Swedish Electro-Pop Band, Miike Snow

After the 2010 SXSW Music Festival, Next Big Sound, a tracking tool for monitoring fan interaction with music groups, released data on their website that was music to my ears. The article appeared on Mashable.com, with the headline, “The Most Popular SXSW Music Acts by Social Media Buzz [STATS].” Personally, I can’t resist hearing new music that might potentially takeover my iTunes playlist for the next few months.

What did Next Big Sound do here? During the entire SXSW festival, NBS tracked the number of plays, fans, comments, and views across social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Last.FM, and others. Based on how quickly the artist generated “fans” during SXSW, NBS captured and published two lists: 1) the most popular bands at SXSW and 2) the fastest rising bands at SXSW.

Last week I sampled all the artists on the list, bought a few albums, and then dug in a little deeper to check if any of them were coming to town. As of this posting, 6 bands have announced dates in Dallas.

Here are the Next Big Sound acts coming through Dallas (in order of appearance):

1. The Temper Trap

Noted for their atmospheric sound and grand guitars, the band from Melbourne gained momentum last year after playing some sold out shows and listed by the BBC as a top 15 Sound for 2009.

April 12, 2010 – Cambridge Room at House of Blues. Tickets are $18 day of show. Doors open at 8:00pm. More Info.

2. Local Natives

Pitchfork.com describes this LA indie-rock band sound as, “afropop-influenced guitars with hyperactive drumming and hooky three-part harmonies.” This band is another success story out of SXSW last year, apparently driving from LA to Austin to play 9 shows and grabbing the attention of UK press.

April 22, 2010 – The Cavern. Cover is $10. Doors open at 9pm. More info.

3. Neon Trees

With roots from Utah and California, the 4-piece alternative rock band released their first official album the day before the SXSW Music festival started on March 16th. The single, Animal, was released as a free song on iTunes. Good timing. The band is on tour opening for 30 Seconds to Mars and Mutemath.

Saturday, May 1, 2010 – Edgefest 20. More info.

4. Miike Snow

The 3-piece Swedish electro-pop band released their self-titled album in June of 2009. The band was not expecting to receive any kind of major attention and they just wanted to make music together, according to an interview with lead singer, Andrew Wyatt. Despite the album receiving some mixed critic reviews, their fan base is increasing. The album is fun without being labeled pop; it’s also sort of dry without being dubbed as dull. It seems to please everyone.

Monday, June 7, 2010 – Granada Theater. Tickets are $14. Doors open at 7pm. More info.

5. NeverShoutNever and Sum 41

July, 03, 2010 – Vans Warped Tour at Superpages.com. Tickets are $21.90. Doors open at 11:00am. More info.

Local Natives and Miike Snow will be worth checking out. I was bummed about Wale (#9 on Most Popular) and even more so after reading he is currently on tour with K’naan. But, there’s still plenty of time for new city announcements.

You can check out all the bands that made the hype list below. Did any SXSW bands peak your interest this year? Are they on this list?

Most Popular Bands at SXSW:

1. NeverShoutNever
2. The xx
3. Wale
4. Broken Bells
5. Sum 41
6. Blair
7. The Temper Trap
8. Miike Snow
9. Local Natives
10. We are Scientists

Fastest Rising Bands at SXSW:

1. Fang Island
2. Neon Trees
3. XV
4. Oddisee
5. Jonna Lee
6. Matthew Mayfield
7. Evergreen Terrace
8. The Antlers
9. Phantogram
10. GZA

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