Austin, Texas is the thumping heart of American indie music, and next week its pulse is going to skyrocket for South by Southwest, Earth’s pre-eminent music festival for up-and-coming indie bands.  It’s a networking dream, though these businessmen wear skinny jeans and leather jackets, and carry sound equipment and guitars.  Famous alumni of the part-conference-part-festival include Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Fugees, and Oklahoma’s very own Flaming Lips.  This spring break could be your chance to catch the next big act before they were famous.

And what of our Oklahoma faithful?  Well, we’ll be out in full force at SXSW this year with a promising young crop of musicians, culminating in a big end-of-the-week team effort.  If you’re lucky enough to be in Austin for Spring Break, then Soho Lounge will be the place to be Saturday night, to catch Stardeath and White Dwarfs play with The Uglysuit, Colourmusic and The Non.  Help support local music as we measure up against some of the nation’s biggest scenes.

ACT:  Stardeath and White Dwarfs

OKLAHOMA CLAIM: The bizarre spawn of Oklahoma City’s funkiest son Wayne Coyne, lead singer Dennis Coyne formed Stardeath and scored the band’s first break by working as road crew for the Flaming Lips.  They’ve played Tulsa’s D-Fest and multiple of the Lips’ New Years Eve Freakouts.

SOUND:  A sludgier, less overt and more psychedelic take on rock than his uncle’s band, Stardeath clearly draw from the pillars of classic rock (Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles) infusing their interpretation with a light show to increase the crowd’s tension, relaxation or paranoia.  See “Toast & Marmalade Tea” for the band at it’s most English and idyllic, and “I Can’t Get Away” for a catchy, grooving singalong and “The Age of the Freak” if you’re wanting to chill before diving into flat-out rock.

RECENTLY: The band released “The Birth”, their debut LP in June, and have since signed a record deal with Warner Bros.  They also contributed to Uncle Wayne and co.’s reinterpretation of “The Dark Side of the Moon”, which they’ll help the Lips play at Bonnaroo this summer.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 17—11:00 p.m at Spill Bar

March 19—4:15 p.m. at The Blind Pig with Andrew W.K.

March 20—1:00 a.m. at SOHO Lounge with The Uglysuit, Colourmusic and The Non

ACT:  The Uglysuit

OKLAHOMA CLAIM:  A product of Oklahoma City’s fertile musical grounds, The Uglysuit are the local hippies that poke out like weird little weeds amongst more abrasive rock bands (Junebug Spade, Pretty Black Chains) and the pop or folk-types (Jacob Abello, Sherree Chamberlain).

SOUND:  The only thing truly uniform in The Uglysuit’s sound is its tremendous optimism, conveyed in singer Israel Hindman’s voice and lyrical selections, as well as the band’s fixation with pleasant background humming and strumming.  It is clearly very comfortable with loud rock songs, gentler ballads and unconventional song structure (all are evidenced in the seven-minute-long “…And We Became Sunshine” from their self-titled 2008 debut), all overcast by their signature touch for the universal.

RECENTLY:  The band’s been touring up in Canada, still promoting their debut LP, though they’ll be playing at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom later this month after six shows at SXSW.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 17—10:00 p.m at Dirty Dog Bar

March 18—3:00 p.m. at Rusty Spurs

March 19—1:30 p.m. at Maggie Maes

March 19—3:00 p.m. at The Hideout Café

March 20—12:30 p.m. at Encore

March 20—11:30 p.m. at Soho Lounge with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, Colourmusic and The Non

ACT:  The Non

OKLAHOMA CLAIM:  The Non hails from Oklahoma City, and bassist Tom Bishop is a sophomore at OU.  The band is a recurring cast member at just about every small-to-midsize venue between here and Edmond.

SOUND:  The Non are tinkerers aiming to overwhelm its audience with live aesthetics, which it does regularly.  It lacks a singer, a conscious measure to emphasize the raw power of their electric crescendos and sweeping sounds that inspire awe.  On the record, its music is polished and calculated, off the record they’re complemented by a muscular live show that keeps cell phones in the crowd members’ pockets and hypnotized looks on their faces.

RECENTLY:  “Tadaima”, their second full-length album, was released with much acclaim at a two-night event at the Conservatory in January.  They recently played with openers The Boom Bang to a packed house at the Opolis, and have four more shows currently scheduled in OKC/Norman between now and mid May.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 19—8:00 p.m. at Leisure Tourniquet MishMash

March 20—10:00 p.m. at Soho Lounge with Stardeath and White Dwarfs, The Uglysuit and Colourmusic

ACT:  Ali Harter

OKLAHOMA CLAIM:  Don’t let her partnership with French management companies fool you, Harter is straight from the heart of Oklahoma.  Just 25, the singer/songwriter hails from Choctaw, tours France the same way she tours her home state, playing in every little nook and cranny she can.

SOUND:  Smoky and soulful, Harter’s songwriting well suits her voice that fills up a room with its red dirt country sass.  She’s just as confident singing folk and sounds like the illegitimate daughter of Leon Russell and Tori Amos.

RECENTLY:  “No Bees, No Honey”, Harter’s second album comes out next week, for which she’ll play a release show March 13th at the Conservatory with Samantha Crain, Jabee, and O Fidelis.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 17—6:00 p.m. at Cuba Libre

ACT: Colourmusic

OKLAHOMA CLAIM:  They’re from that one city up north with all the orange and a not-as-good football team.

SOUND:  Colourmusic are just the kinda good-natured weirdos who make terrific and interesting rock music and do a bunch of super-funny things simply for the aesthetic joy of doing them.  Take for instance, the song “Yes!”, which features the band (dapper in all-white outfits) dancing and fist-pumping with random people all over the state while repeating simple lyrical mantras like “live it up”, “change my world”, and “feel my love” over steady-charging rock riffs.  Indie rock has never had so much fun.

RECENTLY:  “Yes!” was released in November, and the band’s been touring in support of it since.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 20—11:00 p.m. at Soho Lounge with Stardeath and White Dwarves, The Uglysuit and The Non

ACT:  The Pretty Black Chains

OKLAHOMA CLAIM:  TPBC is from Oklahoma City by way of Stillwater.  They’re regulars in the OKC scene, and played a blistering set at D-Fest in Tulsa last summer.

SOUND:  Playing their catchy pop and punk rock without the frills and an arsenal’s worth of swagger, The Pretty Black Chains are Oklahoma’s most promising young rock band.  They play every show like it’s in a stadium, ranging from heavily distorted rock to polished pop.  The constant is vocalist Kellen McGugan’s direct-to-your-gut singing that still conveys a playful element that often surprises the listener.

RECENTLY:   Active since only 2008, the band’s only been playing shows for just over a year now, and intend to release their first album this spring.

SXSW SHOWS:

March 18—3:15 p.m. Oklahoma Showcase at The Copa

March 19—2:00 p.m. at Doc’s Motorworks

March 19—11:00 p.m. house show with Jacob Abello, details TBA

March 20—8:00 p.m. location TBA

For a full schedule of Oklahoma bands playing at SXSW:

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