Best of SXSW 2014: Nothing

Nothing win the award for most hardworking band at SXSW, Future Islands excepted: seems like they played about 10,000 shows in Austin in the span of three days. You couldn’t go to a metal show without Nothing being on the bill. Nothing, pat your booking agent on the back: he/she did a great job!

Speaking of Future Islands: check out the Rolling Stone photo shoot featuring Nothing and Future Islands facing off in a knife-throwing contest (!). Because Nothing’s Dominic Palermo spent two years in jail for a stabbing (!).

The band has been making quite a name for themselves since signing with Relapse Records in 2013. They’re not what you’d expect from a Relapse band, though: no big, burly, fuzzed-out riffs, death blasts or grind freakouts to be found here. They’re kind of like a heavier Smashing Pumpkins for the new age, combining beefed up early grunge chordal patterns with shoegaze-y atmospherics. Doesn’t necessarily seem like it’d work in a metal setting, and yet somehow it does. Maybe because this is a newer version of the stuff we all grew up on. Doesn’t hurt that their live show is mesmerizing either.

Here’s a so-so clip of them playing live at SXSW, followed by a few studio tunes from their new album Guilty of Everything, which is out now and can be streamed in full at Bandcamp.