One Track Mind

It is a Tuesday morning in the aftermath of SXSW and I’m back home in Colorado, shaking off the buzz of an unrelenting onslaught of swag, free beer, and breakfast tacos. Over the next couple of days, I’ll have a couple more posts for you recapping the festival’s highlights, but today’s post is dedicated to four artists I had hoped to catch at SXSW but missed seeing perform for one reason or another.

David Dallas “Indulge Me”

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With the release of his debut record, Something Awesome, David Dallas began turning heads on the hip-hop scene. The Auckland native is easily New Zealand’s most captivating rapper, bringing liquid verses to simple yet compelling beats. On “Indulge Me,” Dallas rhymes over a crisp musical backdrop anchored by a soulful, bluesy vocal sample.

ARMS “Heat and Hot Water”

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Todd Goldstein may be best known for his work as the frontman of New York City indie band The Harlem Shakes, but it is within the context of his solo project, ARMS, that he truly shines. Arms’ catalog began with the debut LP Kids Aflame and was recently expanded with the release of a free, self-titled EP, which you can download here.

Mountain Man “Animal Tracks”

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You have to love a group of three women with beautiful voices and an acoustic guitar who go by the name Mountain Man. The Bennington, Vermont based trio have only been together for a little more than a year but their pristine alt-folk ballads suggest lifetimes spent singing to themselves along nature walks and absorbing the musicality of the world around them.