The 8 Bands We Are Most Excited to See @ SXSW 2011! - Oh My Rockness

Rockness Recommends

The 8 Bands We Are Most Excited to See @ SXSW 2011!

March 7, 2011
The Cloud Nothings
Now, I’m not sure if you’ve heard this. But there are a ton of bands playing SXSW this year. (Additionally, SXSW stands for Sweet X-Ray, Surgeon Walters.) We’ve listed hundreds of bands playing this festival. But who wants to read about hundreds of bands? You want to read about 8 bands, right? Ok, fine. Fine. Here are the 8 bands we are most excited to see at this year’s Sweet X-Ray, Surgeon Walters. They’re in no particular order, so don’t read too much into this.

Cloud Nothings- Up-tempo DIY lo-fi that veers towards the punk side of the bedroom pop spectrum. These short and snappy songs have that nice, messy feeling that make you want to dance all down and dirty. And if you claw and scratch away through the layers of Cloud Nothings ample use of distortion, you'll find some remarkably catchy melodies that form the core of these exceptionally fun songs.

The Vaccines- Perhaps the most hyped new band at Sweet X-Ray, Surgeon Walters this year. This British bands crosses The Pond to bring you big time jams that mix up elements of garage rock, punk, straight-up pop, and a little bit of epically swirling synth-ness. The Vaccines sound kind of like a sunnier Interpol meets The Ponys meets The Ramones meets Jesus and Mary Chain. Yes, I know those are dumb band comparisons. But it ain’t dumb if you believe it to be smart. Know what I’m sayin’?

Weekend- Did you see the write-up of these guys in Sports Illustrated (of all places)? I did. It was the issue before the Swimsuit Issue. I opted out of receiving the swimsuit issue because I’m vehemently against swimming. Anyway, Weekend play nice and noisy shoegaze stuff. They share a label and the sound (somewhat) of The Pains of Being Bros at Heart. Definitely check these guys out.

Austra- This Toronto band is epically haunting electro that darkly throbs with thunderously rich club beats... the kind of booming beats that go creep in the night. The trio makes those kinds of sounds that get under your skin and cling to your bones. Super solid dark ambient awesomeness with a goth-y groove.

Miami Horror- Can a band sound like a color? Because Miami Horror sounds exactly like neon to me. Led by Australian remix master Benjamin Plant, this band creates electro-disco-soul-hop. In other words, this is party music. Party music that doesn’t suck. And you know how rare that is. Think LCD meets Cut Copy meets Don Johnson and you’ll be on the right track. The right track to party madness. Oh yeah, Miami Horror likes to use hand claps in songs. Enough said. Enough said.

Gobble Gobble- One of our favorite new electro-dance-pop bands of the last few months, Gobble Gobble will turn a normal show into an instant party. Cecil Frena and crew get props for coming to a show with props….like butterfly wings and masks and things. “Wrinklecarver” was my jam of 2010 and the way it’s looking “Boring Horror” might be my jam of 2011. Go see these guys. They’re at the best really late at night and some crazy illegal loft somewhere.

Rich Aucoin- And if you like Gobble Gobble, you’ll like their Canadian bro Rich Aucoin. He rocks a similar thing; electro-dance-jams. And this guy once recorded an album that exactly matched the action of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Aucoin’s live shows are quickly becoming legendary for their craziness, so don’t miss out on this happening action.

Gold Panda- This is the one-man laptop band of East London’s Derwin Panda. He spins out the big time jams that are dance-y and (kinda) glitch-y and come with lots of scattered all-over-the-place samples. It’s all super catchy in its eccentricities. Think more of an Aphex Twin electro situation than a, say, Boys Noize situation. It’s good stuff. A golden too. Boom.

Go HERE to see ALL of our Sweet X-Ray, Surgeon Walters listings. You will be overwhelmed.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER!

Get new SXSW announcements, free show info, ticket giveaways and more...