SXSW Saturday Picks & Sleepers

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SATURDAY SLEEPERS

God-Des & She

8pm, Malaia Upstairs The synergy between this rapper and soul singer goes way beyond butch-femme realness. With a song featured on The L Word ("Lick It" aka "The P*ssy Song"), tours with growly Aussie diva Sia and hip-hop icons Salt 'n' Pepa, and a fresh album, Three, produced by Brian Hardgroove (Public Enemy) under their belts, these melodic hip-hop honeys are about to set you ... well, probably not straight. – Kate X Messer

Chet Faker

7pm, Maggie Mae's Rooftop; Wed., 2pm, Ballroom G Day Stage, Austin Convention Center Faker's rise from nowhere started when his ambient-folk cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity" shot up the music blog tracker hype machine. The South Australian's recently released debut EP, Thinking in Textures, telegraphs the post-dubstep wares he peddles. Also, that's a most excellent pseudonym. – Michael Bertin

Star & Micey

8pm, Cedar Street Courtyard Ties with Ardent Studios paved the way for a sensational guest list on its rocking debut – including Memphis, Tenn., stalwarts such as Big Star's Jody Stephens and Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars – but the raw power of this bluegrass-tinged folk-pop combo, led by Nick Redmond, Geoff Smith, and Joshua Cosby makes its stage show all that. Mix in a little mando, glockenspiel, and accordion, and things heat up fast. – Dan Oko

Creed Bratton

8pm, Palm Door Best known for his disturbingly enigmatic character on The Office, Creed Bratton was also a founding member of Sixties AM pop kingpins the Grass Roots. 2010 solo album Bounce Back is understated but way more engaging than your average TV sitcom star effort. Wizened, tongue-in-cheek chestnuts like "Original White Hat Guy" and "Love Me Like You Dance" resonate in the same vein as Shel Silverstein and Hoyt Axton. – Greg Beets

Owen Temple

8pm, Saxon Pub In the tradition of Guy Clark, Central Texan Owen Temple is a craftsman. His real-life vignettes, finely tuned and remarkable for their ability to transport listeners, made last year's Mountain Home a keeper, featuring stories about eccentrics in small towns and the edges of big cities. Temple has so far succeeded by being tuneful in surprising ways and still judicious lyrically. – Jim Caligiuri

The Krayolas

8:25pm, Soho Lounge Straddling San Antonio and Austin with an updated take on Doug Sahm's Tex-Mex hybrid, the Krayolas began recording in '77, the same year that punk liberated conventions as quickly as it flooded cities with garage bands. A few promising singles at the end of that decade and two LPs in the Eighties have led to this current run and a new album, Tipsy Topsy Turvy, which points toward more where that came from. – Adam Schragin

Erin Ivey & the Finest Kind

9pm, Continental Club Austin's overflowing with singer-songwriters, but none are as daring or as playful as Erin Ivey. Last year's Broken Gold wasn't only touted locally but also by L.A. tastemakers Perez Hilton and KCRW-FM. When Ivey performs with B-3 organ, bass, and drums dub trio the Finest Kind, it's uncommon fare, as jazz, soul, and poetry emerge from spaces that are deep and warm and dangerously inviting. – Jim Caligiuri

J Roddy Walston & the Business

10pm, Cedar Street Courtyard Baltimore's J Roddy Walston is an extinct species: a kickass, piano-playing rocker. His formidable howl is set over rowdy blues, and though he often portrays himself as a dirtbag in his lyrics, his messages are consistently insightful. The band's debut Vagrant release is good the whole way through, and its live show is known for have a restorative effect on those who have lost their faith in rock & roll.
– Kevin Curtin

Carrie Elkin

11pm, Victorian Room at the Driskill 2011 marked a breakthrough year for Carrie Elkin. Call It My Garden was a top pick at year's end among Americana and folk critics. Although the Austinite possesses a college degree in organic chemistry, Elkin's music is paramount, and she brings a gypsy soul to songs that are breezy and unpretentious. She's most recently been touring with partner Danny Schmidt, and they've been earning raves for shows spiritual and uninhibited. – Jim Caligiuri

Carper Family

11pm, Stephen F's Bar The Carper Family are three women whose songs and harmonies recall a simpler time. One of Austin's newest sensations on the traditional music scene, they just returned from Memphis, Tenn., where they lit up the Folk Alliance Convention. While not really a family, on 2011's Back When, they sound as authentic as the Carter Family or the Stanley Brothers, only with contemporary subject matter for women in the new century.
– Jim Caligiuri

Kids These Days

11pm, Clive Bar It took only a two-year rise for Chicago's Kids – and they're barely in their 20s – to go from their first gig to playing last year's Lollapalooza. The multi-culti assemblage of hip-hop, jazz, and soul covers everything from old (James Brown and Dizzy Gillespie) to new (Sublime and Ozomatli) punctuated by too-clever lyrics: "My homey carry two nines in the desert/like Gretzky in the sand." – Michael Bertin

The Black Watch

11pm, Treasure Island The Black Watch has put its own spin on British guitar pop since the Eighties, minus the following a combo with that kind of longevity deserves. It's not just persistence that makes TBW worth hearing, either. It's the intelligent tunesmithery of leader John Andrew Fredrick that's made the band a favorite of Jack Rabid and Trouser Press. The group's umpteenth album The End of When comes out later this year. – Michael Toland

The Suicide of Western Culture

11:55pm, Mohawk Half of the mysterious Catalan duo explained the genesis of its name thusly: "I was in a club: glowing lights, house music, drugs, girls shaking their asses. I was lucid for a second, and I thought that Europe was lost." Some might come to the exact opposite conclusion. Sometimes trancey, occasionally raucous, but with circuits instead of microprocessors. Also, often ass-shakable. Curious, no? – Michael Bertin