Man Man impressed my pants off.

Priming the pump for a week’s worth of debauchery, Beauty Bar gets the buzz started for early SXSW arrivals with a crash course on some of the best bands Austin has to offer. On the outside stage, Belaire lets the sun shine in with infectious indie-tronica and huggable harmonies from last year’s Exploding, Impacting along with desert-folk troubadours Brothers And Sisters and funky art-school aces The Black And White Years. Inside, garage wunderkinds The Strange Boys headline a retro revival that includes souped-up rawk from Those Peabodys and swaggering Southern steez from Scorpion Child. Around 1 a.m., DJs from Austin, London, and Glasgow (and special guests like Yo Majesty’s Shunda K.) kick off a late-night dance party that will ensure you never make it to any of those Wednesday panels. They sounded boring anyway. Also playing: Golden Bear, AM Syndicate, {{{Sunset}}}, Murdocks, Sleeping In The Aviary, Future Clouds And Radar.
To win tickets to this show, email austinpromo@theonion.com with ‘Art Disaster’ in your subject line.

Called Austin’s buzziest band so many times the backlash is due any minute now, garage-punk trio White Denim continues to rack up the accolades, recently earning album-of-the-year honors in UK mag Artrocker (even though its “debut” still isn’t officially out yet). See them now so you can say they sold out later. One of Austin’s other many next big things, Black Before Red has the smooth-rock airs of Phoenix, yet escapes the elevator with bells, whistles, handclaps, and a seductive joie de vivre. Its 2006 debut, Belgrave To Kings Circle, was the perfect summer album for pasty-faced shut-ins, but its intended audience should more readily embrace the group’s breezy indie-rock now that cardigan weather is in full swing. Opener Haunting Oboe Music pours just about everything but its titular instrument into the mix, creating moody music too cinematic to be dismissed as “emo” (yet too melodramatic not to whisper it as an aside). Opening: The Fever Dreams.

Space out with Denton balladeer Doug Burr and Dallas’ plucky Flat People. more at auschron.com