In the tradition of house/venues like the departed Jesse’s Bed and Breakfast and Natrix Natrix (a label as well as a venue, who are also co-presenting this show), the up-and-coming Rancho Relaxo is poised to take its part to promote music in residential spaces in Austin, at least until the neighbors call the cops. The venue has already played host to Sir Richard Bishop and Yellow Fever, and will hopefully continue to sponsor creative performances for some time to come.

Tonight the Rancho is hosting three local acts and one touring artist. The evening's out of town guest is Nat Baldwin, sometimes of the The Dirty Projectors and solo artist in his own right whose weapon of choice is the upright bass. He has a new full-length coming out in late April of this year on Broken Sparrow records, and is currently seeing the country through the windshield of a van, presumably, as he tours the south and north-east.

Openers Spirit of Space played a pretty roaring set of Velvet Underground covers at a recent Hole in the Wall performance, and the hyper three-piece will likely bring that same unabashed energy to this show. Also on the bill is David Israel, whose last EP These are the Clothes We’ll Wear When We’re Old was a wonderfully understated collection of folk songs. He’ll be backed by the Platelets for this performance, who will lend additional vocals and guitar to Israel’s compositions.

And also performing is Ethan, Master of the Hawaiian Ukulele, who has already captured our attention with his bathing suit wearing, pop song strumming antics, even though he sometimes appears sans ukulele (which is rather misleading). Check out his MySpace to see him serenading some uncomfortable-looking diners with his song “Lies Lies Lies.”

Nat Baldwin: [myspace]
Spirit of Space: [myspace]
David Israel: [myspace]
Ethan, Master of the Hawaiian Ukulele: [myspace]