As so many make the great migration to the gem of the Lone Star State to experience one of the most dense concentrations of beer, barbeque and amps, The Narrator make their jaunt south from Chicago, ready to play but more ready to have fun. Their album All That To The Wall comes out May 15th on Flameshovel Records. Is SXSW fun or business? I’ll say it’s business, but we’re going for fun. I’m......

After taking last week off because we were sure SXSW would release their master plan, we now return as there seems to be no end in sight to the band list embargo. Many indie labels and some marquee acts have simply announced their appearances, as bands attempt to book routing shows in Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, or elsewhere to make their long drives worthwhile. The lack of info has started to get the press......

Another week has passed, and somehow there's a full Coachella lineup available but still no official word from SXSW. The Austin Chronicle did report that the powers that be intend to issue an official list sometime next week, so in the interim, we bring you round three of our unofficial but quite accurate SXSW 2007 band list. Interesting additions this week include Sloan, The Pipettes, Apples In Stereo, The Rosebuds, Beach House, Robyn Hitchcock,......

Neither hyped enough to be a buzz band, nor obscure enough to make the list of “best bands you’ve never heard of,” Chicago’s Bound Stems have, in any case, quietly become one of the most interesting bands of the past year. Though the band has been recording since 2003, they turned up the volume in November of last year with the EP The Logic of Building the Body Plan. The album, which was greeted......

MONDAY [4] film •The Royal Tenenbaums at Austin Java (9pm, Free) film •Fuck: A Documentary at Alamo Downtown (7pm) film •The Conformist at Texas Union (7:30pm) film •Blue at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film •The Da Vinci Code at Café Mundi (8pm, Free) film •Sound Unbound 2: Modern American Composers at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $2) music •Bound Stems, Rahim, The Shells, Quiet Company, Bello Ragazzo at Emo's music •Moonlight Towers, The Alice Rose at......

Remember conventional wisdom? Once upon a time, it declared that releasing two records in the space of a single year was inadvisable. It might have also suggesed that lyrics with a historical or literary bent have no place in popular music, or that a group of highly-educated nerds from Chicago will never make it in a rock band. Fortunately for us, popular music, rock bands, and specifically Bound Stems seem to have little interest......

TUESDAY [10] film • AFS Essential: The Romantic Englishwoman at Alamo Drafthouse (7pm) ® film • The Flower of My Secret at Arbor (2:45pm & 7:30pm) ® film • Talk to Her at Arbor (12:10pm, 5:05pm, 10pm) ® film • Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause at The Space (8pm, Free) ® film • Yellow Submarine at Alamo Drafthouse (9:45pm, $2) film • Beetlejuice at Rounders Pizzeria (9pm, FREE) film • SXSW Presents: The......

The Bound Stems have one of those names that triggers flashbacks to 10th-grade biology, but the sound is quite a bit more pleasant than the click click click of Mr. Wright scrawling away at the chalkboard. In fact, the Chicago-based outfit plays low-key indie rock of the stripe that one might expect to hear providing atmosphere at Spiderhouse. Apparently the guys in the band played on the same high school basketball team -- charming,......

MONDAY [9] books • Ted Bishop presents Riding With Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books at BookPeople (7:30pm) film • The Agronomist at Texas Union (7:30pm) ® film • Imagine - The John Lennon Sing-along at Alamo Drafthouse (7pm, $10) ® film • Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at Arbor (2:45pm, 7:30pm) ® film • Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers at Café Mundi (8pm, Free) film • Run Lola Run......

If ACL fest hasn't caused you to hate music, you might want to check out this week's new releases: DJ Shadow The Outsider (Universal) DJ Shadow's latest offering has certainly managed to garner (perhaps more than) its fair share of critique, and for fans of Shadow who have been listening since Entroducing, it's fairly easy to see why. Outsider is, for the most part, DJ Shadow's most straightforward foray into hip-hop, and features an......

AngryRobot was kind enough to point out that the SXSW Music roster has now grown to over 1,200 bands. We're no longer able to keep track of who's new and who's already been listed, but festival organizers will have notified all qualifying bands by sometime tomorrow. Check out our list after the expandotron, or for much prettier versions we invite you to surf over to AngryRobot's: SXSW 2006 Band List, Parsed v4.0 Meanwhile, stay......

South By Southwest released another round of additions to the roster of bands scheduled to perform at this year's music festival (March 15th-19th), bringing the current total to nearly 1150. Notable bands recently added as of January 29th include Morrissey, Camera Obscura, Captain, Boy Hits Car, Billy Bragg, Bedtime for Toys, Division of Laura Lee, and SF's Hudson Bell. The full roster appears after the jump, or you check out much prettier versions at......

The roster of bands scheduled to perform at this year's South by Southwest Music Festival has grown to over one thousand, with several hundred still unannounced. If you're not on this, don't fret -- just yet. SXSW coordinators are promising to contact all selected bands by February 7. Meanwhile: The housing market during the festival is looking rather healthy. SXSW is still looking for volunteers Registration rates are at their penultimate price points before......

SXSW.com released an updated lineup for this year's SXSW Music Festival earlier today, and it's one hell of a list. The SXSW committee hastens to note that "This is a partial list of performers confirmed to appear at the 2006 SXSW Music Festival. This list is current as of 1/13/06. All of this information is subject to change." International acts include: Masahiro Nitta, DMBQ, Ellegarden, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, PE'Z, The Emeralds (Japan)......