Woollen Kits

Woollen Kits are a three piece band from Melbourne, Australia. The trio has sprung out of the garage with their self-titled debut album, released via Sydney, Australia's R.I.P Society record label. Its nine primitive, gritty guitar tunes straddle surf pop, proto-punk and garage rock. The album was mastered by Mikey Young, guitarist for Aussie favorites Eddy Current Suppression Ring and member of the garage four-piece Ooga Boogas, whose debut album never leaves my side. Woollen Kits are currently on a tour of the US - see the dates here. They also have some free downloads on bandcamp.

"It must be said: Melbourne trio Woollen Kits seem at first like a scrappy clone of the late, great US trio Beat Happening, who bravely dismantled punk rock until all that was left were rickety, childlike tales of awkward romance and fading youth. Beyond a love of fuzzy distortion and unpolished playing, there’s a handful of similarities between Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnston and Woollen Kits frontman Tom R: that same low, froggy voice; easy rhymes (“You could be the one/Let’s go have some fun”); and songs about climbing trees and visiting lakes." -messandnoise

Two live tracks from their cassette on Fan Death Records:

Woollen Kits - In Between/Teenage Love by Fan Death Records

http://woollenkits.tumblr.com/

http://www.facebook.com/woollenkits

Video: The Pack a.d. - "Sirens"

"Sirens" is the  first single from The Pack a.d.'s fourth album, Unpersons. Released in 2011 via Mint Records, the Vancouver-based duo of Becky Black (guitar) and Maya Miller (drums) recorded the album with engineer Jesse Gander and famed Detroit producer Jim Diamond (The Dirtbombs, The Paul Collins Beat, The White Stripes.) Read more about it here.

• The Pack A.D. - "Sirens"
• http://thepackad.com/

Magic Castles

Magic Castles is a psychedelic folk-rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota.; Formed in 2006, the band self-released their first three albums before catcing the attention of Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre), who will release the band's eponymous double album through his ‘a’ Records imprint on March 20th, 2012. The band is also slated to join Brian Jonestown Massacre on an East Coast tour of the United States in 2012.

Inspired by the sounds of Spacemen 3, Skygreen Leopards, and Galaxie 500, Magic Castles employ warm Farfisa drones, hazy guitars, and bright vocal harmonies to craft songs that shift between traditional form and stretched-out, slowly unwinding passages. More often than not the band takes a journey-is-better-than-the destination approach, lyrically concerned with trolls, golden birds, and other mythical creatures.

"Big Sur" by Magic Castles

MAGIC CASTLES ARE:

Jason Edmonds (guitar & vocals)

Jeremiah Doering (guitar & vocals)

Paul Fuglestad (bass)

Noah Skogerboe (keyboards & vocals)

Brendan McInerney (drums)

Matt Van Genderen (drums)

Magic Castles on Facebook

Graveyard + Radio Moscow + Eagle Claw at Mohawk

Graveyard is the Swedish offspring of bands parents were warning their kids about in the 70s. Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, the band formed in 2000 when Swedish doom/stoner outfit Norrsken split up and gave birth to two new bands - Graveyard, and Witchcraft. The quartet features Rikard Edlund (bass), Axel Sjöberg (Drums), Joakim Nilsson (Guitar/Vocals), and Jonathan Ramm (Guitar/Vocals). Their albums resurrect the sounds of 70’s psychedelic rock, channeling Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and the Stones:

Graveyard is currently touring the states with support from Radio Moscow, who I've mentioned previously. At the onset of the tour Radio Moscow frontman Parker Griggs caught a guitar to the face, requiring a trip to the hospital and 14 stitches to the forehead:

Here is Graveyard bassist Rikard Edlund  removing Griggs' stitches:

The tour makes a stop in Austin on Wednesday, January 25th at The Mohawk:

Graveyard + Radio Moscow + Eagle Claw

Doors: 6:30PM // Show: 7:30PM

Ticket Price: $10 ADV // $12 DOS

Buy Tickets @ http://transmission.frontgatetickets.com/

Read tour reviews:

prefixmag 

theobelisk.net

explodinginsound.com

GRAVEYARD - Hisingen Blues by NuclearBlastRecords

RADIO MOSCOW - The Stranger by alivenaturalsound

http://www.graveyardmusic.com

http://radiomoscow.net

http://www.eagleclawhurts.com

Video: Cartright - "Jass Song"

Cartright recently released their first music video, and it's one hell of a trip. The band shot the video for "Jass Song" about 6 months ago with Alex Nguyen at their house in Austin. The original idea was conceived by drummer Nick Cornetti, which then evolved into a swirling, mushroom-induced excursion of the mind. The leading lady role was donated by India Gail (who bartends at Cheer Up Charlies), and front man Ben Russell plays the fellow going out of his mind. Russell is also the mind behind the band’s artwork:

You can get the "Jass Song" 7'' on limited edition red vinyl with a poster print of the cover art at cartrightmusic.com.

If you're unfamiliar with Cartright, here is a summarized band bio:

Ben Russell leads the quintet with a beaten-down acoustic guitar, finger-picked with a rare level of drunk precision, and he shouts his pleas of aggressive reluctance--a man lost in his Southern youth but unafraid to face it--through a sweat-soaked mess of hair and beard. The Cornetti brothers three on bass, piano, and drums, along with lead guitarist Casey, are a pack of howlers and stompers. Together with Lou’s subtle necessity, Nick’s drumstick crescendos, and the rowdy dialects of Joe’s organ they stagger in time with broken rhythms blanketed by sleeves of noise. 

It's easy to see why the young band already draws a cult fanbase; the easiest comparison point is Lucero, as both acts lean toward country-rock with a love for war-torn, cigarette-stained vocals. But where Lucero sticks to a harder, narrower path, Cartright leaves its swinging bar doors open to the acoustic exploration of folk, the erratic tempo changes of post-rock and the passion, the arrangements and the willful repetition that mark the best in the worlds of blues and gospel. 

"Cartright is what pirates and murderers use to lull themselves to sleep." -AVCLUB

"The band’s shows feel more like tent revivals than rock shows, with a healthy quantity of whiskey in place of holy water." -AUSTINIST

http://www.facebook.com/cartrightmusic

http://www.reverbnation.com/cartright

Austin Music Weekly Radio

Luke at Austin Music Weekly just started up this bi-weekly radio program that spotlights various bands and artists in Austin. The first episode features songs from Tiger Waves, The Daily Brothers, White Dress, Leatherbag, Wild Child, Sleep Good, Residual Kid, and Shorty Long.

Austin Music Radio by Austin Music Weekly

Playlist and linkage:

1. Tiger Waves: "Fireworks"
2. The Daily Brothers: "Do Me Wrong and Make it Right"
3. White Dress: "No Solid State"
4. Leatherbag: "Patience"
5. Wild Child: "The Escape"
6. Sleep Good: "Water Voices"
7. Residual Kid: "Aron the Jester"
8. Shorty Long: "Long Way Home"
9. Shorty Long: "Egyptian Ella"

--

In related news, I recently put together a playlist of songs from the Austin Music Weekly live archive. You can stream the playlist and read more about it at the link.

1. Eagle Eye Williamson @ Club de Ville: "Comanche Peak"
2. Christian Bland and the Revelators @ Mohawk: "Sounds Like '69"
3. Shapes Have Fangs @ Mohawk: "Comanche"
4. Not in the Face @ Beerland: "Brass Tacks"
5. Dax Riggs @ Emo's: "No One Will Be a Stranger"
6. White Denim @ The Ghost Room: "Street Joy"
7. Tacks, the Boy Disaster @ Mohawk: "Frozen Feet"
8. Cowboy and Indian @ Lamberts: "Leadbellies (Hurt My Pride)"
9. The Ugly Beats @ Mohawk: "MOTOR!"
10. The Octopus Project @ Emo's: "Truck" 

Austin Psych Fest 2012

The Reverberation Appreciation Society and The Black Angels present:

Austin Psych Fest 2012

April 27-29 at Emo’s East & Beauty Ballroom

Weekend passes will be on sale Saturday January 21 at 12PM CST.

LINEUP:

• Brian Jonestown Massacre
• The Black Angels
• The Black Lips
• Olivia Tremor Control
• Dead Meadow
• Wooden Shjips
• Bombino
• Woods
• The Telescopes
• Pink Mountaintops
• Dissapears
• Sun Araw
• Peaking Lights
• Prince Rama
• Psychic Ills
• Pure X
• Indian Jewelry
• Sleep Over
• Lotus Plaza
• Moon Duo
• Quilt
• The Intelligence
• Amen Dunes
• Ringo Deathstarr
• Headdress
• Spindrift
• Night Beats
• Acid Baby Jesus
• The UFO Club
• Allah Las
• Federale
• Quest for Fire
• High Wolf
• Christian Bland and The Revelators
• Cosmonauts
• MMOSS
• Smoke and Feathers
• Orange Revival
• A Band In Heaven
• The Cush

More artists will be announced in March along with daily schedules and day tickets.

Click here for the Facebook event page

via austinpsychfest.com:

Last year’s setting, The Seaholm Power Plant was an epic setting for APF 2011, and it’s hard to top it. Seaholm is being redeveloped, so starting in the summer we began to look for a new home for Austin Psych Fest 2012. Our search brought us all over the Austin area, to beautiful ranches outside of town, to empty parking lots downtown, to warehouses on the East Side to established venues in Austin. 

After seeing the new Emo’s East & Beauty Ballroom at The Black Angels / Wooden Shjips / Ume show on New Year’s Eve, we knew that we had found the perfect fit for APF 2012. The layout, facilities and sound are all amazing, and anyone who has been to the original locations of either club will be impressed – the difference is readily apparent.

Weekend passes will be on sale on austinpsychfest.com on Saturday January 21 at 12PM CST. Tickets will be the same prices as last year. $100 gets you your weekend pass. We’ll have single day tickets available in March when the daily schedules are released.

Check out the Austin Psych Fest 2012 mixtape by Al Lover :

Video: Spoon x Fun Fun Fun Fest

http://www.spoontheband.com/

The White White Lights

Here is The White White Lights at the old Ghost Room performing one of the staples of their live set, "I Need $$$." Every time they play this song, people take notice. The band released their debut EP on Indirect Records, and were one of a handful of bands to appear in the documentary film Echotone. You can see more of this show at the link.

http://www.thewhitewhitelights.com/

Gypsy Gentleman visits Austin

Marcus Kuhn is a renowned tattoo artist and painter who has been tattooing for more than two decades. The Gypsy Gentleman is his outlet for chronicling his tattoo travels. For the second episode he visits Austin and interviews Tony Hundahl and Steve Byrne of the Rock of Ages tattoo shop on South Lamar. He also talks with legendary sign painter Gary Martin, visits the Cathedral of Junk, gets a haircut at Avenue Barbershop on South Congress, hangs out at the Yellow Jacket Social Club, and tours the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg. If you are ever out that way, make sure to go to the Auslander for some sausage and a beer.