Of the 14 gazillion acts that will end up playing South by Southwest 2011, here are some more to consider:

Widespread Panic, Emmylou Harris, Black Lips, and Okkervil River head the latest batch additions to this year’s lineup. Other newly confirmed notables include Diplo, Kylesa, Wavves, Times New Viking, Cold War Kids, Tim and Sam’s Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam, Greenhornes, The Raveonettes, Friendly Fires, The Chain Gang of 1974, OFF!, Boys Noize, Richie Hawtin, Esben and the Witch, The Chapin Sisters, Cults, Tennis, and Tech N9ne.

Still going: Raphael Saadiq, The Moondoggies, Edwyn Collins, Deer Tick, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Fake Problems, Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Fang Island, Twin Shadow, Memoryhouse, April Smith and the Great Picture Show, and Kevin Devine and the Goddamn Band are also set to play, as are Dirty Ghosts, Ear Pwr, Emmure, Gold Panda, Ha Ha Tonka, The Hood Internet, Shabazz Palaces, Tape Deck Mountain, Denison Witmer, The Octopus Project, and Royal Bangs.

And while we’re on the subject, it’s also worth mentioning that Foo Fighters have announced that they will premiere their forthcoming documentary at this year’s festival. Hopefully we’ll get a show at Stubb’s, too.

For an exhaustive look at all of this year’s confirmed participants, head on over to Festival Outlook.

The music portion of South by Southwest 2011 runs from March 16-20 in Austin, Texas. For ticket information and all other necessary details, visit sxsw.com.

Back to altogether more deserving causes, and indeed April Smith looks so wholesome that she could have married Tom Mix if she’d been around at the time. They write that April Smith and the Great Picture Show “play sassy pop music informed by the ’30s and ’40s, juke joints and cabaret, the Andrews Sisters and Tom Waits”. From the evidence of listening to her latest release, Songs For A Sinking Ship, it’s that and a good deal more. There is great variety to Smith’s writing, range, and repertoire, and the record contains a cracking selection of songs with hardly a duff one in earshot. Some songs put New Jersey-born Smith in close company with the most original singer-songwriters around, notably Ingrid Michaelson, and oddly also the upcoming UK artiste Gabby Young, with her band Other Animals.

It’s highly unlikely that Smith and Young have even heard each other, but they’d make a great double bill with their respective bands. They share other things in common, not least that they have both self-released their new albums. Smith’s recording was financed by her fans through the fundraising site Kickstarter.com, while Young ran a smaller-scale subscription scheme for fans. Smith’s Songs For a Sinking Ship was produced by Dan Romer (a further Ingrid Michaelson connection) and features some eclectic instrumentation, including piano, double bass, myriad percussion, and ukulele as well as guitars, accordion and horns, splendidly performed by her four-piece band.

The album opener, “Movie Loves A Screen” has shades of Michaelson in its construction and deft, direct lyricism. The song is enlivened by an imaginative arrangement combining ukelele and horns, which bring skiffle and ragtime together in a glorious hop, decorated by Smith’s honeyed vocal. “I just want to mean something to you” sings Smith, and she sure does. “Terrible Things”, which follows, is a tongue in cheek confessional. The song is pure cabaret and uncannily like much of Gabby Young’s work in both structure and the theatrical, accented delivery Smith adopts.

It’s almost forward to the 50’s with “Drop Dead Gorgeous”, a big production number with some great musical set pieces and a wry lyrical sting, which I’ll leave you to discover yourself. The song shows off Smith’s vocal range splendidly as she swings from blues to jazz to big band balladry with even shades of the great Freddie Mercury in her intonation and changes. A fabulous song! Ragtime piano and a mournful horn herald “Can’t Say No”, a song with strength of purpose and enough sauce to balance the little girl lost, acted out through some of the vocal passages. “What’ll I Do” is a contrasting tale of unrequited love, which reveals a softer side to Smith, and leans more towards the work of artistes like Norah Jones and especially the UK’s Kate Walsh. Smith’s vocal throughout is as beautiful and controlled as the song, which is an absolute highlight.

“Colors” is a particularly accessible song to which you could imagine Smith’s live audience singing every word from memory, a la Michaelson. It has a very catchy chorus but washed over me a little after the delights of the previous song. The sense that variety comes thick and fast is maintained as we reach “Dixie Boy”, a soulful throwback that smolders and then explodes into a series of show stopping crescendos. “The One That Got Away” (not to be confused with Gabby Young’s “Ones That Got Away”, readers) is a sassy mix of Queen in cabaret, with even a brief sub-Brian May guitar solo.

“Beloved” is a stable mate of “What’ll I Do”, a lovelorn ballad this time with Lennon-esque touches (boy does this gal keep good company). Smith’s vocal control is immense as she delivers some eerily heartfelt musings, culminating in “But if I cannot have the real thing/I’ll gladly settle for your ghost.” Beautiful and moving. “Wow and Flutter” signals a complete mood change, as Smith dons a metaphorical corset for some out and out burlesque. It’s pure theatre with lines like “Don’t hate a girl because she knows/All the ways to get beneath your clothes”.

The nostalgic “Stop Wondering” provides a short and to the point closer, as the singer impudently tells a would-be lover where to get off. It’s not the greatest song on the album, but it works because while the music harks back, the sentiments are thoroughly modern. April Smith is an artiste with strength of character and purpose, a fabulous voice and persona, and a whole lot of writing talent who deserves to sell loads of albums. Buy a hard copy for the glorious cover art, too.

Buy:
Songs For A Sinking Ship

As it turns out, the April Smith in reference, with her band, The Great Picture Show have a new album, Songs For a Sinking Ship, due out on February 23rd. The 11-track affair was produced by Dan Romer (Ingrid Michaelson, Jenny Owen Youngs) and includes quite the eclectic instrumentation, including a piano, upright bass, drums, guitar, horns, ukulele, accordion and even, and even, when the occasion warrants, a suitcase used as a bass drum.

We should also point out that the album is entirely fan funded.  In the summer of 2009, Smith sought to raise $10,000 to record and release from her fans via Kickstarter.com. In the two months allotted for the campaign, Smith exceeded her goal, eventually earning more than $13,000 in pledges. Public Enemy might want to take note.

What’s more, the albums “Terrible Things” is currently featured in a promo spot for the Showtime TV series Californication, as evident by clicking this link.

Mainstream beat? It’s sure looking like it.

Songs For a Sinking Ship Tracklist:
01. Movie Loves A Screen
02. Terrible Things
03. Drop Dead Gorgeous
04. Can’t Say No
05. What’ll I Do?
06. Colors
07. Dixie Boy
08. The One That Got Away
09. Beloved
10. Wow and Flutter
11. Stop Wondering

April Smith & The Great Picture Show 2010 Tour Dates:
12/19 – Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre (Glen Burtnik’s 19th Xmas Xtravaganza)
12/31 – Boston, MA @ Boston Symphony Hall *

* = w/ Amanda Palmer

Born in Toms River, New Jersey, Smith grew up in a household that encouraged her to go somewhere with her talent for music. From an early age, this young songstress listened to a messy tacklebox of artists, everyone from Tom Waits (she talks about him all the time) to The Andrew Sisters, Robert Plant, and John Lennon. What a combo, right?

With a mixture of her idols and her natural voice, Smith’s vocals never fail to serve as the focal point in her songs. Before she had The Great Picture show backing her up, her studio debut, loveletterbombs (2006), set her up as an alternative rock type, similar to Tori Amos — only with more grit and less pretension. Amidst her power ballads, there’s a youthful anguish in her front-and-center voice that sounds like something Eisley would call its own.

If the debut doesn’t give you an appetite for her music, then perhaps her follow-up EP, Live From The Penthouse, will. The EP, which was recorded at Tainted Blue Studios in Times Square (in front of a live audience, no less), has more of a vaudeville vintage sound with its organs, ’50s-style jazz piano comping, and two-step beats. And by the way Smith sounds on this EP compared to her debut, she’s matured some and grown into her voice. She is smooth, always confident, and does a great job of intertwining sexy soulfulness into her songs. Just take how she handles Motown (see track, “Drop Dead Gorgeous”). It’s just altogether sultry and seductive.

However, Live From The Penthouse doesn’t always stick to its retro motif. On the sing-along-friendly track, “Terrible Things”, Smith isn’t scared to expose her theatrical side as she shrills and wails in the song’s chorus. The song “Colors” is a fun, upbeat pop song that has Top 40 potential if it were to ever be recorded without the bustle of a live audience and the imperfections of a live set. However, it is still great the way it is now, especially when the quirky mouth trumpet bridge comes about midway through the song. “Beloved” is a stripped down acoustic song about a love so strong that she will “settle for your ghost.” As she croons lyrics about her broken heart, recognize the range and control of her god-given talent.

Check Out: