Music News Notes: Tacks, Voxtrot, Okkervil River & SOUND Team

Tacks, the Boy Disaster's Daytrotter Session features four free songs, one of which is slated to appear on their forthcoming album. "Dying to Know" is one of the band's oldest songs, but one that needed some help before it became clear how to deal with that pesky bridge. Although the charm of the Daytrotter Session songs is their live and impromptu nature (complete with borrowed instruments and auxiliary musicians), we're anxious to hear this as-yet unreleased song recorded as the band imagines it. We're hoping the band imagines it with drums that sound like I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness recorded them and "Ohh, ohhh oh ohs" straight out of Fleetwood Mac's play book.

• Tacks, The Boy Disaster "Dying to Know" (stream courtesy Daytrotter)

Enjoy the rest of the free Tacks songs here.

SOUND Team were recently featured on Ryan's Smashing Life, and shared two new songs and a lengthy interview. The new tracks, "Electric Stallion" and "The Color of the Love You Have" both promise great things for the future. The interview touches on a variety of subjects, including the band's reaction to Pitchfork's review of last year's Movie Monster, complete with notes on Bill Baird's homemade video commentary.

Voxtrot has added dates to their tour (follow the cut for the complete list), which will include dates with SOUND Team, Tosca String Quartet and Au Revoir Simone. The band is also slated to take part in the FreeYrRadio series curated by Urban Outfitters as well as The Great Escape Festival. All this before their full-length (and Beggar's Group/PlayLouder debut) drops on May 22. For a bit of insight into the band's notorious penchant for brevity, watch Elizabeth Skadden's mini-doc on the subject (the first episode of an 8-part series on the making of Voxtrot's self-titled debut on PlayLouderecordings. It was filmed in Austin, and features outtakes of the sessions and interviews) courtesy The Beggar's Group channel on YouTube. Or watch it here, below the cut!

In other news, this weekend is a seeming cacophony of events centering around some of Austin's most loved performers. On Saturday, Bill Callahan will be performing songs from his new album, Woke On a Whaleheart (and hopefully a handful from the rest of the catalog ... Hey Bill, we really love "To Be of Use") at the Mohawk, with Horse + Donkey opening. Saturday brings us the long-awaited Okkervil River performance at Hogg Auditorium, featuring a full string section, horn section, and backup singers from Brothers and Sisters. The show will feature rare songs and fan favorites spanning the group's 9 year catalog alongside new material the group will be unveiling from its upcoming 2007 release, Okkervil River's fourth album and their follow-up to 2005's critically acclaimed breakout album
Black Sheep Boy.

In what seems to be sadder news for local street toughs clad in teal, The Laughing's debut EP got a review in The Chronicle last week, and it was ... intense. The band has wowed most people that they've come into contact with, but we've found that often, the "Wow" is delivered with a hint of "Huh?" and sometimes a pinch of "WTF?" More often than not, the discussion is about stuffed animals and 2x4's, not the music. Although it appears obvious that they've planned it that way, for better or worse there is an EP with songs on it. The review had this to say:

The band's debut EP, Tiger Cry, is a six-song cycle loosely based around their stuffed mascot, Svan ("Lions Can't Fight," "Wait Until He Roars"), that guffaws with brooding synths and generic guitars to create goofy dance rock. Along with Logan Middleton's vocals, whose gaiety recalls the annoying half of Wolf Parade, the Laughing falters most with its ridiculous instrumentation, especially on the album's painful, seven-minute title track, which uses the baritone sax and theremin like props in a Siegfried & Roy show.

Ouch. Though the comments argue otherwise, it sounds like someone is attempting to discuss what lies beneath all the pomp and fuss, and we can support that. That being said, we're huge fans of the Unpretentious Thematic Elements, Woven Into Innovative Non-Linear Dance-Wave, And Tempered By Outright and Savage Talent Guy.

Photo of Voxtrot courtesy My Bloody Self on Flickr