Austinist Show Preview + Album Capsule: Horse + Donkey

Local noise brokers Horse + Donkey dropped their eponymous full-length recently and this Saturday, The Hole In The Wall hosts an official CD release show to celebrate this fine collection of droning post-rock. Opener “At A Station” along with standouts “Dot Dot” and “Riddle” will be familiar to the band’s loyal fans from their live performances; the tracks blend surf rock and psychedelic guitars with wonderfully dark and echoing vocals to create a dreary haze of dissonance. It is often impossible to decipher the lyrics on Horse + Donkey but that only adds to the mystique of it all. “Things” seems to be about some impending doom, “Shoal Heirs” and “Amorous Mare” tell tales we’d love to hear with clarity, and good luck decoding the words and howls in “S.F. S.A.” or “Big End.”

There are some stellar instrumentals in the mix for good measure including “Chinese” and “Scales” while you can check out the gorgeous “Magic Horse” video (produced by Wiley Wiggins) here. The entire album is doused in strong doses of reverb and distortion, and occasionally it suffers from monotony, which can be a pro or a con depending on your mood. But all in all, the band administers an invariable dose of sludgy psychedelia via Horse + Donkey, a fitting introduction to the talent of this trio and also justification of their place near the top of Austin’s creative pool.

An extremely prolific outfit, Horse + Donkey are back in the studio (at Bundyhill Recording) to record ten new songs and also have plans to redo three from this current release for the next record. Local entity i eat records is overseeing national and digital distribution of their current album (as well as the upcoming one.) Horse + Donkey plays an official SXSW set on March 13th at B. D. Riley’s Irish Pub. But until then, catch 'em this weekend at the Hole with Diagonals, Cry Blood Apache, and Count Dracula’s Weed Smuggling Jam Engine.

[Horse + Donkey MySpace]
[Diagonals MySpace]
[Cry Blood Apache MySpace]
[Count Dracula’s Weed Smuggling Jam Engine MySpace]