Pat Grossi is Active Child: One to Watch @ SXSW

As the mass music migration to Austin for SXSW begins next week, we know many folks are scrambling to get travel and accommodations in order (e.g. booking last minute flights, hotel rooms, couches and floors to sleep on, etc..). But in between sending party RSVP’s and stocking up on Airborne, make sure to check out the LP Questionnaire/Pick 3 series over on SXSW.com. Some of our favorite tid bits include fun facts and recommended artist-picks from notable industry friends and artists such as Nic Adler, Matthew Mayfield and the DeSavia/Knoepfle/Briggs trio. Now on to pt. 2…

Expect to see lots of festival goers and industry folks checking out The Young Veins. The new Crush-managed act is comprised of two former members of Panic! At the Disco. Their upcoming tour with Boston’s Bad Rabbits, who are garnering a good level of interest as well, will see both bands making stops at the festival… Indie-pop songstress Meiko will play Thursday night (3/18) at The Parish and it looks like her sophomore album will see a summer release, most likely on Interscope. Expect to see publishers in attendance… Labels are keeping an eye on California duo HoneyHoney who play the ASCAP showcase on Wednesday night (3/17), while Obi Best, who also sings backup with The Bird and The Bee, will be playing the ASCAP’s Friday (3/19) show… Surfer Blood have a full dance-card in Austin, with lots of performances scheduled. The Florida indie-rockers will mostly likely be seeing a lot of attention from both domestic and international on-lookers… Pat Grossi, who performs as Active Child, will also be busy with a number of shows next week, including the Thursday (3/18) Filter showcase at Cedar Street; the L.A. local has recently received numerous positive nods in tastemaker press… Those sticking it out through Saturday (3/20) should catch electro-dance act Pretty Lights at La Zona Rosa. The group’s first two albums have over 300,000 downloads and they head to Austin on the tail of five sold-out dates in their home state of Colorado. Classixx is another electronic duo to catch, they play the Green Label Sound showcase on Friday (3/19)… Finally a little trivia: How many 90’s-era rock acts playing secret shows during SXSW can you name? The winner gets a limited edition signed 7″ from Pedro the Singing Monkey…

Volapike @ On the Rox - Tuesday, March 9th

Mon. Mar 8th – The Romany Rye @ Silverlake Lounge (view)

Tues. Mar 9th – Volapike @ On the Rox (view)

Wed. Mar 10th – Meiko @ Hotel Cafe (view)

Thurs. Mar 1th – Slow Club @ Spaceland (view)

Fri. Mar 12th – Yellow Red Sparks @ Bootleg Theater (view)

Apple Sets Sights on Amazon Daily Deal Promotion

Unlike the recent hoopla over Abbey Road, no public outcry surrounding EMI’s recent sale of Olympic Sound Studios, birthplace of classic recordings from The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who and Queen… Apple is starting to flex its iTunes market share muscle with labels over their use of Amazon’s Daily Deal promotion that features deeply discounted albums for new artist releases… Music start ups MOG and Spotify to go toe-to-toe at SXSW, MOG to announce new mobile app… Time Magazine profiled soon to be Universal Music Group head Lucian Grainge…And Peter Gabriel’s The Filter has announced a new deal with video site Dailymotion…

That’s right, we’ve combined our three favorite things; great music, FREE drinks and good friends… It all happens on Friday, March 19th from 1 – 6pm at The Dirty Dog Bar in the heart of Austin’s 6th street during SXSW… We were lucky enough to land some of our favorite new artists to play our party (ok, we told them there’d be free booze and a backline, but they still said yes)… The lineup includes, Twin Atlantic, Jaguar Love, Fitz & the Tantrums, Gordon Voidwell, Jonneine Zapata and One Pin Short.  Join us and our friends from Double Stereo, XO Publicity, Propellerhead, SESAC and Brightman Music for a good ole fashion Austin bash. Hit up the RSVP and Event Page…

Thursday night Rumble L.A. is back at 3 Clubs in Hollywood… This month’s party features local favorites Rumspringa who will be unleashing jams from their upcoming debut full-length Sway… Also playing is Twin Tigers from Athens, GA who are making the west coast Rumble run through SF, LA, SD and will be playing The Rumble: Las Vegas that is a part of the Neon Reverb Music Festival… Opening Thursday night’s show is The Beaters from San Diego who will be supporting fellow bordertowners The Soft Pack on an upcoming U.S. tour… As always Rumble L.A. is FREE and presented by the fine folks at Future Sounds, RM64, Buzzbands, BMI, WOXY and Stranded In Stereo. We’ll see you there!

Rumble L.A. – 9:00PM
3 Clubs
1123 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90038

L.A. locals Dead Country added to rotation on KROQ

If you haven’t heard of VAMPIRES EVERYWHERE! you might not be the only one, but that’s about to change very soon. Century Media Records was early on signing the L.A.-based undead rockers who have a new video for the song “Immortal Love” currently in heavy rotation on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball. The band was signed by new VP of A&R and Marketing Mike Gitter and is the first signing under the watch of new label prexy Don Robertson. Their EP, Lost In The Shadows, streets on April 13th exclusively at Hot Topic locations nationwide, the band’s debut full-length is expected this summer… In a move to spotlight local talent, KROQ began spinning a new song from unsigned L.A. locals Dead Country. The band’s song “Euro Thrash” has been getting 7 spins a day and getting phones, thus spurring a flurry of label calls to the band. We hear S.F. station Live 105 may start spinning the tune this week. Expect to see label and publisher folks making a trek to Orange County for the band’s residency at La Cave, which is famous for its steak & seafood…mmm yum! Meanwhile, we hear east coast A&R reps are planning flights to Tinseltown to meet the band. Nick Raskulinecz has been tapped to produce the album and the group will be supporting The Bronx on a North American tour later this month [Update: "Euro Thrash" received an official add on KROQ this morning]… Back on the right coast is the Chris Long-managed Villanova, whose new song “Hard To Be Around” recently got added to power rotation on South Carolina’s influential WARQ and reached #1 last week with 42 spins. The band’s new album is slated for an April release. Barrister Tim Mandelbaum is handling legal duties and Atlanta studio whiz Rick Beato produced the new album. Stay tuned…

Gold Motel @ Bootleg Theater - Tuesday, March 2nd

Mon. Mar 1st – The Damn Sons @ Spaceland (view)

Tues. Mar 2nd – Gold Motel @ Bootleg Theater (view)

Wed. Mar 3rd – Vanaprasta @ Spaceland (view)

Thurs. Mar 4th – Rumble L.A. (Rumspringa, Twin Tigers, Beaters) @ 3 Clubs (view)

Fri. Mar 5th – Deer Tick @ Natural History Museum (view)

Sellaband Gets New Owners

A lot of talk recently about Sellaband, the music startup that allows fans to fund projects, first with the revelation that Public Enemy had fallen severely short of their proposed $250K goal for their next album and was even losing fan investors. That was quickly followed by speculation that Sellaband itself was out of cash and on the brink of bankruptcy, which was soon confirmed, but quickly reversed as German investors stepped in to buy the company… At the Digital Music Forum East, an analyst with the NPD group said “We’re eating our young” – claiming that services like Spotify don’t generate music sales while a company like Pandora does. Spotify was quick to respond stating there is evidence that proves the opposite… Music video site Vevo continues to show strong numbers, a quarter of them apparently owed just to Lady Gaga… The BBC announced that among a broad range of changes, it was closing alternative music station 6 Music, though it looks like Absolute Radio (formerly Virgin Radio) will make a bid on the station… Elsewhere Music Mastermind the virtual music creation startup co-founded by Matt Serletic announced $4.85-million in Series A funding… And The Agency Group agent Dave Shapiro in partnership with Rise Records has launched his own label Velocity Records…

Christian TV Signs to Universal/Motown

NYC rockers Me Talk Pretty have signed with newly minted Eight O Five Records/Universal. Jesse Beer Dietz with The MGMT Co. is handling management duties for the four piece ,who will see a release of their debut full-length We Are Strangers this spring; the album was produced by Noah Shain (Atreyu, As Tall As Lions, Nico Vega).  The band has been hitting the road hard, with stints on last year’s Warped Tour and SXSW performances under their belt, we hear The Agency Group has nabbed the band for booking… Get more info and listen to a couple songs from the new album at www.metalkpretty.com… It looks like Universal/Motown has picked up Christian TV, beating out others who were vying for the electro-dance act whose new video for the barely-legal jam “When She Turns 18″ was pricking ears and turning heads… Jumping to another branch on the Uni tree, Universal/Republic has signed the San Diego-based Dynamite Walls… In slightly more dry ink, Jive is gearing up to take a big-rock swing with Miami’s Atom Smash, and local label Dangerbird Records has added Minus the Bear to their impressive indie roster.

Danger Mouse & James Mercer are Broken Bells @ SXSW Kick Off Show

Recently SXSW announced that their kick-off show on March 17th will be presented by NPR Music and will feature indie icons Spoon, Broken Bells (the uber-duo featuring Brian Burton aka Danger Mouse and The Shins’ James Mercer), as well as Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, The Walkmen and Visqueen… Every year the festival features a wide array of artists; from up-and-comers, to established artists, to “unknown” potential breakout acts -it’s a mixed bag. We thought it was timely to pick out some of the artists who should be on your Austin calendars this year in part 1 of SXSW Who To Watch…

Brooklyn’s Cymbals Eat Guitars are making SXSW stops as they cross the country on their headlining tour with support from Bear in Heaven and Freelance Whales. With recent features and nods in Pitchfork, NY Times and NME to name a few, be sure to find ‘em at the Alternative Press, Dickies/Filter and WOXY parties among others… Lots of curiosity around fellow Brooklynites Das Racist who exploded online last year and have become infamous for their antics – at one of their recent shows instead of performing they simply popped on the Beastie Boys Paul’s Boutique, leaving fans confused and us impressed… L.A. local Lex Land has had a #1 iTunes folk album, has played live on KCRW and can belt out a version of the Habanera from Bizet’s “Carmen” better than any opera singer you can name… You may know the young Swedish pop-singer Miss Li whose ridiculously infectious song “Oh Boy” is in the new Volvo car commercial, she’s at the Victorian Room at the Driskill on Saturday… Other internationals to keep an eye on include Manchester’s Ten Bears and kiwi pop-rockers Kingston. Stay tuned for part 2…