For years, the Austinist staff has fielded queries from friends and acquaintances about SXSW goings-on. "Can I walk to The Salt Lick?" "Does it really take 90 minutes for a Casino El Camino burger?" But most of all: "What showcase do you recommend to see some good new bands I don't know about?" This year, we've made the answer official. Austinist is presenting an official nighttime showcase featuring six different American acts at Spiro's on Thursday, March 13. We've done a lot of listening to different bands and entire showcases, and believe that this one has great potential to impress you. The roster:...

Image from MySpace Love as Laughter at Emo’s (inside)Monday, November 19Emos (603 Red River St)Doors at 8:00, Show at 10:00[info] Today, Emo’s inside stage will be graced by Sam Jayne and his band Love as Laughter, his artistic outlet for a little under ten years after his former, very influential group Lync disbanded. Payne is best known for his work within the K Records, Olympia, WA scene, where he staked his claim for strange indie......

COLOUR REVOLT What’s the Deal: There’s a small college town in Mississippi where Colour Revolt is waiting like a swollen, porous sponge for someone to wring them out over the parched mouths of indie rock fans and critics alike. Right now, there is only the self-titled 6-song EP re-released in October of ‘06, but they’re currently in the final stages of recording their debut full-length. The EP, which caught ears at Spin and Stereogum......

Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank From the opening moments of WWDBTSES—god, even the acronym’s a mouthful—it's apparent that Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock has become a capital-R Rock Star, perhaps the oddest one since David Byrne: track one, “March Into The Sea,” finds the newly-svelte songwriter frothing and howling from word one. The man hasn't lost his knack for colorful illustrations of human nature, tossing off wry observations like......

Okay, so the headline isn't entirely true, but forget about World War III for a second and listen to some really good news: yesterday Rollingstone.com broke the story, and today pitchfork reported to people under 35 that legendary Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr has been added to Modest Mouse's permanent lineup. Our minds are reeling with the possibiities: imagine the man who wrote the riffs to The Headmaster Ritual and This Charming Man working for......

We know the past couple of weeks have been slow, but there have been a number of quality releases that we feel you need to know about. The Arcade Fire – The Arcade Fire (EP) A must have for any fan, It was previously only available at their live shows, but now has been reissued by Merge. Adrian Belew – Side Two Belew incorporates electronic sounds into his art rock landscape to provide an......