SXSW Music Festival - South By Southwest Festival - South By Southwest Music

Bon Iver
What do you get when you mix equal parts of lovelorn folk genius and haunting winter landscape, and let it ferment for three months inside a remote cabin in northwestern Wisconsin? Bon Iver. The band is the progeny of Justin Vernon, who fled to the barren woods after breaking up with his band and girlfriend. He spent months recording what would become his debut album, "For Emma, Forever Ago." The evocative album is a testament to Vernon's skill as a songwriter, chronicling his feelings of loss through a choir of innovative harmonies and organic ambience. Bon Iver is playing SXSW after a North American tour with Black Mountain.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY
Q&A

White Shoe & The Couples Company
Influenced by Indonesian movie soundtracks from the '70s and jazz from the '30s, White Shoe & the Couples Company offer a refreshing break from the usual indie rock at SXSW. Sure, they met at art school, but the fact that they met at an art school on the other side of the world and have been called "the best indie pop band in Indonesia" sets them apart from the pack. The band's debut album, out now on Minty Fresh, swings with Stereolab-meets-Bollywood style.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

Alina Simone
Alina Simone isn't just coming to SXSW to promote her last record, 2007's lovely and mournful "Placelessness." She also has a new project up her sleeve-an album covering the music of Russian punk-folk legend Yanka Dyagileva, sung in Russian. Born in the Ukraine and raised in Boston, Simone channels Cat Power and PJ Harvey, with clever lyrics about being lost on the road, watching a lover crash before your eyes and finding out just how interconnected most of humanity really is.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

White Rainbow/Adam Forkner
White Rainbow frontman Adam Forkner has plenty of experience with psychedelic rock groups, but he's decided to explore a different style of music with his solo work, creating experimental/psychedelic electronic music whose references include Miles Davis, La Monte Young and Tangerine Dream. In addition, he incorporates multimedia aspects into his work. In 2005, Forkner released White Rainbow's debut album, "Zome," a collaboration with the band Landing that combines elements of space rock and ambient music. In 2007, Forkner followed up with three self-titled albums in spring, summer and fall. White Rainbow's most recent EP, "Sky Drips Drifts," was released in January on States Rights Records.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

Duffy
Duffy has well and truly arrived as the bright young star of the British music scene. Critically proclaimed as one of the faces to watch for 2008, the Welsh singer's proper debut single, "Mercy" (A&M) (after the limited release "Rockferry"), debuted at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Charts Co.'s singles tally in February on downloads alone. Duffy, who boasts a '60s-esque soul voice and more than a passing resemblance to Dusty Springfield, will give SXSW visitors an opportunity to taste tunes from her highly anticipated debut album, "Rockferry," due March 3 in the United Kingdom and in April in the United States.
BIO
CHART STORY

The Cool Kids
Chicago's Cool Kids, a hip-hop duo who've already had music featured in "Entourage" and videogame "NBA Live 08," have made it this far with fun, Lupe Fiasco-style rhyming, while riding on a rather curious fixation with geeky aspects of the '80s. After all, the Cool Kids proclaim themselves as the "black version of the Beastie Boys"-and they boast this without a hint of irony. 2008 is looking good for the Kids, who have an already substantial stream of press, a few YouTube videos and crossover reference points galore. First up is "The Bake Sale EP," followed by a full-length later this year, both on Chocolate Industries.
LIVE REVIEW

Santogold
Brooklyn's Santogold is primarily singer/rapper Santi White claiming a majority stake in this "group," with an assortment of producers and DJs, including Diplo and Spank Rock, providing the musical accompaniments. At times Santogold sounds a lot like M.I.A.'s recent work (they toured together, after all) but there's a heavy "retro-clash" feel, coupling dark, grimy beats with '80s-style computer sounds. And as with M.I.A., the cross-cultural reference points are numerous. Santogold is planning a spring release for her self-titled debut on Downtown Records that could easily continue the popularity of world-fused hip-hop.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

Port O'Brien
Bay Area five-piece Port O'Brien has already shared stages with Bright Eyes and Modest Mouse without having a full-length to its name. That'll change this May when the band will self-release its first record, "All We Could Do Is Sing," a collection of folk-tinged songs loosely involving the sea. But sea shanties these ain't, mate. Port O'Brien crafts beautiful, melodic tunes that utilize string instruments to their fullest. And the group is not afraid to rock out: "Pigeonhold" has it grinding down on guitars and "I Woke Up Today" revels in an Arcade Fire-style energy.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

Fleet Foxes
When Billboard wrote the first national piece on Fleet Foxes in September 2006, the band had yet to play a show outside its Seattle hometown. The worldview is considerably larger these days, with Sub Pop having snapped up the group in January and sent it out on tour with fellow recent signing Blitzen Trapper. An EP, "Sun Giant," will be available first at shows and then at retail on April 8; the band's self-titled debut arrives June 3. Key to Fleet Foxes' gloriously retro rock: Robin Pecknold's soaring vocal melodies, best heard on the EP's "Drops in the River" and the album's "White Winter Hymnal."
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY
SUB POP SIGNING

The Virgins
With a swagger and rhythm-driven approach reminiscent of the Strokes, the Virgins have made a lot of noise in and around New York in a very short time. The group recently signed to Atlantic on the strength of its self-titled EP, individual tracks from which have racked up nearly 20,000 sales on iTunes alone. Fronted by singer/guitarist Donald Cumming, the 2-year-old Virgins are fresh off a sold-out New Year's Eve show at New York's Mercury Lounge and made their first visits to the United Kingdom and France just prior to SXSW.

Panda
One of the most successful acts to emerge from Mexico's emo scene of the last couple of years, Panda is set for the March 11 stateside release of its latest on Movic/Warner, "Sinfonia Soledad." The live double album, recorded at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional, went gold in Mexico for sales of more than 50,000 copies within weeks of its release. The new album comes on the heels of last year's "Amantes Suntamentes," a Grammy- and Latin Grammy Award-nominated melodic punk set that has sold more than 150,000 copies in Mexico.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY

Born Ruffians
For a band that had played under different monikers without much attention for several years, when success came for Born Ruffians, it came quickly. With excitement generated by MySpace buzz before it had released any material, the band, which hails from Midland, Ontario, backed up the hype with the release of its self-titled EP in 2006. With jerky rhythms and yelped vocals that drew comparisons to the angular sounds of Talking Heads and Television, the band signed to Warp Records, which will release its debut album, "Red, Yellow and Blue," March 4 in North America and May 28 in Europe. The band will undertake a tour of the eastern United States before heading to SXSW.
BIO & DISCOGRAPHY
ALBUM REVIEW