NPR's 2012 SXSW Best Musical Discoveries

SXSW 2012 Best Bands - NPR's 2012 SXSW Best Musical Discoverie... http://www.esquire.com/the-side/style-guides/sxsw-2012-best-bands-n...

Subscribe Give a Gift Customer Service Promotions Digital Edition Win

MILA KUNIS /// HALLOWEEN /// FOOTBALL /// BEST NEW RESTAURANTS

HOME / WEB-ONLY / ONLINE-EXCLUSIVE STYLE GUIDES

March 19, 2012, 2:27 AM Possibly Life-Changing Musical Discoveries from SXSW 2012 While Esquire was busy checking out some new favorites of our own — the guys from NPR Music were even busier, listening to absolutely everything again . Herein, the artists they considered worth sharing from Austin just now.

BY BOB BOILEN, ROBIN HILTON, ANN POWERS, AND STEPHEN THOMPSON More from this author

Like 50 Tweet 2

From Bob Boilen:

CHECK THESE OUT

Patrick Watson

Okay, easy prediction here, since the best show I saw at SXSW was Patrick Watson: I predict Patrick Watson will release one of the best albums of 2012. Unlike the brilliant 2009 release Wooden Arms , this new record Adventures in Your Own Backyard is going to be a hit. Watson is going on the road opening for Andrew Bird, and Bird’s audience will appreciate his story songs — tales wrapped in finely arranged swatches of piano melodies perfect percussion and the right does of guitar and violin.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SONG FROM NPR. Polica

It's singer Channy Leneagh’s voice and live performance that drew me into this music. On record, the production is king and, in fact, producer Ryan WOMEN Olson is best thought of as the creator of this band — not just the sound- sculptor. Great pop, contagious tunes. The album, Give You The Ghost , is a Monday Morning bit too filled with the singular auto-tuned effect on her voice for my tastes, Cheerleader with but most of that doesn’t appear live, and Polica won me over. Heartbroken Cowboys Because nobody was closer to CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SONG FROM NPR. Dez Bryant's would-be hail mary than this woman. Except maybe La Vida Boheme the ref, but still.

When I saw this band at NPR's day party at the Parish, I flashed to seeing Now, a Sexy Redheaded Woman

1 of 5 29/10/2012 12:12 SXSW 2012 Best Bands - NPR's 2012 SXSW Best Musical Discoverie... http://www.esquire.com/the-side/style-guides/sxsw-2012-best-bands-n...

The Clash in 1979. It was the fierceness, the original sound, the hodgepodge How to Take a Shower... with Nikki Reed (from of styles — it was the clash of cultures and sound. La Vida Boheme are from Twilight, but Still — It's a Damn Good Cause) Caracas, Venezuela. Their music doesn’t mimic The Clash, but it does have that fresh vision. Live, the four men dressed in white, splattered from Context-Free Food Wisdom from Taylor Swift head-to-toe in blue and green paint, which made for a stunning visual, sure, but their segue from song-to-song and style-to-style was the real surprise. It was also cohesive and commanding. STYLE

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SONG FROM NPR. What to Wear Next, from Toronto Fashion Week Checking with our leather From Robin Hilton: jacket-obsessed neighbors from the north

The Best Topical Halloween Costumes of 2012

10 Pairs of Pants at Any Price

The Fall Accessories You Need Right Now

NEWS & POLITICS

Charles P. Pierce on the News You Missed Over the Weekend, Romney Endorsement Included And David Brooks. And a very disgusting mental image concerning Newt Gingrich and John McCain.

The Homeland Episode 5 Recap with Alex Gashcat Berenson

If you love Neutral Milk Hotel but wish the band had put out more than Chiarella: How Craig Fugate Has Changed one record in the last 15 years, then listen to Austin's own Gashcat. The FEMA in Time for Sandy group's music is a glorious mess of fuzzy, potent rock with sometimes quirky instrumentation and gnarled electronics. Cloud Atlas or Chasing Mavericks ?

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. FOOD & DRINK Mr. Gnome Things to Talk About at The latest record from this Cleveland-based, guy-girl duo is the the Bar appropriately titled Madness in Miniature . Their songs are both small and To Halloween, Doug Fister, Tiger intimate, but also dark, chaotic, and explosive, like the soundtrack to some Woods, the triumph of Triumph, twisted fairy tale. and the end of debates, thank God. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. Should You Be Drinking These Special Slow Club Halloween Cocktails?

Another guy-girl duo, this time from Sheffield, England. Singer and The Rarest Rums in the World — and How to drummer Rebecca Taylor has a voice like Adele's, but the music isn't R&B or Drink 'Em Up soul. It's more a mix of infectious, joyful pop and sweetly playful rock. That Magical Bartender Advice for Drinking Tonight said, there's a hint of mystery quietly creeping under it all.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

** From Stephen Thompson:

Deafheaven

My NPR colleague Mike Katzif called Deafheaven "the Sigur Ros of death metal," and he's right on the money. The San Francisco band's music heaves and builds and pummels majestically, and then singer George Clarke lurches defensively and shrieks angrily like a mother hawk protecting her young. Brutal and bracing, with a shoegazing

2 of 5 29/10/2012 12:12 SXSW 2012 Best Bands - NPR's 2012 SXSW Best Musical Discoverie... http://www.esquire.com/the-side/style-guides/sxsw-2012-best-bands-n...

indie-rock band's ear for graceful melodicism.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN. Now, Now

You can win stuffed animals at county fairs bigger than each of the two women who lead the Minneapolis rock trio Now, Now. But the band's sweet, sophisticated songs are big, assertive, and full-blooded — swoony and spiky and confident, with real star quality. Death Cab For Cutie's Christopher Walla produced and released Now, Now's new album Threads , and could be spotted lugging the band's gear after the show I saw. You could tell that his stake in Now, Now was as emotional as it was financial, and it was easy to hear why.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM NPR. Kishi Bashi

Singer and multi-instrumentalist K Ishibashi, who often performs with Of Montreal, got rejected for an official SXSW showcase, but don't be shocked if he winds up headlining one of its biggest stages in 2013. Looping his singing, beatboxing, and violin lines, Ishibashi packed a wine bar's patio with enthralled fans of his gorgeous, charming, utterly disarming toy-box pop. Tucked into SXSW's margins, he served as a reminder that the festival, for all its 2,000- bands-deep massiveness, still can't contain music's awesome capacity for mystery and discovery.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A SONG FROM NPR.

** From Ann Powers:

Zeus

Remember the band Stillwater from the movie Almost Famous ? Toronto-based Zeus is that band, if its members had included Paul McCartney and taken a lot more acid. As fun as 21st-century classic rock gets.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN >> Lady LeShurr

A diminutive rapper with a supersonic flow, Lady LeShurr made her American debut by turning a room in the swank Driskill Hotel into a raucous reggae dancehall. She commanded her band to create a new song on the spot, covered Chris Brown's "Look At Me Now,” and arguably bested Busta Rhymes's original rap — further evidence that women rappers with skills are defining hip-hop's next era.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN >> Nas

The great Queens rapper is hardly a newcomer, but his Broadway- worthy showcase based on the classic album Illmatic showed him reinvigorated. He played a hot new single, too.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN >>

MORE FROM NPR: SXSW Videos, Podcasts + More

MORE FROM ESQUIRE.COM: Andy Langer's Top 30 Artists @ SXSW 2012 >>

3 of 5 29/10/2012 12:12 SXSW 2012 Best Bands - NPR's 2012 SXSW Best Musical Discoverie... http://www.esquire.com/the-side/style-guides/sxsw-2012-best-bands-n...

Tweet 2

Halloween Thanksgiving Best of... Eat Like a Man Best Halloween Movies Easy Thanksgiving Recipes Newsroom Review & Recap Pulled Pork Sandwiches Cheap Homemade Costumes Thanksgiving Apps and Sides How to Have Better Sex Chicken Wing Recipes Party Drinks for Halloween Quick Thanksgiving Desserts Fantasy Football Team Names Best Scotch

Holiday Gifts Holiday Drinks Holiday Fun Holiday Trending Christmas Gifts 2012 Christmas Cocktails Funny Holiday Quotes Last Minute Gift Ideas DIY Christmas Gifts Homemade Eggnog Recipe How to Tie a Tie Christmas Dessert Recipes Cheap Christmas Gifts Under Champagne Cocktails Secret Santa Gifts Christmas Gifts for Her $20