Mates of State
Photo: Barsuk

When Mates of State set out to record their fourth and latest album, Bring It Back, they weren't entirely sure what they wanted outside of one specific goal: sounding different.

The husband-and-wife duo — Kori Gardner (organ, vocals) and Jason Hammel (drums, vocals) — had previously employed a jubilant drum-and-keys attack. But now the couple were sidetracked by other pressing priorities, namely the birth of their first child, Magnolia, and a move from San Francisco to Connecticut to be closer to family.

"When you have a kid, your life is basically over for a few months," Gardner said, clearly relieved to have the first half-year of sleepless nights behind her.

Between diaper changes and 2 a.m. bottle feedings, the twosome looked to outside perspectives and found their man in producer/engineer Bill Racine, a longtime admirer of the Mates eager to force them out of their comfort zone.

"He said, 'I'm a big fan, [but] I don't want you to write the same record. Throw your ideas of recording out the window,' " Gardner said of the passionate pitch that won them over.

Accepting their producer's challenge, they experimented with an armada of keyboards, effects and unorthodox recording techniques. Drums were muffled and miked in unconventional ways, and vocals were sometimes sung into walkie-talkies and paper-towel rolls.

The result is a creative breakthrough, Mates of State's most dynamic and ambitious record to date. Mature and lush, Bring It Back, which hit stores Tuesday, is enhanced with layered vocals, horns, strings, grand pianos and a choir on the epic finale, the seven-minute "Running Out."

"It's a total progression," Gardner said. "We were really ready to make our best record."

She also credits Racine's willingness to take risks. "He definitely pushed us," she said. "It was a little stressful because we already had our [preconceived] ideas of how recording should be, but we ended up so much happier."

Bring It Back is an assuredly versatile record: The swirling "For the Actor" features a Rhodes keyboard made to sound like fuzzy guitars; "Nature and the Wreck" is an emotional ballad penned for their daughter (who can be heard cooing and gurgling at the end of the track); and the effervescent single, "Fraud in the '80s," attacks the disingenuousness of bands that fetishize the new-wave poses of the bygone era.

"It's a total dis on the insincerity that comes along with people trying to re-create other people's ideas. Bring it back to what's true, you know?" Gardner said, echoing the album's recurring motif.

Songwriting inspiration came from many sources, including their new child. "[With a baby] there's no time to worry about, 'That soundman sucks. How come there's not enough people here? Why is that band popular? They suck!' " she laughed.

This new attitude pervades the album. "Things might suck — the state of the world, music is dark, life is dreary — but you have to be the one who soldiers on and tries to keep people happy and bring hope," Gardner said.

Ironically, the album's closing tune, "Running Out," contains the bleakest sentiment, but the elevating sweep of the song eventually trumps the doubts and uncertainty.

"It was in one of our darker hours: 'How long can we be in a band? How long can we last?' " Gardner recalled. "It turned into a general theme of wanting to give up. But [the climactic chant] 'Tired of singing!' built and built, and eventually it counteracts the negativity."

These days the band has little to be pessimistic about. Poised for Bring It Back's success, Mates of State graduated to Barsuk — the indie label that launched Death Cab for Cutie — and they've been tapped to play Lollapalooza and Coachella.

"Madonna's playing!" Gardner exclaimed about Madge's appearance in Coachella's dance tent. "I'm excited, and it's going to be rad to be around good music all day."

Track list for Mates of State's Bring It Back, according to the band's publicist:

• "Think Long"
• "Fraud in the '80s"
• "Like U Crazy"
• "Beautiful Dreamer"
• "What It Means"
• "For the Actor"
• "Nature and the Wreck"
• "So Many Ways"
• "Punchlines"
• "Running Out"

Mates of State tour dates, according to the band's publicist:

• 3/24 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
• 3/25 - Falls Church, VA @ State Theater
• 3/26 - Carrboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
• 3/27 - Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
• 3/28 - Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
• 3/29 - Orlando, FL @ The Social
• 3/30 - Gainesville, FL @ Common Grounds
• 3/31 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
• 4/1 - Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle Music Hall
• 4/2 - Nashville, TN @ The End
• 4/3 - Urbana, IL @ Canopy Club
• 4/4 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
• 4/5 - Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater
• 4/6 - Chicago, IL @ Metro
• 4/7 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
• 4/8 - Notre Dame, IN @ Legends of Notre Dame
• 4/9 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
• 4/12 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
• 4/20 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
• 4/21 - Vancouver, BC @ Plaza Club
• 4/28 - San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall
• 4/30 - Indio, CA @ Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

• Mates Of State

Beastie Boys' Mike D performs at SXSW March 16
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

AUSTIN, Texas — If you're on a plane sitting next to a suited-and-booted A&R guy blabbing about the new band he's signed, a sort of "Spanish System of a Down, but with an edge," and British singer/songwriter Beth Orton is seated in an exit row in front of you, it's a pretty safe bet that you're on a flight bound for the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas.

Every March, SXSW turns the college town/state capital of Austin into the epicenter of the music world with a pulsating, weeklong party where bands come to get noticed, get famous, get drunk and get ... some other things too.

But it's not just musicians flooding the city — label bosses, industry yes-men, publicists, writers, party planners and fashion designers flock to Austin as well. And this year, they seemed to outnumber the bands — no small feat considering there were more than 1,400 acts booked throughout the city.

The headline of Friday's Austin American-Statesman asked "Is it too big?" and many who attended the 20th annual incarnation of the festival would probably say yes. SXSW has grown each year — particularly over the last five — and some of the things that had previously made it so appealing (a laid-back disposition, the ability to casually hop between several gigs a night) are no longer present as crowds and pressures have grown. Many of the biggest shows had long lines to get in, and attendees became a lot more selective about which gigs they wanted to see. Indeed, so many people didn't even bother trying to get in to the conference's most buzzed-about show — a set by the Arctic Monkeys — that up to 45 minutes before the band hit the stage, people were still breezing in with a minimal wait.

But make no mistake: SXSW is still the greatest rock combo platter on earth, it just takes a lot more work to get what you want out of it.

On Wednesday night, anyone lucky enough to wander over to the parking lot of local watering hole the Fox & Hound were treated to a surprise gig from the Flaming Lips, who ripped through a surreal, smoke-and-balloon-filled set highlighted by a thundering version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" and a fuzzy take on "The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song," the first single from their upcoming At War With the Mystics.

Other highlights included a bubbly set from Athens, Georgia's Of Montreal at Emo's (followed by a screeching onstage workout from Austin's own ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead), and Norway's Serena Maneesh, a wild-looking band whose feedback-laden fusion of My Bloody Valentine, Spiritualized and Sonic Youth was slightly overshadowed by their striking bassist: a 6-foot tall, rail-thin pale woman with bleached-blond hair and a ferocious stage presence.

SXSW afternoons are rife with parties (inevitably featuring multiple bands), and the Fader's was unquestionably the highlight, held in the backyard of a house on Sixth Street and featuring a mixture of rock and hip-hop artists playing 30-45 minute sets. The odd man out in both of those realms was Argentine/ Swedish singer José González, who performed gentle songs redolent of bossa nova, accompanied only by his classical guitar; the fans up front loved him but sadly the majority spent his set talking. Far removed from Gonzalez were the Eagles of Death Metal — with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme on drums — who must have shouted out the ladies in the house 15 times during their 45-minute set of bone-basic riff rock.

A bit farther up Sixth, at the French Kiss Records showcase, much-buzzed Minneapolis noiseniks the Plastic Constellations played a raw and rollicking 45-minute set full of detuned, ringing guitars and shouted, youthful vocals (plus a guest appearance by the Hold Steady's Craig Finn.)

The Flaming Lips served up another surprise (acoustic) gig on Thursday, but the week's biggest secret show was the Beastie Boys early in the evening at Stubb's — although it was far from secret by Thursday afternoon, when a long line started to wrap around the block. The Beasties — in town to promote their new live film, "Awesome: I F---in' Shot That!" — served up a set peppered with classics like "Brass Monkey," "Paul Revere" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D made inside jokes that they called "banter," which MCA explained to the industry crowd was an "industry term."

Morrissey also trotted out the hits during his not-so-secret show across town at the Austin Music Hall, where — even though he said he'd turned down an offer to reform the Smiths for a $5 million gig — songs from his former band punctuated his set, from "How Soon Is Now?" to "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me." But rather than live in yesterday, Morrissey made a point out of showcasing several new songs from his libido-loaded Ringleader of the Tormentors album, which includes such promising titles as "Life Is a Pigsty."

Thursday wrapped with a stunning set from the husband-and-wife duo Mates of State, whose soaring harmonies and startling dynamic range (their sound consists entirely of keyboards/drums/vocals) are in their best form yet on their brand-new LP, Bring It Back. A quick dash up the street to the Blender bar yielded a raucous set from the very loud and very British Rakes.

Friday got under way with a hushed, mumbled performance from Baltimore teenagers Metal Hearts but quickly shifted into high gear thanks to a fiery (and free) afternoon set from My Chemical Romance, who took the stage to a cacophony of camera flashes and screaming female fans. Frontman Gerard Way — looking a bit like a gothic Elvis Presley — flailed and strutted through it all, acknowledging MCR's apparent rust (they hadn't played live in almost three months) and talking up the band's upcoming new album.

The night ended with the aforementioned Arctic Monkeys, who took the stage at La Zona Rosa riding a wave of SXSW buzz. Despite some snottiness at the beginning of the set due to the overabundance of photographers, they managed to live up to the hype, tearing through songs from their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, with a professionalism and poise that belied their young years.

Saturday started off early with a rousing set from L.A.'s the Color, who dress like the Black Crowes circa 1990 (all scarves, pointy boots and black jeans) and hew a similarly simple but effective rootsy riff rock. Most impressively, they were playing a small bar at 12:30 on a very rainy afternoon to about 20 people, yet they preened and strutted as if they were headlining Madison Square Garden.

A stop at another Fader party featured this month's cover artists, Sweden's Love Is All (who play a kind of angular indie pop heavy on saxophone, percussion and enthusiastically shouted vocals). After an approximately 90-minute wait, Ghostface Killah finished off the party with an hour-long set loaded with material from his forthcoming LP, Fishscale, as well as a couple of Wu-Tang chestnuts and a touching moment of silence for ODB (during which Ghostface had the lights dimmed and asked the crowd to hold their cell phones aloft), followed by a quick version of Dirty's "Shimmy Shimmy Ya."

The festivities closed with a completely unhinged party held by Vice magazine at a warehouse-sized art gallery outside of downtown that had a giant blue genie on its roof. At the show — which stretched well into Sunday morning — Toronto's Stills played their second set of the evening (the first of which had ended less than two hours earlier) loaded with songs from their mature and impressively far-reaching forthcoming LP, Without Feathers. They were followed by Wolfmother, who played a blistering, abbreviated set that left ears ringing, amps feeding back and the bandmembers staggering off the stage. The show came to a close with a hefty performance by Tres Hombres, a portly ZZ Top tribute band that provided some Texas-sized entertainment for those who hadn't already had enough.

• Highlights From South By Southwest 2006

• Beastie Boys
• Morrissey
• The Flaming Lips
• My Chemical Romance
• Arctic Monkeys