Listen to BRMC’s “Beat The Devil’s Tattoo” below:

BRMC plays its official SXSW showcase on Friday, 3.19.10, at Stubb’s at 11pm. The band also plays Filter magazine’s party at Cedar Street on Friday, 3.19.10, at 4:20pm.

Visit Black Rebel Motorcycle Club online at www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com. You can get a copy of Beat The Devil’s Tattoo at record stores and online retailers.

Ninjasonik is getting a lot of buzz from its Matt & Kim “Daylight” remix video:

Ninjasonik’s SXSW schedule:

3.17.10: Karmaloop Party @ Beauty Bar, 2:30pm
3.18.10: Pianos Party @ Kung Fu Saloon, 5:30pm / Green Owl/IHEARTCOMIX Showcase @ Beauty Bar, 11:15pm / Alliance Showcase @ Submerged, 12:15am
3.19.10: BBQ @ Green Owl Ranch, 2-7pm
3.20.10 IHEARTCOMIX / Jelly / Mad Decent Carniville

More information at www.ninjasonik.com.

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

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. 

HC: Do you play locally very often? I just recently came across your music and wondered why I hadn’t know about you before. Or maybe I had and it slipped my mind… If not, why?

Yppah: Nah, you’re right. I don’t usually play in Houston. It’s hard to get a decent turn out here for the style of music I do. On top of that I haven’t been played that many live band shows since I started the live band. That’ll change this year though. We plan on playing out way more in 2010 than we ever have before.

HC: What’s your favorite part of touring?

Yppah: Meeting new people and having fun, but mainly the actual shows are my favorite part of touring for me.

HC: Other than SXSW, what’s on the horizon for Yppah in 2010? You’re touring with Bonobo, right?

Yppah: Yeah, I’m super-excited. This will be my first legit tour with a large touring act. I’ve always been a fan of Bonobo which makes it even better. We’ll do the last half of April with Bonobo, then next will be the Free Press Summer Fest. I’m talking with Ape School and Ernest Gonzales about maybe doing some shows in the summer also, but that is all to be confirmed. I can’t wait.

HC: Any music you’ve been listening to lately that you’d recommend?

Yppah: Lately I’ve been listening to Clark’s Body Riddle, and I like Memory Tapes a lot. I stumbled across some music from this dude that goes by “Washed Out”–really good stuff. And I heard a track off the new Caribou album which is so good.

But aside from that current stuff, I’d say people like Radiohead for sure, M83. I like Ride and Chapterhouse tons.

Yppah plays his official SXSW showcase on Friday, 3.19.10, at The Independent (501 N IH 35) at 9pm.

More information may be found on MySpace. You can buy a copy of They Know What Ghost Know at most record stores or download from online retailers, such as Amazon.com.

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.

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.

HC: You’re playing in Austin during SXSW again this year–I think I saw you guys two or three times in one day last year. Will you be doing more than one show?

AD: So far we just have the one show at the Paradise Cafe on the Thursday the 18th. We’re looking for more shows, but we’re really just looking to have fun. We’re not going down there to find a label or a manager or any of that stuff. We’re just going to contribute to all that wonderful noise.

HC: What’s your favorite thing about playing during SXSW? Your least favorite thing?

AD: Favorite: Seeing bands that I love. Least favorite: Paying ten dollars for a bottle of water.

HC: The Golden Days documentary was finally released on DVD late last year. Looking back at that time, do you have any regrets about how it all played out with the major label? Some bands never get that far…

AD: I have no regrets. How could I? To say that “some bands never get that far” would infer that we were trying to reach some metaphysical promise, that there was something we were trying to reach. That’s the wrong way to thing about it, and when bands turn making art into a sport, they’ve already lost. We were just trying to make music and play it for people. The distance you travel just playing the chords, making music with other people, either in your basement on in an arena, is good enough for me. The journey is the victory. Someone much smarter than me said that once, and much more eloquently.

The documentary is the greatest gift anyone could have given me from that whole experience. It’s proof. [Filmmaker] Chris Suchorsky ensured my children will be able to see how cool or lame I am. I won’t have to try to convince them.

HC: I read once where you said you’ll always be making music, whether with a band or not (or something to that effect). Do you still feel this way? Obviously, you’re in school, married, and life goes on. Do you see yourself still releasing albums in 10 years? Why or why not?

AD: I’ll always be making music. That’s never gonna change. I don’t know any better.

HC: If you could perform on stage with any musician from the past 50 years, who would it be and why?

AD: I’ve had the great pleasure of being able to perform with such incredible people, I wouldn’t trade them for anyone.

HC: Are there any bands in particular you’re looking forward to seeing during SXSW this year?

AD: I haven’t even looked at the line-up, and I haven’t turned on a radio in five years. I think Cheap Trick is playing. We used to open for them. That will be a great show. Rick Nielsen’s amps are filled with lights. That’s awesome.

HC: Finally, what’s the current line-up of the band (or is it a rotating cast at this point)? Last time I saw you, Ted [Hudson, bassist] didn’t play–although I understand he’s recording with you for the album. Fellow Houstonian Matt Hammond was on drums, and your wife sang. Was it J on guitar? What can we expect at SXSW this year?

AD: J on guitar. No wife; she’s got her own shit going on. Sarab Singh on drums. Eric Quinlan on bass. Ted would have liked to go, but he has a real job.

Here’s a video of The Damnwells’ Alex Dezen playing an acoustic version of “Like It Is”:

Catch The Damnwells in Austin during SXSW on Thursday, 3.18.10, at The Paradise Cafe at 11pm.

Visit The Damnwells online at www.thedamnwells.com. Make a pledge to help support the recording of the band’s new album at www.pledgemusic.com.

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. 

HC: What are you as a band hoping to get out of this year’s SXSW?

EP: A bratwurst on 6th street and a good time playing and seeing new and old friends.

HC: What’s your favorite thing about playing at SXSW?

EP: Everyone converging in one place making it a great opportunity to hang out with those I don’t see often.

HC: Any band(s) in particular that you’re looking forward to seeing during SXSW?

EP: Robert Gomez; Matthew and the Arrogant Sea; Centro-matic; Tacks, The Boy Disaster; Sarah Jaffe…

Here’s a promo of the band’s new album:

Midlake plays its official SXSW showcase on Thursday, March 18, at Buffalo Billiards at 1am.

Visit Midlake online at www.midlake.net or on MySpace. The Courage Of Others is available online and at most record stores.

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.

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