SXSW 2012

Join us for the opening night celebration that kicks off the 2012 SXSW Film Festival. Enjoy drinks with old friends and have fun making new ones!

Mashable will be hosting one of the biggest parties at SXSW, featuring exciting music and networking! To RSVP, visit www.mashablehouse.eventbrite.com.

" A little Sensation"  `(Groove Mag) "Brilliantly Composed" (Financial Times) , "A soothing Mix of Pop Massage and Synth Soul Meditation" (Rolling Stone) 
Released in 2011 worldwide via Copenhagen based Fake Diamond Rec.

L.A.’s Capital Cities arrive with a little sonic head rush called ‘Safe and Sound’, an easy, breezy, beautiful slice of effervescent electro-pop that even comes complete with a massive ‘trumpets-in-da-club’ bit that absolutely kills it. (Neon Gold) The song has catchy indie stylings and features the beloved vintage Juno-106 keyboard that gives the production such a comforting retro vibe. (Arjan Writes) It’s a scorcher bound to make your dance-infused taste buds sizzle. The music swarms with outside-of-the-box tendencies, jam-packed full of life, energy and unusual yet fantastic sounds. (Clixie)

A soulful vocalist and innovative keyboardist, singer/songwriter and producer Rachael Sage has become one of the busiest touring artists in independent music, performing 150+ dates a year with her band The Sequins throughout the US, UK, Europe and Asia. She has earned a loyal following for her infectious melodies, poetic lyrics, and often-outrageous, colorful stage banter.

Ishi formed in Dallas, Tx as a duo with JT Mudd & Brad Dale at the end of 2006. Their sound derived from their vision to unify the instrumentation of Folk music with the endless soundscapes of electronic production. They started the recording process early 2007 with the intent to take their listeners on a uplifting journey exploring new sounds & resolving back to their forefather "Folk" which inspired it all. Ishi released their debut record "Through The Trees" May, 2010 & received two awards in the 2010 Dallas Observer Music Awards for "Best New Act" & "Best Electronic/Dance Act". In 2011 the band was nominated again for "Best Electronic/Dance Act" & received the award on 10/18/11.

Like this Austin, TX-based band’s name, which brings to mind similar clashing concepts like Clockwork Orange or Artificial Intelligence, Electric Touch combines opposing forces into one giant, rock and roll whole.

The Soldier Thread is an indie pop-rock quintet hailing from Austin, Texas. Having been only patched together since late 2007, the ensemble has already undergone quite an alteration in style. Todd Abels (guitar, keyboard) and Justin McHugh (keyboard, guitar, backup vocals) set out from ambient origins to weave in the missing pieces. Close ties to Patricia Lynn (lead vocals, keyboard) and Drew Vandiver (drums) allowed for an easy joining of loose ends. With Chance Gilmore (bass guitar) eventually completing the chain, the group began to play shows in and around Austin, as well as throughout Texas. The release of In Spades in 2010 marked a shift from true indie sound to more polished, pop-driven tunes. The band went on their first national tour in May 2011, opening for Blue October, and landed the 101X Staff Pick with self-released single "Anybody." The integration of producer Dwight Baker served as the anchor stitch to complete the composite the group currently finds themselves in. Rumors of this particular trend unwinding further are validated by TST's present live set. Additionally, the band just recently recorded a new EP, expected to be released in early 2012.

French-Mexican Andrea Balency was born in Paris in 1989 and after a thorough and classical education; she started composing music at the age of 17. Since then, her life experiences from both Argentina and Mexico - where she’s been living since her teens – have influenced her songwriting to the point of not only including traditional French music and ‘chanson’ but also Mexican and Argentina’s folklore. Throughout her short career she also included a wide array of other music styles to her own chemistry, ranging from jazz and sometimes hip-hop to a touch of electronic music which is, slowly, becoming her new favorite experimental ground.

Torreblanca
Biography
TORREBLANCA is a Mexican rock/pop/alternative independent band created in late 2007. They are a feisty young group of 5 musicians -very different from each other- however (yet), they comply in an awesome way to create a unique and fresh sound. TORREBLANCA tries to find its way, but also to get lost in the music creation. In recordings as well as in live performances they seek to offer unpredictable, elegant, intense, important and well played songs, whose visceral and sincere interpretation captivates their listeners.

Sleepy Sun- Spine Hits- Biography 2012 by Charles Saufley

To quell the myths and misconceptions surrounding the Austin, Texas two-piece Not in the Face is not an easy task, as their truth is often much stranger than their fiction…

The Men
Jonathan Terrell (vocals, guitar, and harmonica) hails from the faraway land of Longview, TX where it is rumored that a band of traveling minstrels discovered him at the age of nine living amongst the wolves in the piney forest. Having no knowledge of the English language, the minstrels taught Jonathan to play guitar and he learned to speak by imitating the minstrels’ songs. Those who have become close to Jonathan claim he still disappears from time to time to run with the wolves in order to draw inspiration for his songwriting. Jonathan has been delighting the East Texas and Austin live music scenes for several years in different arrangements as both a solo acoustic country-blues artist and with several incarnations of a back-up band. Wes Cargal (drums) is a former regional mot ocross superstar who was forced to give up his career after a tragic accident where he lost his left eye. He now sports a glass eye that is rumored to have been given to him when he made a deal with the devil at the crossroads in Gilmer, TX. Many claim the eye possesses dark magical powers that are the source of his drumming abilities. Wes has used these dark forces in such local acts as White Rhino, Alan Haynes, and as an occasional fill-in for Dale Watson.
The Myth
Legend has it Jonathan Terrell and Wes Cargal met in a sweat lodge at a mountain retreat in an undisclosed location. They formed an unbreakable spiritual bond during a Native American ritual that revealed they were formerly a centaur that was split in two. Once rediscovering the two halves that made them whole, Jonathan and Wes were compelled to leave all their other music projects behind and form the two-piece Not in the Face. Jonathan resumed his centaur role as front-man on vocals and guitar while Wes is still bringing up the rear on drums. In their spare time, Jonathan and Wes enjoy drinking double Midori and pineapple juice cocktails while watching TiVo at Wes’ house. Otherwise, it’s all boots, hats, and honeys for these honky-tonk heartbreakers.
The Music
Since joining forces in 2009, Not in the Face have been electrifying Austin audiences with infectious high energy live performances, such as the spontaneous guerrilla-style live show in the back parking lot of Koriente at 2 a.m. that many claim was the highlight of SXSW 2 010, and opening for the legendary rebel country artist David Allen Coe. They have recently released their first full-length album entitled Bikini. While they cite The Sonics, Dick Dale, Muddy Waters, Tom Petty, Elvis, and the entire Dirty Dancing soundtrack as minor influences, Jonathan and Wes claim that they make music by “just doing what feels good until we get hooked on a feeling,” and they describe the experience of making music together as “a magical experience like a mythical unicorn hatching from a fuchsia egg.” You can hear an echo of their country roots and influences lurking just below the surface in many of their songs as Jonathan spins cautionary and love-lorn tales set to rock rhythm and blues like imagined scenes from films yet to be made. Yet it’s the versatility of their punk-rock-blues-a-billy sound that begs the question of whether they are but men or are truly mythical, magical souls trapped in human bodies: some songs will have you moving and shaking like you’ve been possessed by a demon, other songs will have you weeping with the angels, and on other songs you’ll find yourself having hot and dirty anonymous sex with mere mortals in a public bathroom.

Enjambre is a contemporary rock ensemble, their sound has sparkles of the sixties and seventies, South American ballads, a touch of nostalgia, and climatic moments, all this wrapped up into a rock and roll context. Enjambre was originally formed by brothers Luis (vocals) and Rafael Navejas (bass) who released their first record in 2005 named Consuelo en domingo in which soon became a local buzz within the Spanish rock scene in Southern California. After a line up adjustment, their youngest brother Julian (keyboards) joined the band along with their lifetime jamming friends from their hometown Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Ángel Sánchez (drums) and from Los Angeles, California, Javier Mejía (lead guitar).

Any number of bands cite 60’s Texas psych as an influence, but rarely does a group actually capture what made those bands special. Following their debut EP also on Trouble In Mind, The Night Beats have expanded on the bedroom immediacy of their first recordings to create an LP that perfectly captures and modernizes the hallucinogenic and exhilaratingly demonic aura of bands like The 13th Floor Elevators and Golden Dawn. With blazing guitar work and a razor sharp rhythm section Danny Lee Blackwell and company mutate conventional chords & progressions into a mind-blowing sonic sprawl. The record reels you in with 2-3 minute pop songs like ‘Ain’t Dumbo’ and ‘Dial 666', forging a landscape that then throws you into a chaotic journey of jams a’la ‘Dewayne’s Drone’ and ‘Little War in the Midwest’ that bend and meander but never overstay their welcome. During 6 solid months of touring already in 2011 the band performed several or more memorable gigs with The Black Lips (midwest-east coast), Wooden Shjips (west coast) & The Black Angels (all european tour dates).

GOLD BEACH

Avalanche City is the brainchild of Dave Baxter, a musician whose background stretches across many genres and influences, culminating in a sound that is an impressive and eclectic range of various instruments, melodies and harmonies. The depth and perspective create a dynamic atmosphere that is rich and raw all at once. The epicentre of Avalanche City is Baxter himself, who writes, conceives, produces, records and plays every instrument on this debut album ‘Our New Life Above The Ground’.

With Whistle Tips, Brooklyn, NY quartet Dinosaur Feathers flee from the tropics of their debut, 2009’s Fantasy Memorial, and push themselves into hitherto unexplored and ultimately rewarding new territories. Once tethered to a drum machine, the addition of drummer Nick Brooks provides new-found forcefulness and flexibility; the clean melodic basslines of Ryan Michael Kiley often grow into dynamic leads without abandoning the low end; and where acoustic guitar once engendered laid-back vibes and folk misnomers, the electric guitar of vocalist Greg Sullo now drives with clear tones, a welcome crunch, and occasionally noisy outbursts. Evolution is, however, only a theory. For all you indie creationists, the Dinosaur Feathers you may have known and/or loved lives on through their sunny melodies, still-infectious grooves, and ever-boisterous harmonies between Sullo, Kiley, and keyboardist Derek Zimmerman. These elements, plus such seemingly disparate influences as The Soft Boys, The Olivia Tremor Control, XTC and of course Paul McCartney's Wings, now inform a jazzier/punkier/maybe even poppier mélange.

2011 has been a large one for Futurebirds. In its third year as a band, the Athens-based outfit has released two well-received EPs, Futurebirds EP and Via Flamina; road-dogged the nation with acts such as Drive-By Truckers, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Gary Clark, Jr., J Roddy Walston & the Business, and Dead Confederate; rocked to rave reviews at Bonnaroo Music Festival and Austin City Limits; and generally had a swell time—though brains and livers might scream otherwise.

Clearly, this is a band that isn't afraid to hit the highway. When they aren't on the road, the gents are camped out in Chase Park Transduction in Athens working on the follow-up to their debut LP, Hampton’s Lullaby, released last July on Autumn Tone Records. It’s likely to chicken-tetrazzinify your frontal lobe. Stay dialed.

Out with the new, in with the old - that was the recording methodology behind Ohio alt-rockers Lovedrug's new full-length album WILD BLOOD. Having spent all of 2010 focused on writing new material, pausing only to play SXSW and hone songs on a couple headlining stints, the highly regarded live group sought to capture their truest essence by reverting to the classic style of live studio recording.

Say Anything has been making odd, unclassifiable indie rock music since they were 14 or 15 years old, playing strangely literate and loud rock, characterized by what one might imagine if Larry David fronted a Fugazi cover band with the members of Queen. Not that that's a stretch or anything. Having been birthed from the indie/punk boom of the early twenty-first century, Say Anything rose to prominence with their (oddly) popular record …Is a Real Boy and somehow broke the "pretty boy punk" mold by establishing a career that thrived somewhere between music your pretentious college student of an older brother would like and the loud crap that your little brother uses to annoy him with. Say Anything followed that record up with the equally eclectic and lengthy, In Defense of the Genre and their exceedingly bratty (hopefully in a good way) self-titled LP.

The Frye Company, Fontana, and Universal present Arkells, The Pierces, Dead Sara, Honey Honey, Tribes, Imagine Dragons. Join us for free food & drinks! Door prizes!

As a weather pattern forms its shape and sound out of the unknown and invisible into something tangible and rare, so does the dirty blues force “little hurricane”. This storm began when CC hung up her chef knives for drumsticks and turned to Craigslist for collaborators. Tone, a songwriter and audiophile could see something different in her drumming and energy. Together they began their musical outlet crafting songs in CC’s living room that within months thousands would relate to and appreciate.

Pond was born under a mulberry tree in Daglish, Western Australia, by Joseph Ryan, Nick Allbrook and Jay Watson. Under the mulberry tree they conceived the idea of an album of tropical psychedelic idiocy that they performed that night at a friends party in North Perth. That album, recorded in their living room about twenty meters from the mulberry tree, was called Psychedelic Mango, and was released on local label Badminton Bandits in 2009. Two more albums – Corridors of Blissterday (2009) and Frond (2010) – quickly followed.

Los Angeles, CA - February 22, 2012 - Reptar today announced that their debut full-length album, Body Faucet, will be released on May 1st via Vagrant Records. Produced by Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Washed Out), Body Faucet is the follow up to the group's heralded debut EP Oblangle Fizz Y'all, which Rolling Stone praised for its, "...blend of upbeat rhythms, reggae-infected vocals and psychedelic textures."

Elizabeth Harper, a former drama major from Los Angeles, had been writing delicate, wistful songs of longing and detachment for several years when she met musician & psychoanalyst-in-training Mark Richardson in 2009 and asked him to remix one of her tracks. Their creative chemistry was instantaneous – Mark’s production style was cerebral but sensual, relying heavily on vintage synths and drum machines, and influenced by ‘80s bands like Human League and Depeche Mode while still conscious of modern club sounds steeped in hip hop and house. It perfectly complemented the melancholy undertone in Harper’s songs and revealed in them an urge towards ecstatic abandon.

Standells Biography
“Best known for their hit ‘Dirty Water’, The Standells released a string of snotty, aggressive garage singles in the mid to late 1960s which are now rightly regarded as proto-punk classics. ‘Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White’, ‘Why Pick On Me’, ‘Riot On Sunset Strip’ – the songs of The Standells have been covered by everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith and U2 to Spacemen 3, Minor Threat and a million ’77 punk bands as well as many subsequent scene bands.”
- Pat Long

Echo Park's NO began as a response to the limitations in the notions of being denied, and of heartache. In an effort to reclaim it, and reinterpret it as more than just an antithesis to possibility, they wanted to start there. Friends, Bradley, Sean, Joe, Reese, and Mike got together and began building something that best represented their collective ethos- seeking something more authentic in music and in themselves. What naturally unfolded were prose on youth, love, adventure. It became There are remnants of odes to Bill Callahan, The National, and Arcade Fire -- epic, atmospheric drums that pulsate, buttered bass tones, melodic choruses.

The Soldier Thread is an indie pop-rock quintet hailing from Austin, Texas. Having been only patched together since late 2007, the ensemble has already undergone quite an alteration in style. Todd Abels (guitar, keyboard) and Justin McHugh (keyboard, guitar, backup vocals) set out from ambient origins to weave in the missing pieces. Close ties to Patricia Lynn (lead vocals, keyboard) and Drew Vandiver (drums) allowed for an easy joining of loose ends. With Chance Gilmore (bass guitar) eventually completing the chain, the group began to play shows in and around Austin, as well as throughout Texas. The release of In Spades in 2010 marked a shift from true indie sound to more polished, pop-driven tunes. The band went on their first national tour in May 2011, opening for Blue October, and landed the 101X Staff Pick with self-released single "Anybody." The integration of producer Dwight Baker served as the anchor stitch to complete the composite the group currently finds themselves in. Rumors of this particular trend unwinding further are validated by TST's present live set. Additionally, the band just recently recorded a new EP, expected to be released in early 2012.

After cutting his teeth recording a critically-acclaimed album with Chrissie Hynde and fronting UK band Grace, JP Jones has made his debut solo album. As Son of Jack, Cariad (Welsh for ‘love’ or ‘darling’) flouts traditional indie-pop and folk-rock arrangements as he writes a love-letter home to Wales on the eve of his homecoming.

Half Greek, half Latin, the words pulled together loosely mean “the beginning of something new.” At least that’s how lead singer Casey McPherson describes the name of the group he fronts. It’s also an apt description of the music on Alpha Rev’s new EP, “City Farm: Roots.”
McPherson founded Alpha Rev in Austin, TX in 2005. The band released its debut album, “The Greatest Thing I’ve Ever Learned,” in 2007. With the release of its sophomore album, 2010’s “New Morning,” Alpha Rev left its halcyon indie days behind, but not its independent spirit. The single, “New Morning,” went to #3 on the Triple A radio charts and the record was produced by Grammy Award-winner David Kahne (Paul McCartney, The Strokes, Sublime) and mixed by legendary Micheal Brauer (Coldplay, U2, Travis).
On 2011’s “City Farm: Roots,” McPherson and company literally returned to their roots: the fans. Funded entirely with fan donations, the EP was recorded without a label. The band also turned away from contemporary recording practices in favor of a more traditional process. The tracks were all recorded live with all the musicians in the same room. This one-take approach harkens back to an earlier era, as well as demonstrating Alpha Rev’s continued commitment to sustainability and simplicity.
Already garnering critical acclaim as well as national interest, Alpha Rev’s songs have been featured on television shows such as Bravo’s “NYC Prep,” the ABC Family hit “Greek,” VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab,” and The CW’s “Melrose Place,” as well as the major motion pictures “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and “The Last Song.” Alpha Rev has shared the stage with OneRepublic, The Black Crowes, Owl City, Guster, The Bravery, OK Go, Sara Bareilles, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Jason Mraz, among others.