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KaiL Baxley grew up in the small backwater town of Williston in Barnwell County, South Carolina, the birthplace and stomping grounds of the late great soul legend James Brown, with whom KaiL shared an unlikely friendship as a child. “Yeah, James used to say, \'Boy you bein\' good?\' I’d say, \'Yes sir.\' He’d say, \'You know you doin\' wrong! Nah, show me your moves lil’ man!\' And we’d have a little dance off. I’m pretty sure he always won, ha, ha. There’s something about the groove of James Brown that has always stayed with me.”

Royal Canoe is a group of musicians on a mission to construct ambitious, inventive music. The songs are thick with catchiness, rich in rhythm and are consistently pushing against the boundaries of pop music.

With his husky voice, a head full of catchy tunes and a story to tell, Jack Savoretti would seem to have everything it takes.

Yet, just one year ago - with two albums already to his name, a raft of rave reviews, and a legion of fans from five years of solid gigging - Jack was about to pack it all in.

Having left his former label and management, he had become thoroughly disillusioned with the music biz at the age of 27. "I was seriously thinking about giving it all up," he admits. He had just gotten married, had a kid on the way, and hadn't written a song in months.

The Boxing Lesson is a rock band from Austin, TX. A power trio with synthesizers performing the bass player\'s role, they create a mammoth psychedelic \'wall of sound\' that begins minimally and builds into grand orchestrations. Vocalist and guitarist Paul Waclawsky, synthesizer player Jaylinn Davidson, and 14-year-old drumming prodigy Ben Redman combine strong songwriting with desert rock, guitar freak-outs, soul space jams and plenty of Texas rock ’n’ roll thunder. Their upcoming Big Hits! LP is produced by Chris “Frenchie” Smith.

Il Pan Del Diavolo is a folk\'n\'roll duo formed by Pietro Alessandro Alosi (guitar, kick and vocals) and Gianluca Bartolo (guitar and vocals). The group was born in Palermo in 2006 and began playing live with energetic and very intense performances. In 2008 they won the Sicilian stages of the national Italiawave Festival competition, playing also at Ypsigrock and sharing the stage with Gogol Bordello at Pollino Festival.

Hexvessel is a psychedelic folk-rock band from Finland that was founded by Englishman Mat McNerney after he moved to Helsinki in 2009. Fusing late 60s and early 70s English folk/psych with Finnish nature mysticism, they play a witches brew of heavy, tripped-out atmospherics and hypnotic paeans.

Their debut album Dawnbearer, which is now considered an occult folk classic, garnered rave reviews from the media and fans alike, making it to the top of many people\'s Best of 2011 lists.

Footage from Grulkefest, a public memorial, benefit concert and celebration of the late SXSW Creative Director Brent Grulke. To learn more or to make a donation to the Graham Grulke Education Fund, visit http://www.sxsw.com/brent-grulke

Footage from Grulkefest, a public memorial, benefit concert and celebration of the late SXSW Creative Director Brent Grulke. To learn more or to make a donation to the Graham Grulke Education Fund, visit http://www.sxsw.com/brent-grulke

Soft Metals is a multi-disciplinary electronic duo from Portland, Oregon now residing in Los Angeles, California. Its members Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall were brought together through a common love of 1970s and 80s synthesizer music and began writing and recording songs together in the spring of 2009. Inspiration came to them by way of experimental electronic sounds, film soundtracks, early industrial music, minimal synth, house, techno, synth pop, krautrock, psychedelic rock, and shoegaze.