“I heard this was usually a gothic club,” mused Minneapolis-via-Kenya songsmith J.S. Ondara in his charmingly accented English during KCRW’s Tuesday night showcase at Elysium. SXSW can make for odd stage ambience, but the influential L.A. public radio signal made the most of the Red River dungeon with a stacked lineup.

NPR Music’s Bob Boilen said he hoped the inaugural Tiny Desk Family Hour on Tuesday at Central Presbyterian Church would feel less like a concert and more like listening to music in your best friend’s living room. It did – good and bad.

Tuesday night, as a mismatched crowd of SXSW Music nomads and Rico Nasty die-hards waited for Kokoko! at the old Emo’s – now Main and Main II – the collective high from Japanese grind punks Otoboke Beaver’s opening act soon waned into curious confusion. A filling room watched traditional guitars and drums being replaced with instruments made from trash.

Hard to follow Saturday’s surprise set from Father John Misty, but Netflix’s Highwaymen House buzzed palpably Monday evening. The Thirties-themed speakeasy setup in Banger’s Basement on Rainey Street hosted Jenny Lewis after Lukas Nelson as promotion for streamable feature The Highwaymen. Bedouine started the show gently with “Nice and Quiet.”

The lauded retro synth wizards behind Holodeck Records, homegrown label associated with Netflix’ 2016 hit sci-fi drama Stranger Things, are working on their second SXSW re-score premiere. Neon animation based on the Egyptian creation myth, Ra: Path of the Sun God is sonically re-imagined by three Holodeck artists live at AFS Cinema on Wednesday.

South by Southwest dawning, their Music team now releases an overall list recapping all 10 previous talent drops. Embedded in the master directory are also 211 new reveals. Leading the charge are Nashville grungers Bully, nü R&B phenom Khalid, teen pop breakout Billie Eilish, indie rockers Car Seat Headrest, and rapper/singer Lizzo.

Want to hear the music that Austinites are buzzing about right now, before they bust out of the Live Music Capital's confines? Our music staff has a dozen acts looking to impress out-of-towners and locals alike.

“Presenting artists early in their careers is our DNA,” explains Fader publisher Andy Cohn, who also oversees the magazine’s famed mid-March concert series, occurring annually during South by Southwest since 2002. “The climate we want to create with Fader Fort is one that supports music discovery.”

In the new video for the Sun Machine’s “Body by the Water,” a mysterious woman in white becomes entranced by a psychedelic vampire, who summons her out of the woods to a gathering where she allows herself to be sacrificed.