Kevin Bronson on March 26th, 2013

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[Sometimes you get caught up in the frenzy and euphoria of SXSW and your snap judgments don’t feel so snappy a week later. So over the next few days, we’ll have a handful of posts like this. File under People Who Impressed Us at SXSW, the Follow-Up:]

What we saw at SXSW.

All hail the 2 1/2-minute single. The first handful of songs from young Leeds quartet China Rats – singer-guitarist Graeme Thomson, guitarist Luke Smith, bassist Jedidiah Allcock and George Riley ”“ get their hooks in you, shake your ’70s child back to life and exit with a smile and snarl. There are equal parts ’60s, ’70s and ’90s in the new single “Nip It in the Bud” (the follow-up to last year’s “To Be Like I”), which ought to get the unsigned foursome a little attention, and maybe a trip back to the U.S. after their successful outings in Austin. SoCal garage bands take note: Here’s how to sound rough-and-tumble without merely sloughing off on production.

||| Stream: “Nip It in the Bud” and “To Be Like I”

||| Also check out our SXSW coverage on:

‣ Haim, Le1f, Parquet Courts, Small Black, Supreme Cuts, the Orwells
‣ Ace Reporter, Frightened Rabbit, Mitzi, Peace, RDGLDGRN, Smashing Pumpkins, the Little Ones
‣ Fol Chen, Isaac Delusion, MØ, Rhye, Suburban Living
‣ Kendrick Lamar, Kitten, Metz, Savages, Solange, Wildcat! Wildcat!
‣ Chelsea Light Moving
‣ Future, Sinkane, the Afghan Whigs, Usher
‣ Cayucas, Cold War Kids, Hunters, Palma Violets, PAPA, Sizaar, TOY
‣ CHVRCHES, Como Mamas, Lianne la Havas, Skaters, Surfer Blood
‣ Dave Grohl’s SXSW keynote speech
‣ Alpine, Bernhoft, Boy, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Young Dreams
‣ “Dear Austin, Love L.A.”
‣ Dual Core, Io Echo, Nerdcore, Spirit Animal, Tenlons Fort, the 1975, the Wandering Madman, Wordburglar
‣ Fetsum, Franny Glass, Little Green Cars, Wild Child, Yi Sung Yol