SXSW Showcases

Lucero Family Picnic

7pm, Red Eyed Fly

Lucero's gathering enters its fourth year and its second SX, and, as always, the bluegrass revivalists/punk innovators sit at the head of the picnic table with the closing slot. But oh, what a family! Hipster-friendly hillbillies Trampled by Turtles will prove that the South goes a long way north as they deliver their purebred Minnesota acoustic joy before Lucero's Liberty & Lament labelmates Glossary plug in the overdrive pedal to raise the sparks of February's Feral Fire. The Tennessee rockers may give Justin Townes Earle a sense of familiarity, with a sound that evokes his pa, Steve, sharing a late-night campfire with Thin Lizzy. As for Deer Tick, the quartet left SXSW last year with Rolling Stone's David Fricke touting them as his breaking band of the festival. Early word on the band's summer release, The Black Dirt Sessions, points to its rawest recording yet, including a bleaker-than-ever reworking of the Bible-black showstopper "Christ Jesus" from Tick's 2007 debut album, War Elephant. – Richard Whittaker

Latinate Tambien

8pm, Mi Casa Cantina

The independent spirits that come together in this eclectic gathering soar into the future with abandon. Stand out is the Madrid-based Charades, fronted by Isabel Reviriego, whose airy, lithe voice brings a dreamy quality to the fivepiece. A nearly all-girl group, Charades' experimental pop songs are laced with Old World percussion and some occasional chanting. Mexico's Noise Beat Propaganda mainline indie/pop/New Wave with careful, unsurprising precision, but the party-starters of this grouping are the Name and DaPuntoBeat from Brazil and Mexico, respectively. It's puro party with the Name's punk dance rhythms taking the sneer off punk and nearly making it cheery. Electronic funk overlays and heavy techno wizardry give DaPuntoBeat's vintage rock a contemporary sound while staying true to the experimental spirit. – Belinda Acosta

Ecstatic Peace

8pm, Red 7

In an era in which "indie" labels come and go with the tides, Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace has bloomed, and with Sonic Youth on the back burner for now, the underground tastemaker's rock & roll circus is in full swing. Moore starts the night solo acoustic, followed later by Nancy Garcia, whose solo Ecstatic Peace debut, Be the Climb, furthers the sonic experiments of former band Monotract. Moore's Northampton, Mass., neighbor Lord Jeff rambles through the folkie jams of his upcoming LP; former Slits guitarist Viv Albertine debuts her dreamy new Flesh; and Servile Sect's Ecstatic Peace debut, Stratospheric Passenger, delivers epic fuzz that borders on metal, the perfect dessert after NYC duo Talk Normal's no wave redux. Outside, the jams continue with Peace pals Black Helicopter and Awesome Color, Aussie newcomers Violent Soho, and West Coast psych majors Entrance Band. Moore's "supergroup" Demolished Thoughts closes the night, following up his 1990s supergroup Society's Ills (Mike Watt, Dez Cadena, and Dave Markey). Version 2.0 features Andrew W.K. and J. Mascis, among others, so have a positive party attitude – it will certainly help during any illegally long solos. – Audra Schroeder

Hardcore Rockeros

8pm, Opal Divine's Freehouse

The hardcore rockeros come out with a vengeance in this showcase that veers from the hilarious to the ornery, from the highly experimental to the safely conventional. Brazil's MegaRex makes megafunny modern rock with goofy lyrics as useful as they are off the wall ("Promise to eat more vegetables"). When it comes to staying close to the true blue classics, the Hong Kong Blood Opera serves up its punk rock hard and fast, still steaming on the end of a sharp stick. No apologies from this dark-hearted foursome. The same can be said of HKBO's Mexican brethren heavy metal rockers Yokozuna. For punk rock with a dependable, driving melody, Division Minuscula delivers, as does Venezuelan rock group Verona. – Belinda Acosta

Rumbatón/Rumbia

8pm, Flamingo Cantina

Reggae, hip-hop, and rock are the common currency among the assembled bands from Spain and South America, and just when you think all hip-hop sounds alike, At Versaris of Spain comes at you with some curious choices (is that a Kate Bush sample?). Uruguay's ninepiece No Te Va Gustar layers reggae with pop and rock touches, a full horn section, and Emiliano Branaciari doing double duty on guitar and throaty vox. A megahit in Europe, Huecco's crazy wild rumbatón and mad rumbia, a blend of rock, rumba, and cumbia, combined with his muscular vocals, is nothing short of breathtaking. Of his two albums, Assalto is consistently jaw-dropping. This is a lineup well worth waiting for. – Belinda Acosta

Looking for a New England

7pm, St. David's Bethell Hall

In jolly young England, what's old is new. Bands from Newcastle up to Glasgow (yes, we know, that's Scotland) are employing ancient folk styles with contemporary twists. One top draw is Bristol's Jim Moray, who is about to release A Beginners Guide (Oarfin) stateside. Drawing from his acclaimed UK releases, this comp of soaring, genre-bending ballads ("Lucy Wan" guests rapper Bubbz) prepares an unsuspecting U.S. audience for Moray's fourth LP this summer. Also stepping up: Scottish collective Trembling Bells, led by the clarion-voiced Lavinia Blackwall, who wails and coos like a young Joan Baez. The quintet utilizes trombone and viola and has worked with Will Oldham/Bonnie "Prince" Billy. London's classically trained, harmonium-playing Olivia Chaney mines a similar vein of pre-Appalachian folk-pop. Praised by the likes of Elvis Costello, the Unthanks of Newcastle rock a little harder. Their minimalist manner shares flavor with jazz-rock pianist Rachel Z., and they name-check Freddie Mercury on "Lucky Gilchrist." Award-winning former Unthank Jackie Oates also clocks in on the new folk docket for the evening, as does Exeter's Gadarene, a quartet meticulously updating 18th and 19th century compositions. – Dan Oko

Mexican Summer/Gorilla vs. Bear

7pm, Klub Krucial

As the vinyl-only subsidiary for NYC's Kemado Records, Mexican Summer specializes in limited-edition releases that have quickly become required listening for the lo-fi cognoscenti and are frequently endorsed by Dallas-based blog and co-showcase presenter Gorilla vs. Bear. Previously featured on Matador Records' Red River bulldozer Casual Victim Pile, Austin's the Young has a new LP on the horizon; it's druggy and anthemic post-hardcore, drenched in reverb and dark hollers. Not to be mistaken with the Young Marble Giants offshoot of the same name, San Francisco's Weekend contorts screeching, primitive neogaze-pop through ghetto blasters on its 10-inch All American. Smell scene veterans Pearl Harbor of Los Angeles tone down the distortion on last year's sold-out and bass-heavy 12-inch EP, Something About the Chaparrals. It's classic girl-group pop on Xanax, distant and dreamy. New York/San Francisco-based Tamaryn doubles the same prescription with a dense, disaffected ambience that recalls a more gothic Dead Can Dance. Real Estate, likewise, notched two sleepier hits of 2009 with its self-titled Woodsist debut and chaser EP Reality – hazy mood pieces and sun-bleached pop. Known primarily for remix work, Pennsylvania's Memory Tapes – an amalgam of Dayve Hawk's Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes projects – offers a throwback to Manchester's ecstasy era on last year's Seek Magic (Acephale/Sincerely Yours). Like-minded headliner Washed Out rides the crest of Dreamwave on debut EP Life of Leisure, nostalgic synth-pop custom fit for tape decks. – Austin Powell

Japan Nite

7pm, Elysium

Even with Toyota's woes, rockers in the Land of the Rising Sun refuse to slow down. (Sorry.) On this docket, punk-friendly Osaka looks like Barcelona to Tokyo's slightly more diverse Madrid. Osaka threepiece JinnyOops! plays with the ferocity of Bikini Kill but with a rudimentary Ramones style. Things weird up when encountering the speedy ska muzak of sextet Riddim Saunter; we call it Urban Blight Lite. The Tokyo-based bandmates have three LPs to their credit and toured with the Vivian Girls in their homeland. The youthful members of Okamoto's say they want to scare "one adult at a time." "Right on" is what we say to their 1960s-style nuggets. Red Bacteria Vacuum, another all-girl hardcore act from Osaka, released Dolly Dolly, Make a Epoch on its own Guz Guz label last year and made a tour of California. Tokyo's self-proclaimed techno wizard Omodaka is a one-woman, one-Mac band: Soichi Terada and her laptop. Another trio of rock grrls, Chatmonchy has a new album, Coupling Collection (Sony Japan). SXSW is the Monchies U.S. debut. Wrapping things up is the rhythmic, aggro Tokyo quartet Dolly with a pretty grownup take on Japan's juvenile Lolita fashion phenom. – Dan Oko

WFMU/Aquarius Records

7pm, Encore

San Francisco wax heaven Aquarius Records and iconic New Jersey radio station WFMU could form a vinyl Voltron, crushing everyone in its path. As nonviolent underground hunters and gatherers, however, they still do a pretty good job from their respective coasts, and this SX crop is as gnarly as it wants to be. Denver's mysterious Epileptinomicon, NYC road ragers Drunkdriver, and Jersey slop-poppers Home Blitz crash the party early. Austin's Headdress, now a quartet, gets its desert jam on before Kelley Stoltz's 1960s love letter Sonny & the Sunsets. The second Texas entry, Dallas' True Widow, and UK quartet Todd round out the night on the louder side. Outside, Brooklyn's Liturgy and Denver's Speedwolf compete for the black metal in the 100-meter thrash; Baltimore's Iron Man longs for the days of Heavy Metal magazine; Wooden Shjips offshoot Moon Duo channels Suicide on its debut EP, Escape; UK weirdos Shit & Shine make your ears uncomfortable; Dead Moon's Fred and Toody Cole keep it real as Pierced Arrows; and Dengue Fever does the Cambodian bop. Bonus: Metallica's not playing down the street this year. – Audra Schroeder

Learning Curve Records

7:45pm. Soho Lounge

Globe-hopping and decade-skipping from Minneapolis-based Learning Curve Records kicks off with a Minnesota double bill. Jangly garage punks the Blind Shake play staccato stomp before "best name of the Festival" contender Gay Witch Abortion uses static-drenched hypnotic grooves. Expect the relentless guitar/drums twopiece to leave its own trail of dead when raiding last year's debut, Maverick. By contrast, Bare Wires is a knowing and joyous throwback to early 1970s rock. Gun the fast-forward machine to Belgium's Freaky Age and its unreconstructed 1980s indie pop-rock. Who knows what decade (or planet) Tokyo's hyperenergetic Camisama is from. From the deranged mash-up clip for the band's single "Sex," it's hard to tell whether the noisenik duo takes its name from the Japanese word for deity or if it's a pop-culture homage to the character from Dragon Ball Z. Don't look for post-punk Italians Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger! to reduce the intensity as they blast through the two-minute attacks on 2008's opening salvo, Be Yr Own Shit. – Richard Whittaker

French @ SXSW

8pm, Wave Rooftop

Even if the only French you know comes courtesy of Wu-Tang posse cut "Ice Cream" ("Parlez-vous français, mi amor, merci, oui oui, bon bons and all that good stuff"), you'll find something to like in this diverse set of artists from La République. Threepiece Papier Tigre (two guitars and two drum kits between them) roars Fugazi-ish punk from 2008 sophomore platter The Beginning and End of Now. Delightful indie-folker Cocoon (Mark Daumail and Morgane Imbeaud) delivers dreamy ditties born of gentle harmonies, acoustic guitar, ukulele, banjo, and the occasional beatbox. The duo's English-language debut, My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash, is sunnier than the tongue-in-cheek title suggests. Californian by birth and French by billing address, Brisa Roché cut her teeth as a vocalist in Parisian jazz clubs, an experience that manifests on the intricate indie-pop of second LP Takes. A Paris trio formed in Hollywood, Dead Sexy Inc.'s raucous electro-punk explodes on third CD Kamikaze, while the classically trained Sebastien Schuller channels Radiohead in his sorrowful electro-tapestries of Evenfall. Closers Binary Audio Misfits offer cross-continental rap-rock that pairs French rock band Expérience with Austin hip-hop collective Word Association. Debut album B.A.M! packs a bilingual punch. – Thomas Fawcett

Billions Corp

8pm, Antone's

Booking agency Billions underscores the many different definitions of rock & roll. For starters, banjo man and former Bad Liver Danny Barnes hosts this eclectic bill, which opens with Lost in the Trees. Solo project of Ari Picker, a Chapel Hill, N.C.-based singer and composer, LITT blossoms into a mass of humanity onstage, with nearly a dozen people populating Picker's lush indie-rock orchestrations with accordion and singing saw. If Robert Smith of the Cure were the lead singer of Modest Mouse, the result might sound a bit like Montreal's Plants & Animals, but with lovelier layers of vocal and instrumental harmonies. Look for a follow-up to 2008's Parc Avenue (Secret City) this spring. Singer-songstress and autoharpist Basia Bulat brings a breath of fresh, feminine air to the bill; her earthy Heart of My Own (Rough Trade) came out in January. Lo-fi ex-lovebirds (and now a threesome, with Joanna Bolme of the Jicks joining) Quasi come straight outta Portland, Ore., with a new joint, American Gong (Kill Rock Stars). Let us pause to get all breathless about Austin's Shearwater, whose magical The Golden Archipelago (Matador) boasts both beauty and brains. Finally, L.A.'s protean trio Liars reveals the enigmatic rock stylings of Sisterworld (Mute). – Melanie Haupt

Colombian Blend

8pm, Speakeasy

More than a dozen Colombian bands descend on SXSW 2010 to prove that the country has more to offer than the mega Latin pop stardom of Shakira and Juanes. Half of them are on this bill, with Systema Solar standing out as the don't-miss. From the Caribbean coastal town of Taganga, the septet sound team recycles classic Colombian sounds like cumbia, vallenato, and bullerengue into a freaky fusion of hip-hop, reggae, and electronic sounds. Expect tripped out visuals and anything up to and including the group taking the party to the streets with a donkey-pulled Technicolor mobile piko, Colombia's answer to the Jamaican sound system. Borrowing some sonic trickery from Manu Chao, Bogotá-based sixpiece Nawal offers dub "Resistencia" on 2005's El Fuego y la Palabra, while Latin Grammy-nominated Superlito rocks reggae on the Cali, Colombia, crew's 2009 Calidosound. Nonsense rockers Ciegossordomudos halted a near 10-year hiatus with comeback effort En Paz, and Pasto porters BambaraBanda carrie alt-rock to Andean heights. – Thomas Fawcett

No Depression

8pm, Continental Club

Two years since No Depression stopped the presses on its genre-defining magazine, yet like the roots music it so devotedly chronicled, the publication has endured despite changing times. Alive on the Web and revived as a semiannual "bookazine" published by University of Texas Press, No Depression sponsors a showcase that likewise melds the traditional with the emerging, commencing with the Kentucky-bred songsmithing of Vandaveer. For his sublimely smooth sophomore effort, Divide and Conquer (Supply & Demand), Mark Charles Heidinger bolsters his sincerity with harmonies from sister Rose Guerin. Sprawling Washington state outfit the Maldives connects the dots between the Band and Band of Horses on second LP Listen to the Thunder (Mt. Fuji), while young Austin sixpiece the Belleville Outfit dishes the stringed euphoria of swinging roots jazz from last year's LP Time to Stand. Detroit's Deadstring Brothers contribute the requisite Bloodshot Records representation with their Stones-ripped country rockers rankling fourth album São Paulo, paired with searing-alt.country anthems of Canadian trio Elliott Brood, burnt by Mark Sasso's cauterized howl. Closer Chatham County Line has increasingly expanded the reach of its polished bluegrass cuts, slicing its strings with more pop and country flourish in preparation for this summer's fifth offering, Wildwood (Yep Roc). – Doug Freeman

Austin Homebrew

8pm, Momo's

A cozy venue with a great sound system nurturing young local talent, Momo's has grown into an important part of the Austin music scene. Here's a fitting representation of what it offers on a nightly basis. Distinctive local jazz singer Kat Edmonson brings Billie Holiday's style into the 21st century. Sarah Jarosz, an 18-year-old triple threat (singer/songwriter/mandolin-player), has been dazzling Hill Country audiences since she was 13. Her 2009 debut, Song Up in Her Head (Sugar Hill), won raves nationwide and even a Grammy nomination. A New Yorker again, Freedy Johnston, the beloved songwriter with a honeyed voice, just issued his first album of new songs in eight years, Rain on the City (Bar/None). After being involved in a brutal car wreck in 2008, local stalwart Jon Dee Graham dusted himself off and continued to work at a furious pace. His latest, It's Not as Bad as It Looks (Freedom), captures a direct response to that experience like a scar, showcasing his crackling guitar work and reflective lyricism. A thinking man's rocker, San Francisco's Chuck Prophet released his most political work to date with 2009's ¡Let Freedom Ring! (Yep Roc). If that's not enough, Tina Weymouth and Chris Franz of Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club fame will be DJ'ing between sets. – Jim Caligiuri

Womex

9pm, Copa

The Berlin-based World Music Expo is a conference, trade show, and festival for the world music biz. This showcase, likewise, polls a musical United Nations, featuring a diverse set of artists from four continents. South African snake charmer Wouter Kellerman whistles a fusion of African, Celtic, and Latin sounds from the classically trained flautist's debut album, Colour. Scandinavian folk doctor Unni Lovlid conjures ethereal experimentalism on third solo effort Rite, which was recorded in an Oslo mausoleum. Tel Aviv trio Boom Pam (guitar/drums/tuba) pounds out Israeli surf and Latin gypsy rock from sophomore burner Puerto Rican Nights while Austin's Grammy-nominated 10-piece Grupo Fantasma peppers its funky salsa with psychedelic cumbia on Sonidos Gold and upcoming fourth studio album El Existential. Orchestrating a sonic stampede, Korean quartet Gong Myoung puts on a stunning display of percussion, with the four drummers playing more than 30 instruments between them. – Thomas Fawcett

Woxy

8pm, Emo's Annex

FM-turned-Internet-only broadcaster Woxy has tuned into the Texas scene since relocating here from Cincinnati late last year and bringing a fresh alternative to Austin's relatively dead air. Fitting, then, that local TV Torso turns on first here, brandishing two 7-inch singles released last year. The vintage glow and pop fierceness of Matt Oliver's former outfit Sound Team survives in TT, only leaner and more apocalyptic. The dense, neo-psychedelic debut from Athens, Ga.'s Twin Tigers, Gray Waves (Old Flame), pits the spectral guitars of My Bloody Valentine against the hypnotic stomp of the Black Angels, while San Francisco's French Miami dances about architecture in a manner that recalls Foals and early Bloc Party on its jagged Science Fiction EP. Championed six months before its actual release, Cymbals Eat Guitars' self-released 2009 debut, Why There Are Mountains, garnered serious praise for its epic scope and emotive, knee-jerk throwback to 1990s indie rock, not entirely unlike the confrontational barrage captured by the debut EP from Long Beach's Crystal Antlers one year prior. The latest from Bear in Heaven, Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes), captures a perfect balance of the Georgia-born, NYC-based quartet's sound and vision: blissful Krautrock repetition and bubbly synths with art-rock polish. – Austin Powell

Duck Down Records 15th Anniversary

8pm, Scoot Inn

Since 1995, Duck Down Records has set the standard for streetwise New York hip-hop, splitting the difference between MOP heat and the Black Star conscious. This all-star lineup showcases Boot Camp Clik alums Smif N Wessun, Brownsville bullies two years removed from fourth LP The Album; Heltah Skeltah's Sean Price and crew leader Buckshot, who's had recent success with Pete Rock apprentice 9th Wonder (The Formula) and KRS-One (Survival Skills). DJ Evil Dee's presence should incite a Black Moon reunion with Buckshot. Representing DDR's second generation are Seattle's Blue Scholars, alternative left coast workaholics with three EPs and two LPs since 2005; NYC's Team Facelift, disturbingly serious joke rappers releasing Paid to Rage next month; Marco Polo, who last June hit the mark with Torae on Double Barrel LP and drops The Exxecution with Ruste Juxx in a week; Ontario soul-hopper Promise; Nas product Skyzoo; and Kidz in the Hall, whose Chicago duo shows a firm understanding of its rap ancestors on 2008's The In Crowd. B-Real of Cypress Hill rounds out this ace set. – Chase Hoffberger

Hawaii

8pm, Submerged

Get out the long boards and ditch the mai tais; the Hawaiian tsunami we thought tanked actually turned east and is headed to the Third Coast for SXSW. First of all, the club's name is an entirely appropriate word for this showcase. Hawaii's contemporary music may have been submerged under the tourist-friendly grass skirts of the hula-and-ukulele crowd and a million versions of "Tiny Bubbles," but Sabrina could change that. From Kaneohe, on the windward side of Oahu, her indie folk style has a modern edge as far from Waikiki as Texas. Tavana coyly styles his music as "other," but to the many who watch the Honolulu-based guitarist perform around the islands, he's pure acoustic pleasure. The silky-voiced Kona is a reminder that in Hawaii, vocals are prized; his rich tenor is as gentle as the island breezes. Anuhea wraps her pipes around radio-friendly pop that's soulful. Pimpbot is anything but gentle or pop; the band's ska-rock is punchy, memorable, and full of North Shore, local-boy attitude. – Margaret Moser

Emergence Media Presents: The Revival-SXSW (Women in Hip-Hop Showcase)

8pm, Victory Grill

The fairer sex has long been on hip-hop's short end of the stick – sexualized like Lil' Kim or stuck in the underground like Jean Grae – but girls flow with the bros. Premier evidence lies in Invincible, Detroit's cold-blooded nonconformist with a gem of an album in 2008's Shapeshifters. California newcomer 50/50 opens it up for the left coast, while ATX-via-NYC transplant Eyeris flows more weathered than her innocent voice would suggest on recent mixtape release Tha Carter .5. Prominent on the scene are Chicago winder Psalm One, who earns her Rhymesayers stripes flowing as tough as Foxy Brown on most recent release The Death of Frequent Flyer, and Philly's Bahamadia, a DJ-turned-MC who's been down with the Gang Starr crew since the mid-1990s. Toronto DJ Eternia makes beats in the mold of DJ Premier as well. Atlanta boasts the Lil Scrappy-affiliated crunk of Diamond and Boog Brown's beautiful slum. Up I-95, Jersey's rawkus Tiye Phoenix proves Half Woman/Half Amazin' on her 2009 Babygrande debut. Houston heroine Perseph1 and ATX leading lady Staci Russell, riding high on the release of this month's The Diary Part 2 mixtape, rep Texas. – Chase Hoffberger

The Bloom Effect/Nomadic Wax Presents International Hip-Hop Hosted by QDIII

8:30pm, Club 115

Welcome to the global underground. From New Zealand to Stockholm and Chile to Chi-town, this battalion of international MCs proves the East Coast/West Coast/Down South trichotomy as outdated as a Nate Dogg hook. A trio of Kiwi mic kings kick-starts with the effortless flow of David Dallas, whose sophomore effort, Something Awesome, shines with sun-kissed soul samples and true school flavor. Young Sid and Mr. Sicc drop dirty South Auckland street raps, Sid keeping it hood on forthcoming What Doesn't Kill Me and Sicc devouring wack MCs on upcoming double LP Cannibal Music. Chilean brothers Rodstarz and G1 team with spitfire Puerto Rican femcee Lah Tere to form Chicago-based Rebel Diaz. The revolutionary rappers roll "with Hugo and Fidel, Grandmaster and Melle Mel." Stockholm cool kid Adam Tensta declares It's a Tensta Thing. Two top Euro talents, Lund thunder-and-lightning duo Timbuktu & Chords should expand the horizons of Def Jux and Rhymesayers fans, while the Looptroop Rockers (rappers Promoe and Supreme with DJ Embee), hailing from Västerås, have been icing Scandinavia with cold cuts for more than a decade and promise Good Things with support from Dilated Peoples and CunninLynguists. – Thomas Fawcett