Hard to believe, but the annual South By Southwest music showcase/festival/conference in Austin, Tex., kicks off in only 11 days. As always, the huge event is featuring some artists from the Greater Cincinnati area. Two SXSW-bound local acts are playing kick-off shows soon to help raise some funds for the trip (the price of gas today makes traveling all the more difficult for independent acts). • Great Cincy rockers The Harlequins are heading to Austin for SXSW for the first time. The band is slated to perform at the festival on March 16 with the esteemed Gringo Star. Frontman Michael Oliva says the group will be playing shows on the way to and from the festival in Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky. The Garage/Psych Rock trio — which is planning a new EP release in April — is performing its "bon voyage" show on March 7 at Over-the-Rhine's MOTR Pub with guests Stephen Paul Smoker. The show is free, but the band will be offering a limited edition screen print of the night's show poster (right over there, to the left) for $5. The band is also sweetening the pot by releasing a new single for free at the MOTR gig. You can also help The Harlequins out by donating to their gas/van rental fund online. In keeping with their DIY ethic (the group got into the festival without any label or other backing, a rarity these days), the band is eschewing Kickstarter in favor of direct donations through their secure Paypal account, accessible on the trio's official site. Here's the link to donate. Below is a little video spiel if you need further convincing. • Always dazzling Indie Pop locals The Seedy Seeds are returning to SXSW this year, journeying to Austin with pals The Ridges, a fantastic Athens, Ohio-based orchestral Indie Folk squad that has become a favorite in Greater Cincinnati thanks to regular show dates locally. The two bands will be performing shows together around the South and Midwest on their way to Austin. The groups team up for a show at the Southgate House Revival on March 6. The Seedy Seeds are encouraging fans to purchase advanced tickets to the "Supercolossal Little Giant Ye Olde South by Southwest Sendoff Show"; for just $6, if you buy your tickets before "day of show," you will receive a hand-draw postcard from the Seedys while they are on the road. Click here to get your tickets now.Here's a piece of groovy promo featuring both bands and the tour dates.

Saturday night at Northside's Mayday is the debut of the Cincy Psych Fest, a multi-band event inspired by the popular Austin Psych Fest, a six-year-old event that showcases the current state of Psychedelic/Garage Rock and Pop, led by artists like The Black Angels, The Warlocks and Dead Meadow.  The Cincy Psych Fest is the brain child of Laura Dolan, Laura Skaggs and creative local commercial arts enterprise We Have Become Vikings. The team has assembled a great first-year lineup of national, regional and local acts inspired by the sounds of ’60s Psychedelia and Garage. The fest will present bands on Mayday’s indoor stage as well as on an outdoor, second-floor stage. Tickets are $10 (advanced ones are available through ticketfly.com here) and the fest begins at 6 p.m. Here are some samples from the various artists. Click the band name for more info on each.The People’s Temple (Lansing, Mich.)Mondo Drag (Davenport, Iowa)Outer Minds (Chicago)Always in my head by Outer MindsHeaven’s Gateway Drugs (Ft. Wayne, Ind.) CPF Cassette by Heaven's Gateway Drugs

Irony is not a concept usually shared by international cultures. Case in point: cats. The Western (internet) world shows its adoration for felines by churning out pointless LOLcat YouTube video after LOLcat YouTube video, gilding this love with a patina of wink-wink jokeyness, as if to say, "Sure, we obsess over and anthropomorphize these cute beasts that don't do very much, but since we're making a gag out of it, it's OK to openly enjoy it. This is how we've earned our pass."Japan's Shonen Knife, on the other hand, has willingly dedicated an entire song to the same animals while keeping a straight face — a move that would definitely earn mockery if they were an American band. The 31-year-old Pop-Punk trio's "I Am a Cat" off 1993's Let's Knife is an autumnal, simple tune where the narrator steps into an astral "timeless zone" and finds a cat's whiskers and ears. After attaching them to herself, she observes, "In a moment, I become a sweet little cat/And I dance on a flying saucer." It's silly and a bit dumb, of course, but the total absence of irony —especially since this comes from an underground Rock outfit — is a true gift. Shonen Knife has long championed frivolous music about frivolous subjects, and the trio’s childlike earnestness yields great charm.With that being said, it's somewhat surprising that Kurt Cobain of all folks supported Shonen; but, hey, even the guy who wrote "Rape Me" needed some relief from pain and aggression, too (see: heroin addiction). Shonen Knife's tour behind its new album, Pop Tune, comes to the Ballroom space inside the Taft Theatre downtown tonight. Showtime is 8:30 p.m.; doors open at 7:30 p.m. Opening the show is red-headed sibling rockers White Mystery (from Chicago) and Cincinnati greats The Harlequins. Tickets are $13.Here's the video for the title track off of Shonen Knife's new LP.