1:00 PM
to 6:00 PM
The League of Extraordinary Hackers
53 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Unofficial Party
event::about
Google's League of Extraordinary Hackers is the premier event for getting the inside scoop straight from Google's engineering, business development, and developer relations teams.
From fast-paced "API Briefings" that reintroduce Google's developer products (APIs, tools, and services) to more intimate office hours held by the the speakers themselves, there should be something for all kinds of developers and startupers.
Visit our chillout lounge and recharge your feet — and your laptop. Take a load off in the YouTube Leanback Lounge, and check out the the latest offerings from YouTube and Google TVs.
Expect demos, razor-sharp tech conversation, and a sampling of the best of Google's developer offerings.
Immediately followed by SHDH@SXSW.
7:00 PM
to 2:00 AM
SuperHappyDevHouse
51 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Unofficial Party
event::about
For the first time ever, SuperHappyDevHouse is coming to SXSW! Join us for an evening of hacking, revelry, LEGO® MINDSTORMs® roboticking, and good times that the Silicon Valley event is known for the world over.Don't miss this!
What is SuperHappyDevHouse?
The original idea for SHDH was something like “20% time for people who don’t work at Google” (even though the event wasn’t founded by Googlers). The event has since evolved into a monthly collaborative event for exchanging ideas, working together, and celebrating the spirit of the independent, DIY hacker.
The DevHouse will kick off at 7pm following the transition from the Google Developer Event. We will open the event with welcome remarks, an overview of the venue and what’s happening where and follow with a vivid retelling (and slideshow) of the history of DevHouse, beginning with its roots in Silicon Valley and spreading worldwide. We’ll also describe the LEGO® hackathon taking place on the third floor throughout the event and invite participation. We’ll close by thanking each sponsor and announcing the sponsored drinks; food will be served and all three bars will open.
Around 8:15pm we’ll prep for lightning talks on the main stage on the first floor. We expect fast-paced, intelligent, funny, and clever talks to run one after another — no more than 5 minutes each — covering subjects like tech hacks, big ideas, best practices, crazy experiences, or other topics that might interest the varied DevHouse audience.
9:00 PM
to 2:00 AM
SAY Media presents Local Natives @ SXSW
121 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Party, Interactive
event::about
SAY: is hosting a one night-only music festival featuring the Local Natives and five emerging indie artists during SXSW Interactive.
event::tags Party
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
Zemaria
11 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Zemaria
event::about First started in the small port city of Vitoria, in the southeast of Brazil, it was expected that Zemaria would have an attraction to the horizon of the Atlantic because of their roots. Since 2005 they have toured in Europe annually totaling more than 150 concerts in various cities of the Old Continent. Among them is the Electric Picnic Festival in Dublin, La Fleche D’Or in Paris, Tacheles in Berlin or the Ilios Festival in Norway. In Brazil their connections to clubs and most relevant venues and festivals are astounding. In 2010 Zemaria had a good impact in the brazilian media. The song The Space Ahead was chosen by Levi’s Music as a soundtrack to a video. Shortly after Zemaria was nominated for the Brazilian MTV Awards alongside artists Gui Boratto, Database and Boss n’ Drama. Their latest works, by Sanny Lys (vocals), Marcel Dadalto (synths, guitars and vocals), Spon (bass) and Nego Leo (drums, synth), is the EP Any Distance, distributed worldwilde by PIAS. The EP’s title track features a delightful remix of the french Minitel Rose and the original version of the song “The Space Ahead” is now on the official soundtrack for FIFA 11 by EA Games - along with artists like LCD Soundsystem, Chromeo, MGMT, Caribou and more. Now the band is in it’s new studio, working and preparing to play for the first time in the United States - debuts this March at SXSW and they will follow it with a tour across the country. If they come through your town, it’s recommended not to miss the chance to see them on stage.
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
De Juepuchas
16 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists De Juepuchas
event::about English The project is inspired by The Avalanches and Girl Talk, and the new common culture of creativity and collective intelligence which takes advantage of digital resources and enabling internet sharing to harness new forms and possibilities of creation. The album ("Ser De Juepuchas Varios Años" or "Being De Juepuchas for several years") launched in early 2009, includes about 1000 fragments used different sound from popular culture, the idiosyncrasies sound and audible spectrum of Colombian memory within which there are many sounds programs, popular soap operas, songs and everyday sounds of decades of yesterday and today. Our proposal beyond the music is a vehicle to promote the democratization of ideas, liberation of content and collective creation, additionally, uses sound and music as a platform to socialize their daily problems and calls for awareness community and the importance of memory in the construction of a present. The proposal also suggests the recovery of public spaces overlooked or underestimated, to call for participation, inclusion, diversity, socialization of culture, we believe in the worldwide music and culture as a facilitator social cohesion. Juepuchas makes use of memory as a resource, from the ones that affect you as an individual to those that are shared among friends, colleagues, even nations. Audible memory is part of a picture that unite, spins and link us together. Spanish De Juepuchas, proyecto inspirado en The Avalanches, Girl Talk, I.M.S., Beta Band, y la nueva cultura de la creatividad común y la inteligencia colectiva, aprovecha los recursos digitales y el compartir que habilita internet para aprovechar las nuevas formas y posibilidades de creación. En el álbum (Ser De Juepuchas Por Varios Años) lanzado a inicios del 2009, se utilizan aproximadamente 1000 fragmentos sonoros diferentes, provenientes de la cultura popular, la idiosincracia sonora y el espectro de la memoria audible colombiana dentro de la cual se encuentran innumerables sonidos de programas y novelas populares, canciones y sonidos cotidianos de décadas del ayer y hoy. Su propuesta más allá de la música también es un vehículo para promover la democratización de las ideas, la liberación de contenidos y la creación colectiva, adicionalmente se utiliza el sonido y la música como plataforma de socialización de problemáticas cotidianas y hace un llamado de conciencia sobre la colectividad y lo importante de la memoria en la construcción de un presente. La propuesta en vivo sugiere la recuperación de espacios públicos olvidados o subestimados, para llamar a la participación, a la inclusión, a la diversidad, a la socialización de la cultura; creemos en la música para todo el mundo y en la cultura como facilitador de cohesión social. De Juepuchas hace uso de la memoria como recurso, memorias que parten desde lo individual hasta aquellas que se comparten entre amigos, colegas, incluso naciones. La memoria audible hace parte de un imaginario que nos vincula; vínculo que hila y une.
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Lucy And The Popsonics
16 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Lucy And The Popsonics
event::about After Sao-Paulo, one of the most brazilian exciting musical scene of the moment,lets go to Brasilia now, the cult-city built by Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa to discover LUCY AND THE POPSONICS. That duo, united in life as on scene, joined together with a bass, electric guitar and a laptop, had probably produced the most fun, Fresh and exciting album from the Lula’s country. "A Fábula (ou a Farsa?) de Dois Eletropandas" ‘ s album released on Monstro Discos (one of the most important independent Brazilian label) in 2007 has been rated as one of the best promising act of the new Brazilian scene by the media. Folha de Sao Paulo, Vogue, Rolling Stone, MTV have been immediately seduced by the Electro-punk music of that sexy duo of Brasilia offering at the same time, the possibillity for the band to tour in the big festivals. They made that mix of nervous rock striked of major chords, with a linear but powerful bass on an Electro-pop base coming back to the roots (Kraftwerk, Devo).This album,leaded by the spontaneous Young and mischievous Fernanda, offers in 40 minutes,an accelerated drive in the complex avenues of the UFO-City. In 2007 and 2008, Lucy and the Popsonics played a lot in Brazil and worldwide with artists like Devo, Lilly Allen, The Rapture, Tokyo Police Club, CSS, Datarock, Diplo, Potion, Kasabian, Black Lips, Les Corps Mince Dês Françoise, Vivian Girls, Battant. They also been touring in the USA (South By Southwest), Middle-West and East Coast (Knitting Factory/NYC), then in Europe, with very good feedback of the audience in Germany, Spain, France (I.D.E.A.L Festival) and Portugal (Fade In Festival). Picked out in 2008 by Nacopajaz, and seen at PopMontréal Festival where they really impressed, they’ve been considered by the influential VOIR magazine like one of the biggest revelation of the festival, they’ve been also touring France with Big festival like « Printemps de Bourges » « Festival les Femmes s’en mêlent » where the audience verified their incredible energy on scene. For 2010, they just recorded the new album with one of the biggest Pop producers in Brazil, John Ulhoa. He´s part of the most important Pop brazilian band of the last 20 years, Pato Fu.
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
Chico Trujillo
10 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Chico Trujillo
event::about CHICO TRUJILLO Cumbia Chilombiana The superheroes of cumbia have a name. And that name is Chico Trujillo. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, the band is at the peak of its powers. They play parties. They play stadiums. They play festivals. They play all over the world. And they can’t be stopped. While the outfit’s contagious, recklessly danceable sound is rich in drive and colorful instrumentation, it’s not like the cumbia from Argentina or Peru or any other place you can think of. It’s not a social expression of proletarian vigor or some regional or ethnic identity. Instead, it’s a pure cultural phenomenon. Its fans are not the Southern Hemisphere equivalent of folk revivalists; they’re rock and rollers. ------- Born as a “side-project” from the legendary punk-ska band La Floripondio, Chico Trujillo has quickly vaulted in popularity to become the most talked about band in the southern cone, taking over stages across their native Chile and around the world. And it’s all due to their live shows--in which they use all the energy and chaos of their punk predecessors, mixed with more tropical and Latin sounds from Chile and beyond--that keeps fans young and old dancing from the first horn solo to the third encore… It all started after La Floripondio returned from a tour through Germany at the turn of the century, and lead singer and guitarist Macha decided to try a few new ideas out. Mixing traditional cumbias and boleros with renewed and inspired texts and emotions, the group quickly caught on in Chile in a powerful way. Young rockers flocked to their music, as they loved the re-interpretation of their parents’ songs with a modern twist. But it wasn’t only the hip youth that was going to see Chico Trujillo play. As their new sound slowly spread, the whole country was realizing that the band was also good. Perhaps they still dressed like punks (although now sporting more guayaberas in a nod to the tropical bandas that inspired them) and kept their fiercely independent streak, but something in their energy and re-working of the classics, as well as banging new original songs, began appealing to Chilenos of all ages, and soon to the world abroad. Producers in Chile caught on to the underground, popular buzz, and they were invited to the most prestigious and popular festivals around the country, alongside the legends of Chilean cumbia, as well to play at rock festivals in front of tens of thousands of youngsters. And then their music was carried to Germany, where they have taken-up residence every summer for the past 5 years at the infamous Café Zapata, playing for Latino immigrants but as well a growing hip German youth. Soon Spain was calling, and Switzerland, and Sweden wasn’t far behind. Whether they were making thousands dance in Berlin’s public squares during World Cup 2006 soccer games, in packed basement clubs in Montreax, or in stadiums in Chile, the spin-off band from the tiny town of Villa Aleman was taking an extraordinary course to spread a little Chilean cumbia across the globe. Your parent’s cumbia this definitely isn’t. “Cumbia Chilombiana” – a mix of Chilean and Colombian cumbia -- is one way the band has described it, in the title of their 2007 album. By taking the traditional cumbia base, infusing it with punk energy, ska horns, and a bit of Chilean folk, Chico Trujillo has created an urban mix of the popular Latin classic that seemingly everyone loves. And as cumbia—the real musica popular uniting all of Latin America, the one sound you hear from the Rio Grande all the way to the Straits of Magellan—is seeing a worldwide renaissance, it is mostly on the back of slick DJ remixes, electric flourishes, or more traditional re-creations of the oldies. Chico Trujillo forgoes all those fashions and of-the-moment creations, and just does what has always been the true essence of a great live cumbia band: they rock, and the people dance and dance and dance.
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
John David Kent and The Dumb Angels
5 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
event::about Somewhere west of Hank Williams and east of the Rolling Stones; north of Kris Kristofferson, but south of Wilco. Somewhere in that wild, unruly country where people invent nonsense genre names like..."Alt Country",..."Tx Country"..."Southern Rock". For John David Kent and the Dumb Angels, a video in rotation on CMT’s Pure Country and a break-out single on country radio are only the beginnings of a promising career that quickly bring the five member Texas band a long way from their recent beginnings. The band is currently in the studio recording their debut album set to be released March 2011.
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
Dan Dyer
27 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Dan Dyer
event::about Soul-folk singer-songwriter Dan Dyer has been a fixture on the Austin music scene since the late 90s, when he was frontman for the much heralded blues-rock outfit, Breedlove. For his debut solo album, "...Of What Lies Beneath", (2004) Dyer headed to New York City and Miami to collaborate with veteran rock legend Lenny Kravitz, who produced and released the record on Kravitz’s own Reprise imprint label, Roxie Records. Dyer then returned to Austin, his musical birthplace, to record and release his 2008 self–titled album, a soul-revivalist recording produced by David Boyle in an old snake-charmer church turned studio on the east side of Austin. It was named one of the top 10 local albums of the year by both the Austin American Statesman and The Austin Chronicle, and climbed to the #3 R&B spot on iTunes within a week of its digital release. The Chronicle called it "a blue-ribbon disc. At once joyous, creative and satisfying, Dyer channels 1970s era Hathaway and Wonder with modern panache and without a hint of mimicry." Dyer’s voice and live performance intensity are raw and hot, yet soulful and sensitive, drawing from a wealth of classic soul, blues, folk, and R&B legends. The audience is treated to a special brand of commotion as Dyer switches from piano to guitar, sometimes performing with a boyish grin, and other times with a perspiring concentration. He has toured the US extensively, in support of his own releases, and alongside artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Corinne Bailey Rae, Rufus Wainwright, Laura Izibor, Ledisi, and others. He has also been invited to perform at major festivals such as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Essence Music Festival, Voodoo Music Experience, and New Orleans Jazz Fest's Annual Piano Night at the House of Blues.
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King
18 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Smokin' Joe Kubek & Bnois King
event::about “Raucous, high-energy Texas roadhouse blues-rock. Blistering guitar solos, irresistible shuffles and subtle ballads.” –Living Blues “A great combination...Kubek’s powerful, big-as-Texas guitar gets down and dirty. King delivers sharp and potent guitar and warm, soulful vocals.” –Blues Revue Of all the blues legends the great state of Texas has produced, none sounds quite like Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King. The two Lone Star guitarists—one a hard-edged, hard rocking blues player and the other a jazzy, elegant rhythm player who delivers raw, spontaneous solos-—have taken their dual guitar attack from the heart of Texas to fans around the globe. For more than 20 years and thousands of live shows, the duo’s scorching blues and telepathic interplay has been thrilling fans all around the world. Their new CD (their second for Alligator and the 14th of their careers), Have Blues, Will Travel, is a collection of fresh original songs played with passion, taste and a white-hot intensity. Billboard said the band plays “hard-hitting, original blues. Kubek is one of the fiercest Texas blues guitarists…his fiery leads are complemented by King’s adroit rhythm guitar and classic vocals.” The band’s Alligator Records debut, 2008’s Blood Brothers, brought the long-time musicians to their largest audience yet and earned the band accolades all across the country. The Chicago Sun-Times declared, “Genuine houserockin’ blues…they boogie till the break of day.” Allmusic described the album as “tough, robust, soul-blues that is as hot as they’ve ever gotten in the studio. Impressive.” Joe Kubek was born in Pennsylvania in 1956 but grew up just outside of Dallas. He was leading his own bands and gigging in clubs all around Dallas when he was only 14. Bowled over by the blues a short time after first hearing Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, Kubek soon discovered the music of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and other early blues masters including Freddie King, Johnny Copeland and Lightnin’ Hopkins. By the time he was 19, he was backing many famous blues players in the area, including legend Freddie King. Kubek next worked with R&B singer Al “TNT” Braggs and made a host of new friends, including Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan (with whom Kubek became close), B.B. King and many other blues icons. In 1989, Kubek met guitarist/vocalist Bnois King at a Monday night Dallas jam session. The two became fast friends, and melded their seemingly divergent styles—Kubek a rocking and fierce picker and slider, King a subtle, fat-chord rhythm player whose solos are spontaneous and unpredictable—into one of the most potent guitar combinations the Southwest had ever produced. Kubek explains the relationship succinctly: “Bnois fires me up. We are constantly pushing each other higher, complimenting each other’s solos. But it’s not planned. We never know what we’re going to do until it’s done. I pull the blues out of him, and he pulls the jazz out of me. Bnois knows so much about jazz it’s amazing.” Bnois (pronounced Buh-noice) King was born in Delhi, LA in 1943. He was inspired to play guitar by his high school music teacher. Before long, Bnois was playing blues cover songs with a local band. On his own, he traveled through Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, finding local bands to gig with and also performing with carnival tent show groups. King made his way to Dallas in 1979, gigging with jazz combos until he hooked up with Kubek ten years later. A master storyteller, King didn’t start writing and singing until he joined forces with Joe, when both duties fell on him. “We needed a singer so I sang,” King recalls, “and every time I did the crowds went wild. We needed songs so I wrote about things that happened to me, to people I knew. That’s what I still do today.” As for his guitar work, King is similarly modest. “Joe inspires me a lot,” King says. “When I solo, it’s a spur of the moment thing. I don’t have a plan. I react to what I hear on the bandstand.” On the strength of their huge local following, Kubek and King signed to Bullseye Blues and released their debut CD, Stepping Out Texas Style, in 1991. After conquering the Dallas scene, the band began touring clubs, concert halls and festivals nationally and internationally. Following a successful series of eight Bullseye releases, they signed to Blind Pig Records in 2003. As their popularity continued to build on the strength of their recordings and the energy of their live shows, the band’s touring schedule grew to over 150 dates per year all across the United States, Canada and Europe (where they have toured more than a dozen times), solidifying their place in the blues world with one jaw-dropping show after another. Kubek and King signed with Alligator in 2008 and released Blood Brothers. The fresh approach, the smoking hot playing and the original, slice-of-life lyrics all added up to a blues lover’s delight. The Dallas Observer said, “An electric blast of twelve-bar heaven…they blow the roof off.” More than anything else, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King love to perform live. With Have Blues, Will Travel they’ve gigged from coast to coast, bringing their no-holds-barred brand of soul-charged, rockin’ Texas blues to old fans and newcomers night after night. Have Blues, Will Travel is not just the name of the new album. For Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King, it’s a way of life.
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
Guitar Shorty
27 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Guitar Shorty
event::about "Blistering, modern blues-rock, bristles with galvanizing guitar and forceful vocals." –BILLBOARD Legendary guitarist/vocalist Guitar Shorty is a giant in the blues world. Credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Guitar Shorty has been electrifying audiences for five decades with his supercharged live shows and his incendiary recordings.What really sets Shorty apart is his absolutely unpredictable, off-the-wall guitar playing. He reaches for sounds, riffs and licks that other blues players wouldn’t even think of. Amazon.com says his guitar work “sounds like a caged tiger before feeding time. His molten guitar pours his psychedelicized solos like lava over anything in his path.” The Chicago Reader declares, “Guitar Shorty is a battle-scarred hard-ass. He slices off his phrases and notes with homicidal fury. He is among the highest-energy blues entertainers on the scene.” Through the years, Shorty has performed with blues and R&B luminaries like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker. He started playing with these legends while still in his teens and recorded a handful of singles for a variety of labels and an obscure LP during the first 30 years of his career. After decades of paying his dues (like so many unheralded American bluesmen), it took a tour of England to establish Shorty’s fame in his home country. His recordings since then all received massive critical acclaim, and his renowned live performances have kept him constantly in demand all over the world. His 2004 Alligator Records debut, Watch Your Back, became his best-received, best-selling album to date. His 2006 follow-up, We The People, won the coveted Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year. Now, with his 2010 CD, Bare Knuckle, Guitar Shorty unleashes a barrage of hard-hitting combinations of guitar, vocals and lyrics, hitting his listeners with some of the most awe-inspiring guitar and vocal work of his long career. Guitar Shorty was born David William Kearney on September 8, 1939 in Houston, Texas and raised in Kissimmee, Florida by his grandmother. He began playing guitar as a young boy, excited by the sounds of B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. His first lessons came from his uncle, but when it became clear that the youngster was serious about his music, his grandmother hired a teacher for him. “I learned so fast I was always two or three pages ahead of my teacher,” Shorty recalls. After a move to Tampa when he was 17, the young Kearney won a slot as a featured guitarist and vocalist in the locally popular 18-piece orchestra led by Walter Johnson. Being younger—and shorter—than the rest of the band, a club owner bestowed the name Guitar Shorty on him, and it stuck. After a particularly strong performance by Shorty in Florida, the great Willie Dixon, who was in the audience, approached Shorty and said, “I like what you’re doing. You’ve got something different. I gotta get you in the studio.” A few weeks later Shorty was in Chicago and, backed by Otis Rush on second guitar, he cut his first single, “Irma Lee” b/w “You Don’t Treat Me Right,” for Chicago’s famed Cobra Records (the first label home for Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy) in 1957. “Willie Dixon was a huge influence on me and my singing,” Shorty remembers. “Willie helped me find my own singing voice and showed me how to tell a story with my words.” Shorty’s fortunes continued to rise when the great Ray Charles hired the young guitar slinger as a featured member of his road band. While touring Florida with Ray, Shorty connected with one of his idols—guitarist/vocalist Guitar Slim, famous for his hit “Things That I Used To Do” as well as for his wildman stage antics. Slim’s manager offered Shorty the opening slot on the guitarist’s upcoming tour, and Shorty jumped at the chance, following his hero to New Orleans. Inspired by Slim, Shorty began incorporating some of the older artist’s athletic showmanship into his own performances. Before long, he was doing somersaults and flips on stage. With his blistering talent and his wild stage shows, Guitar Shorty found his audience growing even larger. In New Orleans, he joined Sam Cooke’s touring band and eventually ended up in Los Angeles. He gigged locally before recording three 45s for the Los Angeles-based Pull Records label in 1959. Those six sides—all Guitar Shorty originals—showed Shorty beginning to find his own trademark sound and style. Shorty moved to Seattle in 1960 and through his friend, Marsha Hendrix, met her stepbrother Jimi. Jimi Hendrix loved Shorty’s playing, and confessed that in 1961 and 1962 he would go AWOL from his Army base in order to catch Shorty’s area performances, picking up licks and ideas. “I’d see Jimi at the clubs,” Shorty recalls. “He’d stay in the shadows, watching me. I hear my licks in “Purple Haze” and “Hey Joe.” He told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn’t do the back flips like I did.” Guitar Shorty moved back to Los Angeles in 1971, gigging around Southern California for many years, sometimes playing bigger shows farther away. He opened for all the great blues stars who passed through town, including Little Milton, B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Copeland and T-Bone Walker. In 1978 he even performed on (and won) The Gong Show, playing guitar while standing on his head. After overcoming a serious auto accident in 1984, he recorded an EP for Los Angeles-based Big J Records. After that, he cut a few more singles and his debut LP for tiny Olive Branch Records in 1985, showcasing his fiery guitar licks and deep blues vocals. The strength of these recordings kept him busy on the club scene. He even appeared, playing himself, in the 1990 Tommy Chong film “Far Out Man.” A major story in Living Blues magazine brought him even more attention and led to his first British tour. While in England, he cut an album for the JSP label. Released in 1991, My Way Or The Highway created a sensation among U.S. blues fans and received the Blues Music Award for Contemporary Foreign Blues Album Of The Year. It completely revitalized Shorty’s career in the U.S. With all the attention Shorty received, the New Orleans-based Black Top label signed him and released three albums (Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself and Roll Over, Baby) during the 1990s. In 2001 he recorded I Go Wild for Evidence Records, produced by Brian Brinkerhoff. All received an abundance of positive press as Shorty barnstormed his way across the U.S. and around the world, with stops in Europe and Japan. DownBeat raved, “Guitar Shorty’s music is a funky, boisterous buffet of off-the-wall blues fun.” Appearances at major festivals like The Monterey Bay Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival and The King Biscuit Blues Festival brought him to larger and larger audiences. At the 1998 Chicago Blues Festival, Shorty opened for his old boss Ray Charles and thrilled an audience of thousands with his jaw-dropping stage show. In 2004 Brinkerhoff and Jesse Harms brought a newly-recorded Guitar Shorty album to Alligator Records. Alligator released Watch Your Back, and Shorty’s long rise to blues stardom grew exponentially. The outpouring of soulful emotion, the power of his playing and the strength of the material added up to the toughest album of Shorty’s renowned career. Living Blues called Shorty “a blues rock original [who plays] screaming, empowered guitar and sings with streetwise defiance.” 2006’s We The People found Shorty delivering some of the most fire-coated fretwork of his career and the most thought-provoking songs he’s ever recorded. Critics and fans rallied, declaring their love for one of the blues’ greatest practitioners. Billboard declared, “Bluesman Guitar Shorty has been cutting sides since 1957, yet it’s difficult to imagine that he ever tracked a better album than We The People.” In a major feature in Texas Music Magazine, writer John Morthland summed things up perfectly, saying, “Axebuster extraordinaire Guitar Short…
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Marcia Ball
19 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Marcia Ball
event::about "A sensational, saucy singer and superb pianist...where Texas stomp-rock and Louisiana blues-swamp meet" –USA Today “An irresistible, celebratory blend of rollicking, two-fisted New Orleans piano, Louisiana Swamp rock and smoldering Texas blues from a compelling storyteller.” –Boston Globe Pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball brings the spirit of a crowded, jumping Texas or Louisiana roadhouse to every concert she plays and every song she records. Her music is mixed with equal parts of simmering soul fervor and two-fisted piano pounding. Her groove-laden New Orleans R&B, driving Gulf Coast blues and poignant, swampy ballads have made her a one-of-a-kind favorite of music fans all over the world. The Boston Herald says, “Piano pounding Marcia Ball plays masterful, red hot tracks from the Texas-Louisiana border. Her voice can break your heart with a ballad or break your back with a rocker.” The Austin Chronicle heralds her as “a class act whose soulful, horn-laden swamp pop and murderous honky-tonk make her a stellar example of musical artistry.” Ball joined the Alligator Records family in 2001 (and also hooked up with the influential Rosebud booking agency that same year) and released the critically acclaimed Presumed Innocent, which took home the 2002 Blues Music Award for “Blues Album Of The Year.” Her follow-up, So Many Rivers, was nominated for a Grammy Award, and won the 2004 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year” as well as the coveted “Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year” award. Her next album (her first-ever live recording), Live! Down The Road, released in 2005, also garnered a Grammy nomination. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 the Blues Music Awards honored Ball as the “Piano Player Of The Year.” She returned to the studio with 2008’s Peace, Love & BBQ (“Three of my favorites things,” says Ball). Born in Orange, Texas, in 1949 to a family whose female members all played piano, Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, right across the border from Texas. She began taking piano lessons at age five, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother’s collection. From her aunt, Marcia heard more modern and popular music. But it wasn’t until she was 13 that Marcia discovered the blues as, one day in 1962, she sat amazed while Irma Thomas delivered the most soulful and spirited performance the young teenager had ever seen. According to Ball, “She just blew me away; she caught me totally unaware. Once I started my own band, the first stuff I was doing was Irma’s.” In 1966, she attended Louisiana State University, where she played some of her very first gigs with a blues-based rock band called Gum. In 1970, Ball set out for San Francisco. Her car broke down in Austin, Texas, and while waiting for repairs, she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. It wasn’t long before she was performing in the city’s clubs with a progressive country band called Freda And The Firedogs, while beginning to hone her songwriting skills. It was around this time that she delved deeply into the music of the great New Orleans piano players, especially Professor Longhair. “Once I found out about Professor Longhair,” recalls Ball, “I knew I had found my direction.” When the band broke up in 1974, Marcia launched her solo career, signing to Capitol Records and debuting with the country album Circuit Queen in 1978. She released six critically acclaimed albums on the Rounder label during the 1980s and 1990s. In 1990, Ball—collaborating with Angela Strehli and Lou Ann Barton—recorded the hugely successful Dreams Come True on the Antone’s label. At the end of 1997, Marcia finished work on a similar “three divas of the blues” project for Rounder, this time in the distinguished company of Tracy Nelson and her longtime inspiration, Irma Thomas. The album, Sing It!, was released in January, 1998 and was nominated for both a Grammy and a Blues Music Award as Best Contemporary Blues Album. She also received the 1998 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Female Vocalist Of The Year” and for “Best Blues Instrumentalist–Keyboards.” In 1999, Marcia and her band appeared in the nationally televised Public Television special In Performance At The White House along with B.B. King and Della Reese. Her albums and performances received glowing reviews in major music publications, and Marcia was featured on leading television and radio programs, including Austin City Limits and National Public Radio’s Fresh Air and Piano Jazz. Since the release of her Alligator debut Presumed Innocent, Ball has received more popular and critical acclaim than ever before. Billboard called the CD “A stellar collection.” So Many Rivers, her 2003 follow-up, continued the trend. Billboard again fueled the excitement, saying, “Ball is a consummate pro—a killer pianist, a great singer and songwriter. Powerful. Righteous.” Live! Down The Road followed in 2005 with equally impressive praise across the board. The New Orleans Times Picayune said simply, “Bayou boogie has a queen and her name is Marcia Ball.” Over the last few years, Ball has been the subject of feature stories in magazines across the country, including USA Today, Keyboard, DownBeat, Billboard, U.S. News & World Report and in newpapers from coast to coast. Ball performed on National Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, World Cafe and Whad’Ya Know?, Public Radio International’s Studio 360, the nationally syndicated Mitch Albom Show, and the PBS-televised version of Mountain Stage. Ball was featured on CNN in 2002, and in February, 2003, she joined her friends The Hackberry Ramblers on NBC television’s Today Show. She was featured on the covers of The Austin Chronicle as well as Blues Revue magazine and even appeared in Piano Blues, the film directed by Clint Eastwood included in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues series which aired on PBS television nationwide in Fall, 2003. Since then, appearances on Austin City Limits and the Late Show With David Letterman with The New Orleans Social Club not only reached millions of people, but helped to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. She performed on A Prairie Home Companion again in 2008. No Depression says, “Ball takes her Louisiana R&B and soul from a stomp to the swamp and back. [She brings] dancehall power and majesty and no small amount of sly humor. Her hard-rocking, relentlessly rolling piano and heart-on-sleeve vocals don’t take much of a breather. Relentless tunefulness and finely-honed storytelling make for a truly enjoyable ride.” With her new CD and her endless touring, Marcia Ball invites all her fans to ride with her as she spreads peace and love—and enjoys plenty of BBQ—all across the world.
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
The Hobart Brothers, featuring Lil' Sis Hobart
19 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
event::about The Hobart Brothers & Lil' Sis Hobart is: Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston and Susan Cowsill. The band formed in 2009 when Jon Dee and Freedy got together to write a couple of songs about their early days in music, when they washed dished for a living. The band name refers to the commercial dishwasher know to all aspiring songwriters. Then, at last year's SXSW, Susan Cowsill joined as Lil' Sis Hobart, and the family was complete. In May 2010 they recorded a CD, "At Least We Have Each Other", in the lounge and kitchen area of Top Hat Studios in Austin, since the band was already set up there to rehearse and it was close to the refrigerator. This is due out in 2011. The Hobart Brothers & Lil' Sis Hobart will be playing SXSW with drummer Russ Broussard and bassist Andrew Duplantis.
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
Hotel Mama
4 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Hotel Mama, !!!
event::about Hotel Mama, Bogotan group formed since 2006, is becoming one of the best at the time of proposing and risking with musical genders from within the country through rock and funk, actually breaking some aesthetic conventions of fusion music and the new rock in Colombia. Their proposal calls for a progressive and urban experience of new music. The band has received excellent reviews from the public (Colombia / Venezuela / Mexico / Ecuador / USA / Spain / Italy) and form experienced and demanded critical of the country music scene. Major magazines such as Rolling Stone (Latin America), SPIN (USA), CMJ Marathon NY (USA), Shock (Colombia), Semana (Colombia / International), Bacanika (Colombia), Wave (Ecuador), have highlighted the music made by these five young people who are full of energy at live, musical acuity, complicity on stage and refreshing fusion. In 2008 the magazine Semana reviewed the album of the band as one of the top 10 of Colombia and during this year the Rolling Stone LA, chose the song "Arena Blanca" as one of the five top singles of the year. During July 2009 the CMJ festival in New York and Sonicbids chose the band as Spotlight at their portals, with another indie groups of the world. During the same year they received attention from various countries such as USA, France and Spain at the first Round of Cultural Businesses in the CCB and were ready in 2010 to sign with their first U.S. record label. These important awards have earned them invitations to play on stage at massive outdoor festivals like Rock al parque (one of the most important in Latin America) and Quitu Raymi in Ecuador, but also at exigent and specialized scenarios such as the National Museum of Colombia and the Leon de Greiff auditorium (the largest in the country) and in different national TV channels where they have made some unplugged concerts, interviews and tributes to other artists. In 2010 the group recorded a 3 tracks EP called "El grande", which means "The big one", releasing their first single "La corriente" in early November. With this new work the band shows a sound, image and staging much stronger with songs like "La ausencia" and "Dígame Usted".
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
De Juepuchas
15 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists De Juepuchas
event::about English The project is inspired by The Avalanches and Girl Talk, and the new common culture of creativity and collective intelligence which takes advantage of digital resources and enabling internet sharing to harness new forms and possibilities of creation. The album ("Ser De Juepuchas Varios Años" or "Being De Juepuchas for several years") launched in early 2009, includes about 1000 fragments used different sound from popular culture, the idiosyncrasies sound and audible spectrum of Colombian memory within which there are many sounds programs, popular soap operas, songs and everyday sounds of decades of yesterday and today. Our proposal beyond the music is a vehicle to promote the democratization of ideas, liberation of content and collective creation, additionally, uses sound and music as a platform to socialize their daily problems and calls for awareness community and the importance of memory in the construction of a present. The proposal also suggests the recovery of public spaces overlooked or underestimated, to call for participation, inclusion, diversity, socialization of culture, we believe in the worldwide music and culture as a facilitator social cohesion. Juepuchas makes use of memory as a resource, from the ones that affect you as an individual to those that are shared among friends, colleagues, even nations. Audible memory is part of a picture that unite, spins and link us together. Spanish De Juepuchas, proyecto inspirado en The Avalanches, Girl Talk, I.M.S., Beta Band, y la nueva cultura de la creatividad común y la inteligencia colectiva, aprovecha los recursos digitales y el compartir que habilita internet para aprovechar las nuevas formas y posibilidades de creación. En el álbum (Ser De Juepuchas Por Varios Años) lanzado a inicios del 2009, se utilizan aproximadamente 1000 fragmentos sonoros diferentes, provenientes de la cultura popular, la idiosincracia sonora y el espectro de la memoria audible colombiana dentro de la cual se encuentran innumerables sonidos de programas y novelas populares, canciones y sonidos cotidianos de décadas del ayer y hoy. Su propuesta más allá de la música también es un vehículo para promover la democratización de las ideas, la liberación de contenidos y la creación colectiva, adicionalmente se utiliza el sonido y la música como plataforma de socialización de problemáticas cotidianas y hace un llamado de conciencia sobre la colectividad y lo importante de la memoria en la construcción de un presente. La propuesta en vivo sugiere la recuperación de espacios públicos olvidados o subestimados, para llamar a la participación, a la inclusión, a la diversidad, a la socialización de la cultura; creemos en la música para todo el mundo y en la cultura como facilitador de cohesión social. De Juepuchas hace uso de la memoria como recurso, memorias que parten desde lo individual hasta aquellas que se comparten entre amigos, colegas, incluso naciones. La memoria audible hace parte de un imaginario que nos vincula; vínculo que hila y une.
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Estados Alterados
5 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Estados Alterados
event::about English Version Estados Alterados was formed in 1986 by a group of young students: Elvis (Fernando Sierra, vocals), Tato (Gabriel Lopera, keyboards & programming), and Ricky (Ricardo Restrepo, drums), who stepped in for Mana (Carlos Uribe) after he passed away in a car accident. Since its start, Estados Alterados has explored electronic rock, then known and admired by few in Latin America, going on to become a pioneering band in the Spanish-speaking world. Their 1990 self-titled debut album experimented with acoustic and electronic sounds inspired by the synthesizers and sequencers of the time. They count Kraftwerk, Depeche Mode, Devo, and Gary Newman, among others, as their influences. Their latest effort, Romances Cientificos (Scientific Romances), was released in 2010 after an absence of more than ten years from the studio. The cutting edge sound of this twelve-track album produced by UK native Phil Vinall (Placebo, Radiohead, Zo©, Elastica) confirms Estados Alterados' return with its uncompromising innovation intact. In March of this same year, the band launched its Latin American tour with Coldplay in Bogot¡, followed by festival appearances in Mexico City (Vive Latino), Medelln (Altavoz), and Bogot¡ (Rock al Parque 2010). Joining the band on stage since November 2009: Alejandro Jaramillo, Carlos Calvo and Oliver Camargo. *** Estados Alterados became a pioneer of the modern Colombian Rock scene, paving the road for others to follow. Juanes, then singer/guitarist for Ekhymosis, toured with the band as a guest member. Estados Alterados also collaborated with H©ctor Buitrago and Andrea Echeverri who then went on to form Aterciopelados. The band's first hit singles, Muevete (Move) and El Velo (The Veil), from their debut album-Estados Alterados- (1991) produced by Colombian Rock legend Victor Garcia, are now considered classics of the overall Latin American electronic music scene. A major milestone was reached in 1991 when MTV began airing the video for El Velo, directed by Simon Brand (Shakira, La Ley, Juanes), as this was the first music video from a Colombian band to be on MTV's play rotation. This was followed up by the videos for Selfish (1993), Nada (Nothing 1993), Seres de la Noche (Night Beings 1993), and La Fiebre de Marzo (Spring Fever 1995) also receiving ongoing airplay by MTV, BOX, TeleHit, and other music video channels throughout North & South America. Another milestone was reached in 1993 when Estados Alterados became the first Colombian rock band to embark on a tour of the United States, launching headfirst into this market at a time when Colombian Rock was virtually unknown. The band begins to experiment with sounds from other genres for their second and third albums, Cuarto Acto(Act Four 1993) and Rojo Sobre Rojo (Red on Red 1995). Camilo Zuleta joins the band as its lead guitarist, while Federico Lopez, their studio guitarist and live sound engineer, gets more involved with the production of these efforts. Federico and English DJ/Producer Richard Blair (Peter Gabriel, Sidestepper) handled the final production duties on Cuarto Acto. The later half of the 90s brought about major changes to the band. In 1996, Estados Alterados decides to leave its label, Discos Fuentes, prompting the release of its greatest hits album Lo Esencial-Extracto 89-96. Then in 1998, the band starts work on a new album with Argentinean Musician/Producer and Latin Grammy Awarded, Tweety Gonzalez (Soda Stereo, Gustavo Cerati, Fito Paez). Unfortunately, this 4th studio album, recorded in Guatemala, was never publicly released due to the new label's collapse. That same year saw Tweety Gonzalez perform with the band at Bogota's Rock al Parque, which would be the band's final live show of the 90's. At the end of the decade, Warner Music Latina invites Estados Alterados to perform a track on the Spanish Rock tribute album to The Cure, Por que No Puedo Ser Tº (Why Can't I be You 1999). The band's rendition of A Forest proves to be yet another example of the band's original sound and style. The band became a sort of myth in these intervening years of creative silence. In fact, when the legendary Gustavo Cerati was recently asked about Rock music in Colombia, he responded, I always think of Estados Alterados. ~ Viviane Mahieux/Glenn Arango Spanish Version Estados Alterados es el producto de una amistad que naci³ en 1986 entre j³venes estudiantes en Medelln, Colombia: Elvis (Fernando Sierra ' voz), Tato (Gabriel Lopera ' teclados y programaci³n), y Ricky (Ricardo Restrepo ' baterista), quien ingresa al grupo reemplazando a Mana (Carlos Uribe, fallecido en un accidente automovilstico). Desde su inicio, Estados Alterados explora el rock electr³nico, entonces conocido y admirado por pocos en Latinoam©rica, convirti©ndose en un grupo pionero en el mundo de habla hispana. Su primer disco hom³nimo sale a finales de 1990. Este ¡lbum independiente experimenta con una combinaci³n de sonidos electr³nicos y acºsticos inspirados por los sintetizadores y secuenciadores del momento. Kraftwert, Depeche Mode, Devo, Gary Newman entre otros conforman sus influencias. Su m¡s reciente ¡lbum, Romances Cientficos, se lanza en el 2010 despu©s de m¡s de diez a±os sin trabajo de estudio. Producido por el productor brit¡nico Phil Vinall (Placebo, Radiohead, Zoe, Elastica), este ¡lbum de 12 canciones y un sonido vanguardista confirma que Estados Alterados vuelve a los escenarios con su compromiso de innovaci³n intacto. En marzo del mismo a±o, Estados Alterados empieza su gira en Latinoam©rica con un concierto junto a Coldplay en Bogot¡, seguido por el festival Vive Latino en M©xico D.F, Altavoz en Medelln y Rock al Parque 2010 en Bogot¡. Con la banda en escena desde noviembre 2009 están: Alejandro Jaramillo, Carlos Calvo and Oliver Camargo. *** Los primeros hits de Estados Alterados, Mu©vete y El Velo, incluidos en su primer ¡lbum Estados Alterados (1991), el cual fue producido por Vctor Garca leyenda del rock colombiano, son ahora cl¡sicos del rock electr³nico latinoamericano. Con El Velo, video dirigido por Sim³n Brand (Shakira, La Ley, Juanes) en 1991, la cadena MTV decide por primera vez abrirle el espacio a una banda colombiana de rock. Esta fue la plataforma para que otros videos del grupo, como Selfish (1993), Nada (1993), Seres de la Noche (1993) y La Fiebre de Marzo (1995), fueran programados en MTV, BOX, TeleHit y otros canales musicales, desde Estados Unidos hasta Argentina. En 1993 Estados Alterados inicia la primera gira de un grupo de rock colombiano en los Estados Unidos, enfrent¡ndose al mercado anglosaj³n cuando el rock en espa±ol aun tena poco espacio en los medios. Desde sus inicios, Estados Alterados crey³ en el movimiento rock en su idioma y as es como Juanes entonces cantante y guitarrista de Ekhymosis acompa±a a la banda por casi tres a±os como guitarrista invitado. El grupo tambi©n colabora con H©ctor y Andrea, quienes posteriormente seran Aterciopelados, y con otras importantes bandas latinoamericanas. Federico L³pez, quien desde el primer ¡lbum haba estado con la banda como guitarrista de sesi³n e ingeniero de sonido en vivo, entra a hacer parte de la producci³n de Cuarto Acto (1993) y Rojo sobre Rojo (1995) producciones en donde se experiment³ con mºsicos de otros g©neros. La mezcla de Cuarto Acto fue compartida por el mismo Federico L³pez y el ingl©s Richard Blair. Este ºltimo trabaj³ con Peter Gabriel, y fue uno de los fundadores del grupo Sidestepper. En estas dos producciones tambi©n se cont³ con la ayuda de Camilo Zuleta como guitarrista de la banda. Para el a±o 1996 Estados Alterados decide terminar su contrato con Discos Fuentes y la disquera decide sellar este episodio lanzando al mercado una recopilaci³n con el nombre de Estados Alterados-Lo Esencial Extracto 89-96. En 1998, durante la crisis interna en su pas, Estados Alterados se arriesga nuevamente y junto al ganador del Grammy, Tweety Gonz¡lez (teclista de Soda Stereo, productor de Gustavo Ce…
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
Herencia de Timbiqui
2 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Herencia de Timbiqui
event::about The band, Herencia de Timbiqui, is named after a town of the same name and it is formed by African decedents proud of their African roots and who have taken the responsibility of reviving the empirical knowledge from the Colombian pacific coast and fusion it with elements of contemporary urban music, in order to produce a global sound focused on the African roots of our coastline. Trajectory • 2003 Beginning • 2006 First place, free category: “Petronio Alvarez” Pacific Music Festival – Cali • 2007 Guest of honor, “Petronio Alvarez” Pacific Music Festival – Cali • 2008 Participants at “Colombia al Parque” Music Festival – Bogota • 2008 Closing night at the “India Catalina” Awards - Cartagena • 2009 International Night at “Petronio Alvarez: Pacific Music Festival – Cali • 2009 Marimba Festival: King of the Marimba, King of Bombo, King of Cununo, Best Vocal Performance, Best Group – Cali • 2009 Real Time Award: Best Group of the year • 2010 Fisrt Forum “Risk zone Shock”, Ministry of Culture & Shock Magazine • 2010 Launching of “Gran Concierto Nacional” - Bogota • 2010 Montreux Jazz Festival: “Fisrt Colombian group in the 44 years of the festival” – Mountreux, Switzerland. http://noticiasdeginebra.com/2010/07/18/festival-de-jazz-demontreux-un-exito-de-asistencia-¿pero-la-musica/ • 2010 “Herencia in the classroom” Workshop – Pacific Music Workshop at the Mountreux Jazz Festival – Mountreux, Switzerland • 2010 Summer Events – Zurich, Switzerland. • 2010 “Sala Underground” – Barcelona, Spain • 2010 “Gran Concierto Nacional” – Cali • 2010 International Night at “Petronio Alvarez: Pacific Music Festival – Cali • 2010 “Ajazzgo” Jazz Festival – Cali • 2010 Meeting of Mayors of Colombia – Cali • 2010 “Festiafro” Music Festival – Medellin • 2010 “Bogota’s Chamber of Commerce” Business Conference – Bogota • 2010 Recording of “Music Voyager” a National Geographic Television Program – Cali • 2010 Herencia in the classroom” Workshop – Pacific Music Workshop at the Santiago de Cali’s Secretary of Culture – Cali • 2010 Closing of the Pacific’s Day in the framework of the “Feria de Cali”. - Cali
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
Profetas
3 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Profetas
event::about "Profetas create a niche of identification for all Latin America, from 8th street down to Ushuaia. A mix of Afro-Latins, mestizos, Indians, whites, mulattoes and other races that make up this multi-ethnic America. Profetas is the new blood that runs through the sonorous veins of a Colombian hip hop scenario, thirsty for identity, novelty and urban reality." Rolling Stones, September 2006. Since 1997 Profetas has become one of the essential groups to understand the new urban music in Latin America. The fusion of Afro-Colombian music, reggae, rock and a strong basis of hip hop has helped the band to get a good number of followers in Latin America and some European countries such as Germany and Austria. The duo composed of the African singer Antombo Langangui and the Colombian MC Pablo Fortaleza, has received outstanding comments by music critics: already in 2001, the Colombian newspaper EL TIEMPO presented them as the revelation of Colombian hip hop, after the band's live presentation at Hip Hop al Parque (the most important hip hop festival in Latinoamerica with around 100.000 visitors). PROFETAS, a multicultural band with members of different origins and with different musical backgrounds, have so far participated in festivals such as Hip Hop al Parque 2001 and 2005, Rastazo Bogota 2005, La Fete de la Musique in Medellin 2004 and 2005 and in Bogota 2006, Rock al Parque 2009, Reggaejam Germany 2008, European Summer University Germany 2008. In addition they have shared the stage with Gondwana from Chile, Junior Reid, Michael Rose and Tanya Stephens from Jamaica, Culcha Candela from Germany, Alborosie from Italy, Los Cafres from Argentina, and Method Man (Wutang Clan) from the USA, among others. In 2008, PROFETAS toured Europe twice, first in spring as opening act of Culcha Candela's “Hamma” tour and later in summer participating in recognized festivals like the Reggaejam in Germany, the Reggaebenefiz, the Afrolatin Day in Berlin, and the Summer University Convention organized by ATTAC in Saarland, Germany. During these tours PROFETAS played 25 concerts in more than 20 cities all over Europe. In addition, PROFETAS won the German version of the European Reggae Contest, competing with more than 400 European bands. In 2009, PROFETAS supported the Latinamerica Tour of the famous American rappers METHOD MAN and RED MAN, and promoted their new single BAILA on radio stations and at live concerts around Colombia. In 2010 Profetas began the Baila World Tour with 25 concerts in Europe ( alemania, austria , Suiza), the tour have dates in NYC (LAMC) and 8 concerts in Denmark . After the success of their first record Amor y Fortaleza (Love and Strength), PROFETAS are preparing BAILA, their new groundbreaking album!
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
Pernett
2 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Pernett
event::about "...the most visionary and perhaps biggest PROGRESSIVE CUMBIA master!" (GENERATIONBASS September 19, 2010) "...this Colombian genius, who keeps expanding his horizon so extraordinarily that he might just be the most creative guy in Tropical music today." (CLUBFONOGRAMA January 28, 2010 ) “Pernett is one of the referents in modern Colombian music. This pioneer of the flourishing alternative movement in his country brings us 'El Mago', an album thatshows a folkloric sensibility touched up with electronic rythms.”('MUSICA COLOMBIANA DE AVANZADA' SBS Radio Online. Australia. Jan. 2010 ) “Pernett adds electronic beats to the music of both Colombian coasts and the resultis the excellent album 'El Mago'. However, 'El Mago;' is a folkloric piece of work, where musicians from the Caribbean and the Pacific join to create contemporary Colombian sounds.” ('EL NUEVO FOLCLOR ELECTRÓNICO DE PERNETT', Radio Gladys Palmera, Spain, NOV. 2009) Pernett is a prolific artist. This visionary of new universal sounds, closes 2010 with an optimum balance. He is definitely going through an amazing creative stage, in which his studio is a laboratory for constant sound and visual experimentation. It is important to highlight that Pernett is now a truly independent artist who manages his career through the new media and digital distribution. His strategy includes a constant bombing of music for free downloads. Pernett is also the head of Comunidad Serankua, an independent artist collective , (comunidadserankua.wordpress.com), where he is a blogger that interviews the community's artists, covers events and features players of the new colombian music scene. His fourth album, titled "El Mago" (The Wizard), is taking him far! This past summer was spent in Spain where he performed at the Pirineos del Sur Festival, Casa de Americas in Madrid and the concert for the Bicentennial of Colombia's independence in the Cubierta de Leganes. The album El Mago is actually playing all over the planet with rave reviews from press in countries like Australia, Spain and USA. It is also nominated as Best Artist Pura Sabrosura at the Premios Shock 2010. Apart from composing, producing, mixing and singing , Pernett shows us his fokloric side by playing percussions and the 'gaita', which is an integral part of his show. All of this without leaving behind his love for technology which make him and electronic artist that handles synthesis and video. He is also in constant collaboration with different artists from all over the planet. The most recent collaboration was a cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" . For this very special version he invited Will Holland, Quantic (acordeon) and Lido Pimienta (voice). On top of this he recently edited some very special remixes for internet, his mixtape Afromidi Caribeño stands out , and has received excellent reviews in specialized blogs. In 2002, Pernett began working on his first release in Bogota. It is during this process that he meets Richard Blair, who apart from engineering and co-producing his first two releases, invited him to make part of Sidestepper. Pernett toured widely with Sidestepper in USA, Mexico, Canada and Europe. The first result of his broad musical experience was ‘Musica Pa Pick Up’ EP (Sony, 2004). Two big hits came out in this work: ‘Huele a Mariacachafa’ and ‘Caribbean Raver’. After an extensive European tour promoting his first EP, he then releases “Cumbia Galactica” EP(2006). In 2008 he released his first full album “Arbol”, a ground breaking work with collaborations from Visitante Calle 13, Son Palenque, Sergio Arias from Malalma, Tostao from Chocquibtown annd Li Saumet from Bomba Estereo. These three releases are considered important exponents of new Colombian music. With 'El Mago' Pernett positions himself as a natural leader of this modern urban folklore, breaking barriers and experimenting with new elements. For this album he was based in Cali where he connects with Hugo Candelario and explores the traditional pacific coast rhythms. On top of this the album has the symphonic touch given by the first string quartet of Cali's Orquesta Filarmonica . 2011 will be a year of great international activity for Pernett. There are several releases in the works, he is finalizing his fifth album and preparing for international festivals and tours already programmed. "...the most visionary and perhaps biggest PROGRESSIVE CUMBIA master!" (GENERATIONBASS September 19, 2010 -Posted by Caballo,) "...this Colombian genius, who keeps expanding his horizon so extraordinarily that he might just be the most creative guy in Tropical music today." (CLUBFONOGRAMA January 28, 2010 - Posted by Carlos Reyes ) “Pernett is one of the referents in modern Colombian music. This pioneer of the flourishing alternative movement in his country brings us 'El Mago', an album that shows a folkloric sensibility touched up with electronic rythms.” ('MUSICA COLOMBIANA DE AVANZADA' SBS Radio Online. Australia. Jan. 2010 ) “Pernett adds electronic beats to the music of both Colombian coasts and the result is the excellent album 'El Mago'. However, 'El Mago;' is a folkloric piece of work, where musicians from the Caribbean and the Pacific join to create contemporary Colombian sounds.” ('EL NUEVO FOLCLOR ELECTRÓNICO DE PERNETT', Radio Gladys Palmera, Spain, NOV. 2009) “Pernett returns with his hands full of tricks and a selection of songs that can bedescribed as his best work so far. A real artist that follows his instincts and his roots,taking them to the next level and presenting them to the world in an album called 'El Mago'. This CD will travel in time transforming Pernett into a pioneer and fearless Latin American producer.”(CD REVIEW, LA FABRIKA USA Nov. 2009)
7:00 PM
to 8:00 PM
In Tall Buildings
8 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists In Tall Buildings
event::about Erik Hall grew up in the center of Chicago, among sky scrapers, traffic lights, pedestrians, parks, factories, and Lake Michigan. He studied classical piano from the age of 8, played guitar in rock bands and percussion in the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and studied jazz and sound recording at the University of Michigan School of Music. He is a founding member of the band NOMO and has recorded and toured with Michigan bands His Name Is Alive and Saturday Looks Good to Me. In 2009 Erik completed work on his first batch of original songs and named the project In Tall Buildings. The self-recorded debut album was released in April of 2010 on Chicago's Whistler Records, and the Chicago Tribune immediately praised the music as being 'dense, textured, [and] hypnotic.' American Songwriter magazine referred to In Tall Buildings as 'the aural representation of a pleasantly scattered mind,' and the album began to spread over the college radio airwaves, charting on the CMJ Radio 200 at #158. Erik spent 2010 bringing In Tall Buildings to stages throughout Chicago and beyond. The live band calls upon NOMO drummer and life-long collaborator, Quin Kirchner, and Chicago bassist/composer Matt Ulery (Eastern Blok, Matt Ulery's Loom). The trio delivers an apt distillation of Erik's songs' most defining elements, and they have shared stages with NOMO, The Hood Internet, Voxtrot, Born Ruffians, and Vieux Farka Toure.
8:00 PM
to 9:00 PM
The Megaphonic Thrift
33 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists The Megaphonic Thrift
event::about What do you do when your entire set of equipment is destroyed in a fire? Pedals that have been made especially for your use, one-offs, guitars set to specific tunings, altered in ways that are forgotten over time up in flames? More to the point, what do you do when you are about to record your debut album when the fire strikes? In the case of The Megaphonic Thrift, one of the hits of last year’s by:Larm Festival and already with a select following in the UK after the release of debut EP ‘Thousand Years Of Deconstruction’, you take it as a positive and, with the help and support of your fellow musicians in Norway’s hotbed of musical innovation that is Bergen, you borrow and lend and twist your sound into a new direction. You see it as a positive. Whether ‘Decay Decoy’, the debut album that came out of this cathartic experience, would have been similar without the influence of the flames we will never know but what we can say with conviction is that the end result suggests more bands should perhaps torch everything they own and start again before entering the studio. It may help that The Megaphonic Thrift approach to songwriting is less than traditional. Rather than entering a studio with a set of demos that are then honed to perfection, this is a band that, like their forebears and influences on the New York No Wave scene and the likes of My Bloody Valentine, Krautrock, Dinosaur Jr and more, see the melody as a starting point for the song rather than the key determinant. Thus the roar of ‘Talks Like A Weed King’ or the breakdowns and headlong push of ‘Candy Sin’ were not sculpted on an acoustic guitar in a demo room but came out of deconstructing and reconstructing ideas within Duper Studios in Bergen where the album was recorded as lead singer Richard Myklebust explains: ‘We´ve always been at our most creative when we go in the studio together to create, so we don´t focus that much on having all the song ready for takes and all that. It´s more about having an idea without any particular direction, then you see where it takes you. We try to always keep the good melody, even though we can get carried away with more brutal sounds.’ The Megaphonic Thrift came into being in 2007 when Richard’s previous band, Stereo 21, had split. Recruiting Feddi from Casiokids on drums he was then blown away by a show by Linn and Njal’s band The Low Frequency In Stereo. Once Linn was in place on bass she persuaded her fellow band member to join The Megaphonic Thrift on guitar. Having released the ‘Acid Blues’ / ‘Mad Mary’ 7” in 2008, the band continued to find fans with 2010 bringing acclaimed shows across the globe from by:Larm in their native Norway to Texas’ SXSW, the UK’s The Great Escape and Standon Calling, Berlin’s Popkomm and the Netherland’s Eurosonic. Encapsulating and visceral live, it is little wonder that these shows and a UK support tour with A Place To Bury Strangers led to praise across the board with Spinner describing them as ‘jaw dropping’ whilst The Fly fell head over heels for their intense performances suggesting ‘it's a struggle to recall a band more fragmentary and frazzled since early, melting-before-your-eyes-era Mercury Rev’. ‘Decay Decoy’ is released via Sonic Unyon on 8th of March 2011.
9:00 PM
to 10:00 PM
A Great Big Pile of Leaves
18 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists A Great Big Pile of Leaves
event::about Brooklyn-based trio A Great Big Pile of Leaves originated in 2007 when guitarist/singer Peter Weiland and drummer Tyler Soucy took time from their prior projects to start writing material together. The first six songs came together as the self-released EP The Fiery Works, which the duo put out as a free download on the band’s official website. As word spread online, the band’s fanbase grew - along with Weiland and Soucy's excitement to get back to recording. Taking advantage of the positive word-of-mouth, A Great Big Pile of Leaves released another self-produced EP - The Fiery Works II - again as a free online download. Within the next year, both digital releases accumulated over 12,000 downloads and the group prepared for a live setting with the addition of bassist Tucker Yaro. After playing several shows and writing a batch of new songs over the next few months, the newfound trio geared up to record the full-length album Have You Seen My Perfrontal Cortex?. Each member took on engineering, production, mixing and mastering duties during the recording process; the record became a full collaboration of each member’s respective influences and knowledge. "We don't like to set up any boundaries when writing; we don't consciously come into it with any walls up" says Soucy. "The three of us have a rather eclectic background of musical influences and we like to explore that and have a good time. The only thing we knew coming into this record, is that we were in control and that we wanted to make the best record we could; something we would enjoy from beginning to end with no sense of filler." Since the release of Have You Seen My Prefrontal Cortex? in summer 2010, the group has seen a rapidly growing fanbase as well as praise on influential sites like absolutepunk.net - where the record was reviewed with a 93% approval rating. The momentum continues in the rest of 2010 with a vinyl release of the album and a large-scale fall tour to showcase A Great Big Pile of Leaves’ powerful live set to a wider audience. “The positive reactions to our music have been pretty overwhelming so far, especially in a day and age when the Internet seems to be filled with a lot of negativity on message boards,” explains Soucy, “we haven't really gotten much of that yet.” A Great Big Pile of Leaves will be hitting the road this fall on their first national tour - opening for Motion City Soundtrack, Say Anything, and Saves the Day. “This fall tour is exactly what our band needs to be doing and at the perfect time so we're extremely grateful for the opportunity,” Soucy continues. “I spent most of high school listening to these three bands, so it's going to be pretty surreal to walk off stage every night and watch the rest of the line-up,” he adds, “it's going to be a great time.”
10:00 PM
to 11:00 PM
Vulture Whale
20 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Vulture Whale
event::about After playing together in Wes McDonald & the Fizz, Lester Nuby (of Verbena), Keelan Parrish, Jake Waitzman, and the band’s fearless leader, Wes Mcdonald, decided to convert the power structure of the group from a monarchy into a true democracy. Legend has it the band settled on its new name after guitarist Nuby dreamed of a vulture sitting on top of a guitar, eating a whale. Out of such fevered visions, Vulture Whale was born. The group hails from Birmingham, Alabama, where in 2007 it released its first self-titled album. So pleased was the band with its debut statement, it decided to release another self-titled album in 2009. “Sugar,” a single from the later self-titled album, was featured in an issue of Spin Magazine, and both albums were acclaimed both in America and abroad. For its current release, an EP entitled “Bamboo You,” Vulture Whale has risen like a phoenix from its own ashes and—through a complex ritual involving consumption of Golden Flake potato chips and Vegemite—morphed into the best American band pretending to be a British band influenced by American music since Guided By Voices. The concept for the project is not exactly new: Mic Jagger sang in an American accent on numerous Rolling Stones albums, and The Kinks interpreted Americana on their classic “Muswell Hillbillies” album. On “Bamboo You,” Vulture Whale combines its unique brand of eccentric rock with its love of British music like The Stone Roses, Blur, and The Smiths, as well as classic British rock bands like The Who and The Rolling Stones. The result is six songs that are among some of the best and most inspired of any in the Vulture Whale catalog. Throughout “Bamboo You,” McDonald—whose lyrics are always somehow both humorous and casually profound—sings with a playful, faux British accent that is as entertaining as it is inauthentic. When McDonald sings, “She went on and just stripped me for parts / at least she let me keep my guitar,” the combination of redneck philosophy with a quasi-Cockney accent is (surprisingly) nothing short of a revelation. But despite the role playing and subtle musical allusions to classic rock and Brit pop bands, Vulture Whale’s personality shines through, and the band’s charm congeals all of its influences into one solid and original artistic offering that is just plain fun to listen to. “Bamboo You” is much greater than the marginally interesting story behind its concept. The EP may be the bastard child of the band’s own musical influences, but it also is one of the catchiest and infectiously exuberant collection of songs this year. God Save Vulture Whale.
11:00 PM
to 12:00 AM
Ezra Furman & the Harpoons
68 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists Ezra Furman & the Harpoons
event::about Ezra Furman & The Harpoons A Biography (2011) Americans have an undeniable and insatiable appetite for voyeurism. Readily feeding them hearty portions is front-man Ezra Furman, who makes no qualms about peddling the deeply personal to the public and draws no drapes between himself and an audience thanks to his pulsating, confessional songwriting style. Through his eponymous Chicago-based quartet, Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, Furman employs the same open-chest honesty that drew ire for Ginsberg's Howl and spawned speculation of Cohen's Chelsea Hotel as he pines for his Wild Rosemarie and recounts bouts of transience during the making of the band's upcoming third studio LP, Mysterious Power. With lyrics featuring the fittingly dualistic motif of blood  representing both the humor d'amour and the stomach-turning stains of tragedy  Furman's music madly swings between wide-eyed sentimentality and brutally truthful accounts of life's grotesqueries. Forging ahead with Furman's brazenly rust-tinged croons, the band solders rollicking rockabilly rhythm and love-struck doo-wop sensibility with punk-rock ferocity and immediacy. In a musical alloy as unlikely as it is engaging, Furman finds release for bleeding-heart sensitivity and bloody-knuckled brawls of conscience as he 'declares open warfare on jadedness, cynicism and irony.' (Greg Kot, Chicago Tribune) Ezra Furman & The Harpoons are putting forth their tautest album to date with Mysterious Power, as produced by Doug Boehm (French Kicks, Starsailor). There is an impressive range of styles and sounds in this newest set of songs, but there is also a palpable cohesiveness that can in part be attributed to the full incorporation of guitarist Andrew Langer. A veteran of the Chicago-area outfit The Redwalls, Langer was used only in guest spots on the band's second album; however, his being woven into the fabric of Mysterious Power, along with the eruptive energy of Adam Abrutyn's drumbeats and the volatile McCartney-wails of Job Mukkada's harmonies, lends a complementary sonic counterweight to Furman's lyrics that drives the music forward. Don't Turn Your Back on Love and Wild Rosemarie are so intensely delicate and gorgeous they have a haltingly powerful presence. The anthemic catharsis of Teenage Wasteland and the frantic crescendos of Blood Sucking Whore reveal piercing vulnerabilities beneath their bold arrangements. The Harpoons deftly toy with dynamics more like the Pixies than a folk-rock group on tracks like Heaven At the Drive-In, while mixing in Is-This-It-inspired guitar hooks on Portraits of Maude and Blue-Album-style backing harmonies on I Killed Myself but Didn't Die. This third LP puts a stronger emphasis on beauty, building on earlier releases that toyed more with the irrepressible energy of youth. This progress is perhaps best showcased by Wild Feeling and the album's title track, Mysterious Power. Ezra Furman & the Harpoons have made numerous album of the year lists with their debut Banging Down the Doors and sophomore releaseInside the Human Body. They have gained critical acclaim for performances with Lou Reed at South by Southwest, Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Walkmen, Spoon, and Delta Spirit, as well as at major festivals such as Lollapalooza. They have attained international notoriety by soaring to the number-one spot on European radio stations and playing to thousands at Barcelona's Primavera music festival. Ezra personally embarked on the quixotic feat of recording an original and personalized song for every person who bought a special self-released EP. On top of all of this, Ezra Furman & the Harpoons deliver live performances that will leave you buzzing with excitement. Furman gallops and crashes around the stage like an asylum-bound Buddy Holly complete with endearing hiccups and frightening tics. He not only christens every tour with a nom de rock, but also titles each individual gig. Furman's witty and effusive conversations with the audience, along with his heightened attention to the crowd's prevailing mood and the shows named like children, creates an extremely personalized feel for every performance. The band grinds out riffs stoically and belts out harmonies spiritedly as they lay the aural ties to support the verbal locomotion of Furman as he careens and caroms about, filling the room with the boiling-hot emotional steam of a fully bared soul. Ezra Furman ÂVocals, Guitar Andrew Langer  Guitar Job Mukkada  Bass Adam Abrutyn - Drums
12:00 AM
to 1:00 AM
I Got You On Tape
7 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
Artists I Got You ON Tape
event::about IGYOT is without a doubt, one of the absolute heavyweights on the thriving Copenhagen indie scene. The band is a veritable “all-star team” of acclaimed musicians from the Copenhagen indie, jazz and underground scene, united by a unique tone of voice and an exquisite sense of taste. The music of IGYOT is a masterful combination of alt. rock and art pop. The songs are slow, brooding and mesmerizing, yet superbly catchy, ranging from raw, gritty and explosive, to the somber, hymn-like and celestial. The intricate, imaginative arrangements are centered around the trademark deep, hypnotic voice of charismatic lead singer Jakob Bellens, who delivers the complex, beautifully crafted melodies and dark, thoughtful lyrics with intensity and sincerity, as well as a dead-pan sense of dry humor, lingering just below the surface. History IGYOT was formed in 2004. Releasing their self-entitled debut album in 2006 and the sequal “2” in 2007, they quickly became darlings of the music press and gained a reputation as one of the top live-acts in Denmark. Switching from Auditorium to Tigerspring, IGYOT released a remix album i 2008 and their third studio album “Spinning For The Cause” in 2009 to rave reviews. Culminating the positive response of “Spinning...”, the band won the prestigious “Main Prize” at this years “P3 GOLD” Award Show - one of the highest acclaims in the Danish music business. They played a virtually sold-out tour of Denmark spring 2010 and during the summer and fall, the band toured the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany where “Spinning For The Cause” is licensed through V2. Coming this Fall and winter, IGYOT will return to the studio to commence the recording of their 4th album.
1:00 AM
to 2:00 AM
The Frontier Brothers
16 schedule::attendees
Location
Speakeasy
eventtype Music
event::about The story of The Frontier Brother’s recent history begins with an informal songwriting panel moderated by legendary DJ Matt Pinfield at the 2010 CMJ Festival. An unreleased preview to a planned 2011 LP, You Should Start a Band caught Pinfield’s ear, leading to the single’s debut on NYC’s 101.9 RXP. The Austin trio’s waggish, irreverent pop gem subsequently spent five weeks on specialty radio charts, garnering attention from tastemakers like The Next Big Thing’s Andy Langer (101X Austin) and KCRW’s Anne Litt. Hailed as much for their “blessedly unstudied weirdness” (The Onion) as their “satirist's sense of wit, towering hooks and winning melodies,” (Austin American Statesman) The Frontier Brothers truly shine in a live setting. From Austin to New York, the trio has spent the past year honing their gleefully exuberant performances before capacity crowds at the Bowery Ballroom, The Mohawk, Music Hall of Williamsburg, and Antone’s. Offstage, The Frontier Brothers are defined by the contradiction between the lively and provocative narrative style of lyricist Marshall Galactic, the lyrical pop drumming of Travis Newman, and piano wunderkind Brett Moses’ endless hooks. With songs that are at once catchy and artfully challenging, The Frontier Brothers have composed a fascinating sonic landscape for the strong, the sensitive, and the bold.
footer::loading