Bonus Tracks: MP3 - "Permanent Scar" - O+S MP3 - "We Do What We Want To" - O+S
MP3 - "Teen Creeps" - No Age
One panel from last week's SXSW music conference was entitled "Indie Labels Keep the Faith," though by all accounts the sentiment was fairly grim . "The decline in indie retail has continued in a free-fall," said Bloodshot Records co-owner Nan Warshaw. "Everything you've heard [about the troubles of major labels], it's probably worse." Todd Martens of the LA Times reports : Fellow panel member Howard Greynolds, formerly of veteran Chicago label Touch and Go Records, said the disconnect between the labels' needs and those of retailers were becoming greater than ever and that [...]

"Bergman Movies" is the debut single from UK duo Planet Earth , available now as a limited edition 7" from Young and Lost Club . The duo of Sam Lewis (acoustic guitar/vocals) and Nick Olorenshaw (electric guitar) boast a jangly lo-fi sound that reminds me of our LA friends The French Semester . There is also a vintage pop quirkiness reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian . The 7" artwork was done by Francois Marry of The Atlas Mountains and Camera Obscura , who painted a still from the Ingmar Bergman [...]
+/- cover Leonard Cohen at the Absolutely Kosher showcase.
Vetiver were one of many Bay Area acts at South by Southwest. This footage was taken at the SFxSXSW showcase, which was sponsored by Talking House Records . You can find more videos from that showcase at The Wave Magazine's blog . MP3 - "Everyday" - Vetiver
Documentary filmmaker Ondi Timoner ( Dig ) was at South by Southwest promoting her new film, We Live in Public . PBS caught up with her for an interview about the project.
This makes me just a wee bit less jealous...
Famed copyright guru Lawrence Lessig has a new mission - Change Congress - which has become the focus of his work. His keynote at South by Southwest focused on this.
I'm vicariously living my SXSW experience through Twitter, WOXY, and YouTube. MP3 - "Rubber Traits" - Why? MP3 - "The Hollows" -Why
The Mae Shi have just begun to rock Austin, Texas. Follow them on Twitter for the latest on where to find them.
I may not be at South by Southwest, but I feel like I am given the sheer number of folks tweeting about it. And now some videos have even started making their way to YouTube, like this one of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart rocking yesterday's Terrorbird/Force Field party. We have been enjoying the band's self-titled debut - which is out on Oakland-based Slumberland Records - a great deal around these parts. MP3 - "Come Saturday" - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
"Concrete Blonde on Blonde" is a fabulous track from Grand Lake 's debut record, Nevermint , out next week on 500 Records . MP3 - " Concrete Blonde on Blonde" - Grand Lake

Jukebox is a feature where we ask our favorite artists, bloggers and DJs their opinions on four songs that are currently generating buzz. Then we ask them for four songs that we should be buzzing about. This week, we put quarters in the record machine with Melissa and Ken of Shiloe ... "First Time High" - Of Montreal Melissa: Oh, this is not my jam. Way too poppy and twee. Probably not surprising, given the type of music Ken and I produce, but this kind of [...]

+ Our pals The French Semester (pictured above) won the Deli LA 's Band of the Month Poll for March. The quartet plays the Knitting Factory in LA tonight! The French Semester have one more LA show scheduled before embarking on an international tour that will taken them to France, Spain and Germany. + Birds and Batteries have a pretty sweet offer for you : "Hey. We're on tour and need music for listening. If you bring us a mix, we'll give you a CD of ours or get [...]

MP3 - " Fangela " - Here We Go Magic This week, thousands of musicians, bloggers, critics, fans and a number of my friends will be descending onto the streets of Austin, Texas for South by Southwest. I will not be there, so the music conference taking place in my head will simply have to suffice. For those attending, one band they should certainly not miss is Here We Go Magic (from - where else? - Brooklyn, NY). Luke Temple is best known as a [...]

It is really no big secret that I have a great deal of admiration for Jack White. In one of the very first blog posts I ever wrote, I said, "If music is the universe, then Jack White gets his own planet." Of course, when I look up to an artist in any medium (say Kanye West or Steven Soderbergh), it is usually not just for their talent but also their business savvy. Now, I can welcome White into this club. The big news of last week was that White went and started himself another [...]

Anticon recording artists Themselves have finally dropped their highly anticipated mixtape, theFREEhoudini . You can download it for free by signing up for the Anticon newsletter. Or if you would prefer a limited edition, individually numbered version with an additional 15 minutes, you can purchase one of those . theFREEhoudini marks a return for Themselves after a six year hiatus. The duo has wasted no time reestablishing, well, themselves, with a bevvy of SXSW appearances slated for this week. Besides the duo of Doseone and Jel, [...]
The Mae Shi dropped "R U Professional" barely 24 hours after Christian Bale's on-set tirade hit the internets. Now it has a quality video celebrating Bale's body of work to go along with it...