Austra @ SXSW 2011

Austra hails from Toronto and consist of vocalist/pianist/etc Katie Stelmanis, drummer Maya Postepski, and bassist Dorian Wolf. Stelmanis is both the band’s primary songwriter and has an amazing voice that has been properly trained since the age of 10 when she joined the Canadian Children’s Opera and sang for the Canadian Opera Company. But one day she turned punk rocker after she attended a punk show and joined a band. While in college she took up production work making soundtracks and producing plays. Her real desire was to “make classical music with really fucked up, distorted crazy shit on there.” So it was no surprise she had her hand in producing Fucked Up’s The Chemistry of Common Life.

Now, joining Austra she and her mates are ready to unleash their very amazingly dark and danceable Feel It Breakdebut album. Check out their performance at last week’s SXSW at Emo’s at top.  A remixed track below from their upcoming album comin at ya this May 17 via Domino Records. Also check out their video for “Beat and Pulse” and their SXSW Tiny Desk w/NPR