Cannibal Cheerleader

The Cannibal Cheerleader Crew caught Holly Miranda performing an in-store performance at End of an Ear records on Wednesday in what was easily the standout performance of the SXSW 2010 Fest so far. Away from the hipster hordes and with only her talent to lean on, not riding a wave of unfounded hype, the chanteuse sounded as if descended from heaven, dripping down like the torrents of thunder that her guitar pedals created. Performing alone with only her touring guitarist providing backup in front of a sparsely populated record store crowd, Miranda invited all the listeners into her woozy, bluesy world of haunting fuzz-filled guitar swathes and twangy, soulful melodies, equal parts exposed and honest as well as murky and ghostly. Blasting through already classics like “Waves” and “Sleep On Fire” the singer-songwriter proved to be the greatest find of SXSW 2010 for this music journalist – her captivating presence and her singular sound hewing the hyped competition in half left and right.

Holly Miranda – “Waves”

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From the best show of SXSW 2010 to the greatest find of the festival, we turn to local act Megafauna who stunned the CCC at a house party on the East Side. Not to be confused with the Bon Iver associated act Megafaun, Megafauna is an Austin-based rock trio featuring riot grrrl extraordinaire Dani Neff as the axe-wielding guitar goddess in the vein of Marnie Stern and Ume’s Lauren Larsen with a taste for experimentalism and whip-crack heroics. While Stern relies chiefly on sheer speed and finger-picking, and Larsen throttles with waves of crushing sound, Neff pummels with pedal-less snarl, letting her Hendrix-inspired sensibilities do the talking as the group’s excellent rhythm section, featuring slap-bass and crashing drums, supply a smorgasbord of indie-rock madness for all to enjoy. Not enough can simply be said about this group whose loud-quiet-loud formula mixed with supremely satisfying and amazing guitarwork lead to a band that can kick out the jams with gusto while still granting themselves an experimental edge. Definitely check them out!

True to their face-melting metal form Virgina-based dirgers Salome absolutely annihalated the inside stage at Emo’s during the Brooklyn Vegan Day Party. With careening drum-work, bass-heavy riffage, and Kat’s indescribable shriek from beyond the grave, the trio turned the quiet interior of the downtown Austin club into an instant apocalypse. About the time the ‘Brooklyn Vegan’ sign fell of the wall due to the pummeling nature of the group’s blasting sound the audience began to realize they were witness to a grand metal becoming as soon-to-be behemoths of the scene lit up the darkness with fiery musical madness. Great way to start off SXSW 2010.

Salome – “The Vivification of Ker”

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In a shameful oversight to our big ‘Cannibal SXSW ‘10′ post, Brooklyn blues-rock duo and Cannibal Cheerleader fave She Keeps Bees will be playing the big fest here in Austin this Saturday at the Red House Pizzeria at 6pm and the Driskill Hotel at midnight. Catch one of these shows as a great cap-off to a fantastic festival – seriously, if you’re in the mood from some soul with a smidge of snarl, check these two out, they’ll make you cry and bleed all at once. Now that’s a recipe for Cannibal Cheerleader success.

She Keeps Bees – “Gimme”

With South By Southwest 2010 gearing up here in Austin this week, Cannibal Cheerleader features five ‘under-the-radar’ bands that will be playing the festival that are “must-sees” for anyone looking to find the musical needle in the haystack.

Holly Miranda

Having put out the strongest album of 2010 so far with the Magician’s Private Library, it will be interesting to witness how Holly Miranda converts her David Sitek-produced, dense orchestral soundtrack into a live setting. Look to spot some serious stripped-down blues rock and roll at End of an Ear on Mar. 18th at 2pm at End of An Ear.

Holly Miranda – “Waves”

Salome

With SXSW finally featuring some serious metal acts on its roster (High on Fire, Torche, and Dillinger Escape Plan come readily to mind) it’s no wonder that they’re selecting some up-and-comers to pummel new audiences as well. With a riff-heavy production complimented by shrieked female vocals, Salome are poised to pierce every eardrum at Emo’s at 2:50pm on March. 17th.

Salome – “The Vivification of Ker” 

White Dress 

Local favorite and Cannibal Cheerleader approved blues masters, White Dress are the best band to come out of Austin in years and more than deserving of all the positive press they’re going to inevitably receive. Check these rockers before their blues is about being too rich instead of too poor – we’ll be catching them at 1:15 Friday March 19th at 1711 S. Congress – Frontgate Tickets Day Show!

Follow That Bird! 

Even though the ferocious females in Follow that Bird! have been on the Cannibal Cheerleader radar for quite some time now they’re just now starting to get the much deserved national recognition for their brand of Sleater-Kinney riffage and rip-snarl musicianship. Check them out at the Dikes of Holland House Party at 4pm on Friday March 19th. 

Follow That Bird! – “The Ghosts That Wake You”

Treasure Mammal

Enough can’t be said about the inimitable Treasure Mammal – go to this show and you will have the best time of your life. Every year artists keep getting closer and closer to what CC has come to refer to as the “T-Mammal factor”, and that is their artistic proximity to the phantasmagorical experience of a Treasure Mammal show. Check him out to start off your fest Wednesday at Domy Books at 12:40pm.

Treasure Mammal – “Best Friends Forever”

Lastly folks, don’t try to do it all, buy a strong lock for your bike (don’t even bother driving), and come see She & Him with us Saturday night as Auditorium Shores to polish off an incredible week.

Arising completely from out of nowhere sprang The Magician’s Private Library, the debut album from Jealous Girlfriends singer Holly Miranda - and let us tell you readers, it’s a doozy, everything you could imagine with a title like that and more. Featuring David Sitek of TV on the Radio fame on the production boards the album is every bit as woozy and syrup filled as the Scarlett Johansson Waits’ covers album without the celebrity trappings. Instead, the record features a tried and true consummate artist experimenting and expanding a blues-centered sound into undiscovered, outlandish territory. Definitely a pick for our top album of the year so far – check it out immediately. 

Holly Miranda – “Waves”

We’ve been massive fans of the searing political pop-punk provocateur Ted Leo and his inimitable Pharmacists since the Tyranny of Distance, and we’ve followed with fascination his meteoric indie-rock rise, blasting through all spectrums of punk from soaring post-pop anthems to gnarled, grizzled fist-pumpers. Still, we were never prepared for the treat that is The Brutalist Bricks, a stunning masterwork of punk songwriting that’s every bit as ferocious and cathartic as the most pummeling of Rollins records while still maintaining the pitch-perfect pop sensibilities that have always separated Leo from the herd. In short, Brutalist Bricks might just be the bands best record to date – it’s certainly their most thought-provoking, political and perfectly punk to date. With the Pharmacists in their finest form in years, the band truly sounds like a cohesive whole and the record is mixed in such a way to give a sense of live immediacy, that these songs are being crafted and composed of pure energy right before your eyes. Leo, always the top-notch songwriter, outdoes himself with subtle yet stark condemnations of our nation’s current state of affairs while still inviting the listener in for his sonorous guitar-rock. Ted Leo has always been a rock god, but we didn’t know he could change the world – with this record he just might. Check out some tunes below!

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Ativan Eyes”

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists – “Woke Up Near Chelsea”

We’ve been following the progress of Swedish indie-pop wunderkinds Love Is All ever since the first time we spun Nine Times That Same Song years and years ago – and now it seems that after relentless touring and a solid sophomore LP they’ve fallen back into the finest of forms with their Polyvinyl debut Two Thousand and Ten Injuries. Picking up where the first LP left off, Love Is All remains every bit as scattershot and whimsical, without losing their basic pop focus, as they’ve ever been. Standout tracks include “The Birds Were Singing With All Their Might” and lead single “Kungen” both of which delight with their ‘Life-Without-Buildings-esque’ vocal delivery and newfound ‘High-Places-esque’ percussion and instrumentation. Lead singer Josephine Olausson lets her lyrics breathe with more definition on this record, singing and crooning on more songs rather than her traditional bark. Altogether the first great indie-pop record of 2010 – watch your formulas people, these guys are already tearing it up.

Love Is All – “The Birds Were Singing With All Their Might”