Heads up artists!!! Call it awesome, infamous, or overcommercialized, but you can’t deny SXSW as an opportunity to get discovered by the biggest congregation of music industry peeps. Austin’s South by Southwest has brought more than just a few Nashville bands into the national spotlight over the years, and you, dear amigos artisticos, could be the next to join the club. SXSW is now accepting applications for music submissions.
Do you have what it takes to hang with the likes of Diarrhea Planet (don’t leave fellas!), Luella And The Sun (click here for information on their upcoming benefit concert), or Caitlin Rose? Those bands garnered insane recognition for their marathon of performances last March. You can read some of the accolades after the jump, and your chance for glory might live at this link, right here.
Here’s what I’m talking about… what are you waiting for?
“Nashville’s Luella and the Sun approach the blues and gospel-soul as if these traditions were the food of the gods and they haven’t eaten for a week. Luella herself has a ferocious, feminine voice, and performs with zero fear.” – NPR Front Row By Ann Powers
And, the band that makes disc jockeys cringe….
If you measure a live show’s success by how happy to be alive it makes you, then Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet have the greatest live show on Earth. At this year’s South by Southwest, the tales circulating about their exploits reached Bill Brasky levels. When I saw them, I was blissfully unaware of their name; I was, however, convinced that whoever these kids were, I was going to make it my personal mission to see them live as many times as possible. Recently, they came to Brooklyn’s Shea Stadium, and Patrick Stickles, one of their most avowed fans, came onstage to sing “Born To Run”.
To enthuse about a band with the name Diarrhea Planet is to abandon dignity, and also to surrender to childish joyousness– which, you have to assume, is the point: They have four guitarists, three of whom seem to be playing the same power chords while the fourth finger-taps “Muppet Babies” versions of Van Halen solos. A Diarrhea Planet mp3 is not a Diarrhea Planet show, of course, but it is a pretty good approximation. On “Separations,” all the elements are here: the high-calorie, low-nutrition riffing, the purposefully cretinous singing, the infectious melodies, the pop-punk study-hall camaraderie.” Yeah, see? It’s not just me. – Pitchfork
She’s a common name around here, but…
Just as approachable – though a completely different genre – was country up-and-comer Caitlin Rose, who recently released her sophomore album, “That Stand-In,” on ATO Records (Alabama Shakes). She covered Buck Owens, possessed a voice that was somewhere between sweet and scornful and her songs — an upbeat take on get-the-crowd-moving Western swing — were packed with relatable wit. – Los Angeles Times
SXSW Music takes place Tuesday, March 11 through Sunday, March 16, 2014. Just sayin’! Save your money, practice like hell, and don’t suck! Go Nashville.