Here is a new video for a not so new song from the Canadian dance rockers Shout Out Out Out Out. “Remind Me In Dark Times” comes from the 2009 album Reintegration Time. The band will be bringing their live show to SXSW, complete with two drummers, four bass players, and an entirely appropriate mountain of analog synthesizers. "Angst plus exhilaration equals dance music."
At SXSW:
Shout It Out Loud Music Party, Creekside Lounge, March 17, 5pm
Iheartcomix Showcase, Beauty Bar, March 18, midnight
Alpha Pup Records is proud to announce the release of Ctrl Alt Delete, the debut album from Free The Robots. Combining dusty swap-meet samples, futuristic synthesizers and live instrumentation, Free The Robots has created a unique harmony of past sounds and future ruminations. Much like his L.A. contemporaries Flying Lotus and Nosaj Thing, Free The Robots knows no genre boundaries. Ctrl Alt Delete, which also features Ikey Owens of The Mars Volta, is a staggering work of mind-warping electronics, fuzzed-out psych and devastating hip-hop beats. The album is out on 3/30 via Alpha Pup.
Last week The Hood Internet dropped this little ditty, mashing Iyaz with the (recently loved) Big Pink. These guys will be getting down with us at The Big One on Saturday, March 20th along with Holy Fuck, Warpaint and more. Our eastside location ran into a permit issue, making the location TBA, but let's just say we have something big in the works. RSVP here.
Twin Tigers is a four piece rock & roll band from the ever blooming music scene in Athens, Georgia. They just premiered the video for "Red Fox Run" from their latest LP, Gray Waves, which is out March 2 via Old Flame Records. The band has been getting a lot of love from WOXY, and has toured with the likes of Minus the Bear, Deerhunter, Dead Confederate, Black Lips, and A Place to Bury Strangers.
Twin Tigers will bring their big, feedback soaked, psychedelic madness to Austin for SXSW, which will include a party hosted by a blogger near you. Hint, hint. Click over to Sonic Itch Music to check out their schedule for SXSW.
"While the band's dark and explosive sound might recall the distortion of Jesus and Mary Chain and Sonic Youth as well as neo-psychedelic groups like The Black Angels, they filter their influences well, pushing into territory all their own." -NPR
"Watch this band closely, it's the kind of band that could dismantle Silversun Pickups from their perch on top of the Smashing Pumpkins/Primal Scream/Sonic Youth post." -Future Sounds
There are plenty of great places you can look to for information on SXSW 2010, namely the Austinist, Do512, Showlist Austin, The Peen Scene and Ultra8201, but I needed to put this list together in an attempt to keep it straight in my own head.
Obviously for me there will be great preference given to the Covert Curiosity-affiliated parties (a couple of announcements coming soon) and the big Do512 party, but I'm including a ton of other parties that look cool too.
I still haven't broken down the official showcase schedule yet... but here is a look at some of the more interesting non-official stuff that will be going on in Austin during SXSW 2010. I'll just update this post as more events become announced. I'm looking at you, Fader Fort.
Saturday, March 13th:
Sixteen Deluxe (reunion), Ume, White White Lights, Ringo Deathstarr at the Mohawk
Sunday, March 14th:
The PureVolume House at 504 Trinity St. (ex Copper Tank) RSVP
Austin Music Showcase at United States Art Authority with Del Castillo, The Mother Truckers, Shurman, Suzanna Choffel, and more (2pm - 10pm / Info)
Monday, March 15th:
10th Annual Yeast by Sweet Beast at Plush with Zorch, Mystery Band, We Aim to Try, Xathax and more (7pm - 2am / $5)
Gowalla presents The Tiki Room at The Belmont with Diplo (9 - 11pm / RSVP)
Found Footage Festival at Club de Ville with The Black And White Years, The Laughing and more (8pm / Free / Info)
Tuesday, March 16th:
From The Mind Of Adi & Couch Professor Entertainment Present: Peter & The Wolf, Frank Smith, Car Stereo (Wars), DJ Gmau, DJ Czech One, Chupacabra Cantina (8 p.m. / RSVP)
Art Disaster 10 at Beauty Bar with DJ Orión, White White Lights, Sunset, Bright Light Social Hour and more (8pm - 2am / RSVP)
Day Before The Mess Fest at 21st Street Co-op with Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh and Onlys, Woven Bones, Shapes Have Fangs and more (9pm - 2am / 707 W. 21st St.)
Day Before The Mess Fest at House of Guys C0-op with Harlem, Beach Fossils, Fungi Girls and more (9pm - 2am / 1907 Rio Grande St.)
HOPE (one time only Descendents tribute band with members of Rise Against, Toadies, Gorilla Biscuits, MxPx, Riverboat Gamblers, Hagfish), w/Ume and more at Red 7 (7pm - 2am / $10 / Tickets)
Todd P presents Texas Bands & Friends at Cheer Up Charlie’s aka Ms. Bea’s with Ringo Deathstarr, Pataphysics, Cowabunga Babez, Cry Blood Apache and more (6pm - 2am / Info)
Wednesday, March 17th:
Terrorbird/Force Field party at Red 7 with Neon Indian, Toro Y Moi, Real Estate, The Fresh and Onlys and more (12pm / Free / Info)
The Hague/Crossing Border Party at Maggie Mae’s (1pm - 6pm / Info & RSVP)
A Celebration of Sound's Austin Pets Alive! Spring Break Fundraiser Festival at Epoch with Seabear, Maps and Atlases, Le Loup, Lovvers, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, Wine and Revolution, The Coathangers, Casiokids and more (Noon - 8pm)
Austin Music Showcase at Ghost Room with Carrie Rodriguez, ZEALE, Danny Malone, The Black, Monarchs
Paste Magazine Party at Galaxy Room with Frightened Rabbit, Roky Erickson & Okkervil River, Carolina Chocolate Drops and more (Noon - 6pm / Free / Info)
Thursday, March 18th:
Consequence of Sound and Sled Island Music Festival SXSW Day Party at The Compound with Titus Andronicus, Surfer Blood, James Husband (Of Montreal), Royal Bangs and more (Noon - 7pm / Free / Info)
Soundcheck Magazine’s 4th Birthday Party at Emo’s with Plants and Animals, The Rural Alberta Advantage and more (11am - 6 pm / Info)
PartyEnds.com and Raw Word Records Day Party at the Iron Gate Lounge with Sole and the Skyrider Band, more TBA (Noon/ Info)
Schubas’ SXSW Round-Up at Yard Dog Gallery with Born Ruffians, The Hood Internet, Japandroids, Maps & Atlases, The Smith Westerns and more (Noon / Free / Info)
The Billions Corporation & Ticketfly present Fat Crooked Unwound at The Mohawk with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, The Black Angels, Bowerbirds, The Cave Singers and more (Noon - 6pm / Free / Info)
Filter Magazine’s Showdown at Cedar Street with Miike Snow, Uffie, Minus The Bear and more (11am - 6pm / RSVP)
Dickies Sounds at Lustre Pearl with Dr. Dog, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Delta Spirit and more (2pm - 1am / RSVP)
House show with Real Estate, Woods, Eternal Tapestry, Pocahaunted, Beach Fossils, Silent Land Time Machine at 2908 Cole Street (2908 Cole Street) (7:30pm / Free)
Austin Town Hall Party at the Ghost Room with The Loom, Crayon Fields, Let's Wrestle and more (Noon-6pm / RSVP)
Friday, March 19th:
Village Voice’s 2010 SXSW Party at La Zona Rosa with The xx, Superchunk, Surfer Blood and more (Noon - 5pm / Info)
Mexican Summer & Gorilla Vs. Bear party at Klub Krucial with Washed Out, Memory Tapes, Real Estate, Best Coast and more (Noon - 6pm / Free / Info)
Little Radio Day Shows at Red Eyed Fly with Spindrift, Warpaint, Serena Maneesh, Dead Confederate and more (Noon - 6pm / Info)
SPIN Day Show at Stubb’s with Hole, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kinds, Fucked Up, Miike Snow, Dam-Funk and more (11am - 6pm / Info)
Filter Magazine’s Showdown at Cedar Street with Dr. Dog, BRMC, Local Natives, Delta Spirit and more (11am - 6pm / RSVP)
Dickies Sounds at Lustre Pearl with Broken Bells, Surfer Blood, Here We Go Magic, Warpaint and more (2pm - 1am / RSVP)
Pegstar.net & Free Press Houston present The Showcase of Showcases w/Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, This Will Destroy You, The Fresh & Onlys, Acid Mothers Temple and more at Chupacabra Cantina ($5, free food and drinks, all ages, RSVP to austin@pegstar.net)
Saturday, March 20th:
Do512 & Shiner present The Big One with Holy Fuck, Warpaint, The Hood Internet, Royal Bangs, Miss Li, WhoMadeWho and more (Noon - 9pm / RSVP)
SXSW 2010 Auditorium Shores Stage Concert Series with She & Him, Lucero, Deer Tick, Justin Townes Earle, Dawes, Kimya Dawson (Noon - 10pm / Info)
Six Stages Over Texas Fest at Couch Professor Compound with The Crystal Method, Lions, Findlay Brown, DJ Czech One and more (1pm / Info)
Sunday, March 21st:
Six Stages Over Texas Fest at Couch Professor Compound and more (with The Black & White Years, LAX, Ben Kweller and Triple Cobra, Built By Snow, The Bright Light Social Hour, The White White Lights, Whitman, DJ Digg, Markus With A K and more (1pm / Info)
High Times Magazine Doobie Awards at Emo’s with B-Real (of Cypress Hill), Los Marijuanos and more (Noon - 6pm / $15 / Info & Tickets)
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is officially on the short list of my favorite albums of the year. Their previous efforts were both pretty good, but this one is just on another level. My server is down, but here's a free one from the album courtesy of Jagjaguwar. Vocal duties are shared between husband-and-wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek.
The band will play with Washed Out, Small Black and Warpaint on March 17th at The Mohawk for the Austinist/WOXY party, then play an official showcase with Broken Social Scene, Band of Horses, and Drive-By Truckers on the 18th at Stubb's. They are also scheduled to play the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 23rd.
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is available for pre-order with a full download of the album ready the instant you make your order.
Broken Bells is a collaboration between James Mercer of The Shins and Brian Burton, otherwise known as producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse. For this project Mercer handles vocals, guitars and bass while Burton plays organ, drums, piano, synths and bass. The pair play all of the instruments on the self-titled Broken Bells album, which will be released by Columbia Records on March 9. There's a smorgasbord of pre-order options at the link.
Here are a few words from their first-ever live performance a few nights ago at the Bootleg Theater in Echo Park:
"After a spirited set by the house DJ's, Broken Bells took the stage as a 6-piece band (two guitars, two keyboards, bass, drums). On the record -- much like with the Gnarls Barkley collabs with Cee-Lo -- Burton handled all the instrumentation as well as production, James Mercer wrote the songs and played guitar. Mercer's voice was strong and rose above Burton's shuffling timekeeping. Several songs had a lilting bass groove reminiscent of the Manchester sound of 20 years ago -- Stone Roses, Happy Mondays. It was also apparent that these musicians were influenced by the likes of Damon Albarn and Beck -- not necessarily a bad thing. Add four- and five-part harmonies and some ace songwriting by Mercer and the live experience had a wall of sound, Floydian feel, melodies grinding through spiral video projected on the stage."
Broken Bells will play NPR Music’s SXSW showcase at Stubb's on Wednesday, March 17, along with Spoon, Sharon Jones and The Walkmen.
Some of Austin's finest rock bands are getting together to kick out the jams for Haiti. Taking place at The United States Art Authority on Saturday, March 6th, OXJAM will be an 8 hour, 2 stage free-for-all featuring 14 bands, a multi-media experiment, 2 DJs, a too cool for school silent auction, with proceeds dedicated to OxFam's effort to aid earthquake victims in Haiti. Check out the bill and set times below. This thing is going to rock!
$8 cover, further donation encouraged. Pre-sale tickets are available at Antone's Record Shop. The United States Art Authority is an All-Ages venue. Click here to like it on Do512.
Here's a video for the song "That Old Temple" by Los Angeles psych rockers Dead Meadow. The video was created by Artificial Army, who have also worked with The Sword and The Mars Volta. The song and video provide a glimpse of the "Three Kings" feature length film and soundtrack which will surface later this year on xemu.com.
Caribou just released a music video for "Odessa" from the new album "Swim" we told you about. The video is directed by Video Marsh. "Swim" is out on April 20th on Merge Records.
Love Connection are quartet from Melbourne, Australia who just formed in April of 2009. Within 6 months of forming, their debut album was written, recorded, mixed and mastered: an incredible feat considering the subtle complexities of these tracks, which, when listened to through headphones offers a fuller spectral experience of hidden nuances, intricate frameworks, and multi-tracked instruments and vocals.
Love Connection describe their self-titled debut album as “a collection of low-fi, synth-based electronica, dabbling in new wave and psychedelic sensibilities with a strong pop influence”. The self-titled album is available now through Sensory Projects, and I highly recommend you try it out. The band just opened for The xx, and have already gotten the nod from NME and Triple J.
High Places will release their sophomore record, High Places vs. Mankind, next month via Thrill Jockey Records. The duo have a unique sound that adds a slight dub influence to electronic pop, surrounding it with tribal dance rhythms and dreamy female vocals that float on top. High Places are one of the many bands on tap for the MtyMx Festival that is taking place in Monterrey, Mexico next month. "The Longest Shadows" is the opening track on the new album.
The Rest are a seven piece band from Ontario, Canada. Fronted by Adam Bently, the band released their sophomore album, Everyone All At Once, in April of last year. Though they have been championed by the likes of NPR and an extensive list of good blogs, The Rest had been flying under my radar until they sent me this video for "The Lady Vanishes", which uses Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 film of the same name as the source. They managed to cut Hitchcock's full length feature into a mere 6 minutes, which makes for a great visual to accompany the song.
I'm not sure what makes this video so intoxicating, but Warpaint sure does give me the vapors. Recently signed to Rough Trade, this Los Angeles lady quartet is in the studio recording their first LP with producer Tom Biller who has produced Beck, Karen O, and Liars.
Their Exquisite Corpse EP was mixed by John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and weaves "majestic guitars, hypnotic vocals, and driving post-punk rhythms into gorgeous, sprawling songs that skirt the line between the soundscapes of psychedelia/shoegaze, the haunting intimacy of folk, and rock's primal heaviness."
You can catch Warpaint in Austin on February 24 at The Parish, or during SXSW next month. Do512 is hosting them at "The Big One" on Saturday, March 20 along with Holy Fuck, The Hood Internet and more. Click here to RSVP.
Friendo is a three-piece band from Calgary, led by one of the dudes from Women, who were responsible for one of my favorite albums of 2008. Friendo creates songs that are lo-fi and guitar-driven, ranging anywhere from breezy, effortless jams, to pulse-pounding post-punk gems. The band recently put some of these songs to tape, using whatever recording equipment they could get their hands on, and titled the result Cold Toads. Through the St Ives label, run by the folks at Secretly Canadian, Friendo is releasing 200 limited edition, hand crafted vinyl albums of Cold Toads, which is also available on cassette and digital. Here's a sample:
Here is video of Beck, Jeff Tweedy, Jeff Tweedy's kid, and Feist jamming on "Lawrence of Euphoria" by Skip Spence. This is another product of the Record Club series I mentioned last summer. They have already done album length covers of of Leonard Cohen and the Velvet Underground, going on to cover Oar, the 1969 solo album by Skip Spence of Jefferson Airplane.
The Big Pink first caught my attention with their single "Velvet," a dreamy collage of industrial beats amidst a droning guitar shred. I played it over and over and over until I got my hands on the debut album A Brief History of Love, which became an automatic favorite. While being more reminiscent of Jesus and the Mary Chain, the band took its name from country soul rockers The Band’s debut album Music from Big Pink. The duo consists of multi-instrumentalists Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell.
The band's debut album, A Brief History of Love, was released in September of 2009 via 4AD. The album opener "Crystal Visions," brings out the shoe gazer in everyone. The memorizing track explodes into a psychedelic explosion of phase-shifting, echoed guitars and a repetitive bass riff which initially reminded of a Black Angels show I attended a few years back. A pervading warped, chilly, haunted ambiance lingers throughout the track’s hook-heavy reverb.
Third track and first single of the album, “Dominos” commences with rhythmic propulsion of drumming followed by the elated, yet heartless chorus “these girls fall like dominos, dominos… these girls fall like dominos, dominos.” The lyrics allude to the fact and unfortunate pleasure of breaking hearts. Despite this, every song on the album has a different take and angle of love, from starlit romance to destructive desire. The last track, “Count Backwards from Ten,” begins with someone’s heavy foot on the distortion pedal but quickly unfolds into a cascading melody of sadness. Oddly this track is unlike all the others in that it sounds less industrial, machine-made and more like something Oasis would put out. Regardless, this album proves to be a modern masterpiece and an honest ode to the greatest feeling in the world, love.
The Big Pink will be playing in Austin on Thursday, April 8 at The Parish with A Place to Bury Strangers. We will be giving away a pair of spots on the guestlist via Twitter, and you can purchase tickets at the link.
Golden Ages is a bedroom producer who creates a mixed breed of psychedelic pop and chillwave. Hailing from Philadelphia, this anonymous music project is influenced by the likes of Panda Bear, Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, Fuck Buttons and Memory Tapes. On the Golden Ages full-length debut, Tradition, he combines pounding beats with chanting, atmospheric vocals and layers of synth loops for a trance-inducing sound.
This is another addition to the short list of really cool things I've heard in 2010. No one seems to know the real identity behind Golden Ages, but I hear he will be appearing at SXSW, so that may change soon enough. Here is a cut from Tradition, which you can purchase on Lala. Hit the myspace for press clips from XLR8R and more. Hit Deerhaus to download the first EP for free.
Produced by Tom Caruana, "Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers" is a remix album combining Wu-Tang verses with Beatles samples, various covers of Beatles songs, and vintage sound clips. It's really good, too. I was initially hesitant to try it out, but I'm glad I did. I don't think the execution of such an endeavor could be done much better than this. The album has been mentioned in New York Times, The Chicagoist, L.A. Times,The Guardian, and Acclaim Magazine has a Q&A with the teacher/producer behind the music. Here are two of the many good cuts from "Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers":
St. Vincent goes the humorous route on her music video for "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood," showing her playing an instore performance at Women and Women First, the most feminist of all feminist bookstores. "I could stick around for another song if you guys want?"
The Besnard Lakes are a Montreal collective fronted by husband-and-wife duo Olga Goreas and Jace Lasek. I have mentioned them a timeor two in the past, and put their last album near the top of my year-end list in 2007. They have a new album coming in 2010, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night, set to be released on March 9th via Jagjaguwar. It is their most fully-recognized effort yet, and I can already tell that the album will be making an appearance on my best-of list for 2010.
According to a press release, the album was recorded with a vintage 1968 Neve germanium mixing console used to record portions of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti, and follows a twisting chronicle of spies, double agents, novelists and aspiring rock gods turned violent.
"The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night is a dark bliss-out that folds the eerie guitar epics of the band’s breakthrough, The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse, into a wall of affected drones and atmospherics. The toughened immediacy and grit that gives the form a much-needed shove over the cliffs makes for a haunting, provocative swan dive into the crushing tide."
The Besnard Lakes will be making their way to Austin for SXSW, something I don't plan to miss. Singer/guitarist Jace Lasek has also launched a new side project with Besnard Lakes co-founder Michael Gardiner. Dubbed The Soft Province, their self-titled debut album will be out sometime this year through Three Ring Records.
"Written In Reverse" is the first single from Spoon's new album, Transference. This is the seventh album from Spoon, their fifth on Merge Records, and their first made without the help of an outside producer. The band play Austin again on March 17 at Stubb's for the SXSW kickoff.
The Strange Boys produced one of my favorite releases of 2009, their debut album And Girls Club, and were kind enough to perform at the Covert day party during SXSW. Since then, they have gone on to play some festivals around the US, take a tour of the UK, sign with Rough Trade Records, and even add a couple of new band members. They also wasted no time getting to work on their sophomore album, Be Brave, which will be released later this month via In The Red/Rough Trade. Singer/guitarist Ryan Sambol explains the background of the new record:
"We got back from Europe and I worked out the songs that I had already started, wrote some more and sent cassette tapes of the songs to Tim, Jenna and Seth. When they got the tapes they all called me back and said they didn't know what they were going to play, but they were interested to try. Then the three of us; Greg, Philip and I, drove out from Austin and played a few shows to get to LA. We met up with Tim, Jenna and Seth, went over to our friend John's house, and rehearsed for a couple hours. The next day, we played FYF Fest, two days later we went to Costa Mesa, and two weeks later we came out with Be Brave."
The Strange Boys will be on the road again soon in support of the new album, playing with the likes of Ty Segall, Spoon, and Deerhunter. They are at Emo's on Friday, February 19 with Chain & the Gang, YellowFever, and Cowabunga Babes.
Caribou has been one of my favorite artists over the past few years. I became a fan upon hearing the award-winning 2007 album Andorra, then went into full-on stalker mode after I saw the band live for the first time. Those old feelings are getting stirred up again, as Caribou has a new album entitled Swim coming out on April 20th on Merge Records. They recently offered up the first single, "Odessa", via Caribou.fm.
According to Pitchfork, Caribou mastermind Dan Snaith described the album's sound thusly: "I got excited by the idea of making dance music that's liquid in the way it flows back and forth, the sounds slosh around in pitch, timbre, pan... Dance music that sounds like it's made out of water, rather than made out of metallic stuff like most dance music does."
Swim Tracklist + MP3:
1. Odessa 2. Sun 3. Kaili 4. Found Out 5. Bowls 6. Leave House 7. Hannibal 8. Lalibela 9. Jamelia
We caught Bun B the last time he rolled through town, at the Austin Music Hall with David Banner. This afternoon, Port Arthur's finest released a mixtape sponsored by popular clothing line LRG. The 27-track mixtape, dubbed "No Mixtape", contains all of Bun B's recent freestyles along with previews from his upcoming solo album Trill OG. It also contains the rapper's original take on the "Pants On The Ground" phenomenon. Download the whole thing right here, and follow the link to check out a tracklist and such.
Beach House recently stopped by Daytrotter to play a few songs from their new album, Teen Dream. Check out "Zebra", then pick up the rest of the session and read a review at the link. The video below shows the band performing at Auditorium Shores during SXSW 2009, opening for Explosions In The Sky if my memory serves correct. I remember seeing them perform at Urban Outfitters a few south-by's ago in front of about 12 people. Beach House are back in Austin on 4/22, with Washed Out at Emo's.
