Das Racist
The legendary South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival starts today in Austin, Texas and 30 Brooklyn bands play tonight alone. It's no secret that music is pumping out of the borough like a life-force, but with such a heavy BK presence
in Austin it's a wonder if next year's shows will be on home turf.
Tonight's Time Out New York showcase at Buffalo Billiards will be the all the buzz over tomorrow's bloody marys. The line-up is stacked with 4 stellar Brooklyn acts and two from Manhattan. Keepaway will jerk knees with their low-key, but catchy, sample-driven electro-pop. Das Racist will throw down gritty, sometimes political, sometimes prank-filled, hip-hop. This is a group that certainly knows how to party with simple beats and easily spit lyrics keeping focus on their tight sound and show-stopping stage antics.
Javelin
Javelin follows Das Racist at Buffalo Billiards. Now here is a band to watch. Their unwillingness to decide on one particular style keeps Javelin right in the thick of making something all their own. The sound is purposeful and flighty, in-your-face and in-the-background. It's music that makes the listener call the shots, just as the duo does when creating it. Be sure to check out their debut full-length album, No Mas, from Luaka Bop. Japanther takes the stage after Javelin with some post-punk that gets the sweat rolling down all the kids' cheeks.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings play at Stubb's tonight and will no doubt bring the house down with that signature non-stop funk and soul. Let's just hope the acts that follow Jones, Broken Bells and Spoon, have enough energy to lay the bricks and mortar after her whirlwind performance.
MNDR
And don't overlook MNDR just because of today's daytime show. This one-woman act will break-out the beats no matter how high the sun. She's opened for some of the biggest names in independent music, but in Austin she's going her own way with dance tracks right on the edge of early techno and current synth-pop. MNDR plays tomorrow's SESAC party, BrooklynVegan's day party on Friday and the Grand Life/VICE party on Saturday. Don't worry, work on the debut MNDR album is underway with producer Peter Wade.
To solidify the borough's dominance at this year's festival, the all-knowing music blog, BrooklynVegan, is hosting a showcase at Club de Ville tonight. Oslo's Serena-Maneesh is headlining with Brooklyn's Here We Go Magic, Chicago's Califone, Raleigh's Bowerbirds, Los Angeles' Dawes and Townsville, Australia's The Middle East filling in the earlier slots.
Other Brooklyn bands showcased at SXSW today: Jenny Owen Youngs, Alina Simone, Screens, Inlets, John Biz, PC Worship, A-Alikes, MC Frontalot, Kaiser Cartel, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, The Stationary Set, Naam, Tombs, Jahdan Blakkmore, Amir, Paleo, Josh Charles, La Strada, Wild Yaks, Grooms, The Depreciation Guild, The Beatards, The Woes.
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