Bands like VersaEmerge are one of the greatest parts about SXSW. The scrappy quintet of Florida pop punk rockers was unloading their own equipment when I caught up with them. They recently released an EP on the Fueled By Ramen, and are going to be one of the headlining acts on this year’s Warped Tour.
“…a contest that will end in a glorious win… or a humiliating loss.”
You’ve probably seen the Sylvester Stallone sports film Over the Top. You saw Sly rise in the world of professional arm wrestling as he struggled to put away opponents in a battle of mind over muscle. And no one can make a sport look as exciting and visceral as Stallone, but what is it really like?
Mayer Hawthorne could easily be called a “throwback” to an earlier time, when the music was about soul and showmanship. Hawthorne is not simply a singer (or a performer). He is a multi-faceted soulful musician, who makes the music he feels. Whether dropping a verse on a Stones Throw label mate’s new track, or sitting in the studio with his band crafting his unique brand of funky modern soul, Mayer is doing Mayer all day long.
Mayer Hawthorne – Maybe So Maybe No
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I have a deep rooted fear to the 3rd power of CBS’s Chris Hansen, which is why I’m very nervous being in this small venue packed to the gills with pre-pubescent teenage girls laden in the latest Hanna Montana perfume. No, I’m not some creep; I’m just an old guy in the back of what appears to be a middle school dance uncomfortably awaiting the SXSW performance of NeverShoutNever!
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Formed at the edge of the new millennium, Maserati is as sleek, sexy and sophisticated as the legendary Italian sports car it takes its name from. It is fitting, then, that the band has dragged the glory years of psychedelic arena rock kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, with the pomposity (and vocals) carefully removed. In its place are white hot flashes of light pulsing to an unstoppable rhythm that will make you want to punch air and drive really fast in a car with wings instead of doors.
“…yummy boom-shooka-bow-bow actress Melodie Sisk is the appeal of watching Modern Love is Automatic.”
When a bored nurse named Lillian catches her boyfriend with another woman, she snaps out of her mundane life into something new… a life as a part-time dominatrix. Things get complicated when a new roommate with a desperate need for attention as a model enters the picture. Her neediness along with her horny boyfriend throw Lillian’s life into turmoil, or at least, a temporary nuisance with a dangerous solution.
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness has been on a brake. Not your typical ‘Hey , I thought it was o.k. to stick it in any waitress I encountered because we were on a break’, type of break, but just a well deserved year long hiatus to unwind from touring with their debut album Fear Is On Our Side and have a couple of kiddos.
Colin Munroe’s music is akin to a taco – a thin white shell filled with anything his brain decides to add to the musical ingredients – which is suiting seeing as he favors tacos over BBQ for the local Austin fare.
