The naming of their own new rock group has always afforded young musicians the defiant right of self-identity. As early as my high school days I became aware that rock groups sought a “unique” sobriquet, or at least a name that drew some raised eyebrows. If they were lucky, their name stood out, something perhaps as initially important as the quality of their music.
You couldn’t always conclude that a really bad name meant it was a bad group. You could get an “idea” that the more defiant or borderline a name, the edgier the sound OR the image. But not always. Have you ever decided for or against giving a listen based upon the name?
Well, in one place and in ONE year (2007) I’ve found perhaps the largest index of “unique” new music group names I’ve ever browsed. It’s the list of acts for the Austin, Texas 2007 Independent music, “interactive” and film Festival, South By Southwest (sXsw).
Check this partial list of names: A Place to Bury Strangers, The Beasts of Bourbon, The Chairs of Perception (formerly The Urinals), Clorox Girls, Deaf in the Family, The Dirty Skirts, Dolly Varden, The Femurs, Fish Karma, Genghis Tron, Girl in a Coma, Grabass Charlestons, Green Milk from the Planet Orange (from Japan), How I Became the Bomb, Jack O and the Tennessee Tearjerkers, The JonBenet, Lesbians on Ecstasy, Les Breastfeeders, Electric Apricot, Menwhopause, Rain of Frogs, Mistress Stephanie and her Melodic Cat, Mittens on Strings, Money Waters, my!gay!husband!, Necropolis, Oh No! Oh My!, Onion Creek Crawdaddies, Outrageous Cherry, Peekaboo Theory, Persephone’s Bees, Pete and the Pirates, Picastro, The Pigeon Detectives, Stars of Track and Field, The Raunch Hands, Rebuilding the Rights of Statues (from China), Reverend Payton’s Big Damn Band, River City Rapists, Robbers on High Street, Roxy Cottontail, Say Hi To Your Mom, Scissors for Lefty, Smoking Popes, Smut Peddlers, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, The Sundresses, Tammany Hall Machine, Telephone Jim Jesus, Terribly Empty Pockets, Tokyo Police Club, To Live & Die in L.A. (from Portland), Trainwreck Riders, Tub Ring, Turbo Fruits, Turbonegro, Turn Me On Dead Man, Two Dollar Bash, Two Hoots & a Holler, The Vacancies The Victorian English Gentleman’s Club, Video Hippos, Vincent Black Shadow, Vincent Van Go Go, Voxtrot, Wax Planet, White Ghost Shivers, X-wife, Yoko Casionos, You Should Go Ahead, Yuppie Pricks.
This year’s early-spring-break SXSW rite started March 9th and runs through March 18th. Long considered perhaps the best venue for very new music (mostly pop, rock, alt or alt-country with some sprinkling of experimental music), the majority of musical acts are relatively young, hail from around the globe... and have some pretty catchy names.
I’ve never attended, but have it on very good authority from several younger friends who are very knowledgeable regarding new music... if you have to pick just one festival to attend, SXSW is it.
Investigate for yourself. Go here to scan the entire music venue and list of acts: While there you can download or stream one song from the huge majority of groups. FREE. You could build a good library of contemporary music from these offerings, which I estimate totals at least 6-8 hours-worth of downloadable songs in mp3 format.
Do I have any favorites? Sure! Abram Wilson, Balkan Beat Box, domingo Siete, Hyakkei, Roger Dean Young & the Tin Cup, Summer Hymns, Tacks the Boy Disaster, Terribly Empty Pockets and Tita Lima. But that's just on first listening.
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