Unplugging: The SXSW countdown begins

Spring break is upon us, and as MXDWN packs up and heads to Austin for the hugely popular SXSW Festival, so do many music moguls.

One such music mogul heading to Austin is rapper extraordinaire and new father Jay-Z, who will perform at ACL Live on March 12th. As you can imagine, this little shindig is extremely exclusive, and to get in, you need a platinum or interactive badge and an AMEX card. Cardmembers can sync their AMEX card with their twitter accounts for a chance to gain access to Jay-Z’s live SXSW performance.

Mere commoners without the fancy badges and cards can watch a live stream of the special performance from a giant digital billboard on 6th Street and Red River Street in Austin, as well as online.

Jack White is everywhere these days – With his recent performance on Saturday Night Live and new solo effort set to drop in April, he is certainly proving his career as a rock god is far from over. This week, it was announced that White will be rolling into Austin for SXSW with his big, yellow Rolling Record Store, and also performing at the very first Third Man Records Texas Stand-Off showcase.

Featuring White’s ex-wife Karen Elson, the raw and honest Pujol, Lanie Lane, The Black Belles and other Third Man Records artists, the official showcase will kick off 7:30pm March 16th at The Stage on 6th.

Arranged by From The Basement and Nasty Little Man, the showcase will be sure to rock anyone and everyone in the vicinity. People lacking officious badges or wristbands may want to keep an eye on the Rolling Record Store’s twitter account, as they’ll be posting their locations around Austin, and White made a surprise appearance outside the truck at last year’s SXSW festival.

If there’s one thing Jack White stresses with passion, it’s that our “turntables aren’t dead,” and that’s proving to be an interesting notion, as this week the social music site iLike has been shut down by Myspace. What once was a music streaming application on Facebook with 45 million users in 2009, is now no more.

Myspace purchased iLike in 2009, and currently, the iLike website redirects straight to Myspace’s homepage. iLike founder Hadi Partovi claimed the downfall was due to the mismanagement of Rupert Murdoch, as well as the ever-changing Facebook platform. As the evolution of apps more resilient against viruses has commenced, older apps like iLike have been kicked to the curb. This is just another reason to follow White’s advice, and stick with record players!

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros have announced the title for their forthcoming release, Here. Set to hit stores May 29th, the folksy group is stopping by SXSW to support the documentary Big Easy Express, and then hitting the road in March for a nationwide tour.

By way of Community Music and Vagrant Records, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros have been working hard these last few months in Ojai, California, on the final touches of their self-produced effort. The group can be spotted March 17th at the SXSW Film Conference along with Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show for the premiere of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express, that follows the bands on their recent tour across America in vintage railcars.

Trent Reznor is all about fan-edited footage. A few years ago, Reznor shared Another Version of the Truth: The Gift with Nine Inch Nails fans, which was concert footage put together by a fan. Now, a new project is surfacing that will document Nine Inch Nail’s last show at The Wiltern.

Entitled A Tiny Little Dot: After All Is Said And Done, a fan from Germany has gathered all their live footage he could find online and pieced it together. The multi-camera edits give the documentary a very genuine and honest feel, and the unofficial piece is now available for download on Pirate Bay.

Unplugging In Brief:

Jay-Z to Perform at ACL Live During SXSW 2012 For Special AMEX Sync Event – Rap god Jay-Z is traveling to the heart of Texas to give a super special and super exclusive performance at Austin’s ACL Live during SXSW.

Jack White, Karen Elson and More From Third Man Records to Perform at SXSW 2012 Texas Stand-Off – The rumors are true – Jack White will grace SXSW for a special Third Man Records showcase.

Social Music Site iLike Has Been Shut Down By MySpace – The once wildly popular music-streaming app has been shut down due to mismanagement and the forever progressing social networking sites.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Announce New Album HERE for May 2012 Release – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros have been tweaking their new material the last few months, and are happy to announce their new album Here, and the nationwide tour in support of it.

Fan Edited Mult-Cam Recording of Nine Inch Nails’ Final Show at The Wiltern Surfaces Online – This takes fandom to a new level – a devoted NIN fan pieced together all the footage of their last show he could find online, and created quite an honest depiction of the group’s last show at The Wiltern.

* Lily Angele, MXDWN