Music

Yes, that Anil Dash. We hope you like Prince.

Alaskan singer-songwriter Marian Call is like Joni Mitchell for the Comic-Con set, a geek chanteuse who got her start winning a Firefly song contest, rocks a mean typewriter, and performed Particle Man at CERN. With the support of her fans, she toured all 50 states and then took on Europe and the UK with a hugely-successful Kickstarter project, funding a series of intimate house shows.

Armed only with a ukulele and a disarming wit, Molly Lewis made videos viewed by millions, toured with geek legends, serenaded Stephen Fry, and charmed more than 400 fans into pledging over $2,600 for every new song she releases.

The former frontman for “slacker jazz” group Soul Coughing, Mike Doughty has a deep history of online experimentation, blogging before Blogger and self-publishing his solo album Skittish on his site after it found a cult following on Napster. His last three albums were funded directly by fans through Pledge Music, most recently his upcoming Stellar Motel, where he’s posted exclusive videos during the recording process. Doughty will be joined by long-time collaborator Andrew “Scrap” Livingston on cello.

Nataly Dawn and Jack Conte kick off their biggest-ever tour at XOXO to support Season Two, Pomplamoose’s new album and video series made possible by Patreon, the subscription funding platform Conte co-founded last year. Together, the indie-pop duo recently passed 100 million views for their VideoSongs on YouTube — videos that show every step of the recording process without lip-syncing or overdubs.

By day, Maggie Vail is the label manager for Bikini Kill Records, the co-executive director for CASH Music, and a past XOXO speaker. By night, she turns into DJ Magic Beans, Portland’s own superhero.

Ramona Andra Xavier, the incredibly prolific and enigmatic 21-year-old producer and graphic designer known as Vektroid, produced over 40 albums in the last four years under a dozen names, including Macintosh Plus, New Dreams Ltd, PrismCorp, and Laserdisc Visions. A pioneer of vaporwave, a microgenre of remix art, Vektroid chops and screws samples into a lo-fi soundscape that’s like listening to a VRML shopping mall. We really have no idea what to expect, but this should be good.

In the late ’90s, SoCal pop-punk band Nerf Herder found a hit in their loving tribute to Van Halen and wrote the Buffy the Vampire Slayer theme, but fought to leave their crummy major label deal, releasing three albums before taking an eight-year hiatus. In the interim, singer Parry Gripp became a viral smash with his soundtracks to popular memes like Nom Nom Nom Nom and Baby Monkey. Finally, Nerf Herder is back and completely independent, with an upcoming new album funded entirely by their fans.

In 2001, Harvey Danger’s Sean Nelson asked his friend John Roderick if he wanted to make an album. The result was The Long Winters, three brilliant albums, and a near-religious cult following. Last year, they celebrated the ten-year anniversary of pop masterpiece When I Pretend to Fall with a series of sold-out shows. Roderick reflected on his slow-burn success, less “rock star” and more like “running a thriving dental practice.” John and Sean join us for a special duet show.

YACHT is not like other bands. How many electropop bands team up with Panic to make a series of iPad sleeves? Or protest the NSA’s domestic spying by making a single and t-shirt with all profits donated to the EFF? Or release their own app to help people explore the city they live in? Claire Evans and Jona Bechtolt join us for a special performance at XOXO two days before kicking off their North American tour.

Keezy makes a simple iOS sampler app that's easy enough for toddlers, yet useful for pros like Reggie Watts, OK Go, and Tegan & Sara. Their new app, Beatbox, alleges to be the world's easiest drum machine. It comes out in October, but founders Pasquale D'Silva and Jake Lodwick will be on hand with beta installs and nice headphones to give you a sneak peek.