SXSW 2007 MP3s, Edition 1

I'm way behind on the yearly daunting task of trying to listen to every MP3 up on the SXSW site... I think the festival is basically over by now but I've tried to ignore as much of the hype as I could so it didn't affect my listening parties.

Here's my first set... let me know what you like.

"Jim's Room" - Nina Nastasia & Jim White. Very quiet singer-songwriter folk piece with above-the-cut lyrics from former Touch and Go artist Nina Nastasia(left) - made extra-special by Jim White's understated drumming and Steve Albini's pristine recording. From last year's overlooked On Leaving.

"Catching and Killing" - Youth Group. Worst band name of the bunch but this several-year old poppy single from this aging Aussie band still wears well.

"Ecstacy" - zZz. This garage-tronica piece - think Jim Morrison fronting a trance band with 60's instruments makes you wanna put the lava lamps and colored lamps on and stick your girlfriend inna birdcage and say, "dance, Sister, dance"...

"Ping Pong" - x-Wife. Nice little pizzicato guitar riff frames this post-punker.

"Waste" - White Christian Romance. 10cc weren't really that bad of a band and this reminds me of some of their stuff - lush orchestral synths, cascading piano chords and vocals that provided whispered rhythmic counterpoint fitted in with a baritone guitar lead.

"Through A Keyhole" - Walter Meego. People might not like the nasal falsetto vocals here but it fits the whole paranoid mutant stalkerish vibe.

"Deen" - Wativ. Cutting edge jazz - don't get put off by the longish robot-analog reverb drum intro -- let it work for awhile --the aural payoff occurs when the strings made up to sound like wailing dogs kick in and the analog (moog?) synth starts cranking up.