SXSW Friday Picks & Sleepers

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FRIDAY SLEEPERS

Purling Hiss

8:05pm, the Stage on Sixth Patio Dirty secret of the Philly underground, Purling Hiss crossbreeds indie rock with classic-rock shred not bothering to disguise its chops under the $3 production jobs of its (mostly vinyl-only) discs. Live is where the band comes alive, Strat abuser Mike Polizze and the engine room jamming to their hearts' content like Cream after a night of beer, mud-wrestling, and trucker speed. – Michael Toland

Bez

10pm, Beso Cantina A native of Nigeria with a penchant for soul music, Bez is a rising singer-songwriter whose curious blend of jazz and R&B is difficult to pin down. "That Stupid Song" is a slick throwback taken right out of the modern soul playbook of Raphael Saadiq, but it's an anomaly on Super Sun, last year's LP, which intrigues despite being stylistically all over the map. – Thomas Fawcett

Sore Losers

8pm, Buca Lounge Sore Losers has been one of Dallas' best-kept secrets since dropping the Free Loaders mixtape in 2009. What was once a hip-hop duo has evolved into a sixpiece band fronted by the thoughtful and introspective rhymes of Brown. The band can rock a party live, and has earned one of the most passionate fan bases around. With the release of We Are Sore Losers in February, the crew hopes to let the secret out of the bag.
– Thomas Fawcett

Razika

10pm, the Iron Bear Hold up. Debut Program 91 is named for the year they were all born? We're no stranger to youthful brilliance, but this Bergen, Norway, girl group – as a feminist, I'm only marginally disturbed about calling them that since they're 19! – has distilled just about every cool rock hook from its parents' record collections, beginning at Blondie. – Kate X Messer

Cuff the Duke

10pm, Trinity Hall Canadian roots-rockers probably hew most accurately to an alternative country identity. Hailing from Toronto, the quartet just issued its fifth album, Morning Comes, which was produced by Blue Rodeo's Greg Keelor. Released in Canada late last year, it's the band's first concept LP and has been nominated for a prestigious Juno Award. – Jay Trachtenberg

Elle King

10:40, Stubb's; Thu., 8pm, Creekside at Hilton Garden Inn Living proof that if you use a Ouija board properly, you can summon the ghosts of Bowery balladettes and Robert Johnson while the angels run a capella and the devil duets on banjo to create Elle King's shockingly sexy-sorrowful songsmithery. The Brooklyn-based siren has a sweetheart-with-a-knife voice that promises potentially dangerous intimacy on a grand, spooky scale. – Marc Savlov

Brennen Leigh

11pm, the White Horse Hewing more toward bluegrass than she has in the past, Austinite Brennen Leigh honors traditional country sounds by making music that's high, lonesome, and loving. A Louvin Brothers fanatic, talented mandolin player, and a gem of a songwriter, Leigh's Tuesday night residency at the Evangeline Cafe enters its eighth year. Most recently, Sunny Sweeney's 2011 disc Concrete included "Amy," a tune she and Leigh co-wrote.
– Jim Caligiuri

Uncle Lucius

11pm, Skinny's Ballroom With the recent addition of Jon Grossman on keys and accordion, Uncle Lucius hasn't so much expanded its Southern rock sound as embellished it with more authentic colors. The local fivepiece has turned into massive road hogs, growing its audience as far north as Chicago and as east as New York. 2009's Keep Your Head Up remains a recent high-water mark. – Jim Caligiuri

Botany

11:20pm, Lamberts Texas-based soundscape artist Spencer Stephenson makes gorgeous, glitchy electronic music under the Botany banner. The beat-heavy music is neither overwhelmingly dance, nor are the textures on his debut EP Feeling Today too lithe and pretty to be substantive. Aligned with Austin's Western Vinyl label, Botany maps the cross section of experimental hip-hop and electronic pop in ways that are frequently unexpected but are rewarding more often than not. – Adam Schragin

Boy

12mid, Soho Lounge Locals Boy holds only two streamable songs in its stable, but that was enough to recently entice Spoon's Jim Eno, who courted the grandiose pop quartet to record its next singles at the drummer's studio, Public Hi-Fi. Fronted by Mississippi brothers Joshua and Jakob Clark, the troupe pushes a shiny indie pop that will remind many of a polished Dr. Dog. – Chase Hoffberger

Uncle Bad Touch

1am, Spill; Sat., 8pm, Club de Ville Roky Erickson meets Royal Trux but with a Blue Cheerfulness about it. The Montreal-based trio's self-titled debut on Infinity Cat finds it in full garage-shaking glory, but to call it lo-fi would be flattering. – Michael Bertin

Vampillia

The term "weird" is thrown around Austin a lot but not often enough regarding freaky Japanese music. If bizarre extravagance is your thing, we suggest Vampillia, a band that's stranger than its name is awkward. Imagine a dense swell of an orchestral twister that explodes into chaos, including a gimpy guy in bad Kiss makeup screaming like he's on fire. – Kevin Curtin

Mike & the Moonpies

1am, the White Horse Led by local ringer Mike Harmeier, the Moonpies serve up indie outlaw country and heartache by the bottle. So much so, in fact, the band has its own drink special in town: a shot of well whiskey and a PBR. On the boot heels of Daytrotter's annual Barnstormer tour, the Moonpies released a new live four-song EP that proves its hard country goes down as well on the bar stool as on the dance floor. – Austin Powell

Whiskey Shivers

1am, Maggie Mae's Gibson Room Barefoot and bare-armed, Whiskey Shivers' Bobby Fitzergerald is a howling, hell-bent, whiskey-soaked Texas hillbilly leading a rabid pack of string players. Whittling the fine-tuned talent of Old Crow Medicine Show with an unhinged flash of trucker speed, the young Austin quintet debuted with last year's Batholith, but it's the raucous and rowdy live set that makes it one of Austin's top new outfits. – Doug Freeman