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LOOK MEXICO
What’s the Deal: If this doesn’t make you think of a particularly pleasant spring day, you’re playing it wrong. Sharp, layered guitars ‘pling’ back and forth in a way that would make Minus the Bear salivate. Inviting melodies charm over the winding guitar experiments and jazzy, traveling drums. In their video for “Guys I Need a Helicopter,” the band is playing outside under a canopy of Florida trees in cut-off shorts and flip flops ‘just takin’ er easy.’ There’s nothing better than a band that doesn’t take themselves too seriously- a band who goes into dizzy, silly rants about being superheroes, having pizza parties, and bouncing on trampolines in their bio, a band who plays shows in medieval armor and animal costumes, a band who rubs pepperoni pizza all over their nearly-nude, entwined bodies during a photo shoot.
Image of Look Mexico courtesy of their MySpace
Image of The Story Of courtesy of their MySpace
They began playing together in 2004 and have released two EPs and the full-length This is Animal Music. They played their first show with Karate, which is fitting because Look Mexico sound very similar to the jazzy, indie rock legends on tracks like “I Promise We’ll Swing for the Fences” from Animal Music. The familiar, thick and well-developed sound of angular guitars winding around each other with snappy drum fills and warm, melodic vocals is most welcome as many musicians can’t play their instruments half as well as Look Mexico.
Something Interesting: We didn’t penalize the band for quoting the Vin Diesel flick XXX with the song title “You Ever Get Punched in the Face for Talking Too Much?” because of its appetizing americana slant.
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “It’s Been A Long Time”
THE STORY OF
What’s the Deal: Not all songs of political protest have to come from a blast of distortion and shrieky vocals or a trembling folkie sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica. Sometimes it can come from the sweetest of indie art-pop harmonies. The Story Of made the move from Appalachia and Ohio to Austin a few years ago, and thankfully, they didn’t bring more mediocre blues rock for the 6th Street bars. They came bearing gifts of dreamy falsetto melodica wisping around a piano, a child choir, experimental sounds and guitar rock, and the group refers to it as ‘panoramic music.’
Their latest album, The World’s Affair, is not only an ambitious project due to its broad and hearty soundscapes, it also seeks to invigorate listeners and encourage them to feel concern for the current political climate. Song titles like “Save Us” and “Armada” illustrate a sense of foreboding and urgency. “The Privateer” hosts some pristine, piano-encapsulated harmonies, but it also has a mechanical, militaristic march to it featuring Interpol-esque vocals. Lighthearted titles like “Wonderlust” throw you for a loop with gloomy, funky synth-pop around the anti-globalization lyrics “It’s my home, dammit/ I won’t give up and let you have it.”
Something Interesting: Comparisons can be easily drawn between them and The Flaming Lips and Death Cab for Cutie, especially in the vocals. The Story Of are having their CD release party at Mohawk on October 12.
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “EMT” and “Carry The Horizon”
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