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J. Tillman at the Mohawk - Giveaway
You might have heard that we have something in the works for all of you that don’t want to get scorched by the Texas heat or don’t have the cash to pay for 3-day passes. We are throwing our own FREE end of summer party that will feature FIVE great local bands to show how much we appreciate you, the local music fan. We will be releasing all the details shortly, but for now we will introduce you to one of the bands everyday this week...
Being the angry leftist monkeys that we are, we try our best to keep abreast of current world events - after all, nothing stokes the fires of our liberal hearts quite like hearing about the latest international debacle resulting from our nation’s flagrantly imperialist agendas. But this isn’t a politically-themed post, and – truly, sadly - most of the time when we indulge in our fiery expositions we’re more than modestly inebriated, and – keep this between you and us – just as likely to occupy the hours complaining about the latest scandals on The O.C. as we are discussing egregious foreign fiscal policies. Also, we’d rather spend more time than is healthy or normal at any of the shows around town.
Which is why we’re smitten with Austin’s The Interest Kills - the indie rock band that cares. Granted, while they do sing songs about the collapse of the Argentine economy (Capital Flight being the title of their as-yet-unreleased second album), they’re more than well-informed readers of The Nation: their repertoire runs the gamut from poignant stories of heartbreak and lucid dissections of “self-defeating” cynics to nakedly introspective tales of seeking universal truths through foreign travels. More importantly, their sound is like a “synergistic romp through dancepunkrockland”, a phrase we can’t believe we came up with back in our review of their new album. (see below)
The Interest Kills – Diego Garcia-Olano / vox, guitar, lead vocals, Marq Shramm / guitar, Santiago Garcia-Olano / bass, vox, Tomas Garcia-Olano / keys, guitar, vox, and Ricky Tijerina / drums – are second up in our rock-a-donk-donk Local Music is Sexy par-tay! at the Velvet Spade on Saturday, September 24, sponsored by Trojan Condoms. They’ll be on at 10pm, but naturally you’ll be there earlier catching Peel. And getting sloshed with us!
And if you’re lucky, you just might catch an impromptu intro by Scandinavian comedian/cycling wizard/Schwarzeneggeresque-vegan Benito. Our hot tip? The punchline’s apple turnover.
[myspace: The Interest Kills]
Photos by Austinist's very own Justin "Juice" Cox.
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Consider, again, our review of “Capital Flight” in its entirety:
Austin-based rock band The Interest Kills' second album, Capital Flight, brashly defies categorization: while maintaining a strong pop sensibility, they explore everything from dance rock to post-punk. What unites the album, however, is an underlying message in the lyrics; the songs are infused with lucid sociopolitical commentary, often with a tone of vexation that stems from knowing full well just how absurdly unfair our modern world can be.
The opening song, "The In-Between Is Ending", is an energetic number whose feisty kick drums and fervid guitar riffs serve as the perfectly innocent backdrop for the band's take on class strife: "they call it compassion / they redistrict with ease / these partisans aim to please". As much as "The In-Between" is danceable, "Pseudo-Narcoleptic" - track three - is a gentle, urbane piece crafted of beautiful harmonies that shows off the range this band possesses: the song's delicate melody sees lead singer navigating the vocal scales with practiced aplomb.
Track seven, "Idealism for Cynics", is deliberately unassuming at the beginning: starting with a single guitarist strumming a simple melody, the rest of the band casually slip in a succession of accompanying layers, each building masterfully upon the previous until you're left with an instrumental tapestry that rocks for a full minute-forty five. And just as you're convinced that the track is intended as a purely instrumental exercise, everything cuts out save for the singular guitar, which - much like the heralds in Arthurian epics signaling the arrival of the king - focuses our attention on the spectacle to follow: the lead vocals kick in with an fiery desperation, lead singer Diego Garcia-Olano nearly screaming out a trenchant criticism of people inclined to self-defeating apathy: "your talk is cheap / our talk is cheap / but you've got style / you play real cool / we play it cool / cause for the while / your cultivated jadedness / it drives them wild". What follows is a synergistic romp through dancepunkrockland, a magical place that we're all too happy to explore with these boys at the helm.
The penultimate track, "Now That You're Old Enough", is our clear favorite and we think would have made for the perfect ending to this album. Starting with what calls to mind Spanish castanets echoing in an empty chamber, the band constructs a brilliant, touching, and profoundly introspective tale of venturing to exotic lands in search of some intangible, universal truth, which - as we ourselves have grudgingly come to acknowledge from our own fruitless searches - is a construct that only exists in the minds of philosophers and hopeless dreamers.
Despite the fatalistic undertones that often carry across much of Capital Flight, the album at times offers subtle hints that perhaps these guys aren't quite as disillusioned as they seem. One of the most telling moments is the last part of "Now That You're Old Enough", where D. Garcia-Olano sings, "what you see before you / is a choice you withdrew / when you chose to mind / and you've made us proud" What we see before us is a solid rock album by a talented young Austin band - one that portends a promising future for these lads. And that should make anyone proud.
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hey! ive met that guy. he is pretty dreamy, too.