This year, genre-blending electronic duo Smoke Season (Gabrielle Wortman, Jason Rosen) hit the SXSW scene for several shows of their own. But they also had time to check out some additional up-and-coming acts for the music portion of the fest, and they’ve shared some song selections from their favorites for this week’s Friday Night Mix.
1. SOHN – One of those rare artists that continues to surprise and surpass expectations with both production and songwriting. Our lead singer is obsessed. (Check out track: Conrad)
2. Jain – This girl is a cross between Kylie Minogue and Die Antwoord. Super interesting melodies and instrumentation you just can’t help but dance to (Check out track: Makeba)
3. Kate Nash – The mother of all badassery, Kate Nash crowd surfed on some teenagers and turned up harder than anyone else we saw at SXSW. Also, she has a pitbull on the cover of her My Little Alien track art and we love pits (Check out track: My Little Alien)
4. San Fermin – Great songs for long drives at night in the rain. Plus, they have a female and male singer so we feel a bit of camaraderie there (Check out track: Emily)
5. Kolars – Our friends from LA, this married duo excels with their blues guitar and stomping beats, thanks to the tap dancing drumming of course. (Check out track: One More Thrill)
6. The Lemon Twigs – Who doesn’t like a band that sounds like they bottled up the best parts of 70’s music and delivered it to you with fur jackets on? (Check out track: These Words)
7. Yoke Lore – They played after us at the Twix showcase at Bar 96. They had some super interesting instrumentation (drums and banjo) and delivered some really powerful ear worms. (Check out track: Hold Me Down)
8. The Districts – hailing out of Philly, these guys blew us away with their blood, sweat and tears on the stage. The lead singer never stops moving, and the crowd follows suit. (Check out track: 4th and Roebling)
9. Frankie Rose – This is what our lead singer’s dreams sound like. Spacey and driving (Check out track: Night Swim)
10. Rolling Blackouts – Aussies with lots of strings and singing from the top of their lungs. These guys are superb live and also good dudes to hang with as well. (Check out track: French Press)
11. Kweku Collins – Soul, hip hop and emotion all in one (Check out track: Ghost)
12. Maggie Rodgers – Everyone is all about her track Alaska but really this is a bomb artist through and through (Check out track: On + Off)
13. Lizzo – Hell yes to artists killing the funk. Lizzo is one of those who has soul oozing our of her pores (Check out track: Good As Hell)
14. We decided to throw our cover of Psycho Killer in here because, well, we felt pretty psycho after the mayhem of SXSW week.
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