Depending on how you cut it, Wild Beasts have either made a career out of pop-ifying art rock, or art-ifying pop music. Whichever it is, the English quartet has pieced together an unlikely masterpiece on this year's Smother . Even as the record has garnered gushing, near perfect reviews across the board, Smother is most compelling for how deftly it escapes any sort of easy description. Indeed, the band's disparate parts sound like an ill-advised mishmash on paper: Hayden Thorpe's piercing, Kate Bush-esque vocal impressions split time on the [...]
On first listen, The Cave Singers might fool you into thinking they're a mellow folk band. Until, that is, you hear the raw, powerful, pinched vocals of lead singer Pete Quirk. They cut through the texture of fingerpicked acoustic guitar, brushed drums, and electric guitar chords on "Seeds of Night", the opener to their 2007 debut Invitation Songs , drawing you into their sound world. The Cave Singers, who were once called " Seattle's dirgiest dirge-folk trio ," are more than just a one-trick pony of sad, contemplative, and elegiac songs. Their repertoire, now spanning [...]
Okay so here it is. The entire weekend breakdown. Now we rest......till the Presets and Cut Copy show tonight! Day 1 kicked off in true ACL fashion.... It was hot and dusty. But that didn't stop the crowds or us to get in full festival mode. Sure we started a bit late due to some late night pre-parties. We still managed to make it down for our first highlighted show of the day. Here is the breakdown of Day 1. Day One [...]
Gogol Bordello is a Gypsy punk band from the Lower East Side of New York City that formed in 1999. They are renowned for their frenetic, theatrical stage shows. Much of their sound is inspired by Gypsy music, as most of their members are immigrants from Eastern Europe. The band incorporates minor-key accordion and fiddle (and on some of their albums, saxophone) mixed with cabaret, punk, and dub. Madonna featuring Gogol Bordello at Live Earth /La Isla Bonita [...]
The Black and White Years are a local band that has an electric/rock sound. The guys formed the band in 2006 in Nashville, TN and moved to Austin to fulfill their dreams in the greatest music city in the nation. They have graduated from playing Beauty Bar, to packing them in at Stubb's inside, to now performing at one of the biggest festivals in the nation. Discovered by Jerry Harrison of the Talking Heads during a SXSW show (another reason Austin is great by the way) at Opal Divine's. Supposedly there were 15 people there [...]
Band of Horses formed in Seattle in 2004 and in those few years they have already amassed a bunch of fans. Their catalog includes two albums, with the most recent being Cease To Begin , which was released last October via Sub Pop . Asked about Cease To Begin , lead singer Ben Bridwell said this in an interview with Pitchfork: "I guess the first record had some kind of country-ish leanings and things [but] I think there's maybe a little bit more of [that] feeling on it, a little more down-home, [...]
Fresh off Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight tour, the band's founder and co-lead singer Jenny Lewis will release Acid Tongue on Sept. 23. This comes two years after her internationally-acclaimed solo debut, Rabbit Fur Coat. Although Acid Tongue is Lewis' first major label effort as a solo artist, no expensive, fancy recording tools were used. The result is a beautifully haunting collection of 11 all-analog tracks that aren't as retro as its recording method suggests, but don't quite belong in this decade either. Lewis is sans Watson Twins this time around, but she keeps up the [...]
Silversun Pickups have come a long way in the past few years. It is well deserved though. In Austin alone the band went from playing in front of a small group at Longbranch Inn a few years ago to a prime slot at this years festival. I was fortunate enough blog with them on one of there earlier tours and they are a must see this year. They have been hiding out as of late but hopefully that means we will treated to some [...]
Austin City Limits is an annual three day music festival in it's seventh year of existence, and it has gotten bigger and bigger every year. Despite a drastic shift in band selection over the years (at the top of the lineup, the Sheryl Crow and Lyle Lovett types have been replaced with The Mars Volta and Foo Fighters), Austin hasn't forgotten it's roots completely, inviting Robert Plant & Alison Krauss to the festival this year, as well as some of the best young singer-songwriters currently making new music. One of them is the Birmingham-born A.A. Bondy [...]
Many people may not realize, but Okkervil River have been around since 1998. The band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya . Their members may have changed over the years, but there remains one constant, singer and Will Sheff. His amazing songwriting fits perfectly with the band's intricate music. They formed here in Austin and they have numerous EPs and also five albums in their catalog: Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See (2002), Down the River of Golden Dreams (2003), [...]
José González is a indie folk singer-songwriter of Argentine descent who grew up in Sweden. His sound is described as solo classical guitar with soft vocal melody. He grew up listening to Latin folk and pop music, citing his favorite artist as being Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez . González released his debut album Veneer in September 2005, which includes the singles, "Crosses", which is one of four songs he contributed to Zero 7 's The Garden and "Heartbeats", which is a cover of fellow Swedes, The Knife . [...]
Fleet Foxes were a late surprise addition to this year's Austin City Limits Festival, after taking over for Ingrid Michaelson. The Seattle band has already been to Austin a few times this year, once for SXSW and the other a SOLD OUT show at Mohawk in July. They've also toured with Wilco and Death Cab for Cutie. Very impressive for a band with a couple of EPs, Fleet Foxes (self-released) and Sun Giant , and just one album, Fleet Foxes released via Sub Pop [...]
The kind of hype that only could be created in these modern times. Vampire Weekend went from unknowns to Spin cover artists overnight. Along with help from eager bloggers (like ourselves) who just love to pluck obscure bands from nowhere and hype them as the "next big thing". The band catapulted to an impressive level of success playing sold out shows and huge festivals all throughout 2008. We managed to catch them before the initial hype at an indoor show at The Mohawk and post hype at the NPR showcase at The Parish during SXSW where [...]
Yeasayer is one of those bands that are just too hard to describe when a friend asks, "So what do they sound like?" Honestly you have to listen for yourself (buy their debut All Hour Cymbals ), actually go see them live. The Brooklyn based band is made up of Chris Keating (vocals, keyboard, samples), Ira Wolf Tuton (bass) , Anand Wilder (guitar), and Luke Fasano (drums). The band formed in 2006 and the following year they traveled here to Austin to play SXSW . It was during that [...]
The Paul Green School of Rock is a rock music school that was first established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1998. The school caters to children between the ages of 7 and 18. There are many branches of the school around the country including a location here in Austin, TX. The program features seasonal shows, private lessons, group rehearsals, workshops, special guests, and a growing national festival held each summer. The school has even been featured in an article by The Boston Globe . Instructors teach students how to play electric guitar, bass, drums, [...]
[ Photo by Ari Magg ] Mugison (or Örn Elías Guðmundsson) is a huge star in his native Iceland. In 2004 at the Icelandic Music Awards, his album, Mugimama Is This Monkey Music? , was named best album, while his song "Murr Murr" took home best song honors. When Mugison first started playing, it was just himself with a guitar and a computer, but more recently he's recruited a band to join him onstage. Many [...]
Stubb's BBQ Thursday, September 25, 2008 (outdoors) An evening with Manu Chao Doors 7pm, show 8pm. Friday, September 26, 2008 (outdoors) Gnarls Barkley w/ CSS Doors 8pm, Show 9pm Saturday, September 27, 2008 (very special gospel brunch) Gospel Brunch w/ Mike Farris featuring the Roseland Rhythm Revue Doors at 11am, Brunch at 11:30am [...]
Beck just added some tour dates. We knew we had him set up for the ACL Fest and hopefully for an aftershow (no word yet) but for those of you in far off places here are the rest of the dates. In honor of his show in El Paso (my home town) I thought I would share this pic of Beck I have from a surprise club appearance he made back in El Paso in 2006. I just happened to be in town visiting when the rumors of the show started going around. Turns out they were true and we [...]
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![Niki & The Dove - The Fox [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://cdn.elbo.ws/youtube/l2f6UbMnlq4_130.jpg)
Music Singles Chart #95
Whitney! ♥
FREENESS: Robot Orchestra – Beat The Odds (Germany)
The Twilight Sad cover The Smiths
