We here at Alt Citizen are extremely jealous of those lucky enough to traverse the endless musical landscape of SXSW — we’re too busy working on our upcoming event at Brooklyn Night Bazaar! The weather’s finally taking a turn for the better here on the East Coast, but we’d much rather be in Austin partying to some good tunes with you. So here’s our quick, unabashed if-we-were-there list of bands we would catch at SXSW.
1. Childish Gambino
Donald Glover may have initially won your heart as Troy on Community, but the dude has some serious skills on the mic, both singing and rapping. Not to mention, his recent album/multimedia project Because the Internet is some of the most innovative work we’ve seen in the hip hop scene to date. Catch the endlessly clever and insightful jokester and try to party with him afterward.
2. Broken Bells
“Holding on For Life” can easily rival any of the disco Daft Punk can dream up, which is why we would definitely check out Broken Bells given a moment’s notice. Brian Burton and and James Mercer have proved their individual mettle through their main projects — Danger Mouse and the Shins, respectfully — but their collaboration has its own unique, dancey pull. Let us know how the indie giants fair!
3. Future Islands
If Future Islands can downright kill it on Letterman, we can only imagine what they’re capable of at SXSW. Dreamy synth music bursting with crooning and Tom Waits inspired growls? Count us in.
4. Lucius
Lucius do work. Their melodies and choruses are highly polished and volatile, with vocals that reach for the skies but end up somewhere even farther and otherwordly. They’ve got SXSW’s indie pop fix covered for sure.
