From tonight (Thursday, 3.11.10) through Wednesday, 3.24.10, Super Happy Fun Land hosts its annual Super Happy SXSW Overflow. This is an excellent way to see interesting and eclectic bands from all over the country, as they pass through on their ways to and from Austin.

Cover is $8 a night, or $25 for the entire series of shows. Can’t beat that.

Yppah (aka Joe Corrales, Jr.) is an electronic musician from Houston whose 2006 release, You Are Beautiful At All Times–which was released on the respected Ninja Tune Records–helped earn the musician accolades and fans. Along with a backing band, he performed the album live during 2007’s South By Southwest, and at the Starbucks Mixed Media Series at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His second album, They Know What Ghost Know, was released in 2009, and his music has been featured on television, movies, and a video game. After South By Southwest, he will tour with Bonobo.

I recently asked Yppah some questions about his music, his thoughts on SXSW, and plans for 2010.

Houston Calling: What are you as hoping to get out of this year’s SXSW?

Yppah: Hopefully to meet some cool people and find some good music. I’m really excited to show off the new band. We’ve been rehearsing a ton and it’s sounding really good. I’m more confident in the live show now than I have been in years past.

HC: Anything in particular that you’re looking forward to seeing during SXSW?

Yppah: Yeah, I always do, but it usually never happens. You know how it is when you gotta roll with a bunch of folks who all wanna do different things. I’m going to make it a point to see Toro y Moi at the Terrorbird showcase though. My buddy Ernest Gonzales will also be performing. He makes great music, and owns Exponential Records who is producing some quality electronic artists. My side project, Day of the Woman, with Pollination and Stenographer, will also have a release on Exponential sometime in August.

HC: What’s your most memorable SXSW experience?

Yppah: Probably the first Ninja Showcase we played with the live band in 2007. We were all pretty nervous, but the songs we played from the first album were super well-received. It was amazing seeing Kid Koala and Amon Tobin destroy also. It was a great first showcase to say the least.

HC: You’re on one of the world’s best-known electronic music labels and your music has been featured on TV shows and video games. How did these come about? Are you happy with how your career has progressed as a result?

Yppah: Well, Ninja Tune has a great licensing department. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I assume they have a ton of great music supervisor contacts, probably sending my album out to all those contacts. I couldn’t be happier with the licensing choices–they’ve gotten me a ton of exposure and a lot of new fans. It’s pretty surreal hearing my songs on TV or in a movie, [it] sort of feels like I didn’t even actually make the music myself.

HC: What do you consider to be your primary musical influences and how do they play into the music you make?

Yppah: I used to like Radiohead a lot, still do. I think they really shaped the way I arrange my music. The way their structure is always ever changing through out certain songs. I also listen to a ton of shoegaze-leaning music, whether it be electronic or like early 90s indie rock/psych type bands, or anything break/beat oriented. I pretty much just try to combine those styles to get what eventually comes out of my headphones/speakers.  [Read more →]

I recently interviewed country-rock band Waco Brothers for Spinner.com’s SXSW preview. Read it here.

Waco Brothers plays its official SXSW showcase on Saturday, 3.20.10, at Red-Eyed Fly at 11pm.

Visit the band online at www.wacobrothers.com.

A band that (mostly) survived the ups-and-downs of the major label music industry and continues to create quality music, The Damnwells thankfully hasn’t let the drama spoil its spirit. In 2009, the band asked its fans to help out on PledgeMusic to support the recording of its new record, and to date has raised more than $30,000. The band’s Golden Days documentary was also finally released last year, which you can purchase from IndiePix Films.

Here’s the trailer:

Lead Damnwell Alex Dezen recently answered some questions for Houston Calling.

Houston Calling: You’re in the process of recording a new album–are you excited about the project? How are the new songs coming along?

Alex Dezen: Every time I make a record, I feel like all the records I made before are rendered irrelevant. We’re evolving in really exciting ways, as all bands should. So I’m pumped about this record. It’s the first time we’ve ever been able to really dig in and think about arrangements, parts, lyrics, etc. Not that we weren’t thinking about those things before, but there was always this anxiety, this pressure, either from a record label breathing down our necks, time constraints, or money worries. Thanks to our generous fans, we’ve been able to raise enough money via Pledge Music to lock ourselves away from the world for a few days at a time and chase down ideas. It’s going to be the best Damnwells record yet, by far.

HC: You went a different route than normal for getting the budget for this album, soliciting pledges via the web from fans, and offering house parties, signed, CDs, etc. in exchange. How did the idea for that come about? Were you surprised at the response you received? At last count, I saw more than $30K has been pledged…

AD: We’re still totally shocked we were able to raise that much money. It’s incredible. Its an affirmation. I think this is really the future of music, which is ironic, considering the patron system, where people would pay an artist to create a painting or sculpture or a piece of music in advance, is how it used to work. I think that as a culture we’re gonna find that, in the end, with all the advances in technology, etc., we’re yearning for each other, for a human interaction, more than ever. And we need art. I do, anyway. Pledge Music and other direct to fan organizations, which enable the artist to connect directly to fans without the middle man, will win out over the shove-it-down-your-throat-play-the-song-on-every-radio-station-24hrs-a-day-7-days-a-week model in the end. That kind of strong-arm saturation would make me even hate Dylan. Art just can’t survive when it gets turned in to sports car.

HC: When do you expect the album to be released?

AD: Soonish. [Read more →]

Chronicle writer Andrew Dansby has written a fitting tribute to the memory of musician Mark Linkous. Read it at 29-95.com.

Denton’s Midlake recently released The Courage of Others, the follow-up to the lauded The Trials of Van Occupanther. The new album is another beautifully crafted album, which finds the band weaving its penchant for British folk and 70’s Americana into sedate indie anthems. While the band first found its footing in the UK, its US fan base continues to grow.

The band just wrapped up a short tour in Europe, is back in the States, and plays SXSW this month before heading out on a U.S. tour. Midlake’s Eric Pulido recently answered some questions for Houston Calling.

Houston Calling: How was the European tour?

Eric Pulido: It went very well. It was great to be over there again and see all the great folks that came to the shows.

HC: What’s your favorite part about playing overseas?

EP: Doner kebabs

HC: There’s been a lot of anticipation for The Courage of Others. Did you feel a lot of pressure after the success of …Van Occupanther?

EP: Just the pressure we put on ourselves to make a record we feel good about.

HC: I know that most, if not all, of you started with a background in jazz. How did you make the transition from playing jazz to the music you make with Midlake? Also, how do you think your musical influences play into Midlake’s music?

EP: Tim heard OK Computer, and the rest is history. Over the years, our sound has changed depending on what we’re listening to. We have a tendency to wear our influences on our sleeve.  [Read more →]

Former Houstonian Hayes Carll is still riding high on 2008’s Trouble In Mind, which was released on Lost Highway Records and garnered the musician loads of critical acclaim and a crop of new fans. While his follow-up album isn’t reportedly due until July, Carll continues to play shows and plans a stop in Austin during SXSW.

View a video of Hayes Carll performing “Beaumont” live:

Hayes Carll plays his official SXSW showcase on Thursday, 3.18.10, at Antone’s at 10pm.

Visit Hayes Carll online at www.hayescarll.com.

Roky Moon + Bolt, a band that has steadily built up a fan base over the past year or so, plays a show tonight (Friday, 3.5.10) at The Mink, before heading out for a tour and performances in Austin during South By Southwest.

Grandfather Child and Weird Party (which features members of other local bands) are also on the bill.

Canadian duo The Pack A.D. plays blistering, bluesy garage rock in the same vein as The White Stripes and The Black Keys. It’s raw and gritty music, with guttural—yet sexy—vocals that bring to mind Joan Jett, PJ Harvey, and Janis Joplin. The band’s two albums, Tintype and Funeral Mixtape, are available at most record stores and the usual online outlets.

Here’s a video of The Pack A.D.’s “Making Gestures”:

The Pack A.D. plays its official SXSW showcase on Friday, 3.19.10, at Jaime’s at midnight. You can also catch the band at various day parties, including one on Thursday, 3.18.10, at Headhunter’s at 3:55pm.

Visit The Pack A.D. online here and on MySpace.

More information on Inner Lights may be found here. More information on Austin’s Smoke and Feathers may be found here.