We love this idea and can not wait for the Singularity , when we will all have replaceable parts. In fact, with the way that we've been treating our livers, it's really our only hope for living out the rest of the decade. And when we do finally replace our dilapidated and crumbling husks of bodies with new pieces to make us faster better stronger whatever, we really hope that the Black and White Years' sophomore album, Patterns , will provide the OR room/assembly line soundtrack. The new video featuring the always awesome animation of Eric Power [...]
Jack Wilson splits his time between the comfy, southern warmth of Austin and the cooler, sopping city that is Seattle. While he’s in Seattle, he’s backed by the Wife Stealers, and elsewhere, it’s pretty much just him. On his latest self-titled, Wilson zig-zags between full-on Americana rock, and solemn, poetic lullabies about places and people of timeless impact. He opens his album with the sound of footfalls on loose gravel — a sound that is immediately evocative of distance and mindful wandering — a more than appropriate prelude to an album that looks to transport the listener to the image [...]
Yesterday afternoon the Statesman reported that blues pianist, Antone's fixture, and Austin legend Pinetop Perkins passed away at the age of 97. Perkins reportedly died at home in his sleep due to cardiac arrest. The pianist was a pillar of Austin since moving here with the aid and support of Clifford Antone in 2003, and garnered three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Perkins was an icon of a trifecta of Delta, Chicago and Austin blues, having played with nearly every blues legend of note from Sonny Boy Williamson to Muddy Waters. In a statement posted [...]
Well how 'bout that? Don't know about y'all, but yesterday certainly was pretty awesome on our end. What with Jack White and Dave Grohl running around town, there's bound to be some awesome stuff that pops up, no? Looking over our lists for today, though, seems the best bets are away from the downtown fray, which has become increasingly the case over the past few years. In fact, you could probably do much worse than spending your day bouncing from the East Side between Pitchfork's show at the East Side Drive-In and Dig for Fire's lineup at the French Legation [...]
If you survived the pre-partying (and you better have as we're just getting started!), then you'll be out there flooding the streets and back alleys today as we officially kick off this little catastrophe we call SXSW. Wednesday Dayshows are generally the best to catch the bands you really want to see if they are playing, as not all the yahoos have yet arrived in town. Below, we've thrown down our top choices of shows that are going on, though we recommend also cherrypicking a few of your must sees and knocking them out today if you can. Among our [...]
And here we are again, this ol' rodeo. Some of us have already got almost a week of SXSW under our sleeves, others are just gearing up for the best part, which is obviously music. This year, the official SXSW showcases extended into Tuesday, because they can, but doesn't really kick off until Wednesday. Needless to say, though, there are some awesome events going to kick off the music side of the fest, and below our are picks to help you kick off the week right. From this point on, expect awesome music, free booze, and hipsters run amuck in [...]
This Wednesday, Austin Powell and I will be hosting the official release party for The Austin Chronicle Music Anthology , being held at Antone's with all proceeds benefiting HAAM . The lineup spans over three decades of Austin music, with reunions, special guests, and one-time-only collaborations (see below). Yeah, this is gonna be one helluva night. So what is this book, you say? Well first off, it's a thing with pages that you can actually hold in your hands and flip through, kind of like an iPad or Kindle except heavier, and [...]
We really don't thrown around words like absurd casually - really only when the situation truly calls for it, or with Charlie Sheen. So when we say that the lineup for the Austin Music People launch party and first annual benefit is absurd, you know it's good. Here's the deal: Back when the non-profit was announced in October, we thought this would be the kind of group that could actually get stuff done for music in Austin. But we just figured that was politics and money stuff - you know, boring. We didn't anticipate that it [...]
Things get dark and heavy on the Gary’s second EP, El Camino . With these six songs, recorded by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio in mid 2010, it sounds like the weight of the world is pressing down on the band. Coming hot on the heals of their criminally overlooked debut full length, Logan , El Camino burns slowly with most songs feeling more like “Hurricane Sunrise” than “QSB” (both Logan standouts). And make no mistake; sounding like the product of a long haul Austin-to-Chicago roadtrip is not a bad thing. The Gary have consistently excelled [...]
We love the Old Settler's Fest every year. Even when it gets a little too Austin-hippie jam band for us, there are rarely events that are as chilled out and friendly and that compile such top notch talent in a relatively small area. So we are kind of excited that this year, in addition to the expected roots all-stars like Richard Thompson, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, and Jim Lauderdale, there is also a pretty nice dose of artists we would typically consider more in the indie-oriented realm. Most notably is the Friday night headliner of the Avett Brothers, which indicates [...]
Over two albums and the past five years, Wiretree has grown from the solo project of Kevin Peroni into one of the emerging acolytes of power-pop in Austin. Behind Peroni's ranging and easy tenor, the quartet brings touches of the Pernice Brothers and New Pornographers, with a twinge of pedal steel twang and shades of both classic Eighties and contemporary indie pop. It's a melding of influences and sounds that seems to finally come together in Wiretree's latest effort, the band's third LP tentatively titled Make Up , and currently being recorded at Hot Tracks! for a release later [...]
See your bands in this week's Chronicle. Get your bands here .
Last month we got a taste of the new Okkervil sound when they debuted the first of their new tunes on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon . It was an odd little preview with A.C. Newman and the Roots' ?uestlove and Damon Bryson helping out on the song "Wake and Be Fine", which will appear the new Jagjaguwar release I Am Very Far due in May. "Weave Room Blues" is even weirder though - as a non-album B-side, they seem to be feeling the freedom to mess around on the song. Either that, or A.C. Newman's [...]
As they say, with a name like the Magnificent Snails, it better be good. Luckily for the local trio, who drops their debut EP, Baby Acid Trips , this week, they brandish a kind of pop flair that manages to be both catchy and continually interesting. With touches of horns and experimental torques, the Snails can ripple with softly gleaming harmonies, bounce with a kind of Vampire Weekend punch of infectiousness and even cut funky, garage-glam with an effective relish. Despite the fact that the trio includes Austin Sound contributor Chris Galis, we still recommend checking them out this [...]
So seems the Murdocks have finally had enough of us. You know, they just got really good, so it only makes sense to go out on top and thus up the pricetag on their eventual reunion show. Good business strategy. Very savvy. Of course, seeing as how it took them nearly half a decade to get their last LP out, maybe this isn't so much a hiatus as it is a break to do some recording. Or something. Last year the local trio impressed with the release of Distortionist , but according to the band, this Thursday [...]
A couple of weeks ago, our friends over at Do512 officially launched their new in-house concert series with the inauguration of the Do512 Lounge. With help from Austin Music Weekly filming the gigs, they have put together an amazing, intimate experience. Consider it kinda Austin City Limits for next generation. So while they don't have a deal with TV (yet!), they do have the web and the awesome talents of the AMW crew. Their first "pilot" show in the Lounge was Saints of Valory , but the Black Angels were really the ones to initially [...]
Next week the Sour Notes will be releasing their fourth LP (in as many years!), titled Last Looks . We've been following , and fans of, the quintet over that time, with the band proving to be impressively aggressive in their evolution. Last Looks , which was actually recorded on the heels of last year's It's Not Gonna Be Pretty , was held onto for release until now as the band upped their touring profile, and we're excited to finally get to hear their new material and share it with you via the streams [...]
On their sophomore LP, Candi and The Strangers jives out powdery synth-pop blended with muted disco and causes one to beg, “More Moog.” 10th of Always purveys movement through space, and its done remarkably well through fleshly synthetic melodies and vibrantly blurred rhythms. Because of all the dripping fuzz and boomeranging reverb on 10th of Always it’s hard to know whether Samantha Constant is saying ‘glide’ or ‘dive.’ But somehow it doesn’t matter. Part of the fun of the album is the ambience, and part of the ambience is traveling on a space ship or Milky [...]
Um, WOW. We have to admit that we weren't expecting to wake up this morning to animated erections! (Ok, maybe we were, but that's a different story). We were, though, really excited (not as excited as some, apparently) about the new animated video for the Boxing Lesson from their album Fur State . Like their earlier video , this one was done by Jeanne Hospod, and is pretty trippy and odd. Hell, we're even a little confused by the video's actual description: "Alien woman seduces hapless human male involving a very unusual flower." Hahaha, hapless human males! Also, [...]
Any conversation about the best new bands in Austin has to include Marmalakes, a trio that on the strength of last year's debut EP, Wonder Winds , and charmingly buoyant live shows has helped galvanize a scene of unassuming, earnest and impressive young artists. On songs like the anthemic "Vittoria", the band catches a perfect pop folk-pop hook that shadows elements of Local Natives and even Vampire Weekend, while winding through detailed landscapes with an alliterative laden wit. Marmalakes will be releasing their second EP later this year, but you should catch them as soon as possible, which happens [...]
Austin Sound
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