As usual, The A.V. Club is presenting an excellent day party during Austin’s annual South By Southwest Music Festival in lovely (and hopefully sunny) Austin, Texas. This year we’ve moved down to fashionable Rainey Street for a party we’ve dubbed “Rainey Day Party #12 & 35.” The massive lineup: Bob Mould (full band), Wye Oak, Speedy Ortiz, Eagulls, Sylvan Esso, and Public Service Broadcasting. It will take place Friday, March 14 at Blackheart Bar (86 Rainey Street) at noon. It’s free and open to the public, and you would be smart to show up early. Some information on the bands:
Bob Mould is the alt-rock giant known for Husker Du, Sugar, and a notable solo career that includes the album Workbook, which is 25 years old (!) this year. At our show, Mould and his band—Jon Wurster and Jason Narducy of Superchunk—will be playing songs from Mould’s upcoming solo album as well as a handful of classics, some chosen by The A.V. Club.
Wye Oak is a duo that originated in Baltimore, Maryland, and released The A.V. Club’s favorite album of 2011, Civilian, and has famously participated in our Undercover series multiple times—a tradition we hope will continue in 2014. Here, Wye Oak will play in advance of a new album, Shriek, which is due out in late April.
Speedy Ortiz released The A.V. Club’s 16th favorite album of 2013, Major Arcana, and recently followed it with the awesome left turn EP Real Hair.
British rock band Eagulls made waves at last year’s SXSW with an open letter calling out lesser bands with bad haircuts, and made its debut on late-night TV earlier this year via David Letterman. And they haven’t even released an album yet.
Sylvan Esso is an electro-pop duo featuring Nick Sanborn of Megafaun and a bunch of other bands. Their debut album is due out May 13, and it’s excellent.
Finally, another British outfit: Public Service Broadcasting is another duo—this is becoming a theme—that samples old public service recordings and mixes them into electronic and organic sounds. Their Inform Educate Entertain came out last year. See you there!