What a week. Despite the heavy hitters such as Metallica, Kanye West and Devo that made it down to Austin for shock and awe performances in tiny venues, SXSW 2009 was still all about the thousands of indie bands trying to shine through a Mid Texas town over-saturated in everything to do with music, debauchery and barbeque.

We took a survey of IODAns that made it down to see the madness and here is our list of stand-outs in no particular order (with as many free PromoTracks we could scramble up!):

The Flower Travellin’ Band-

Winding down their first ever US tour, the fore-bearers of stoner rock made their last stop on tour, Austin, a memorable one. They even made the cover of The Austin Chronicle’s Friday SXSW edition (check out that Sitorla)!

“In fact, tonight’s set confirms the band’s unique sound and vision remains intact. There are moments when they verge of Can funkoid territory, others where King Crimson spring to mind and where Cream’s ghost is evoked. The overall effect is both startling, uplifting and over all too quickly.” -Mojo Magazine

We couldn’t get a promotrack for you but check a song out by them in an episode of IODAcast here.

Earthless with J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.-

Earthless + Mascis was something else. Took a while to get going but then WOW. The drumming was AMAZING and everything came together. What threw us off were the model-types handing out samples of CK One- do they not know their demographic? Doubt people like the dudes below from Black Tusk enjoy the scent of Calvin’s unisex perfume.

Earthless
“Godspeed” (mp3)
from “Godspeed (Edit)”
(Tee Pee Records)

Buy at Tee Pee Records
More On This Album

The Phenomenal Handclap Band-

This supergroup doesn’t yet have an album out (expect it some time in 2009 via Friendly Fire) but the buzz was roaring leading up to their SXSW baptism. NPR to the most niche tastemaker blogs put them on their must see lists. We think they lived up to the hype and are gearing up to listen to their recently mastered debut.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band
“You’ll Disappear” (mp3)
from “IODA SXSW Opening Day Bash Sampler 2009″
(ioda)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

The Wrens-

Via Pitchfork:

“After hours spent searching for the Next Big Thing at SXSW, checking out bands attempting to woo jaded industry insiders, it was refreshing to take in the Wrens’ set. These dudes have been there, done that, and done it again. Nobody is running to their laptop to blog about hot up and coming buzz band the Wrens. So their headlining set at the Absolutely Kosher showcase was packed with true believers, dudes who knew all the words and spent the whole time shouting along, not Twittering.

Frustratingly, the set was short on new songs, with only one and a half (the half serving as the intro to “She Sends Kisses”) played. Both were slow, pretty ballads that stood in sharp contrast to the fired-up Meadowlands tracks that made up the rest of the set. Kevin Whelan served as ringmaster/ringleader, jumping around and screaming with hardcore intensity, offering up his bass to the crowd to pass over their heads. At the end of the show, as Whelan took a seat behind a keyboard for “This Is Not What You Had Planned”, Charles Bissell knelt down and planted a kiss on his cheek. It was love all around.”

The Wrens
“Everyone Choose Sides” (mp3)
from “The Meadowlands”
(Absolutely Kosher)

Buy at appliedSB / Groupietunes
More On This Album

Here We Go Magic-

Via You Ain’t No Picasso:

“Positively everyone at SXSW was at least hoping to see HWGM and it’s not without cause — they’re fantastic. I only knew the names of a few of the songs they played, but everything sounded great. It makes me a little bummed that I don’t live anywhere near the upcoming Grizzly Bear/Here We Go Magic tour. That’s lessened a little bit by the fact that I got to see them pull a young girl who wasn’t more than waist-high out of the crowd to play the maracas along with the band. She kept great time and we all had a great time. Funny how that works.”

Here We Go Magic
“Fangela” (mp3)
from “Here We Go Magic”
(Western Vinyl)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

My Jerusalem-

We totally loved My Jerusalem. The singer is Jeff Klein, who was in Twilight Singers. They are sort of a “supergroup” although no one in it is famous, but they do come from other bands. Notably, the bassist is Ashley Dzerigian, who was in Great Northern last year, and is now in My Jerusalem. She also happens to be the sexiest woman in rock ‘n’ roll (sorry Theresa Andersson, who was great at the IODA party). Drummer Cully Symington was in Bishop Allen and tracked The Gutter Twins album. Rick Nelson, who plays violin, viola, cello and keyboards in the band, is a longtime member of the Polyphonic Spree and St. Vincent. The show was pretty good, it was a big band and kinda reminded us of the Arcade Fire, only darker and more brooding. Once it got going, it rocked the house.

Absu-

We’ve never laughed that hard at a metal show. The drummer’s evil metal scowl in between tunes was mythical with introductions like: “This next track is called 181- one plus eight plus one equals 10 which is also one. The mysteries will be revealed in the f#@*ing song.” Extra points for track titles such as “In the Name of Auebothiabathabaithobeuee”.

Red Cortez-

Red Cortez (fresh off dates with Morrissey!) were raw and excellent at the reapandsow showcase.

Red Cortez
“Fell On The Floor” (mp3)
from “Hands To The Wall”
(reapandsow, Inc.)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

The Love Language-

Via Pitchfork-

“Make way for Stu McLamb, a genuine new talent with a name straight out of the annals of McDonald’s villainy. Imagined dalliances with the Hamburglar aside, McLamb really can sing– improbably, his voice veered from Roy Orbison croon to Walkmen-style bleat last night while his band swelled and cracked alt country a Whiskeytown fan could love. There’s an attractive symmetry to North Carolina’s the Love Language on stage; two female keyboardists far right and far left, a bass and a rhythm on either side of McLamb, and a drummer in back. Also, the Love Language is just attractive– at least four members could be models. Can’t hurt.

Especially when they’re offering songs that peak on their own, like if Arcade Fire’s big moments came out of back porch jam sessions. And then there’s “Lalita”, a garage-pop break with a tremulous grip on love, life, faith, all of it. McLamb dropped “We are the Love Language” three times during the set. Soon, he won’t have to do that stuff at all. Sooner the better.”

The Love Language
“Lalita” (mp3)
from “The Love Language”
(Bladen County Records)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album

Ty Segall-

Ty Segall killed it at the Goner showcase!!  We were shocked how much we wanted to go see local Bay Area bands even though we’re all located in SF and can see them at any time.  The music scene here is so strong and seeing what a presence they had down in Austin made us feel like proud mommas and poppas.

Ty Segall
“The Drag” (mp3)
from “Ty Segall”
(Castle Face)

Buy at Napster
More On This Album

Moriarty-

Parties at the French Legation Museum are always so calming and you feel like you’ve been magically transformed out of Texas.  Moriarty playing at that venue only added to the far from Texas feeling with their twangy Franco-Americana.  Bonus points for their cover of Tom Waits’ “Chocolate Jesus”.

Moriarty
“Jimmy” (mp3)
from “Gee whiz but this is a lonesome town”
(Naive)

Buy at Puretracks
More On This Album

Obits-

The Village Voice listed them in their top 5 bands they enjoyed at SXSW:

“4. Obits. This particular blog’s crush/obsession with these surly-garage titans continues.”

Now signed to Sub Pop, they played songs from their IODA-distributed 7″ on Comedy Minus One:

The Chap-

We kept hearing over and over that to completely understand and love The Chap you need to see them live…  We agree, they were amazing at the Ghostly International/ anticon showcase Wednesday night.
The Chap
“Proper Rock” (mp3)
from “Builder’s Brew”
(Ghostly International)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
More On This Album