Here are a few action shots of HEALTH and Hacienda performing at the Bull Moose/Covert Curiosity party at Aces Lounge during SXSW. These were provided by the lovely Valerie Fremin, whose home is at iseesound.net.

Named for the West Texas sandhills, Austin-based Monahans are self described as "landscape rock-and-roll." The band's first release, Low Pining, found its way to various year-end favorites lists, with Magnet Magazine listing it as one of the "10 Hidden Treasures of 2007" and Harp Magazine calling it an "under-the-radar gem."

After hearing rough mixes of the sophomore album "glowing from the speakers," Monahans were picked up by Misra Records, who will release the band's second album, Dim The Aurora, this May. Here is some information straight from the source:

"Greg Vanderpool and bandmate Roberto Sánchez started making music in alt.country outfit Milton Mapes in 2001. After recording three full length albums and performing countless shows, the musicians had outgrown the very band they had created and realized the need to kick their alt.country habit and explore outside their comfort zone. They realized that what they were doing was so different that it deserved a new beginning, and Monahans was born.

Monahans’ first album, Low Pining (Undertow, 2007) was a promising transitional album that straddled the line between what Milton Mapes was doing and what Monahans was about to do. The standout of the album is clearly the song “Undiscovered”. A sweeping, glossy pop anthem, the song epitomized the band’s new vision. This single song marked a turning point for the band and provided a general blueprint for their second album, Dim The Aurora."

Low Pining's lack of boil-ability is nowhere to be found on Dim The Aurora, which contains more than one healthy moment of sizzle. "Slow Burn" is a smoky guitar-blues track that has rock radio written all over it, while the percussion-heavy "Fit For Fire" quickly builds into a turbulent guitar-horn spazz out.

The band's instrumental side (every Austin band has one) still shines through with the twenty-plus-minute exploration “Terrene,” where "human ambition and nature collide somewhere in a murky, mysterious spiritual realm." They even manage to sound like R.E.M gone folk with the album's title track.

Right around the time the album is released, Monahans will be hitting the road for a tour with Centro-matic. Austinites can catch the show on May 15th at the Parish.

• Monahans - "Slow Burn"
• myspace.com/lowpining
• monahans.net

Wooden Shjips are quartet from San Francisco whose second full-length album, Dos, is soon to be released on the Holy Mountain label. The album is filled with reverb-heavy hypnotic grooves that tap into the psychedelic side of Krautrock, resulting in seemingly endless psychedelic freakouts that you can dance to.

Insound says Dos is "the inauguration speech of a group accepting the minimalist psych bop crown that once adorned the likes of Neu and Loop," and Altsounds says "their trademark whipping fuzz hooks have become groovier and their Deerhunter style dance-drone far more inducing."

If you order the album through Rough Trade you can also pick up an exclusive compilation cd put together by the band. Check out a few minutes of the Wooden Shjips drone-dance below, and when you're done head over to Dusted for some background info on the band.

• Wooden Shjips - "Down By The Sea"
• myspace.com/woodenshjips

I become a bigger fan of Sunset with each new release. If you didn't already know, Sunset is the recording project and band of Bill Baird, formerly of Sound Team. The latest from Sunset is a seven-inch 45rpm vinyl single, featuring the piano banger "Loveshines II" on the A-side. It's a live, full band recording with a full band live overdub, which we first heard on the Daytrotter session last summer.

The B-side "I’m Not a Perfect Person" is also brilliant, a Bill Baird-only track that was written, recorded and mixed around 5am during the same all-night studio sessions from which "Loveshines II" comes. The single is strictly limited to 500 copies, and can be yours for just $4 from Autobus. Here's a taste:

• Sunset - "Loveshines II"

...and here's the opening number on the intriguing Bright Blue Dream:

• Sunset - "Dear Broken Friend"
  
• myspace.com/lobosunset

A few weeks ago Light In The Attic sent me a promo for the reissue of Serge Gainsbourg’s classic album Histoire de Melody Nelson, which is unlike anything else in my entire music library. The album has just been released for the first time in North America, but music lovers in France consider it a monumental album, equivalent to something like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band. Pitchfork recently gave it a 10/10 and named it "best new music."

It's one of the sexier albums ever made, telling the story of Gainsbourg's seduction of a hot young nymphet after he unintentionally runs into her with his Rolls Royce. He gives a spoken word vocal delivery layered over orchestral-type strings, with funky bass and electric guitar mixed in. It's all in French, but you don't need to speak the language to enjoy this stuff.

The reissue comes with the original album artwork and a 36-page booklet that features the one and only interview where Serge actually spoke of this album. Check out the whole story and more details at Light In The Attic.

• Serge Gainsbourg - "Melody"
• Wiki/Serge

• Beach House - Play The Game (Queen Cover)
• myspace.com/beachhousemusic

Merge is twenty years old. Part of the larger "Score!" subscription-based box set, this CD is an amazing collection of songs spanning the label's existence, covered by some of the most popular (non-Merge) indie bands around, such as Quasi, Les Savy Fav, The Shins, Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes, The New Pornographers, Okkervil River, Death Cab For Cutie, Times New Viking, and many more.

This collection is the first of only two commercially available pieces from the box set. Limited to 7,500 copies. All proceeds benefit charities chosen by the SCORE curators. Click here to stream the entire compilation and to order your copy.

Tomorrow night you can catch White Denim, Harlem, and Built By Snow at Antone's. RSVP here for $5 entry. Rumor has it White Denim will be releasing a new album very soon.

Also tomorrow The Dicks will be performing at Room 710, Shapes Have Fangs will be down the street at Emo's, and One Eyed Doll will be kicking off their tour at Red Eyed Fly while T-Bird and the Breaks will be getting funky at the Mohawk.

On Saturday night the Strange Boys will play Beerland, and Li'l Cap'n Travis will be chilling out with Monohans at the Hole in the Wall.

• White Denim - "Paint Silver Gold"
• Harlem - "I'm On Drugs"
• Shapes Have Fangs - "This Mess I'm In"
• Shapes Have Fangs - "Putting Out Fire"

Sunset Rubdown will release their third full-length album, DRAGONSLAYER, on June 23rd via Jagjaguwar. Sunset Rubdown was once the moniker under which Spencer Krug released low fidelity solo recordings, but the project has since evolved into a full band.

The three original musicians with which Spencer Krug chose to expand his solo project into a full-fledged band are: Jordan Robson-Cramer on drums, guitar and keys, Michael Doerksen on guitar, bass and cosmic radio and Camilla Wynne Ingr on keys and percussion and vocals. DRAGONSLAYER also features, for the first time, new member, bassist and sometimes-drummer, Mark Nicol.

Sunset Rubdown hopes that this album that sounds at first to be an only slightly skewed approach to pop is like that friend of yours who looks unassuming and normal, but once you get to know him, it's obvious he's basically crazy. They will also release a 7" (available first week of April) on Aagoo Records, featuring the songs "Coming to the Dawn" and "Insane Love is Awakening".

DRAGONSLAYER Tracklisting:

1. Silver Moons
2. Idiot Heart
3. Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
4. Black Swan
5. Paper Lace
6. You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)
7. Nightingale / December Song
8. Dragon's Lair

from Shut Up I Am Dreaming:

• Sunset Rubdown - "Stadiums and Shrines II"
• sunsetrubdown.net

In these hard economic times, you really do need someone to tell you that everything is going to be okay. Leave it to Peter, Bjorn, John, and a Japanese motorcycle/line dancing gang to get the job done.

When these guys played this song at SXSW it seemed like a perfect summation of the entire week. "Nothing To Worry About" is on Peter, Bjorn and John's new album Living Thing, due out on March 31.

Here are some pictures of HEALTH from the Bull Moose & Covert Curiosity party at Aces Lounge during SXSW. It's a shame they weren't able to play a longer set, because it was one of the best I saw all week. These shots were lovingly provided by The Peen Scene. Check out their site for more visual evidence of SXSW.

In other HEALTH news, they have a new single called "Die Slow" coming out early next month. Insound says "the calculated noise they're known for is fused with a four-to-the-floor dance anthem, by far the most gratifying song the band has ever written." If you order the single from Pure Groove you will get an exclusive HEALTH mixtape.

Here is the music video for Department of Eagles' "No one Does It Like You," produced by the Directors Bureau, directed by Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama, and featuring costumes and sets designed by Dzama. Department of Eagles consists of longtime friends and collaborators Daniel rossen (of Grizzly Bear) and Fred Nicolaus, and the duo's second release, In Ear Park (4AD), was named one of the top ten albums of 2008 by the New York Times.

Patrick Daughters's directing career began in film school, where he created a trio of award-winning shorts. He has subsequently built a much-lauded body of work, including music videos for Feist, Beck, Interpol, The Shins, and many others. Marcel Dzama is a renowned New York City-based artist who works in a wide range of mediums, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and film. More...

I never stumbled across this self-titled debut release by New Zealand’s Surf City in 2008, so I'm a little bit late to the party. The EP only holds 6 songs, but each one features these energetic, reverb-heavy guitar riffs that are catchy as hell.

It sounds like a lo-fi, surf rock version of the Jesus & Mary Chain, with an occasional touch of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. I was hooked after just one listen.

• Surf City - "Dickshakers Union"
• Surf City - "Free The City"
• myspace.com/killsurfcitygo
• pitchfork emusic insound

"The Rise Of Jamaican Dancehall Culture" is an essential reference for anyone interested in Reggae. The album is jam-packed with over two hours of some of dancehall’s finest moments, and you can also pick up a 200-page book by the same name that chronicles its effect on culture and music around the world.

If you're ever looking for a good reggae album to pick up, I highly recommend this one. Get more information at Soul Jazz Records. Beware, this stuff is addictive.

• Pinchers - "Agony"
• Triston Palmer - "Entertainment"

Because I managed to be almost completely disconnected from the internet for the past week or so, here's an extensive recap of what I got myself into during SXSW. All non-Covert photos are linked for credit.

I warmed up for a week of music by freezing my butt off at Psych Fest 2 on Friday night. I think all of us were a little surprised when we got to Radio Room and discovered that the stage was situated outside under a tent. I know some people left very quickly because of their disappointment with the venue, but we came full of spirits and weren't going to leave before watching the Black Angels.

It was the coldest concert experience of my entire life, and the sound, visuals, and overall experience were all subpar, but we still managed to have a good time anyway.


I really wanted to catch Wooden Shjips on night two of Psych Fest, but I just couldn't muster up enough strength to go out that night. I was feeling better by Sunday, so I did go down for the last night of Psych Fest in time to catch some of The Strange Boys and a full set by The Warlocks.

The headliner was A Place To Bury Strangers, who completely rocked the place. Though they were not an official SXSW band, they were one of the best bands I saw during the whole week. Towards the end of their set guitarist/vocalist Oliver Ackerman slammed his guitar on the stage and then proceeded to rip all of the strings off of it, which left a few people with their mouths open.


Monday pretty much consisted of making the rounds at a few interactive parties, but I did manage to catch The Lemurs and DJ Mel. Tuesday pretty much consisted of making the rounds in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, but I made sure to see some music that night also, stopping by the Art Disaster for The Minx Reaction and the All Tomorrow's Parties event for The Drones.

They were also showing footage from the All Tomorrows' Parties documentary that premiered at SXSW film this year, which was visibly and audibly fantastic. This little teaser video doesn't do it justice:



The music festival officially started on Wednesday. Unlike years past I didn't make a very strict schedule for SXSW, instead opting to just make stops at different venues that I knew would have good bands on any given day.

The first band I saw on Wednesday was Here We Go Magic, and I enjoyed their much-too-brief set at the Mohawk so much that I wish I could've seen them a few more times during the week.

• Here We Go Magic - "Fangela"

Things got a little hazy at this point, but I do remember taking a trip over to the Fader where The Strange Boys were playing. I have been listening to their album non-stop for the past two weeks, so I had no problems seeing this band multiple times. After their set I ran over to Emo's for Thomas Function before taking a much-needed break to get some food and beverage.

• The Strange Boys - "To Turn a Tune or Two"

After refueling I decided to attend the Austin Music Awards, which seemed to go on for infinity. In the end it was worth it because I had a chance to kick back and watch a bunch of local artists that I had never seen before, namely Suzanna Choffel, Ruthie Foster, and Carolyn Wonderland. But the best part was seeing Texas punk legends The Dicks and Roky Erickson with the Black Angels.


Things got a bit more exciting on Thursday, mostly because we had our own day party to manage. Thank you Garotas Suecas, Golden Triangle, and Shapes Have Fangs for getting things grooving early on in the day. Thanks to UME, The Strange Boys, Hacienda, and HEALTH for bringing it on home. And thank you Aces Lounge, Bull Moose, Lone Star and Do512. I'll share some photos/video as soon as they are ready.


After our party was all wrapped up I went over to Navdo's party to watch Spindrift, who were fucking awesome. I am pretty sure they were the most psychedelic thing I saw all week. After they were done I watched a few songs by Danny Malone and then moved over to the Fader just in time for some dark trip-hop from Tricky.

• Tricky - "Hell Is Around The Corner"

I finished off the night at the Playboy party, where I got to see Bassnectar and Jane's Addiction. My only image of Jane's Addiction up until that point was of "Been Caught Stealing," "Jane Says," and Perry Farrell acting like a weirdo. I had no idea they actually rock, and I didn't know that Dave Navarro was such a talented guitarist. This was definitely one of the highlights of SXSW.


We started Friday at the Front Gate party for free tacos, Bloody Marys, and a couple of relaxing sets from Deer Tick and Delta Spirit. I also saw Delta Spirit last year at SXSW, but this set was much more toned-down and featured some great new songs. We followed that up with Phosphorescent and White Denim at the Little Radio party, which was an incredibly good time.

Phosphorescent performed a lot of the material from his recent Willie Nelson covers album, and White Denim gave the fiercest show I've ever seen them do. After that it was back to the Fader for Peter Bjorn & John, who were about 10 times better than when I saw them at ACL Fest in 2007.

• Phosphorescent - "Reasons To Quit"
• Peter Björn & John - "Nothing to Worry About"

On Saturday we made a trip to the Mess With Texas Festival to catch King Khan & the Shrines before heading down to the Do512 party, where I saw a couple of acts that completely blew me away. Alberta Cross, Afternoons, Red Cortez, Dead Confederate, Common Market, and Blue Scholars were all good, but BM LINX and Mike Relm absolutely stole the show.

BM LINX are a three-piece band from Brooklyn who do electro-fied rock 'n roll that had the crowd dancing from the first note. I kind of wrote them off after not being very impressed with their album, but they ended up being one of the best bands I saw at SXSW.

The same goes for Mike Relm, whose audio/visual mash-ups resulted in one of the best DJ sets I've ever seen. Each time he was supposed to stop the crowd kept yelling for more, so the party went on until the cops showed up.


After shutting the Do512 party down we all hopped in a cab to the Red Bull party, which had a better atmosphere on Saturday night than we had experienced all week. Unfortunately this meant people were having too much fun, so after a brief sets by Shout Out Out Out Out and Goldielocks they shut the party down.

The worst part was having to miss out on Erykah Badu and the Crystal Method. I thought about driving all the way back across Austin to catch the tail end of the Mad Decent party, but by this point I had experienced enough SXSW for one year.

Sitting in the internet shack at the Fader Fort, just after a nice set from The Strange Boys. The best band I have seen so far this week is A Place To Bury Strangers, and a close second is Here We Go Magic, who showed up late to the Austinist party at Mohawk earlier today but still had enough time to impress.

In between stops at Irish-centric locations for St. Patty's yesterday I caught The Drones, SuperLiteBike and Dans La Lune. Today I managed to catch the last song of two different sets by Garotas Suecas, who are as good live as I've been expecting.

Now it's off to catch King Khan, or Golden Triangle or The Mae Shi, or battle the line at Red 7, then debate between the mayor's party, the Austin Music Awards, or a return trip to the Fader for Micachu.

At least I know where I'll be tomorrow.

Covert Curiosity has teamed up with Insound to give you the chance to win an exclusive Thermals t-shirt and a free download of The Thermal’s new album Now We Can See, which will be delivered to the winner via email on the album's release date (4/09). Follow the link for your chance to win the shirt and album bundle.

On top of cranking out catchy, three-minute anthems with a neo-grunge attitude, the Portland three-piece have a big week planned for SXSW. They will be playing Insound's 10th Anniversary party, Rachael Ray's party, Mess With Texas, and an official showcase on Thursday night. You can check out their full SXSW schedule at the link. Expect to hear a bunch of new songs from the new album, like this one for instance.

• The Thermals - "I Let It Go"
• myspace.com/thethermals

This weekend, The Black Angels and Live Music Capitol are making sure no one forgets that Austin is the birthplace of psychedelic rock. The second coming of Psych Fest kicks off tomorrow night with performances by The Black Angels, Lower Heaven, Woven Bones, with Austin's psych cult heroes The Golden Dawn performing their 1968 album 'Power Plant' from start to finish.

The psychedelia continues throughout the weekend with the help of Shapes Have Fangs, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Strange Boys, Dead Meadow, the Wooden Shjips and a bunch more. It is all taking place March 13th, 14th, and 15th at the Radio Room, 508 E 6th St.

There will be liquid light projections, artwork by Christian Bland & The Vulcan Gas Company, and classic trip sequences by I Luv Video & Austin Underground Film. You can read an informative article over at Austin360, get your tickets, look at the schedules for each day, and get more information here.

There is no shortage of music-oriented websites in Austin, but no one does it quite as well as Austin Sound. They have more writers and photographers than you can shake a stick at, and they focus almost exclusively on local artists. The third edition of their yearly Austin music compilation 'Sound Advice' is available now, featuring 21 songs from a wide range of local talent.

Each song is available for individual download, or you can simply download the whole compilation at once. They've got tunes from UME, Harlem, Sunset, Ringo Deathstarr, The Boxing Lesson, and many more. Get it at austinsound.net. Here's the first song on the compilation, an unreleased track from one of the loudest local bands I've ever heard, Ringo Deathstarr:

• Ringo Deathstarr - "In Love"
• myspace.com/ringodeathstarr

And since I never posted this video from Harlem, here it is:


Click the flyer below to find out more about the Austin Sound/KOOP day show at Creekside Lounge next Friday. They will have Peter and the Wolf, The Lemurs, Basic and a bunch more.

Here is something cool that I just found over at NPR. They spent weeks previewing music from thousands of bands who will be performing in Austin next week during SXSW, and ended up with a 100-song continuous music mix highlighting some of their favorite artists.

From NPR Music: "In preparation for the 2009 SXSW music festival NPR Music spent weeks sampling songs by more than 1,000 of the acts in attendance. Whether or not you're attending the festival, the mix opens a nice portal into six and a half hours of music discovery. Arranged alphabetically by artist, the 100 songs in this ridiculously bountiful — but by no means definitive — mix all passed a simple litmus test, summed up in six simple words: "Yeah, I'd listen to that again."

Click here for the stream, here to view the playlist, and here for NPR Music's full coverage of the festival. One of their selections for the mix is the song "No One Does It Like You" by Department of Eagles.

• Department of Eagles - "No One Does It Like You"
• departmentofeagles.com

As if my schedule for SXSW wasn't ramshackle enough already, KEXP just made the process even more difficult by announcing their live broadcast during SXSW. It includes live performances from 15 bands over 3 days, including Andrew Bird, M. Ward, Peter Bjorn and John, Gomez and more. Select artist performances will also be available via their live video stream at kexp.org.

This will be KEXP’s fourth year broadcasting live from Austin, TX during SXSW. Last year’s broadcast was a huge success and included sets with Devotchka, The Breeders, Vampire Weekend and Bon Iver. This year KEXP will broadcast live from 11-8pm CST on Wednesday, March 18th through Friday, March 20th at the ME Television Studios. The full 9-hour broadcasts and live performances are free and open for the public to attend.

KEXP SXSW - LIVE BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Wednesday, March 18th Performances

• 11:30am BLK JKS
• 1:30pm Alela Diane
• 3:30pm Pete & the Pirates
• 5:30pm Wild Yaks
• 7:30pm The Features

Thursday, March 19th Performances

• 11:30am Elliott Brood
• 1:30pm The Love Language
• 3:30pm Akron/Family
• 5:30pm First Communion Afterparty
• 7:15pm Gomez

Friday, Marth 20th Performances

• 11:30am Razorlight
• 1:30pm Andrew Bird
• 3:30pm Peter Bjorn and John
• 5:30pm PJ Harvey & John Parish
• 7:30pm M. Ward

Location:

ME Television Soundstage
2130 South Congress Avenue
Austin, TX 78704

For more details and information, visit KEXP.org.

Micachu & The Shapes is a three-piece band from across the Atlantic, led by 21-year old Mica Levi. Their debut album 'Jewellery' is an unusual, fearlessly experimental record that blends an array of influences to end up sounding like nothing anything else I have heard. Beggars says "Micachu uses a modified guitar played with a hammer action called a ‘chu’ and a bowed instrument fashioned from a CD rack. She also uses improvised instruments, such as glass bottles or a vacuum cleaner."

The Micachu & The Shapes album just came out in the UK (April 7th in the US) and has already been attracting quite a bit of press. Chromewaves and Largehearted Boy both talked about it earlier this week, as did Telegraph and the BBC. Odd, noisy pop music isn't normally this endearing.

• Micachu & The Shapes - "Guts"
• Micachu & The Shapes - "Floor"
• myspace.com/micayomusic

If you want to catch Micachu & The Shapes at SXSW next week, here is where they will be:

• Wed. Todd P Day Party at Ms. Beas, 1:00pm
• Wed. - Fader Fort 6:45 PM
• Thur. - Clash Magazine Party at The Dirty Dog, 2:00pm
• Thur. - IAMSOUND/'SUP Party at Malverde, 3:50pm
• Thur. - Windish Agency at Emo's, 8:00pm
• Fri. - True Panther Party at Baby Acapulco, 8:15pm

The Mad Decent/IHEARTCOMIX party was one of the more memorable events at SXSW last year, and they will be bringing it back for 2009. Their "Texas Niteclub" will take place on Friday and Saturday from 10pm-4am, right next to the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. Click the image to RSVP.

Golden Triangle sounds like reverb-drenched distorto girl group pop, and they’re getting a rep with their brain melt-down live shows. Every band passing through New York wants to play with them—King Khan and the Shrines say they were the best band they've seen in America at a recent show—and in less than a year's existence they've played with Black Lips, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Jay Reatard, Awesome Color, King Khan and the BBQ Show, and have toured the country 3 times supporting Quintron and Miss Pussycat and King Khan and BBQ Show. Within their first year they have released two 7 inches, two 12 inches, and 2 cassettes—all of which have sold out almost immediately.

In addition to playing the Bull Moose/Covert Curiosity party, Golden Triangle will be battling it out at Dickies' Battle of the Bands, who supplied the description above. On Friday, March 20 from 1-6pm at The Compound, (1300 E. 4th St.,) eight of the best unsigned, independent bands around will compete for a $10,000 prize. There will be free beer, free BBQ, free clothes from Dickies, and free entry with an RSVP to Battle@Dickiesupstart.com. More info is here.

Though the latest Golden Triangle release is sold out, you can pick it up digitally from emusic. Here are two songs from that, along with some live Golden Triangle action courtesy of VBS.tv. For the full effect, come watch them at our party at Aces Lounge.

• Golden Triangle - "Prize Fighter"
• Golden Triangle - "Red Coats"
• myspace.com/goldentriangle

These guys used to be called The Weather Underground, but they now go by Red Cortez. All it took was one listen to the songs on their myspace page for me to become a fan. Their sound fits somewhere in between The Walkmen, Delta Spirit and Kings of Leon, all bands I'm quite fond of.

Though the Los Angeles-based band is currently unsigned, they managed to land a sweet gig touring throughout the East Coast with Morrissey, which will lead them right up to their appearance at SXSW.

SXSW says the band is "renowned across California for thrilling audiences with their own fresh take on American rock and roll. Their music is literate and immediate and draws from the most classic of soul, punk, and blues influences."

Red Cortez will be appearing at "The Big One" along with Dead Confederate and a bunch of free booze, so that's where I will be. The band's new EP 'Hands To The Wall' is available now, and you can check them out on Daytrotter, too.

• Red Cortez - "Fell On The Floor"
• Red Cortez - "All The Difference"
• myspace.com/redcortezband
  

El Goodo is a Welsh band that was first noticed by the Super Furry Animals, who released the group's self-titled album under their Placid Casual label. The A.V. Club wrote a few words about the album last year, while NPR picked up on El Goodo's newest effort:

"The pulsing drum beat and brawny guitar riffs in the opening bars of "Feel So Fine" kick off the album with an impressive gusto. The entire album echoes many of guitarist Lewie's favorite artists, including The Velvet Underground, The Byrds, and The Doors. Backing vocals are taken from the Beach Boys school of rock, sung in carefully orchestrated group harmony."

• El Goodo - "Feel So Fine"
• myspace.com/elgoodomusic

I heard Daft Punk were going to score the remake of the 1982 science fiction classic "Tron," and then I jizzed in my pants. This will be Daft Punk's first full-length feature film score, and will result in their first studio album since 2005's 'Human After All'.

The Disney-made film is currently in production, and set for release in 2011. The French electronica duo have assembled a new recording studio for the project. Someone managed to get a cell phone recording of the trailer, above. It's cool to hear people go crazy when they see Jeff Bridges reprising his role.

More info here. Let the anticipation begin!

• Daft Punk - "Daftendirekt"
• daftpunk.com
  

Covert Curiosity has joined forces with Bull Moose to put on one hell of a day party at SXSW. It's all going down at Aces Lounge (6th & San Jacinto) on Thursday, March 19th. We're going to be rocking it for six straight hours, from noon-6pm, and we'll have free beer while it lasts. It's free for 21+ with an RSVP on Do512, but those under the age of 21 will have to pay a $10 cover.

Bull Moose is an Austin print media & web design company who create intuitive web sites, among other things. They are going to be making things look a whole lot better around here, very soon. We put our collective heads together to book some of our favorite bands for this party, and then managed to land a great venue, Aces Lounge. We think it equates to a bucketful of awesome.

Here's the bill:

• HEALTH (Los Angeles)
• Hacienda (San Antonio)
• The Strange Boys (Austin)
• Ume (Austin)
• Golden Triangle (Brooklyn, Atlanta, Memphis, Austin)
• Shapes Have Fangs (Austin)
• Garotas Suecas (Brazil)

The incredible, experimental Los Angeles noise rock band HEALTH headlines. Then there's the infectious garage-pop quartet Hacienda and psychedelic garage rockers The Strange Boys. Before that, catch the female-fronted power trio Ume and the wild six-piece garage-rock/art-punk band Golden Triangle, one of my favorite live bands of 2008.

Starting the show will be the Kinks-esque garage rockers Shapes Have Fangs, who are co-headlining Psych Fest 2, backing Sky Saxon of the 60s garage rock band The Seeds. And all the way from São Paulo, Brazil, Garotas Suecas kick it off with a highly danceable mix of garage and psychedelic sounds with crazy organ riffs.

A few weeks ago I told you about a new ongoing series on at Dell Lounge called "Dead Venues Live," where some of Austin's best current bands visit the spot of popular music venues that are now defunct, talk a little history, and play some music.

Ume was featured in Episode 1, and now The Strange Boys get their turn. And what do you know? Both bands are playing my party with Bull Moose at SXSW! I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

About the video:

"Tim Kerr, veteran of the seminal Austin punk band The Big Boys, tells us about the The Ritz. Originally a movie theater, the building was vacant for many years - ideal for Austin's DIY punk movement in the 1980s. The Strange Boys chime in on the conversation, talking about present-day hardships in the music scene."

You can catch The Strange Boys' performance of "Who Needs Who More" from the Ritz, which is now the Alamo Drafthouse Movie Theater, at the link. In The Red Records just released their debut album this week, and it's already in heavy rotation over here. Check out this great article from Dusted Magazine for more insight, and hear a new tune below..

• The Strange Boys - "Probation Blues"
• myspace.com/thestrangeboys
• @ In The Red
  

Not only are Crystal Antlers responsible for one of my favorite t-shirts, they are now responsible for one of my favorite albums of 2009. Their debut full-length, Tentacles, which sees physical release via Touch and Go on April 7th, is a giant leap forward from their self-released EP that caught my attention last year.

Tentacles was recorded and mixed in the span of a week with two guitars, two drummers, one bass, and an organ. Lots of organ. You can get it digitally via itunes as of today, if you're into masterfully done psychedelic garage punk that pushes hard on the gas.

Crystal Antlers will be rocking the house for three straight days at SXSW, notably at the Village Voice party and Mess With Texas 3.

• Crystal Antlers - "Andrew"
• Crystal Antlers - "Swollen Sky
• myspace.com/crystalantlers
  

via P4K.tv: