Local Capsule Reviews: Manikin & Watch Out for Rockets

Beasts With Hearts Of Gold is a beautiful little gem of a record. Jammed pack with twenty (yes, twenty) songs, it travels the distance between the beginnings of Guided by Voices and early Spoon with unpretentious ease. "Heart Poppers" is particularly Spoon-esque, David Jones' voice sounding so much like young Brit Daniel it's eerie. "Ready the Horses" is another stand-out track, epic guitar hooks sweeping through the lo-fi aesthetic ease. With all the fuss over Texas-based modern garage rock in the last year or so, it's nothing short of amazing these guys haven't been publicly adored yet. There's exactly the right amount of nonchalance, humor and talent here to keep even the casual listener hooked all the way to track twenty.

Watch Out For Rockets [MySpace] [Official]

For now, this is only available on vinyl, and we were so thrilled when it arrived we forgot about everything else near the turntable. It's definitely a record worth hearing this way; its like Big Black was resurrected and had a bastard love child with early Sonic Youth. It's loud and abrasive but very carefully put together -- angular buzzsaw guitar licks smash up against the wash of cymbals, but the rhythm section keeps impeccable time -- and each song sounds ready to burst at any moment. We missed their record release at Sound on Sound recently, but we won't make that mistake again.

This record will be a candidate for best album out of Austin in 2009 if there's any justice in the world.

Manikin [MySpace] [Official]