If you are in Austin this week, there is one stop you gotta make: Schmaltz. Yes, this is the best vegan food truck in the city but it's also ground zero for a Magnetic South Revue. Our dear pals from Southern Indiana are back in the mess that is SXSW for some unofficial shenanigans, mostly spear-headed by Apache Dropout and Thee Open Sex. On Thursday they will take over the area of 913 E Cesar Chavez from 1 to 6 p.m. Also on this Hoosier bill: Thee Tsunamis, Crys, Vacation Club and our cousins from Knoxville, the Psychic Baos. Eat a couple seitan reubans and hi-five the Tsunamis for us since we can't make it this year.

Loren Connors during sound check at Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, June 1, 2007. Photo by Yuko Zama.

Hijokaidan & Akira Sakata live at Akihabara GoodMan, Feb. 2, 2013. Sakata-san turned 68 on Feb. 21st and he breathes more fire and life than anyone we know. Photo by Yuko Under. 

Oh yeah, Thursday Feb. 21 in San Francisco, it's these two for one night only on the skins n' strings: 8 p.m. at The Lab. 

Our best pals at Magnetic South studio/label in Bloomington released two amazing records this month, debut LP of Thee Open Sex and Circuit Des Yeux 10-inch. Outside of an Apache Dropout 45, the studio has released a ton of cassettes from Southern Indiana bands and assorted mix tapes of lost/found singles -- yet these sides are their first majorly distributed statments. Thee Open Sex somehow mash Popul Vu trance and Iggy Pop fatalism. It's a bizarre, heavy rock record that we've been playing non-stop lately. Fab cover art comes via Mad Monk and Xerox the Kid. Check 'em out.