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The Sour Notes, Antarctica Starts Here and Pataphysics
Thursday, June 26
Hole in the Wall (2538 Guadalupe St)
Show at 10pm
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What’s the Deal: Well, there isn’t really much that’s sour about this Austin pop group. They’re pretty much all sugar, although sometimes it can be a little bittersweet. The group – Jared Boulanger, Chris Page, Brandi Dipietro and Travis Hackett – formed just this year and has recently released The Meat of the Fruit, their first 7-song album. They’re playing at Hole in the Wall on Thursday night with Antarctica Starts Here and Pataphysics. There’s a Ben Gibbard-esque calmness in the vocals of Boulanger amidst the copious amounts of twinkle and melody, and by the end of the first track the moodiness takes hold and the heavy-hearted nature of their name is obvious.

The wounded sentimentality behind “Weak at Heart” from The Meat of the Fruit is conveyed by fluttering harmony, winking keys, clean guitars and a voice that sounds like the singer is hanging his head low.

Something Interesting: Their first LP, Received in Bitterness, is due out later this year.

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “It’s Easier to be a Hypocrite” and “Leslie Burke”

The Sour Notes Official
The Sour Notes MySpace

Image from MySpace

What’s the Deal: Not really what you’d call “Brut” and not exactly new (they’ve been around since 2001), but Frog Eyes – Carey Mercer, Melanie Campbell, Michael Rak and Ryan Beattie – definitely stand out from the pack. This British Columbia-based experimental indie rock group has already proven they can win over the Austin audience quite easily with the plump capacity of their latest trip to Club de Ville a month or so back.

Mercer’s breathy falsetto vocals patter around ever-changing guitars, keyboards and drums like the balls of little wet feet on “Idle Hands” off Tears of the Valedictorian. Quickening bright tones from the keys and guitar create an atmosphere easily lost in. “Masticated Outboard Motors” recorded back in 2003 is both frolicsome and a bit brooding all at once with a shakey voice, clanking drums and outstretched guitar strings that echo.

Something Interesting: Singer Carey Mercer also has a songwriters side project called Swan Lake with Dan Bejar of The New Pornographers and Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade.

Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “The Oscillator’s Hum” and “One in Six Children Will Flee in Boats”

Frog Eyes Official
Frog Eyes MySpace