Gregory Pepper & His Problems (Guelph, ON, CANADA)

Gregory Pepper's been putting out albums for about as many years as his new one - Chorus! Chorus! Chorus! - has minutes. He's concurrently savaged and celebrated pop music since 2005, beginning with his wide-ranging early output and moving on to increasingly focused work like the synth-devoted With Trumpets Flaring, or the more narrative-minded Return to Crystal Skull Mountain. With each new project Pep's managed to reduce what can often soupy genres into a dope sauce that unmistakably his own. For this year's SXSW performance, Gregory Pepper & His Problems will be appearing as a power duo, running the gamut from baroque pop to aggressive rockabilly and a lot of weird places in between.