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SXSW Presents: Jarv Dee

 We live in an era now where the rap game is even more about how you look and not as much about the actual quality of your rhymes. To those that consider themselves rap enthusiasts, like Jarv Dee, surely find this reality saddening. Rap and hip hop aren't currently living up to the educating, thought provoking standards its forefathers tried to set in place, and that's something Jarv is trying to change.

"People need to understand what is really going on," Jarv Dee told local alt-weekly The Stranger. "The new generation of rappers classifies the old hiphop as corny, but old hip-hop had all the knowledge. All they talk about is how fucked up they getting, but everyone's forgetting real life. They just make everything a party."

Even though Jarv does enjoy a party (and you can definitely still do so to his music), the Moor Gang founding member is trying to do a bit more with his tunes than provide an inebriated soundtrack. "All I do is teach my truths," Jarv says. "I can't tell anybody anything besides what I went through. I'm not a preachy person. I'll give game, but I don't like to force game."

Jarv's got the rhymes and the rhythms to make people listen, so whether you're tuning into him for fun or for thoughtful provocation, you'll get from it exactly what you need.

SXSW Presents: Shubzilla x Bill Beats

 The Pacific Northwest may not be known as a hub for hip-hop, but by all means its residents know that through all of rain drops there are some great artists writing some great rhymes. Some of those rhymes come spunky lyricist Shubzilla, back by some funky production of her collaborator Bill Beats.

It's been some years since Shubzilla and Bill Beats began working together, and over the course of the six years since The Campaign Mixtape came out their collective efforts have grown even more esteemed and enjoyable. Shubzilla prides herself in writing about whatever the hell she chooses to and somehow, Bill Beats always has the perfect measures to accommodate. Their performances are energetic, fun and enthralling and once they're finished, you'll leave feeling like you just partied with your friends.

Though SXSW is already one of the biggest parties of the year, consider stopping and checking Shubzilla and Bill Beats. They'll be some of the most entertaining yet.

Odetta Hartman brings experimental folk to SXSW on 3/17

NYC chanteuse Odetta Hartman is more experimental than most, and in an endearing way, as demonstrated in the music video for her song "Dreamcatchers." It's a compilation of home videos of Hartman as a little girl, doing various things such as playing the violin, swimming, and hitting a piñata, but the video is edited to move with the music, with a hazy, acid-trip-like manner. The songs on her last record 222 are short, sweet vignettes, led by banjo and textural vocals, infused with pentatonic guitars and experimental strings. Odetta Hartman will play at SXSW at the Townsend on 3/17. -Geena Kloeppel


SXSW Presents: Thunderpussy




SXSW Presents: Naked Giants

*photo by Stephanie Severance 

In a place that doesn't see a lot of sun, anything that's recalls warm beaches, endless sunshine and running around outside is definitely appreciated. Naked Giants encompass this aesthetic in their sound, bringing the styles of a brighter region all the up to the romantically dreary Pacific Northwest. 

The trio, having popped up onto to scene not even that long ago, make fun and youthfully jaunty garage rock that no matter how old you are, make you feel like you're in your early 20s again. Naked Giants have dropped a few collections of songs over the last three years of their new but bright career, but their upcoming full-length debut Sluff shows them at their most energetic and excited yet. Exactly what "sluff" is depends on who you're talking to, but whether it stands for "South Lake Union Fuck Face" (which references the techies taking over Seattle) or the black sludge that comes off your shoes in the snow, the one thing that is for sure is spark is infectious, sluffy or not, and it'll make you want to bounce around whenever you see them.


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