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Matt Sonzala of AustinSurreal has posted the latest Hip Hop Showcase for this year’s SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas.  As he say’s it is not everything and more than likely subject to change. Just scanning the list quickly, there are some pretty big names from the indie scene, including some we have featured on Medium in the past. A searchable list of all the showcases has also popped up on the official SXSW site.

Check out Matt’s hip hop showcase list after jump (more…)

Austin’s Latin funk band Grupo Fantasma will be in Washington DC, performing at The Black Cat Friday January 9 and tickets are only $15! I interviewed Pete Neonakis of Sidian Agency late last year, who has worked with Grupo Fantasma as their designer on various projects. As Pete stated in the interview, Grupo has put out some of the finest albums to come out of Austin in recent years. If you don’t believe me, Grupo was announced as a Grammy nominee in the ‘Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album’ category.  They’ve performed alongside Prince and their newest single features legendary saxophonist, Maceo Parker.

Express Night Out did a good piece in today’s paper on Grupo, make sure you check that out and don’t miss this concert, it’s the best way to heat up your frigid weekend.

Video

Grupo Fantasma on Austin City Limits

Links
Grupo Fantasma Music
The Black Cat

This is a post from 2008. Check out some of ACL 2009 Afterparties and Sideparties.

It’s a shame that unlike SXSW  there is very much a lack of free shows and free beer during ACL, which is a damn shame…however if you are one of the sad bastards that didn’t get tickets to ACL, don’t fret, Austin will not let you down. Here’s a listing of the some the shows that are worth checking out for the ACL weekend after the jump
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Grammy award winning artist Julieta Venegas will be performing an unplugged set at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage this Tuesday, September 8. Julieta Venegas is one of the most prolific artists in the world with critically acclaimed records, a Grammy and two Latin Grammys…all at the ripe old age of 36. The Kennedy Center has a great bio of her up on their site:

Julieta Venegas, born on November 24, 1970, in Tijuana, Mexico, is the daughter of two photographers and is one of five siblings. Ms. Venegas embarked on her musical journey at a young age, studying piano from the age of eight. In addition to piano, she also studied musical theory, singing, cello, and violoncello at La Escuela de Música del Noroeste, while also crossing the U.S. border to study at South Western College in San Diego — all of this before she even graduated from high school. During her later school years she began playing with various bands, including Grupo Chantaje and Tijuana No!

At 22, Ms. Venegas moved to Mexico City, where she hoped to involve herself with the city’s vibrant music scene. Given her talent and beauty, it didn’t take her long to make acquaintances. She also began writing music for plays around this time and she took up the accordion. Ms. Venegas then started a band called La Milagrosa, enlisting Fratta and Rafael González, but when she was offered a contract with BMG, she dropped the idea of forming a band and began work on her solo debut, Aquí (1997).

In addition to writing the songs on Aquí and singing them, Ms. Venegas also played the accordion, piano, and guitar; a number of guests also played on the album. BMG released the album in the United States and Spain as well as throughout Latin America, and it won critical acclaim in all corners. After this, she found time to write and record her second album, Bueninvento (2000). A bit of a departure from her debut, Bueninvento is a full-fledged rock en español album and features a backing band of veteran session men.  She received her first Latin Grammy nominations: Best Rock Song for “Hoy No Queiro” and Best Rock Album for Bueninvento.

Venegas subsequently settled down in Madrid and Buenos Aires to record her third album, Sí (2003), which took off commercially, going triple platinum in Mexico, topping the album chart there and breaking into the Top Five on the stateside Latin albums chart, and spawning four big hits. The success of Sí led to a Latin Grammy for Best Rock Solo Vocal Album in 2004. For her next album, Limón y Sal (2006), the accolades continued: a Grammy in 2007 for Best Latin Pop Album, a Latin Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Alternative Music Album, and a MTV Video Music Award in 2006 for Best Solo Artist. In 2008, Venegas released an MTV Unplugged album.

This is a great opportunity to see a great artist at a great venue and on top of that, it’s free (and she’s cute as hell on top fo that). Check out the video playlist put together and come out tomorrow. See y’all there.

Links
Julieta Venegas
Julieta Venegas on MySpace
The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Mike and Ike at The Parish, August 1, Opening for Devin The Dude

Mike and Ike at The Parish, August 1, Opening for Devin The Dude

Austin 360′s “A-list” has published some pictures from last Friday’s Devin the dude show. The set includes some pictures from Mike and Ike’s set as well as from some of the other artists. Go over to the A-List website and check them out. If anyone else has any other pictures, feel free to link them up in the comments section. Peace

Texas hip-hop icon, Devin The Dude, will be bringing his eccentric brand of hip-hop to the 512 on August 1. Outside of his longtime Rap-a-lot partnerships Devin has also worked with everyone from De La Soul to Dr. Dre and is definitely one in a million in terms of showmanship and dedication to his craft. Opening will be Austin natives Gerald G, Southbound and BigBadMedium.com comrades, Mike and Ike. Also opening will be Fat Tony, Giovanni, COD and Kriminals. Quite a varied display of Texas hip-hop, which should go over well with Devin’s varied fan base.

Links
Devin The Dude
Gerald G
Southbound
Mike and Ike
TheScrewShop.com
AustinSurreal.com

Dj and distinguised gentleman Scuba Gooding Jr. of Prhymates posted up some pics by photographer Francisco H Cortés from Brownout’s Super Soul Shakdown show in San Antonio. Scuba has been doing so much for the scene in San Antonio and if there ever was a good town for Brownout’s brand of latin funk, San Antonio is it. And if you’re one of the unlucky few who don’t know Brownout yet, you need to play some catch up. Check em out.

Links
Prhymates
Brownout
Francisco H Cortés

The lineup for the 2008 Austin City Limits Festival has finally been announced! This years lineup looks pretty solid, and I know that in years past they’ve announced even more bands leading up to the festival. The festival will be held in Zilker Park, September 26-28 in Austin, Texas and I’ll be down there year with a Shiner in hand. The lineup includes a lot of established acts along with some acts that have been gaining popularity in Indie circles in the past year or two. Check out some songs from some of the artists that will be performing this year.

Links
Austin City Limits Festival

The video from March’s X has been posted online. If you missed that post I made about the event last month, go over to it now and check out my design. Once again, thanks to everyone at X for inviting me out. Also, my design from X will be animated by Flash designers at this month’s new event, appropriately entitled “Flash” on April 18, 2008. Click on the flyer below to see the full size flyer and check the Eighty-Eight DC website for more information.

Video from March’s X

Flash

Flash
April 18, 2008
7pm-3am
Jackies – 8081 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD 20910