Clicking through channels on a website to find our new favourite bands might not be half as fun as running around Austin, frozen margs and tacos in hand, but at least SXSW Online offered us some fraction of the festival experience. The virtual event, which took place last week, might not have come with the usual secret sets from household names or the adrenaline rush of getting in to see someone super buzzy before the venue reached full capacity. What it did have, though, was a ton of great new artists ready to excite us, just as they would have in person.
So, off we set on a digital voyage to the SXSW website with only one rule – to find as many brilliant new acts as possible. Here are our 10 best finds from a week in the SXSW orbit.
Sycco
From: Brisbane, Australia
For Fans Of: Glass Animals, Mallrat
Listen to: ‘Dribble’
Bathed in green lights and surrounded by house plants, Sycco – aka Aussie singer and producer Sasha McLeod – marks herself out as an indie-leaning pop star to watch. Along with her backing band, the rising musician delivers a playful set of subtle bangers that worm their way into your brain and take some power to get out again. ‘Dribble’ is the most memorable moment of her set, but ‘My Ways’, with its euphoric sheen and enticing squelchy bassline, is a close second.
Y2K92
From: Seoul, South Korea
For Fans Of: Grimes, Jessy Lanza
Listen to: ‘Bi – Elijah’
Y2K92’s Jibin’s look immediately draws you in – black beanie and pink satin dress worn over mint green baggy trackie bottoms. It’s effortlessly cool – the kind of outfit that screams “I just threw on the first clothes I could find” but is impossible to make look good on yourself. No matter how excellent their clothes, it’s the Korean duo’s music and performance that will make you stick around though. Jibin and Simo – not seen on-screen – make experimental and addictive dance-pop, layering Jibin’s vocals over crunchy, bouncy beats that command you to get up and move. “And the beat don’t stop, can’t stop, we number one,” the vocalist sings on set highlight ‘Bi – Elijah’ – a line (and song) that will make you ask, “Where is the lie?”
Quanna
From: New York, USA
For Fans Of: Megan Thee Stallion, JPEGMAFIA
Listen to: ‘Hybrid’
Atlanta-born rapper Quanna has big ambitions – namely to be one of the most influential artists of all-time. Of course, she’s not there yet but she’s definitely got promise. Her set at the Carefree Black Girl showcase – the social movement and podcast she also spearheads – displays it in spades. “It ain’t my fault that all these bitches wanna be me,” she raps on her latest single ‘Hybrid’ and, whether she’s strutting down a makeshift runway or showing off her creative and confident wordplay, it’s hard not to add your name to that group.
Nekojam
From: Taichung, Taiwan
For Fans Of: Silk City, Signal
Listen to: ‘Ain’t Waiting’
You might not automatically see a Taoist temple and think it would make the perfect setting for a set of EDM-tinged pop, but NekoJam prove that it is. The Taiwanese group craft the kind of bangers it feels especially cruel to be watching from the comfort of your house – ones that make you want to be dancing as the sun sets over a festival field, surrounded by your mates and a crowd of strangers. Luckily, though, the likes of the lasering euphoria of ‘Together’ or the bright bliss of ‘Ain’t Waiting’ are too good to be mad about it for too long.
Grrrl Gang
From: Yogyakarta, Indonesia
For Fans Of: The Vaselines, Hinds
Listen to: ‘Guys That Read Sylvia Plath’ (but also all of their music so far)
Any band that has a song called ‘Guys Don’t Read Sylvia Plath’ is probably worth checking out and Indonesian four-piece don’t disappoint. Singer and guitarist Angeeta Sentana opens the song by rejecting societal expectations placed on women – “I wasn’t born to a mother […] I wasn’t born to be a wife/ I was born to live a life of my own” – and things only get better from there. Their lo-fi indie-rock is immediately captivating, from ‘Pop Princess’’ chants of “Be aggressive!” to the surging ‘90s riffs of ‘Honey Baby’. It’s just a shame they don’t have longer than a three-song set to show it off.
Yung Baby Tate
From: Decatur, USA
For Fans Of:Bree Runway, Nicki Minaj
Listen to: ‘I Am’
Yung Baby Tate is a superstar in the making. That much is clear as soon as she picks up the microphone on a stage that’s been transformed into a utopia of marshmallow clouds and silver rays gleaming down from the ceiling. She reinforces that idea when she recites her lines on Flo Milli collab ‘I Am’ with playful robot movements and sound effects, and cements it 100 percent when she switches from rapping to singing on the sultry, smooth ‘Let It Rain’. You don’t want to sleep on this star.
Matilda Mann
From: London, UK
For Fans Of: Laura Marling, Angel Olsen
Listen to: ‘The Loch Ness Monster’
“Holy fuck, I need a haircut/ Can’t believe it’s been a year,” sings Matilda Mann in the opening lines of her first song at SXSW 2021. It’s a disarming start – one that makes you laugh and draws you in further to a quiet but brilliant world of indie-folk. As just one woman playing guitar, she might have fewer ways at her disposal to grab our attention but it turns out she only needs one – her sometimes humorous, always gorgeous songwriting that builds worlds of emotion and imagery around her.
Belako
From: Mungia, Spain
For Fans Of: Queens Of The Stone Age, The Breeders
Listen to: ‘The Craft’
Back in the before times, Belako had just started making waves outside of their native Spain and it’s easy to see why from their SXSW 2021 set. “Ours is power and now is the time,” they chant on ‘The Craft’, which boasts the kind of pogo-along riffs that would turn any of Austin’s independent venues into sweaty moshpits. On ‘AKLR’, they up the noise and unleash QOTSA-sized riffs that sound best pummelled straight into your ears through headphones (or, we imagine, thrashing around in front of a venue speaker).
Hachiku
From: Melbourne, Australia
For Fans Of: Beach House, Mazzy Star
Listen to: ‘Shark Attack’
Watching Hachiku – aka Anika Ostendorf – at SXSW 2021 feels like you’re dreaming. First, there is the unusual visual setup that sees Ostendorf and her band play on the porch of a house, but with one member shut away inside, just visible through the window. Secondly, because Hachiku’s music is ethereal dream-pop that makes even a grey and rainy day in Melbourne seem like another world that you want to run to immediately. We might not be able to physically right now but the 26-year-old’s debut album ‘I’ll Probably Be Asleep’ is the perfect soundtrack for planning adventures to.
Loco
From: Seoul, South Korea
For Fans Of: Juice WRLD, Lil Peep
Listen to: ‘Don’t’
Rapper Loco is well-known in the Korean hip-hop world for his charismatic presence and he doesn’t miss with it during label AOMG’s showcase. He starts Dean collab ‘Too Much’ with one foot on a skateboard in the living room he’s performing from, looking like he’s about to go gliding around the room as he raps. Despite there not being an audience in front of him, he still shouts out commands like “Hands up!” with such assurance that you almost do it from in front of your laptop. On ‘Don’t Give It To Me’, which features vocals from Mamamoo’s Hwasa, he shares a relatable message: “I don’t care who you are, don’t make me cry.” Loco might not be considered particularly new in the Seoul scene, but hopefully, this showcase will spark more global interest in a brilliant star.
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