It’s been known as a ceremony of passage, a whirlwind, and even a brand new world. However above all else, SXSW is a stage for storytellers, a platform for boundary-pushers, and a spot the place authenticity and innovation thrive. This yr, these six Nettwerk acts will tackle the pageant for the primary time, stringing collectively uncooked narratives and contemporary sounds that don’t merely match the invoice, they break the rattling mildew.
Picture Credit score: Lindsay Thomaston
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- Bathe Alone –
Bailey Crone isn’t only a vocalist. She’s extra akin to an octopus, enjoying the drums, guitar, and bass for her solo music challenge Bathe Alone. And, like the standard octopi, Crone displays a powerful degree of fearlessness in her method to threat.
On her upcoming LP (out June 7), I Don’t Do Humidity, Crone crafts tracks laden with jaw-dropping authenticity and unabashed scorn. Take “Blame Me” as an illustration, whereby Crone not solely chronicles the painful infidelity current in her recently-ended marriage however invitations the listener on a ghostly tour of a relationship riddled with dangerous math.
Ain’t no room for 3 / What’s she doin’ right here? / I favored it higher when it was you and me / However you disappeared,” Crone croons in her smokey but soothing vocal fry earlier than sonically laying the connection to relaxation. With satisfying resolve – in what looks like a grand “f*ck it” second – Crone suggests, “You must blame me” and closes the door (it’s a window within the “Blame Me” music video/quick movie) ceaselessly.
Because the Atlanta artist gears up for her SXSW debut, she recollects, “I [was] in awe watching my favourite bands play SXSW on-line as a youngster. I’m so stoked to lastly be going and to be enjoying my music.”
Picture Credit score: Ryan Lumley
- Bay Ledges –
On March 1, Maine-born musician Zach Hurd, the thoughts behind the relaxed-transcendent pop challenge Bay Ledges, launched his latest single “Silver.” Although a sallow telling laden with loss, the monitor is lined with threads of magnificence and hope – a silver lining, if you’ll.
“Stroll towards the solar / I want you’d come / Come to heal me,” Hurd sings softly, his voice virtually wed to the tune’s rhythm. For a second, amid the despair, Hurd summons a mirage in his desert of ache, and we, the listeners, start to yearn proper together with him, reaching for that distant oasis.
However “Silver” isn’t a one-off. Hurd, who initially began Bay Ledges in 2015 whereas dwelling in Los Angeles, has a knack for imbuing his music with palpable longing and tangible power. As SXSW 2024 approaches, Hurd will carry that very same power to the stage in Austin, Texas, telling SPIN, “I’ve wished to play at SXSW for such a very long time! I at all times considered it as a ceremony of passage for bands and it’s an actual honor to be a featured artist this yr. I can’t wait!”
Picture Credit score: Polocho
- Bleach Lab –
Initially from Buckinghamshire, a ceremonial county in South East England, the brooding quartet Beach Lab admits that whereas they’re excited to play SXSW, there’s one thing further beckoning them to Austin.
“It’s been wonderful seeing our US fan base develop over time,” the band tells SPIN. “We’ve linked and spoken to many followers about coming to play SXSW, so it feels actually particular to lastly be right here. We can also’t wait to strive Texan BBQ for the primary time!”
Pleasantries and pulled pork apart, Bleach Lab has a extreme sound that calls again to the angst and darkish emotional creativity of the Nineties. It’s no surprise the second of their two 2021 EPs, Nothing Feels Actual, was produced by Stephen Road (The Cranberries, The Smiths, Blur).
Now, Bleach Lab has launched their latest album Lost In A Rush of Emptiness, a title aptly borrowed from a line in Leonard Cohen’s posthumous assortment The Flame. The LP explores alcoholism, poisonous relationships, and sexual harassment – amongst many different matters – weaving collectively a tapestry heat with nostalgia and moist with heavy moods…an ideal addition to any stage prepared for a sonic time machine.
Picture Credit score: Christian Lanza
- Presence –
Southern California recording artist Presence, also called Jonathon Martinez, began his music journey way back, a hip-hop fan on the cusp of his teen years. In the present day, he produces anxious, pop-punky initiatives, however over a decade later, remnants of his love for rap nonetheless bleed into his music. As an example, when he riddles his latest monitor “SCARED OF THE FALL!” with a fast rat-a-tat-tat proper earlier than the outro, the tune satisfyingly transcends genres whereas sustaining its thriller issue.
What’s extra, Presence imbues the tune with a narrative centered round demise, misfortune, and even perhaps malediction. “It looks as if each time I chase some sort of pleasure, the world balances it out with one thing equally as horrible…Possibly it’s irrational, however I’m scared…scared to fall.” These are the phrases Presence speaks simply earlier than the beat drops and he commences dancing with the ghosts of his previous.
As for transcending, Presence tells SPIN, “Going to SXSW for the primary time looks like I’m going to be entering into a brand new world. Firstly, I’ve by no means been to Texas, however I’ve simply been instructed concerning the whirlwind this week could possibly be. I’m all for it, although, and excited for the whole lot it entails.”
Picture Credit score: Catie Laffoon
- Wic Whitney –
Arkansas-bred, Chicago-based Wic Whitney is a melting pot in and of himself. When listening to him spit, you may discover your many most popular genres happy in only one tune – even past music. The expertise is a storytelling-rap-soul-poetry-jam sesh amalgamation that feels much less like an onstage efficiency and extra like an invite to a firepit-lit kickback.
What’s extra, the Southern-inspired, quick-witted Wic is a champion of inclusivity, actively creating and holding area for individuals who are sometimes othered. At this yr’s SXSW, he intends to do the identical.
“That is my first time performing at a pageant, in order that’s motive sufficient, however this one’s doubly particular as a result of it’s within the south,” Wic tells SPIN. “I’m captivated with representing queer southern of us, being that I’m from Little Rock, Arkansas. I really like ensuring my lgbtq+ household feels seen in locations that don’t historically rejoice them.”
Picture Credit score: Noah Kentis
- Abby Sage –
Exploration appears to be a recurring motif in Abby Sage’s world. Not solely is she anticipating exploring Austin as a first-time performer at SXSW this yr, she’s typically immersed within the exploration of her thoughts, physique, and soul by way of music, and the Toronto-born, Los Angeles-based Sage has a knack for deep excavation, particularly on her recently-released debut LP The Rot. There, she inspects and dissects her relationship with intercourse, nervousness round her well being, uncooked moments of loneliness, and the inevitability of change.
With vocals that really feel like braided silk and rhythms like waves slowly lapping in a sepulcher, The Rot carries the listener to a romantic – virtually gothic – area whereas retaining one tethered to actuality.
In keeping with her explorative nature, Abby Sage tells SPIN, “I’ve heard so much concerning the power [of SXSW] and I’m excited to see for myself.”
You can too catch Bathe Alone, Bay Ledges, Bleach Lab, Presence, Wic Whitney, and Abby Sage at the Nettwerk x Grrrl Music Showcase at The Creek and The Cave on Friday, March fifteenth, beginning 8 pm, and at different showcases round SXSW. Click on here to be taught extra concerning the Nettwerk x Grrrl Musis Showcase.
To see our working checklist of the highest 100 biggest rock stars of all time, click here.
