Kevin Bronson on March 19th, 2010

0

I’m on assignment for SPIN.com this week at SXSW – as well as trying to squeeze in some coverage for the mothership Buzz Bands LA. I filed several bits Wednesday for SPIN, so fans of the Happy Hollows, the Morning Benders and Everybody Was in the French Resistance … Now [that’s Eddie Argos, above], should follow this link right here.

â—Š â—Š â—Š

Jonneine Zapata had dazzling red boots. Red Cortez had some sizzling new songs.

The L.A. acts played separate gigs, with Zapata and her five-piece band playing an official showcase and, in her smoldering way, carrying the patio theater at the Red Eyed Fly. Although some of her supporting cast has changed since I first wrote about her, Zapata’s dark rock is as sharply focused as ever, and very fitting for her black-dressed quintet. Did I say black-dressed? Except for her boots.

Red Cortez’s new material veers toward punk-rock Americana – I could seem them paired with the Gaslight Anthem, for instance – but it still roars. Frontman Harley Prechtel-Cortez writes and performs songs with a brawler’s intensity and a poets heart. And the quartet recently finished recording an album with respected producer Ethan Johns.

â—Š â—Š â—Š

Brooklyn quartet Suckers did little to move me, except away from the Paste magazine party as quickly as possible. There’s a little white-boy funk and a lot of fractured dance music in what they do, with piercing guitars, akimbo synths and some whoa-whoa-whoa choruses to top it off. Their album “Wild Smile” is out June 8 on Frenchkiss, and they will be touring with labelmates Local Natives.

â—Š â—Š â—Š

Wednesday recap: 14 bands, 10 venues, 2 meals including beef brisket, 2 sore feet. I’m with ya, Austin.