The Informed Drinker: In the Beginning, There Was Rum
![SXSW Announces a Couple Hundred More Showcasing Bands for 2010 [Lots of Austin Bands in the Mix]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/sxsw2010-music-thumb-110x110-460952.jpg)
SXSW Announces a Couple Hundred More Showcasing Bands for 2010 [Lots of Austin Bands in the Mix]
Why We Don't Like You: Texas A&M Aggies
![Preview: Legs Against Arms EP Release [Club de Ville / Saturday]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/deville_28nov2009_250-thumb-110x110-460659.jpg)
Preview: Legs Against Arms EP Release [Club de Ville / Saturday]
![Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/beerland_27nov2009_250-thumb-110x110-460924.jpg)
Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]
What’s the Deal: As far as instrumental groups go, Austin has its fair share - Balmorhea, Explosions in the Sky, Calm Blue Sea. Why not add San Marcos’ This Will Destroy You to that score card? After all, it’s only about a 30 minute drive to the building and bursting of this foursome’s ambient to supernova sound. Their music is full of atmospheric guitar tangles and sparse but powerful rhythms. The band began gaining positive buzz the same year they formed, in 2005, with the release of their first EP, Young Mountain. Later came their self-titled full-length on Magic Bullet Records. And, this year, they released a split with another Magic Bullet band, Lymbyc System.
On the split, Field Studies EP, “Freedom Blade” is particularly moving. The song is a lullaby for those lost floating through space with few resonating guitar plucks, piano chimes, gently humming strings and some drifting sounds and random clicks and crackles in the background. “There Are Some Remedies Worse Than The Disease”, a song used in the trailer for 2009’s The Taking of Pelham 123, starts with wrapped and ringing guitar strings then spreads out and rises to a vibrant crest.
Something Interesting: Not the best time for a twilight band like this, but This Will Destroy You will play Sunday at 1:40pm on the Orange Stage at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a light drizzle or a freak eclipse.
Other Songs Worth Checking Out: “Quiet” and “Burial On The Presidio Banks”
This Will Destroy You [MySpace]
What’s the Deal: It sounds like something cold and lonely and bleak, but in reality it’s a he, Brandon Bethancourt, and he’s a one-man-electronic-band. When first spending time with this Berlin-by-way-of-New Mexico multi-instrumentalist’s latest release, Holiday, and then retreating into the music of AIW’s debut, Dance Party in the Balkans, you might get taken aback by the slightly Eastern European sound laid on top of the electronic beats. It turns out Bethancourt enlisted the help of several musicians you might know, like Zach Condon (Beirut), Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and others for his first outing, while Holiday was recorded after he moved to Deutschland and is influenced by a different European sound.
“Streetgang Pt. 3”, one of the songs off Holiday, consists almost entirely of cascading, twinkly keyboard blips, drum machine claps, and a crunchy, electronic background fuzz. There is, however, also the faint sound of a woman exhaling. Then, Dance Party in the Balkans’ “Close Your Eyes We Are Blind” begins much like a Beirut song, with Condon singing and some very uke-ish strumming. And, it turns out that it works well with electronic drumming.
Something Interesting: The same stage that will welcome acts like Kid Sister, GZA/Genius, Neon Indian and MC Chris will host Alaska in Winter Sunday at 3:05pm
Other Tracks Worth Checking Out: “Balkan Lowrider Anthem” and “Berlin”
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