FRANCE ROCKS AUSTIN – Over 30 French Artists Set To Impact SXSW

GENERAL ELEKTRIKS (DISCOGRAPH / QUANNUM)

General Elektriks is the brainchild of Hervé ‘RV’ Salters.  A French national  and an exceptional vintage keyboard player, Salters was playing keys for his bands and for various artists in Paris (Femi Kuti, DJ Mehdi) before he moved to the US in 1999. After Cliquety Kliqk, Salters returned with a second opus Good City For Dreamers (2008) which breaks genre barriers by mixing psychedelia, soul, old-school pop, sampling, indie rock, hip-hop and free jazz.

http://www.general-elektriks.com/

DEAD SEXY INC. (ENRAGE PROD.)

–        also playing Friday, March 19 @  Wave Rooftop

Well-known for their hardcore hybrid of glam rock and electro propelled by a driving punk sound, Dead Sexy Inc. started in Hollywood in 2003, where the French three-piece got picked up by Cleopatra Records, Larry Tee and few other key techno rock icons. Their last album, Kamikaze (2007) was recorded between L.A., New York and Paris. Their remixes of such artists as Marilyn Manson, Indochine and Nun have garnered much attention in both the U.S and Europe. Currently split between Berlin and Paris, Dead Sexy Inc. will aim for a new album in winter 2010.

http://www.myspace.com/deadsexyinc

UFFIE (ED BANGER RECORDS)

– also playing Wednesday, March 17 @ Emo’s Annex

Anna-Catherine Hartley, better known by her stage name Uffie, is an American-born, Hong Kong-raised, Paris-based rapper, vocalist, entertainer and lyricist. She incorporates the genres of synthpop, electronica, hip hop, and rap into her music, and often works with well-known artists such as DJ Feadz and Mr. Oizo. She gained popularity with her singles “Pop the Glock,” “First Love” and “Hot Chick” and for her collaboration with her fellow label-mates Justice on the single “Tthhee Ppaarrttyy.”  While she just released the EP MC’s Can Kiss in February 2010, her debut album Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans will be released this spring.

http://www.myspace.com/uffie

SOKO

– also playing Wednesday, March 17 @ Galaxy Room Backyard

Soko (born Stéphanie Sokolinski) is a French pop singer. She got her start in music in 2007 and 2008 with her single “I’ll Kill Her” which became a hit song in several countries including Denmark, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Australia.   Despite having recorded a double album in Seattle, she is not yet ready to release her full album.   Nevertheless, she had sold out concerts in Denmark and performed in famous Australian festivals (Falls Festival, Southbound Festival, and Sunset Sounds Festival).  This year marks her second time playing in SXSW.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=38nRFafXIn0

COCOON (SOBER & GENTLE / MINTY FRESH)

–        also playing Wednesday, March 17 @ Spill, 8.00 pm

–        Friday, March 19 @ Wave Rooftop

Two sublime voices that seem made to blend together, an acoustic guitar bursting forth with powerful arpeggios, poignant keyboards, and even a catchy ukulele from time to time…since forming in late 2006, Mark and Morgan of Cocoon have gained a stellar reputation with their wonderful debut album (My Friends All Died in a Plane Crash) and live album (Back to Panda Mountains), plus over 200 live dates throughout Europe to their credit.  The group returns to the U.S. after performing dates in New York, Chicago, Washington and Ooh La La Festival in Los Angeles by echoing the release of their album in the U.S. by Minty Fresh in April of last year.

http://www.myspace.com/listentococoon  

THE BEWITCHED HANDS ON THE TOP OF OUR HEADS (SAVOIR FAIRE)

Five men and one woman make twelve bewitched hands putting a spell on you pop lovers! With incendiary choruses, psychotropic beats and catchy melodies, The Bewitched Hands compose the kind of tunes that may go straight into your Top 5 of rainbow colored pop songs. Showcased at many of the largest festivals in France (Transmusicales, Printemps de Bourges, Eurockéennes), they are about to tour in the US around SXSW, in the U.K. in May and European summer festivals this year. 

http://www.myspace.com/handsbewitched

GONZALES (NO FORMAT ARTS AND CRAFTS)

Thursday, March 18 @ Central Presbyterian Church

From “workaholic Grammy-nominated arranger/producer” for his work on Feist’s albums to “melancholic piano virtuoso,” Gonzales has been embraced by Europe, partly for the ability to cross musical boundaries from hip-hop to classical. In 2009, Gonzales became the “Guinness World Record” holder for the longest solo concert after playing 300 songs over 27 hours.

http://www.myspace.com/gonzpiration

SLIIMY (WARNER MUSIC)

Thursday, March 18 @ the Aquarium

The career of pop singer Sliimy started in 2005 when he won a singing contest performing Otis Redding's "Sittin' On” and began to collaborate with the producer Feed. They began posting tracks on Sliimy's MySpace page in 2007 which included a radically reworked cover of Britney Spears' "Womanizer” that went on to become an Internet hit.   Blogger Perez Hilton distinguished Slimy as the first artist to sign with his label, Perezicious Music.  Sliimy's debut album, Paint Your Face was released in the fall of 2009. 

http://www.myspace.com/sliimy

THE PENELOPES (LE PLAN / citizen records)

Wednesday, March 17 @ Copa

The trio consists of Morpheus, iconic singer of Minimal Compact, Axel Basquiat, and Vincent Tremel.  Priceless Echoes is the latest release of The Penelopes; it is a singular album, a slow harmonic ingestion, sensual and modern rock with a powerful foundation. Epic pop, punk-funk and vengeful rhythms cloak each song from the hypnotic encephalogram of “The Heat Goes On” through the psychedelic “Long Black Fly” and the infamous cover of the Beastie Boys classic “Sabotage.”  

http://www.myspace.com/thepenelopesmusic

DAN BLACK (POLYDOR, A&M) –

Thursday, March 18 @ Dirty Dog Bar, 1:50 am

Friday, March 19 @ Emo’s, 8:00 pm

Former member of alternative rock band The Servants, Dan Black is now a British electronic solo artist currently signed to Polydor Records, who released his first two singles; “Alone” and “Yours” in 2008.  He gained notoriety with “HYPNTZ,” a mashup of Notorious B.I.G.’s "Hypnotize" and Rihanna’s "Umbrella" and gained further popularity in 2009 when album track “U + Me=” was chosen as the U.K. iTunes Store’s Free Single of the Week.

http://www.myspace.com/danblacksound

HICKEY UNDERWORLD (NAÏVE)

Produced by the Das Pop chaps, their self-titled debut album sold 3,500 copies in its first week on the strength of the band’s live reputation alone. They won Humo’s Rock Rally, Belgian’s largest music competition. Through their album and concerts, their songs reflect part post-hardcore catharsis, part discordant melody and above all; noise, anger and energy. 

MAKE THE GIRL DANCE (ROY MUSIC / EMI)

Thursday, March 18 @ Speakeasy Kabaret, 9:00 pm

Although the video from their smashing first single "Baby Baby Baby" is just topping a breathtaking 10 million worldwide internet viewings (Daily Motion, YouTube), the sizzling hot electro duo Make The Girl Dance is about to launch into orbit their second lethal weapon "Kill Me." A fresh and catchy electro-pop tune, euphoric and heady side effects guaranteed with an already ecstatic response from clubs and radio

www.myspace.com/makethegirldance

http://www.roymusic.com/MTGD_en_release.html

HIFIKLUB (EDITIONS D’ARGENT)

Friday, March 19 @ Wave Rooftop

Hifiklub is a self-described “open trio”–three individuals who share their music with the artists who inspire them from James Chance to R Stevie Moore, via Alain Johannes or Steven Bernstein. A very “open” trio therefore, and who practice a kind of “DIY” like those New York trailblazers who, one fine evening in 1974, stole a stage reserved for country, bluegrass, blues and OMFUG.  Now you are starting to catch on. 

http://www.myspace.com/hifiklub

ELECTRIC ELECTRIC (HERZFELD)

Saturday, March 20 @ Victorian Room at the Driskill, 10:00 pm
Formed in 2004, Electric Electric is a hyper-energetic three-piece band who lures us into a spastic frenzy with their entirely new strain of instrumental music, based on a minimalistic, mechanical and apocalyptic rock.  Heavily influenced by the sounds of the Skingraft label and bands that combine noise-rock and explosive performances on stage, Electric Electric has refined an aesthetic sense of repetition, minimalism, and most of all dance music.  Some would say their music fits right between Donna Summer and Sunn-O.

http://www.myspace.com/electricelectricband

SHINE (Tubes ‡ Essais)

French trio SHINE formed in 2003 when songwriter Guillaume Simon, rock and jazz instrumentalist Laurent Houdard and guitarist/sound engineer Antoine Delecroix brought together their different styles of music including electronic, rock, jazz and pop. After their first album One Day received airplay in both the U.S. and Europe, their second album The Common Station resonated with audiences and critics worldwide. SHINE’s commanding live presence is undeniable. Recently, the band has toured with Morcheeba in France and Italy. Members from the live configuration, Julie Gomel (vocals) and Bendja (drums), are working together on the new album due in early 2010.

http://www.myspace.com/shinespace

THE TOXIC AVENGER (IHEARTCOMIX)

Thursday, March 18 @ Beauty Bar, 12:15 am

Defining his style as ”Emotronic/Christian Rap/Thrash,” Simon DeLacroix, the mastermind behind The Toxic Avenger, developed a noisy, scratchy and heavily saturated sound, but keeping a melodic line that sometimes recalls Ed Banger and other French house groups.  The Toxic Avenger gained popularity thanks to the two dancefloor killers “Saloperie De Minimale” and “Superheroes.” His debut EP was released in September 2007 on the Iheartcomix label. The Toxic Avenger has also made his mark throughout numerous remixes notably for The Secret Handshake and Dragonette. 

http://www.myspace.com/toxavanger

STEREOHEROES (BOXON RECORDS)

Saturday, March 20 @ Karma Lounge

Stereoheroes is an electronic music duo formed in early 2008 with Fabrice Delcambre and Sebastien Plé. Stereoheroes can fly from an ultra-underground style to classic techno, hip-hop, house or even drum’n’bass, creating a non-linear type of music that always pumps up the dancefloor.  They have already played in front of crowds of more than 50,000 at festivals like etd.pop in San Francisco and We Love Sounds in Sydney. In April 2009, they released the first Stereoheroes EP on the renowned Leonizer Records label owned by French producer Leonard de Leonard.

http://www.myspace.com/stereoheroes

PARAL-LEL (BEE RECORDS)

Since the band started in 2002, Praktisch and Slush have ceaselessly honed their sound between production and live sets. These two sidekicks, who have also been involved in BEE Records for ten years, draw their inspiration from various influences in order to create their own world of break-beat, techno and electro. The sensational duo has already created four critically acclaimed EPs and an LP. They are back at last with a stunning new EP as a prelude to their second LP in autumn 2010. Now in North America for the third time, they will be performing at the Canadian Music Week in Toronto and SXSW in Austin.

http://www.myspace.com/pll

ANTIPOP CONSORTIUM (BIG DADA)

Antipop Consortium is an alternative hip-hop group that released several singles and two albums before being signed by Warp Records in 2000. The group formed in 1997 when Beans, High Priest, M. Sayyid and producer Earl Blaize met at a poetry slam in New York City. The group disbanded due to creative differences in August 2002.  Now they have recently reformed and are now signed by Big Dada.

http://www.myspace.com/antipopny

GREEN SHAPE (SOBER&GENTLE)

Saturday, March 20 @ Stephen F’s Bar, 11:10 pm

27-year-old Regis Israel, aka Green Shape has been recently signed to the label Sober & Gentle (Hey Hey My My, Cocoon, Kid Bombardos). With Mark Daumail, singer-songwriter of Cocoon, as creative director, he just released an eponymous album in 2010. With his soft voice and ghostly folk pop songs, he sings of lost love, heartbreak and dark family sagas.

http://www.myspace.com/greenshape

KING OF CONSPIRACY

Friday, March 19 @  the Aquarium

Formed in the suburbs of Paris in 2006, King of Conspiracy is an alternative/post punk trio. With their first album Noisy Sounds and Heartbeats (2007) and their EP We’ll See If The Arrogant Last (2009), the band has been touring extensively for three years in Japanese, French and British venues and festivals (City Festival, the Foxfest, the Underworld). With concerts at SXSW, New York and the release of their new album in the summer 2010, it will be a busy year for King of Conspiracy.

www.myspace.com/kingofconspiracy

SÉBASTIEN SCHULLER (GREEN UNITED MUSIC / VILLAGE VERT)

Saturday, March 20 @  Mi Casa Cantina

Sébastien Schuller is a classically trained percussionist who has become an accomplished and eclectic multi-instrumentalist over the years, composing and interpreting his own work. Enhancing sounds of acoustic and natural resonance with touches of electronic music, his first album Happiness (2007) balances tantric instrumentals with tinges of pop and shows above all a love for pure sound and melodies.  His last album Evenfall was released in 2009.

www.myspace.com/sebastienschuller

L’ORCHIDEE D’HAWAI (GOLD RIDERS RECORDS / LARSEN RECORDS)

Wednesday, March 17 @ Beauty Bar Backyard, 8:15 pm

As a juke box, possessed by the soul of rock’n'roll, l’Orchidée d’Hawaï makes you live a crazy road trip at the corners of the world.   A furious sound wave whips the coasts of Mexico, Japan,  Italy and Greece through clouds of reverb and smashes of vibrato. L’Orchidée d’Hawaï sings in Polish, Spanish, English and Italian.   Their second LP, Nobody Beats Me (2008) continues the adventure initiated by the album Gold (2007). Added to this discography, five EP’s have been released on labels such as K Records (USA), Larsen Records and Wiped Out (France).  Since 2006, l’Orchidée d’Hawaï have played more than 200 shows including two US tours in 2008 (with Kimya Dawson and Karl Blau).

http://www.myspace.com/hawaiorchid

ONILI (BOTANIKA , ROY MUSIC, OLEH! RECORDS)

Sexy pop collides with urban swagger & electronic dance sensibilities in Onili’s contagious music offerings. Performing live alongside the killer Barak Kram on drums, she leads her show through microphones, samplers & effects.  Splitting her life between Paris and Tel-Aviv, she has developed a unique identity via a wide range of experiences gathered across the map; be it rocking bands, sweaty clubs or festival stages. Sharing her explosive talent through the years with diverse studio partners (Superman Lovers, Soulico, Kutiman, Borgore), her true time to shine is yet ahead. In the past six months, Onli released her First Kiss EP in France and a fourth radio single in Israel, preparing the final touches for the breakthrough–the release of her debut album, and in Israel, an EP of dancefloor remixes on Botanika records (UK).

www.myspace.com/onili

DÉBRUIT (MUSIQUE LARGE / CIVIL MUSIC / B.E.A.R.)

Saturday, March 20 @ Barcelona

Xavier Thomas, known by his production moniker of Débruit, is a producer, DJ, instrumentalist and vocalist from Paris, France, who has been playing saxophone since the age of nine.  In 2008, he released a LP called Coupé Décalé on the label Musique Large.  Mixing twisting flamenco guitars, field recordings, and just about any sound he can get his hands on into his electro hip-hop noise, his music is truly unique.  His last EP Clé De Bras was released in March 2009 and he also recorded as part of his hip-house project called Kéèclac.

http://www.myspace.com/dbruit