Alongside our interviews with incoming heavyweights Sunny Day Real Estate and Dry Cleaning (at right), here’s five more major artists headed to South by Southwest Music, which lands in Austin March 11-16.
Bootsy Collins
Friday 15, 4pm, Lady Bird Lake
From foundational collaborations with James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic to recent appearances on records by Silk Sonic and Austin’s own BLK ODYSSY, bassist Bootsy Collins has long been the secret sauce that ensures the best soul music gives up the funk. Performing for free at SXSW’s beloved Lady Bird Lake concert series, Collins teams with fellow genre forebears Zapp. Head back to Auditorium Shores the next day to see the artist’s wife, Superhero Peppermint Patti Collins, rock the shores for KUTX’s kid-friendly programming.
STRFKR
Friday 15, 1:15am, The Creek and the Cave
2008 breakout single “Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second” remains a signature indie sleaze anthem, but Joshua Hodges has never stopped churning out STRFKR records. 2020 saw the release of two LPs, characteristically catchy Future Past Life and lo-fi instrumental Ambient 1, while new single “Together Forever” returns to dance party form with snappy percussion and a soaring disco keyboard line. Just Hodges visits SXSW for a DJ set.
The Black Keys
Saturday 16, 12:30am, Stubb’s
Following a keynote speech and documentary premiere, the Black Keys head to SXSW Music for two showcases presented by singer Dan Auerbach’s label, Easy Eye Sound. On Thursday, March 14, at an unofficial Mohawk day party, the duo performs their 2021 album Delta Kream in its entirety in a tribute to the blues, rounded out by Robert Finley, Early James, Gabe Carter, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Moonrisers, Eugene Hideaway Bridges, and Kenny Brown. At Stubb’s the next night, they headline a gig alongside labelmates Hermanos Gutiérrez, Shannon & the Clams, Britti, and Jon Muq.
Faye Webster
Friday 15, 11pm, ACL Live at the Moody Theater
If there’s one thing I learned catching Faye Webster at Stubb’s last November, after waiting for over an hour in a line backed up to I-35, it’s this: The artist is no longer indie famous. She’s famous famous. Webster’s career trajectory comes in large part from TikTok virality, but the pieces were always there: A longtime critical darling, the 26-year-old singer-songwriter has issued a consistently gorgeous catalog that blends indie rock, country, and R&B into love songs both devastatingly honest and comically self-aware. Back with new LP Underdressed at the Symphony, she headlines Rolling Stone’s official showcase – titled, naturally, the Future of Music.
Ho99o9
Thursday 14, 6pm, Lustre Pearl
As their name (pronounced “horror”) and song titles (check “When Death Calls,” “Floating Corpse,” and “Piss Bottle”) suggest, Newark duo Ho99o9 leans into all things grimey. Drawing from the most abrasive corners of rap and punk, vocalist theOGM and multi-instrumentalist Yeti Bones craft an eclectic catharsis: “Punk Police” goes back to basics with breakneck drums and shrieking exclamations, while the bass in “Mega City Nine” blasts alongside all- electronic beats. Approval from metal heavyweights includes Corey Taylor, whose guttural scream leads the chorus of 2022’s “Bite My Face,” and metal band 3TEETH, who invited the duo onto 2018 track “Lights Out.” Latest album Ho99o9 presents Territory: Turf Talk, Vol. II arrived in October.
Five More Established Artists to See at SXSW Music
A version of this article appeared in print on Mar 8, 2024 with the headline: Five More Established Artists to See at SXSW Music
This article appears in March 8 • 2024.
