Wednesday SXSW Picks and Sleepers
Fri., March 10, 2006
Photo By Todd V. Wolfson
THE OCTOPUS PROJECT
12mid, Emo's Jr. Party! Balloons, streamers, piñatas, and groove. Austin post-rock/electronic quartet the Octopus Project has claimed 2006 as its own, including a gig at Coachella. As the Theremin squeals, OP paint blacktops a surrealist shade. Last year's explosive One Ten Hundred Thousand Million (Peek-a-Boo) burst with creepy goodness, but onstage is where it all hangs out. – Darcie StevensANDY DICK
12mid, Molotov Lounge After emerging nationally on the critically-acclaimed Ben Stiller Show, actor/comedian Andy Dick pursued his twisted comic skew on Hollywood's margins while co-starring on NewsRadio and Suddenly Susan. In Austin for the premiere of his appropriately-titled directorial debut, Danny Roane: First Time Director, Dick will perform songs from the movie. With any luck, he'll also pull out the Crispin Glover-flavored "Little Brown Ring." – Greg BeetsWHY?
12mid, Emo's Annex Outlandish psychedelia drips from the folk-hop structure of Oakland-by-way-of-Cincinatti band Why? as the Anticon agents stray farther and farther into uncharted musical territory. Their latest, Elephant Eyelash, finds headman Yoni Wolf, utility man Doug McDiarmid, guitarist Matt Meldon, and drummer Josiah Wolf amassing quirkiness in hordes as their lo-fi explorations test the boundaries of tongue-in-cheek pop maneuvers. – Robert GabrielK-OS
12:30am, Antone's Injecting reggae, rock, and jazz into his hip-hop conversation, Toronto's K-os covers all bases when it comes to rapping, singing, and producing. Admitting "it's so hard to remain authentic," his Joyful Rebellion (Astralwerks) entails the soulful exercises of a B-boy soldier in perpetual motion. Trinidad-born, K-os reflects worldliness upon an American-bred genre caged in by its own xenophobic devices. – Robert GabrielWolfmother
12:30am, Eternal For all the "like Sabbath on acid" comparisons this Australian power trio has attracted in the last year, it's thanks to the big guitar sound, the Hendrix/Kiss/Zeppelin trifecta on "The Earth's Rotation Around the Sun." From the recent Dimension EP, advancing May's domestic LP debut, there's also the funky "Love Train," which sounds like the White Stripes more than anything retro. They slayed live last SXSW, especially those "on acid." – Audra SchroederART BRUT
1am, Parish Forget emo, if there's a franker rock diarist around than Art Brut's Eddie Argos, he or she is still slaving away in his or her bedroom. On the London quintet's 2005 debut, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Argos' Fall-influenced tales of forming a band, reading NME, and chasing birds make the Kaiser Chiefs sound as cryptic as Thom Yorke. Solid contender for this year's Futureheads award. – Christopher GrayGenitallica
1am, Opal Divine's On the verge of out of control, Monterrey's genre-bending version of rap rocksters use the term only as a starting point. Where the band ends up on 2004's ConSEXcuencias (The Box Records) sounds more like Ozomatli after an intravenous injection of liquid ska or Mick Mars after getting dusted up by a methed-out Manu Chao in Me-hee-ko. - Michael Bertin
ZYKOS
1am, Friends 2005 was a tough year for Zykos. The Austin quintet, specializing in mercurial indie rock, lost two members (drummer Jerod Cykoski and guitarist Jarod Harmeier) and there was no new album to follow up 2004's Zykos (Post-Parlo). That said, the band's writing new songs, while singer Mike Booher and keyboardist Catherine Davis have kept the momentum going with stripped-down Zykos shows here and abroad. – Melanie HauptTHE GO! TEAM
1am, Exodus Originally a solo project for Welsh documentary filmmaker Ian Parton, the Go! Team eventually bloomed into the sixpiece responsible for Thunder, Lightning, Strike, 2005's best piece of indie spy theme meets old-skool funk-hop surf. The occasional cheerleader chant only adds to the sass. Expect lots of huddles and high-fives, and an upcoming Kevin Shields remix. – Michael BertinTHE ARK
1am, Dirty Dog Bar Maybe the Scandinavians know something that we don't and that taxing the fuck out of people is the true path to societal bliss. Really, when the state takes care of everything, you're not getting a Cobain. And even when singing "One of us is gonna die young," the bubblegum glam Swedish fivepiece sounds unmistakably giddy on latest State of the Ark. – Michael BertinMICHAEL FRACASSO
1am, Hilton 406 Ohio-born Fracasso can probably be considered a native Texan by now. If he hasn't earned it by the calendar (15-plus years here), he's done it by songs. Once described "like Buddy Holly if he went to college," the singer-songwriter's last full-length, 2004's A Pocketful of Rain, is filled with tunes that leave lesser men thinking they wished they'd thought to say it like that. – Michael Bertin
