San Francisco four-piece The Mantles finished a two week European tour with an Upset The Rhythm hosted gig at what was supposed to be Marquis of Ladndsdowne but ended up being the Shacklewell Arms, just round the corner in the heart of Dalston’s cool (London). The Mantles first caught our attention with the PHENOMENAL ‘Dont Lie’ single from their 2009 self-titled debut album, one of our tracks of that year.

Tonight they rip through a forty minute set and perform “their first encore ever… oh no maybe our second”. Either way it’s an impressive dual guitared garage surf-rock affair this eve. Aside from the aforementioned ‘Dont Lie’ it’s the faster numbers, like ‘Cascades’, with driving rhythm section and head to head riffing that draw the greatest reactions along with new gloriously titled new single ‘Raspberry Thighs’ out now through French label SDZ Records. That rare encore comes in shape of debut album track ‘Samantha’ and it’s the icing on the muddy chocolate cake.

Cascades – The Mantles from The Mantles on Vimeo.

FM Belfast @ Emos Indoors, SXSW 2011 March 19th. Not exactly on the money for our normal tastes and they’ve got a pretty questionable cover of ‘Killing In The Name Of’ called ‘Lotus’ but there’s no denying (by anyone that was there at least!) that Reykjavík’s FM Belfast killed it at Emos on Sat night. A perfectly rowdy indie dance show to finish the festival with and the star of the show was a guy that we can only call King Cow Bell. One for the moment.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WC0gP7Ggs88

Grimes @ Club De Ville, SXSW 2011 March 19th. Pint sized Canadian freak-folk-popster Grimes was an intriguing watch late on Sat night. A little too poppy for our tastes on the odd occasion and it was hard to judge whether there was much substance behind the style. ‘Devon’ was undoubtedly a tune though and Grimes is definitely an artist that’s going to stir up more attention soon. She’s already been splashed on Gorilla vs Bear’s (heroes) pages and that’s hardly a bad place to start. We’ll be digging deeper to make up our minds.

Botany @ Lamberts, SXSW 2011 March 19th. Botany is electronic whiz Spencer Stephenson from Weatherford, Texas. We’ve seen a few electronic (generally samplers / laptops / synth) performers of late and it’s hard to make for a continuously engaging show but Botany happily buck the trend. Spencer enlisted the help of a friend and kick ass drummer which went a long way to adding weight to their sound. Quite introspective, Animal Collective influenced electronica is the order of the day including songs from his glorious ‘Feeling Today EP’ out now on Western Vinyl.

Mystery Jets @ Klub Krucial, SXSW 2011 March 19th. So Mystery Jets have been in Austin for a couple of months according to their frontman - doing what we’re not sure but they dragged a nice combo of British and American followers along to their ‘Mystery Guests’ (see what they’ve done there!) performance on the final day proper of SXSW on Saturday. It was to be their only gig and they tore it up with newbies ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Show Me The Light’ slipping in seamlessly alongside older gems like ‘Two Doors Down’. Perfect sun drenched pop.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wZR1rS3KgU

Grouplove @ Klub Krucial, SXSW 2011 March 19th. These guys were one of only three bands that we clocked up multiple views for (Clock Opera & Geographer the others). The songs are vibrant and frankly huge sounding live and there’s a real chemistry between the vocalists Christian Zucconi and Hannah Hooper that’s a joy to watch. Everyone buy their debut EP now and go see them on the NME Radar tour in May if you can.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhn6YnsR2dc

Young Buffalo @ Klub Krucial, SXSW 2011 March 19th. We love it when a complete lack of a plan comes together. We’d RSVP’d for the New Waves (Neon Gold, Chess Club, Communion NYC, MCT Management and Plugged In) party ages back but only actually stumbled upon it by chance and right at the start of awesome Young Buffalo’s (Oxford, Mississippi) set. Singles ‘Three Deep’ and ‘Catapilah’ were delivered with suitable gusto and talent far beyond their years and  far beyond that of Brother playing inside.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvG8Lmir0E

Wye Oak @ The Parish, SXSW 2011 March 18th. Another killer Baltimore, Maryland band two piece Wye Oak rocked one of the bigger SXSW venues on Friday night. Packed to the brim the crowd including our sun charred selves were treated to blues infused jams from the band’s debut album Civilian including the delicious title track. Another coup for City Slang records then - home to one Caribou amongst others.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5B4KS7GP9A

Shimmering Stars @ Soho Lounge, SXSW 2011 March 18th. We paid our first and last visit of the festival to Soho Lounge on Austin’s bustling 6th St on Friday to take a peek at British Columbia’s (Canada) Beach Boys inspired Shimmering Stars. The sound was a little muddy so it was hard to pick out highlights with the exception of the sublime ‘I Got It Wrong’ (below). While not yet on the level of our favourite Canadian harmonisers Women, they’re certainly ones to keep an eye on.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNDtpoLfM9U

Babeshadow @ 512 Rooftop, SXSW 2011 March 18th. London’s Babeshadow played a stormer of set at 512 Rooftop on Friday night. Brothers Tom (vocals/guitar/keys) and Adam (bass) cut towering figures on stage but Tom’s all voice and hair when you boil him down (a good thing). Adam makes up one half of a bitching rhythm section alongside drummer Sam, whilst not forgetting guitarist Dave who adds some precise licks to Tom’s Beatles meets Jokerman era Dylan hooks.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjb7371UOv4