SXSW preview: Seven more buzz bands to see at Sx 2024

The South By Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) is a time to make the rounds and discover new artists and sounds you may have yet to be exposed to before coming to Austin for the week-long musical happenings. It can be easy to get intimidated when glancing at the hundreds of performing artists. That is understandable for out of town music fans, so we’re bringing you seven more buzz bands to catch while you roam the streets of Austin in the coming weeks. All performing artists and set times can be found on the SXSW website or the SXSW GO smartphone application. 

Population II

Hard-hitting power trio Population II is a Canadian band whose influences range from funk, psych, and jazz-oriented technicality. With a lineup rounded out by singer/drummer Pierre-Luc Gratton, guitarist/keyboardist Tristan Lacombe, and bassist Sébastien Provençal, Population II has the collective tendency to abandon a song’s conventional structure for their doom metal-infused, synth-ridden meltdowns. Since performing in Austin for SXSW 2022, the monstrous Canadian act is returning for multiple showcases featuring their proficient, forward-thinking, progressive approach. The band has also been a signee of John Dwyer’s Castle Face Records, showing them in the vein of progressive psych knowhow. Check their latest full-length, Électrons libres du qu​é​bec.

Bar Italia

London’s Bar Italia has released two albums in less than a year. Duly prolific, the UK band brings something different to the indie rock table, a sound from minor-key strummed guitars accompanied by the harrowing sorrows that exist on 2023 full-lengths Tracey Denim and The Twits. Bar Italia dabbles in post-punk, borrowing sounds from goth pioneers Bauhaus and Siouxsie and the Banshees, embracing darkness while embodying jangly guitars and other means of raw instrumentation. Since the band has received critical acclaim, the tour dates have kept coming. On top of appearing at SXSW, Bar Italia will play Mohawk Austin on March 29.

Faye Webster

Atlanta singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Faye Webster just released her 5th and latest record, Underdressed At The Symphony. Recorded at Sonic Ranch right here in Texas, Webster has been one to evolve while still maintaining the core factors that made her songwriting a coveted endeavor in her rise to fame. The new record also features rapper turned dream pop/alternative psychedelic wizard Lil Yachty, who coincidentally went to high school with the singer in their home state of Georgia. On “Lego Ring,” Yachty and Webster complement each other in a way that makes the listener hear a longtime friendship coming through the speakers. Webster will play Rolling Stone’s Future of Music at ACL Live, a multi-day event at one of Austin’s best rooms, which is also home to Austin City Limits TV tapings for PBS.

Grocery Bag

Austin’s Grocery Bag hasn’t been around long, but they’re quickly becoming a must-see in the local music scene. Culling exciting fuzzy freakouts from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard to the pronounced slam poetry lyrical delivery from Osees’ John Dwyer, Grocery Bag’s live sets make for a throttling, raging rapids-to-hell good time. Since releasing their debut LP, Break You, Grocery Bag has appeared at gig after gig, including an explosive show at Austin’s Red River Cultural District Free Week at Empire Control Room, which showed the band in front of a sold-out crowd. For more on Grocery Bag, check out The Cosmic Clash’s feature story on the band, featuring an in-depth interview with the band explaining their origins. 

Automatic

Austin Psych Fest alums Automatic are returning to Austin for more music since appearing for the psychedelic rock, Austin mainstays The Black Angels’ curated music festival in 2023. Formed in 2017 in Los Angeles, the all-female power trio quickly became known for their vibrant live shows, a radical blend of psychedelia and post-punk instrumentation. Since sharing the stage with bands like Bauhaus, Tame Impala, Idles, and Parquet Courts, Automatic has shown that their carefully sculpted sound spans many influences beyond the realms of neo-psychedelia while still maintaining a vibe that’s meant to captivate while making listeners contemplate the California act’s thought-provoking, immersive lyricism. Automatic signed to Stones Throw Records in 2019, a label known for hosting classics from legends like J Dilla, Madlib, MF DOOM, and King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard collaborators, Mild High Club. Check out their latest album, Excess.

This Is Lorelei

New York City experimental rock musician, Nate Amos is an artist whose prolificness always comes with his own brand of humor. Amos is also half of the newly acclaimed Brooklyn art rock act Water From Your Eyes, along with vocalist Rachel Brown. In Amos’ solo work, the off-kilter humor is still abundant, usually resulting from recording sessions accompanied by a spliff or two. Amos is an electric force, usually taking various approaches to genres that might resonate with the antics of long-running weirdo acts like The Butthole Surfers, Ween, and Mr. Bungle. Amos embodies the DIY lifestyle and commits compositions to tape that boggle the mind with influences of indie, electronica, country, lo-fi murkiness, and more. Since relocating to New York City from Chicago, the songwriter’s creative output has grown, and his musical accomplishments only continue to expand. This Is Lorelei is scheduled to perform a late-night set at Hotel Vegas’ intimate Volstead Stage. Listen to the latest single, “Dancing in the Club” from forthcoming LP, Box for Buddy, Box for Star.

Mong Tong

Taiwanese brothers Hom Yu and Jiun Chi make up the world-psychedelic duo Mong Tong. Taking a variety of influences from bands like Khurangbin, Osees, and Acid Mothers Temple, their instrumental introspectiveness stretches over many different sounds that serve as homages to music from all over the world. Taking their moniker from a childhood nickname, the pair show off their world music authenticity with jam sessions that build to monstrous levels of instrumental virtuosity. The Asian duo also embodies the spirit of Eastern art, often incorporating the historical visuals that represent their home country’s culture, which can discuss anything from ancient stories to theoretical, extraterrestrial existence. Listen to Mong Tong here.