Only one week to go until South by Southwest, the annual world-famous festival that takes place in Austin, Texas. The SXSW Music Festival will be held from March 11 to 16. For the second year, we will host our event Ciao SXSW! The Italian Showcase on the 14, and you’re all invited!
Ciao SXSW! The Italian Showcase features some of the hottest acts in the Italian music scene. Mark your calendars because on March 14, from 7 pm to 1:30 am, six promising performers will showcase their talent at Marlow (700 E 6th St, Austin).
From 7:15 pm the Italian Trade Agency will host a networking drink between the Italian professionals and the international ones (it means free Spritz Aperitif for the Industry delegates working in the music and creative industry).
As you relax and spend a nice evening, you will have the opportunity to listen to Aurora D’Amico, Sara Parigi, Maria Chiara Argirò, and Tiger!Shit!Tiger!Tiger!, Bee Bee Sea and Ada Oda (from Belgium but singing in Italian).
And now that you have all the info secure your spot here, get to know the artists and listen to them in our playlist!
Genre: Folk/Americana
Schedule: 8:00 – 8:40 pm
After going viral for translating Italian hit songs into English, Aurora got the attention of the whole country and national media. But her musical journey officially began in 2015 at the Bluebird Café (Nashville TN), where she first performed in front of the American audience and established her strong bond with the US. Two music productions and numerous live shows later, in 2020 Aurora’s biggest dream was about to come true – she was going to tour the US for the first time! Little did she know the day she landed in Boston, Italy was locked down and her whole tour was cancelled. As she was forced to fly back home, her music landed in Indonesia as a soundtrack of a movie – a massive success at the box office and on Netflix. Today Aurora is well aware of her roots planted in the Folk heritage. But she is also able to reach for Pop skies with songs like Feelings and her latest single A Cool Car And A Good Smile (included in the Fresh Finds Pop playlist by Spotify US).
Genre: Singer-Songwriter/electro-pop
Schedule: 9:00 – 9:40 pm
Sara Parigi is a Tuscan singer, musician and author from Prato. In 2020 she began working on his new solo project in Italian, which mixes art pop sounds and intimate and deep atmospheres. Anticipated by the first single “Rive,” released in December 2023 with an evocative video by John Sbellinberg, her debut album “Stanza” – produced by Alessandro Fiori – was released on January 26, 2024, by Viceversa Records.
Genre: Electronic/Jazz
Schedule: 10:00 – 10:40 pm
Argirò has been a central figure in the UK jazz, classical and electronic worlds since she moved to London from Rome over a decade ago. A skilled pianist since childhood, her previous solo album, the stunning electronic jazz-fusion record Forest City, received widespread critical acclaim and was covered by the likes of The Guardian, Pitchfork, KCRW, KEXP, BBC, Vogue, and Rolling Stone. Her music has been featured in the Netflix series, Elite, and she can count the likes of Four Tet and Gilles Peterson as fans, with the latter describing her music as “absolutely crazy good”.
The result of this journey, both sonic and personal, can be keenly felt on the new LP CLOSER. “While working on the music there was this strong feeling of getting, with every single note, closer and closer to the person I want to be,” she says. “I was like, this is my thing, this is my baby, I need to connect more with myself and the music and have this sort of conscious journey. To be free, curious and closer connected to the people I love.”
Genre: Indie Rock
Schedule: 11:00 – 11:40 pm
Italian three-piece Tiger! Shit! Tiger! Tiger! is fully embracing the punk side of 90’s alternative rock mixed with shoegaze in a way that’s closer to Sonic Youth and Jesus and Mary Chain. For them, Music means taking a standard verse-chorus-verse structure and slathering it with their trademark oddly-tuned and feedback-spewing guitars. Their old albums gathered hype from Sweeping the Nation, SXSW, CMJ, SPIN, Austin Chronicle, Joyzine, Idioteq, Skullcandy, Culture Bully, Vice, Birpfm, Gimmetinnitus, Bbc6 as well as others. “BLOOM” (out Feb 23 2024 via To Lose La Track/Coypu) represents a bold step in their creative evolution, showcasing their more electrified side It establishes the band’s knack for dynamic delivery and finds TSTT pushing their limits to extremes. The noisy gem “Stones” is a propulsive, beautiful wall of sound heavier and darker than their previous releases. The wall of dreamy guitars weighs heavy and carries the meaning of the song while the hazy vocals and the thunderous drumming propel listening ears into a gorgeous dream where instantly catchy melodies and emotional atmospheres hang perfectly in the balance.
Genre: Punk/Indie Rock
Schedule: 12:00 – 12:40 am
Small town ennui. Feeling stuck. Being broke. All of these inform the music of Bee Bee Sea, who hails from the small northern Italian town of Castel Goffredo. Yet they haven’t stopped the trio from crafting breakneck anthems documenting dissatisfaction or developing a fearsome live reputation.
Hailing from the small city of Castel Goffredo in Northern Italy, the trio Bee Bee Sea has been cranking out spirited garage psych for a few years now. In 2020 Bee Bee Sea released their third and most vibrant album yet, “Day Ripper”.
Music outlets such as Louder Than War, Under The Radar and Europavox included “Day Ripper” in their best of 2020. “Daily Jobs” has been nominated song of the day by KEXP and WFMU. Their music has been spun on national radios such as RadioX (UK), Amazing Radio (UK), BBC1 (Jack Saunders), BBC6 (Iggy Pop, Amy Lamé), Radio3 (Spain), and Vodafone.fm (Portugal), RadioEins (Germany) and hundreds of local, college and community radios all over the world. Bee Bee Sea toured Europe and the UK multiple times and appeared in the US in 2018, including a legendary performance at the Pickathon Festival. The band is currently recording their 4th studio album.
Genre: Rock/Pop Punk
Schedule: 01:00 – 01:40 am
Ada Oda offers an energetic blend of music at the crossroads of eighties rock and Italian pop. The project was initiated in 2020 by César Laloux (The Tellers, BRNS, Italian Boyfriend) with Victoria Barracato on vocals. César’s barebone songwriting describes his impressions of love and the people around him. His lyrics were first translated into Italian and then adapted by Victoria, the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant. On stage and in the studio, the duo is accompanied by Clément Marion on bass (Judith Kiddo), Alex De Bueuger on drums (Alaska Gold Rush, Gros Cœur) and Aurélien Gainetdinoff (San Malo, Yolande Bashing) on guitar. The band released its first album, “Un amore debole”, at the end of November 2022 on 62 TV records.