SXSW

SXSW Song Of The Day: St. Tropez – Democracy

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“Democracy,” the lead single off of Dutch garage rockers St. Tropez‘s upcoming EP Debate, is an in-your-face, short and sweet slice of political rock and roll, offering up “the band’s vision on fear, populism, debate, naivety, nationalism, hope, politics, immigration and democracy” all in less than two minutes.

The accompanying video features a masked, enigmatic figure wandering through deserts and empty highways, but where is he headed and what does he want? Is he searching for democracy? Is he perhaps a personification of democracy itself? Is he maybe just some dude in a shiny suit and a cowboy hat who’s looking to buy some ice cream or something? All good questions …

Debate is out February 23 and the band will be playing shows through February and March to promote it, including a few appearances in Austin for SXSW.

Dates:
23 Feb – Oedipus, Amsterdam
25 Feb – 8 MM, Berlin
27 Feb – Shacklewell Arms, London (EP release show)
08 Mar – Good Room, New York City
10 Mar – Piano’s, New York City
16 Mar – Dutch House, SXSW
18 Mar – Sidewinder, SXSW
22 Mar – Silverlake Lounge, Los Angeles

SXSW Song Of The Day: Sungod – Cahokia

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Another week, another list of performers announced by SXSW. This week, we focus on Sungod, one of the many Austin-based acts playing the festival who aren’t actively choosing to escape the bustling madness of their city during SXSW.

Like fellow Austinites S U R V I V E (who will also be playing SouthBy), Sungod’s sound is dominated by synthesizers, however Sungod take things in a more psychedelic/spacerock direction, as exemplified by their 2015 single “Cahokia.” It seems likely the band should have some new material ready in time for SXSW and if it sounds anything like this eleven and a half minute jam, I’m definitely interested.

SXSW Song Of The Day: Spiral Stairs – Dance (Cry Wolf)

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As the 2017 edition of SXSW approaches, more announcements, both official and unofficial, are starting to come out and last week, SXSW dropped a few more names. Among those names is former Pavement guitarist Scott Kannberg, aka Spiral Stairs, who will be appearing at SouthBy to promote his upcoming release Doris And The Daggers. The album includes contributions from members of The National, Broken Social Scene and Shudder To Think while lead single “Dance (Cry Wolf)” features an appearance from Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle in the video.

Doris And The Daggers is out March 24 on Nine Mile/Domino.

SXSW Song Of The Day: Duotang – Nostalgia’s A Vice

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This week, SXSW dropped their biggest announcement so far of performers for this year’s festival and while I’m sure there will be more to come soon enough, there’s plenty of stuff to get excited about in the current crop of announcements. One of the names that jumped out at me was Duotang. The Winnipeg two-piece is back this year with New Occupation, their first album since 2001, but as “Nostalgia’s A Vice” makes clear, the band’s not really down with being anybody’s nostalgia act, nor do they seem to be crazy about the whole idea of nostalgia in general.

“Are you lost in the digital age and do you distrust people half of your age?” sings Rod Slaughter, presumably to some old curmudgeons who haven’t liked anything new since the turn of the century. As someone with some curmudgeonly tendencies myself, it’s tempting to go down that road, but Slaughter’s prescription for weaning yourself off of nostalgia is a good one and probably also a good motto for anyone heading to Austin in March: “You’ve gotta move on, explore the options and embrace something new. It might be good for you.”