granada Records
www.newgranada.co... Read more

Where the Pacific collides with California and breaks at the foot of Americas smog capital/culture factory, Alexander Spit (government name Alexander Manzano) thrives in a creative haze, currently perfecting the hyper-blunted blend of trap-psychedelia and heavy lidded musings on women, weed, and whips, and the lengths Californians go to have the finest of all three. Born in Los Angeles during the tail end of Reaganomics, Raymond Manzano sought the promise of blue-collar work in the percolating melting pot of the Bay Area and uprooted the Manzano clan. Old enough to remember the move and young enough... Read more

Alice Russell Biography .this application i am coming with a joint project of me and Quantic and the combo barbaro, we worked together with the quantic sould orchestra a few years back and wanted to get in the studio again ,Will ( aka Quantic) has now moved to Colombia as he fell in love the music there and the people,so i went to visit him in Cali and we got in the studio and made a record together that will be released March 2012 called'Look around the corner" it for me was revisiting my old soul and folk roots,and also for Will, we recorded with his band the combo barbaro colombian musicans... Read more

Alice Russell Biography .this application i am coming with a joint project of me and Quantic and the combo barbaro, we worked together with the quantic sould orchestra a few years back and wanted to get in the studio again ,Will ( aka Quantic) has now moved to Colombia as he fell in love the music there and the people,so i went to visit him in Cali and we got in the studio and made a record together that will be released March 2012 called'Look around the corner" it for me was revisiting my old soul and folk roots,and also for Will, we recorded with his band the combo barbaro colombian musicans... Read more

APMD (All Pigs Must Die) is a band committed to uncompromising sonic warfare. Its sound and lyrics assault the listener in a fury of blackened death filled anthems. Be it Metal, Hardcore or Punk, these things do not matter. Influences are varied and diverse. Owing as much to the Cro-Mags and Discharge as Entombed and Celtic Frost. APMD mix powerful riffs, relentless tempos and a dark presence to bulldoze a grim path of destruction. Recorded and mixed by KURT BALLOU at Godcity Studio in April 2010 the end result is 5 violence inducing shredders steeped in utter filth. German artist FLORIAN BERTMER... Read more

After a year when guitars all but vanished from British primetime radio sets, there's a need for a band with the brains, brawn and balls to take 2012 and smash it into a brave new frontier of indie rock 'n' roll. A few names have already been uttered in hushed, and erm, not so hushed tones. In Stoke's All The Young, there's potentially one to drown them all out. It's a vintage yarn that the Dooley brothers – frontman Ryan and bassist Jack – with drummer Will Heaney and guitarist David Cartwright, are rebirthing for a generation that's lying twitching on the floor, wailing out for a hit of heady... Read more

Allah Las met while working at the biggest of all the L.A. Record stores, but they became a band in an even more rare and special space—a California basement, dug out somewhere between the mountains and the beach. They began gigging shortly after their inception in and around Los Angeles in the later part of 2008. It wasn’t until three years later that they would find the proper environment to record their first single “Catamaran” / “Long Journey” which now bookends their upcoming self-titled release. These are the kind of songs that bounce between London and Los Angeles, the kind of...

USA Today has called Allen Stone a “pitch-perfect powerhouse” and The New York Times has likened his socially conscious music to that of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers. But the 25-year-old singer-songwriter from the tiny backwoods town of Chewelah, Washington just sees himself as “a hippie with soul.” One look at his long, curly blond hair and thick-rimmed glasses brings home the first part of that equation – and perhaps leaves one unprepared for the raw, soulful power unleashed when Stone opens his mouth to sing. Like many soul singers, Stone got his start...

ALO, or Animal Liberation Orchestra, formed in the late 1990s while the band members were students at UC Santa Barbara, and has been touring and releasing albums steadily with this lineup since 2002. There’s a universal reach to California’s ALO, whose warmly inviting, delightfully malleable music stretches out an open hand to give you a twirl and put some swing in your step. Feeling really good is an intrinsic aspect of ALO, something abundantly clear in concert halls, where the band lights up audiences from the inside and artfully captured in the studio. Little bit of funk, a little bit of... Read more

Alonso Arreola is a Mexican bass player, music writer, teacher and composer. One of the most creative and interesting players in Latin America, has five albums by his own, plus many other projects with recognized artists like La Barranca, La Manga contemporary dance company and French writer Michel Houellebecq. In addition to performing in major Mexican festivals and through the US, Europe and Japan with his own projects, Arreola has collaborated with Trey Gunn (King Crimson), David Fiuczynski (Screaming Headless Torsos), Pat Mastelotto (King Crimson, Mr. Mr.), Mike Garson (David Bowie) and bass... Read more

Above all else, Alpha Rev is a journey into the depths of the human experience. Frontman Casey McPherson's gripping, emotional songwriting dares others to search out hope in the bleakest of circumstances and the unique instrumentation pays homage to the classical music that gave him his love for the art. While McPherson's songwriting and rock-inspired vocals form the core of Alpha Rev's music, he is supported by a unique cast of musicians that fill Alpha Rev's songs with as much classical beauty as American rock.Together, Alpha Rev offers up layered, orchestral, melody-driven masterpieces able... Read more

Meet ALPINE. Phoebe Baker (vocals), Lou James (vocals), Timothy Royall (keys), Phil Tucker (Drums), Ryan Lamb (Bass) and Christian OʼBrien (Guitar). Adding colour to Melbourneʼs musical landscape, Alpine formed in 2009 and have gone from strength-to-strength ever since.
Likened to Phoenix, Lykke Li and The xx, theyʼve held the mantle of triple J Unearthed Feature Artist and have found friends online, on air and on paper. Fusing synths with honeyed harmonies, hypnotic rhythms and bright beats, Alpine appeared on the scene with a set of demos that quickly caught the attention of music lovers... Read more

http://alvinrisk.com

Mustaches and Tigers go hand and hand with Los Angeles indie auteur AM (originally from Tulsa via New Orleans) and London's mad genius Shawn Lee (originally from Kansas via Los Angeles) who had a SXSW debut last year that garnered them a record deal with ESL Music and launched their Celestial Electric collaboration worldwide. The tight 4 piece band will be showcasing the birth of their new baby -12 new songs at this years SXSW. Celestial Electric, the first-ever collaboration by AM & Shawn Lee, marks the launch of a timely musical partnership that's more than the sum of its already formidable parts... Read more

Hotel Second Play Stage performance. Free and open to registrants and public.

Brooklyn’s Ambassadors have become something to talk about in Norfolk, VA thanks to Norfolk’s 96x, who championed the band’s debut single “Litost”
early on. The station ranked the song #1 in 2012, beating out the likes of fun. and Of Monsters and Men, and their excitement and support spread with 94.9 The Point coming on board as well. In addition to the early on air support, 96x presented Ambassadors first headline show in the market, helping the band to sell out the 1500 capacity room The NorVa. Following the show, the band heads out on a series of US tour dates that will route them down to this year’s SXSW. Ambassadors – Sam Harris (vocals, guitar), Casey Harris (keyboard), Noah Feldshuh (guitar), Adam Levin (drums) – started playing... Read more

Amen Dunes, the solo project of Damon McMahon, began with recordings made in the fall of 2006 in upstate New York. Those tapes were initially put on the shelf as personal recordings never intended for release. The following summer, McMahon moved to China, living in Beijing for the next few years, writing and recording music only occasionally. 2009 however saw the release of the upstate recordings as DIA on Locust Music, prompting his move back to the states to form a band around Amen Dunes. After playing in New York and touring the US and Europe from 2009-2010, in the summer of 2010 McMahon released... Read more

The lovechild of a studio experiment that was never meant to make it out into the wild, Los Angeles’ American Royalty constructs an unlikely yet glowingly functional blend of dark garage rock and poignant electronica. This creative soundscape is topped off by the two vocal leads of Marc Gilfry and Billy Scher, whose pipes both seem to fall somewhere in the realm of where eerie and soul meet back on the other side; altogether resulting in one of the most innovative sounds to haunt independent music today.
The psychedelic blues-rock three piece has already begun making their mark on the road o... Read more

Amoral – ”Classic Rock of the 21st Century”! Amoral is a band established by founders Ben Varon and Juhana Karlsson in Helsinki, Finland in the late 90's.
The band's production can be classified as technical, progressive and melodic metal, combined with rock elements. Amoral's sound is heavy riff driven yet still has a melodic power groove. Skillful ensemble and crisp performance has characterized Amoral, which is internationally recognized as one of Finland's foremost bands. The brave and independent development of their music can be heard throughout their five albums.
The development c... Read more