Ty Segall vs Mohawk

The San Francisco kid, Ty Segall, puts on one of the rootinest, tootinest live shows of any of the popular names in garage rock today. I've managed to catch him a handful of times, and even invited him to come down and play at our last big SXSW day party. Without fail, the shows are always a lot like that scene from Road House, where people are chucking beer bottles, kicking up their heels and getting all rowdy.

Matter of fact, the last time I saw him perform and Austin I got sprayed with beer, elbowed in the head, and at the end of the show some dude tried to steal his guitar and run out of the venue, with fans chasing him down. Its high-octane rock 'n roll, and not for the faint of heart. Its also a lot of fun. Put on your dancing shoes and find out for yourself when Ty Segall plays at the Mohawk tomorrow night.

The Golden Boys and Pure Ecstasy will get things started, making this show a home run. Plus, its only eight bucks. Here's a cut from Ty Segall's latest, Melted:

• Ty Segall - "Imaginary Person"
• http://www.myspace.com/tysegall

"Bay area proto-punk whirlwind Ty Segall seems to simply exude the energy that youth culture has feasted upon over the past fifty years to create garage rock. This energy manifests itself from an ethos that affirms the unanswerable existential questions of the modern youth with a resounding "YES," heavily adorned in blazingly un-tethered rock." -American Songwriter

"When shit clicks, it's comforting. And so it is with Ty Segall, Bay Area lo-fi prince and another perfectly cut jewel in/for the Goner Records crown... Like the late Jay Reatard, Segall has a way of using 60s garage rock tropes as fuses rather than crutches: no matter the level of hiss, every hook and melody sounds as though it lives, breathes and detonates right as you listen." - The Tripwire

Video: Tame Impala

Tame Impala's debut album InnerSpeaker was nominated for 'Album of the Year' and 'Best Rock Album' at the Australian Recording Industry Association's ARIA Awards, with the band also receiving nods in the 'Best Group', 'Best Cover Art' and 'Breakthrough Artist' categories. The winners will be announced at the 24th Annual ARIA Awards on November 7th.

Lucidity is the latest track to be taken from Tame Impala's visceral debut, InnerSpeaker. A rollicking, searing rocket ride, 'Lucidity' comes accompanied by a (literally) spacey video, directed by Robert Hales.

Shot outside the country town of Mildura, 500 odd kilometres from Melbourne, the Lucidity video was a leap into the unknown, a series of experiments and blind faith launches into the final frontier, involving cameras being launched into space inside weather balloons, tracking all that went on below.

After being let go by the band's Kevin Parker, the flight ascent was just under an hour. The camera swiftly loses site of our band, flying through the clouds before the edge of the earth comes into shot and it reaches its summit somewhere between 20 and 24km up. At this point things go all woozy, the camera flipping and flopping about, spinning to stare at the sun, before the balloon pops, ripping its safety parachute from the box and launching into a freefall to earth. This descent took 16 minutes, the approximate speed at impact with earth somewhere between 75 and 100 km/hr. All the while the camera continued to roll.

Tame Impala plays in Austin at Emo's on Wednesday, December 1st.

The Black Angels: Live at "La Route du Rock" - 8/13/2010

"Les amateurs de psychédélisme et de garage rock sixties vont être ravis par The Black Angels. Le groupe texan se nomme en hommage à la chanson "The black angel's death song" du Velvet Underground et faisait référence dès son premier album à une chanson de Joy Division. On pourrait aussi remonter jusqu'aux Doors, pour le chant et cette diction si particulière. On navigue en tout cas constamment entre trip planant et tensions brutales."

Phosphene Dream is out now

• The Black Angels - "Haunting at 1300 McKinley"
• http://www.myspace.com/theblackangels
  

Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter recorded their fourth album, effort, Halcyon Digest, over a two week period in the band’s hometown of Athens, GA. Handling mixing duties was Ben Allen, who also worked on Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavillion. I highly recommend you spend some quality time with it. Of all the attractions lined up for this year's Fun Fun Fun Fest, Deerhunter may be the one I'm most looking forward to.

"Deerhunter are one of those rare acts that it is nigh on impossible to second guess - what they record apparently depends greatly on their mood at the time, rather than any great pre-planning. And so it should be no great shock that Halcyon Digest is a world away from the frenetic wall of distorted guitars that defined Microcastle. If this album resembles anything, it is more the Atlas Sound album Logos, recorded by Deerhunter main man Bradford Cox post-Microcastle. Halcyon Digest is noticeably more calm, tuneful and reliant on electronics and acoustics than Microcastle, especially on album closer "He Would Have Laughed", recorded in tribute to Jay Reatard." - Rough Trade

• Deerhunter - "Desire Lines"
• http://halcyondigest.com/

What people are saying:

NME: "For all its occasional lack of bite and drama, 'Halcyon Digest''s tender, transgressive pop proves a fine and focused addition to a uniquely haunting body of work. Cherish it like you would a phantom limb."

The Guardian: "Deerhunter aren't just revivalists, though: in the main this is timeless music, seemingly made with the conviction that loveliness will always be lovely."

Spin: "Like frontman Bradford Cox's solo records as Atlas Sound, Halcyon Digest exists mainly as another iteration of his shifting id, deeply plumbing memories real and imagined with a sound by turns spare and sumptuous."

Pitchfork: "We'll never be able to parse every lyric or tease out every technical intricacy-- though somebody will probably try-- but that is what Halcyon Digest is all about: nostalgia not for an era, not for antiquated technology, but for a feeling of excitement, of connection, of that dumb obsession that makes life worth living no matter how horrible it gets."

Drowned in Sound: "Bradford Cox is not particularly famous, which I sometimes think is a pretty strange thing. I mean if you were absolutely forced to go out and identify a bona fide genius from the current indie generation, you have to admit you wouldn't be on totally shakey ground with the man."

Video: SLEEP ∞ OVER

I mentioned Sleep ∞ Over previously when they played at our monthly Rumble party. Now comes the official video for "La Rose", from their single on Forest Family Records. The video was done by AAVV.

• http://www.myspace.com/sleepoverforever

Bassnectar vs Deftones

Via Bassnectar.net:

"This is a mad mix of deep, heavy, grinding guitars with glistening dubstep beats and the amazing vocals of Chino Moreno, lead vocalist of The Deftones. I wanted to make 2 different remixes for this song, one that simply reinforced the heaviness of the rock/metal sound and gave it even more sub bass & thickness than it had before. But then this whole freakish dubstep part came about, and instead of making 2 separate voyages, i just kind of mashed them together."

• Deftones - "Prince" (Bassnectar Remix)

New White Denim EP

To celebrate the coming of Fall, and unleash a collection of recordings they've been sitting on, White Denim just released the aptly-titled Last Day Of Summer EP. The free download includes 12 new tracks, something the band made as a little summer retreat from their ongoing work on a third full length album. Via whitedenimmusic.com:

"Many of these tunes have been bouncing around since the formation of the band back in 06. We were super pumped to utilize a few fresh and casual musical approaches on this record. We hope that you find something that satisfies you within this body of work. We can’t wait to play loads of this new material for you folks this winter and next year. At the moment I am writing all of the album info on a limited run of CD copies of ‘Last Day of Summer’ that will be lovingly hand packaged and available at our fall shows."

Here's two cuts from Last Day of Summer. Download the whole thing at the link above, or pick it up in person when White Denim will play Austin again on 10/16 at Antone’s.

• White Denim - "Home Together"
• White Denim - "Champ"
• http://www.myspace.com/whitedenimmusic
  

White Denim - "I Start To Run"

Video: Ima Robot

"Life Is Short" comes from Ima Robot's forthcoming LP, Another Man's Treasure, out October 19 on Werewolf Heart Records. Created by Filip Nikolic (aka Turbotito), the video features retro stock footage from the archives of David Nikolic. Founded via fast friends Alex Ebert (aka Edward Sharpe) and guitarist Tim Anderson, Ima Robot has of late been a consistent downtime retreat for its busy core members. It is those retreats that have resulted in the band's third full-length album. Read more about Ima Robot here.

Video: Darwin Deez

Why can't I be as cool as this guy?

http://www.myspace.com/darwindeez

Video: Cotton Jones

Cotton Jones - "Blood Red Sentimental Blues"

I'm a sucker for striped down acoustics and alt-country, so naturally I'm excited to catch Cotton Jones as they hit Emo's on Saturday night. Maybe I'll see you there?

• http://www.myspace.com/thecottonjonesbasketride

Video: Shit Robot

Taken from Shit Robot's debut album, 'From The Cradle To The Rave'

http://www.myspace.com/shitrobot

ACL Spotlight: Deadmau5

Wearing an oversized, occasionally gem-encrusted mouse head that shoots lasers out of its eyes is bound to get peoples attention. Doing it while creating some of the most innovative, mind-blowing electronic music ever heard will make you a superstar. Such has been the case for Joel Zimmerman, aka Deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse"), the Toronto-born producer who has taken the electronic music world by storm over the past two years.

Not only an in-demand producer that has worked with a veritable "Who's Who" in the industry, the 28-year-old artist has also staked his claim as one of the most popular live performers in electronic music today. And we're not using the word "live" loosely. Unlike most traditional DJs, Deadmau5 pushes the envelope of dance music performances by focusing on his own material and assembling tracks on the fly.

Using cutting edge technology and forward-thinking software that he's helped develop, Deadmau5 is able to fully recreate his productions in the live environment. While the music is typically labeled progressive house, his innovative style seamlessly incorporates throbbing techno, blissed-out trance and melodic electro. Check out his track “Orca”, below…

Deadmau5 - Orca
Not to be overlooked is his trademark mouse-head-helmet, which comes complete with powerful strobe light eyes that fire green lasers during his dazzling performances. The story behind the name Deadmau5 is a simple one, as it originated when a mouse crawled into his computer and died. This has led to considerable brand recognition however, including an in-game character in Activision’s DJ Hero 2. The game also includes the hit Deadmau5 song "Ghosts ‘n Stuff", which reached #1 on Billboard's dance music charts In May of 2010.


With world-class production skills and a one-of-a-kind live show, it’s safe to say that Deadmau5 has made a home for himself in the upper echelon of today’s electronic music scene. He’s already been nominated for a Grammy, voted #1 DJ in the world by BeatPort, and was just announced as the house artist for MTV’s Video Music Awards. His headlining sets at Coachella and The Electric Daisy Music Festival were reportedly show-stoppers, so don't miss your chance to witness Deadmau5 for yourself when he plays the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Saturday, October 9th.

I love vinyl

The Dead Weather's latest single, "Blue Blood Blues", will have a limited edition component in the form of an all new Triple Decker Record. Designed by Jack White and assembled by United Record Pressing, the Triple Decker contains a 7" record embedded inside a 12" record. The Triple Decker is limited to 300 copies and are available at Third Man Records in Nashville on Friday Sept. 17, and at finer brick and mortar independent record stores worldwide. 50 copies will also be inserted in random mail order for Blue Blood Blues.

• http://www.thirdmanrecords.com/

Video: The Black Angels

The official video for the new Black Angels single "Telephone" premiered today. The text that briefly flashes across the screen reads: "Send three & four pence we are going to dance." Click here find out what exactly that message means.

Phosphene Dream comes out tomorrow on the resurrected Blue Horizon Records.

Click here to watch two videos from their gig at the Orensanz in New York.

http://www.theblackangels.com/

Video: Danny Malone

This video is at least two years old, but the song had a friend of mine in tears at a recent Danny Malone show in Austin. "Baby Bleu" is about Danny's dog, who someone accidentally left in a car on a warm day. He thought she had run off, and after canvassing the neighborhood he came back to find her in the car, but it was too late. Ready your heart strings, because they're about to be tugged.

Read the Austin Sound interview

See Danny Malone at Wild Frontier Fest this Saturday

http://www.myspace.com/therealdannymalone

The Moon Is Shining Too

Sunset has just released their 5th album, Loveshines But the Moon is Shining Too via Austin’s own Autobus Records. The man behind the curtain is Bill Baird, whose approach to songwriting leads to an always-evolving sound, one constantly reaching for its true shape yet never settling in one form. Aquarium Drunkard has a nice feature on where Bill talks at length about that very subject.

In the three years Sunset has been a band, there have been five full-length albums, multiple limited edition tour releases, a seven inch, and a number of Bill Baird solo albums. My favorite so far was last year's Gold Dissovles to Gray, which ranked high on my end-of-year list. Loveshines But the Moon is Shining Too is another gem of an album, especially after you spend some time with it. Here's two tracks to spend some time with, along with the video for "Loveshines II."

• Sunset - "The Past Won't Forget Me"
• Sunset - "Moonlight"

For further reading, hit up Autobus Records, Bandcamp, Facebook, and sunsetswebsite.com. There's also a funny story right here about the crew killing some time in Cleveland while their tour van broke down in Boston for a week.

Tonight: The Rumble Austin

We've got another FREE local music buffet tonight at Beerland. The September edition of The Rumble Austin features a trio of talented up-and-comers in Pure Ecstasy, Sleep Over, and Soft Healer. The show will start around 10. The Rumble Austin is brought to you by Future Sounds, The AV Club, Waterloo Records, The Austinist, Austin Town Hall and Covert Curiosity.

Led by singer-songwriter Nate Grace, Pure Ecstasy have been getting some attention for their fuzzy beach-pop tunes drowned in a sea of fuzz and reverb. Earlier this year NME tabbed Pure Ecstasy as Radar Band Of The Week, and you can check out the Austinist interview for more info on the band.

• Pure Ecstasy - "Easy"
• Pure Ecstasy - "Pressure Drop" (Toots and the Maytals)
  
• http://www.myspace.com/gracenate
  

Soft Healer began in 2008 in an attempt by Marie Butcher and Will Slack to cover Suicide songs on pedal steel and clarinet. The duo swiftly failed at this and decided instead to play music with a more forgiving set-up. They began playing bass and guitar and got a drum machine, and after their first show Soft Healer became a trio with Sara Berger joining on sax and organ. A few shows later they were an even four with Nick Decarmine playing drums.

• Soft Healer - "Movie Light"
  
• http://www.myspace.com/softhealering

Sleep ∞ Over is Christa Palazzolo, Stefanie Franciotti and Sarah Brown, a trio of 26-year-olds whose latest release on Forest Family quickly sold out. This dream pop outfit also released a 7-inch split in June with like-minded musicians Pure Ecstasy on the Light Lodge label. The Daily Texan has a nice article and interview with the band.

• SLEEP ∞ OVER - "Outer Limits"
  
• http://www.myspace.com/sleepoverforever
  

Moon Duo

We mentioned Moon Duo at the start of 2010. A project of Wooden Shjips’ Erik Johnson and Sanae Yamada, the San Francisco two-some create minimalistic walls of sound with a repetitive, driving recipe that calls for loops of guitar, organ, percussion, vocals, and more than a little white noise.

People most commonly tag their music as psychedelic Krautrock, with Moon Duo counting such variant groups as Silver Apples, Royal Trux, Moolah, Neu!, and Suicide as touchstones. The group formed in 2009 and began issuing releases in short order, including the Love on the Sea 12" on Sick Thirst, which they followed with the Killing Time EP on Sacred Bones. Moon Duo made the jump to Woodsist for 2010’s full-length Escape, which offered the most expansive and melodic take on their trippy sounds yet.

According to this discography, Moon Duo followed the debut album with a Record Store Day split 7" with Bitchin Bajas, the Catch As Catch Can/Set It On Fire 7", and also appeared on a Woodsist compilation and this free Raven Sings The Blues compilation. Here are two of their newest ones:

• Moon Duo - "Catch As Catch Can"
  
• Moon Duo - "A Little Way Different"
  
• www.moonduo.org

In related news, Wooden Shjips will be in Austin this October for a Halloween party at the Mohawk.

Video: Black Mountain

A sweet little Black Mountain love connection is made in the new video for "The Hair Song," directed by Zoe Bower and Simon Chan. "The Hair Song" includes an extremely relatable plot line to any music fans whose coming-of-age years included being shut out of 21+ clubs and finding your crush at the show.

Black Mountain's "The Hair Song" appears on their upcoming album, Wilderness Heart, out on Jagjaguwar on September 14th in the US. Black Mountain is headed to Europe and will then be joined by The Black Angels for their "The Dropout Boogie" tour, which his Austin at La Zona Rosa on November 19.

Moonhearts

The Moonhearts are a California garage-surf trio of drummer Charlie Mootheart and guitarist Roland Cosio, with Mikal Cronin on vocals and bass. Formerly known as Charlie and the Moonhearts, the band recorded their debut full-length (with the assistance of Ty Segall) on an old 7-track tape machine, soaking it in their guitar-driven trash pop to glorious effect. The self-titled album is full of loud, distorted, revved-up garage rock party jams, recommended if you like Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Woven Bones, and a nice kick in the pants. Pick it up now via Tic Tac Totally.

• Moonhearts - "Shine"
• Moonhearts - "Can't Find My Way"
• http://www.myspace.com/charlieandthemoonhearts

workin' for a livin'

a mix for the dog days of summer:

• Twin Sister - I Want A House
• Local Natives - World News
• Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - I’m broke
• The Black Keys - Black Mud
• Muddy Waters - Going Down Slow
• Otis Redding - Cigarettes and Coffee
• Lykke Li - I’m good, I’m gone
• The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
• Grateful Dead - Friend of the Devil
• The Felice Brothers - Run Chicken Run
• James Brown - Kansas City
• Led Zeppelin - Since I’ve Been Loving You
• Lucero - Kiss The Bottle
• The Devil Makes Three - Black Irish
• Jimi Hendrix - It's Too Bad
• The Rolling Stones - Mercy Mercy
• Bruce Springsteen- Growin’ Up
• Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Dream

DOWNLOAD: Workin' For A Livin'