OTHER TECH

Jenai (Nashville; jenaionline.com) It's not every day you see a country gal leading a band on bass. But then, it's not every day you see a possible star in the making like Jenai (Jeh-nigh), who both writes her own material and sings solid versions of tunes by Kieran Kane and her producer, Brent Maher. Her debut, Cool Me Down (Curb), covers the bases from the sweet "It Won't Be Me" to the sassy "Papa Don't Ask, Mama Don't Know." And though the band she led at SXSW may have been booked into a plush-seated theater, they played like they were in a honky-tonk just down the figurative road from a rock & roll shack.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives (Göteborg, Sweden; tsool.com) They're being touted by The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly - but if you've been read-ing this magazine, you read about them here first. So it was gratifying to finally come face to face with Sweden's Artist of the Year for 2001: The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

After the band made a vivid U.S. debut at CBGB (plus a second stop in Manhattan and a jaunt to Montreal), it arrived in Austin, where we presented all six members with their S&V Entertainment Award for No. 5 Album of the Year, Behind the Music (Hidden Agenda/Parasol).

That night, fully loose from their preceding shows, TSOOL wowed SXSW with an ultra-high-energy set. Singer Ebbot Lundberg (top) not only high-fived the instantly faithful but climbed atop the P.A., and guitarists Mattias Bärjed and Ian Person literally kicked out the supreme pop jams. It was a night to remember - even if it couldn't last as long as one of those midwinter Scandinavian eves.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives get their award from S&V's Richardson (third from left)