Reaching For The Brass Ring: Philly Bands at South By Southwest (Part II)

One of the many good things about being a duo is the relative ease of setting up and breaking down your equipment. In an environment like SXSW, where bands are rushed on and off the stage with barely enough time to perform a five-song set, that kind of hassle-free setup can save a band a lot of aggravation. So we hope that—while five- and six-piece bands are sweating it out, trying to get all of their guitars, synthesizers, laptops, basses, and drum kits from one show to the next—local duos such as Reading Rainbow and Slutever get to take their sweet time and actually enjoy the experience. Reading Rainbow and Slutever perform at the WXPN/YVYNYL showcase on Thursday, March 17th, at the The Broken Neck. You can find both bands’ additional SXSW dates on their websites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVJWzVLG4JQ&feature=related

The electronica band Golden Ages are performing several shows in Austin (including our local showcase with YVYNYL). Last summer, the music blog universe raved over Golden Ages’ cover of Toto’s “Africa” (which you can download below), and many a blog referenced Animal Collective as a point of comparison. We, on the hand, hear a young band with a sophisticated sense of melody set to an electro-rhythmic, somewhat noisy background.

We’ve been fans of Kurt Vile’s singer-songwriter stoner haze for a long time. His new album Smoke Ring For My Halo is his best yet, with Pitchfork giving the album a Best New Music award. Kurt is performing Saturday at Auditorium Shores Stage at 4:30 Central Time as part of NPR Music’s live radio broadcast on WXPN (4:30 Eastern).