Arts & Entertainment

Today we received word that everyone's favorite thrash band that knows how to work through their feelings have created their own music festival. Entitled the Orion Music + More, the event will take place on June 23rd and 24th of this year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. more ›

Admission during fall of 2011 at the University of Texas was about 51,000 students - that's a lot of people who can appreciate a good Bevo Bucks riff. more ›

Since 2000, King Khan has been spreading his love like peanut butter with the Shrines, a variously seven-, eight- and nine-member psychedelic soul band, with all the trappings (baritone sax, bad haircuts) to go with it. more ›

We're just about a month away from the opening of the newest Alamo Drafthouse location. The plans for Alamo Slaughter Lane were started almost four years ago, but had to be put on hold when the tanking economy called the entire shopping center development into question. The whole plaza, located in the Circle C neighborhood, is now starting to slowly come to life and this state-of-the-art theater opening next month, (filled to the brim with sustainable and more efficient features) will anchor it. more ›

After kicking around the local scene for a couple of years, Literature finally released a full-length last month, dropping it via bandcamp in the creative Chernobyl that extends roughly from December 26th to the middle of January. It's there now to download in any format at whatever price the buyer cares to pay, which is never not a good deal. more ›

Big Medium, the force behind the East Austin Studio Tour (EAST), is moving west of I-35 for the first West Austin Studio Tour (WEST). WEST, which will take place May 19 and 20, will be the spring counterpart for autumn’s EAST. Like EAST, WEST will be a free, self-guided tour of artist studios, galleries, and spaces. The boundaries for WEST are west of I-35, east of Mopac, south of HWY 183, and north of I-71/360. more ›

That Austin City Limits taping of Wilco that we enjoyed? You can watch it now on PBS, or embedded below. more ›

Zola Jesus played the Parish on Friday with openers Talk Normal and Technicolor Hearts. Here's our interview with Nika Danilova from the end of last year. more ›

The biggest music news this week concerns a three-day, monster music festival waaay out in a part of East Austin still untouched by fusion food carts. The Punx Picnic is a weekend and change of music and music and more music - 100+ bands, and camping, and pets are allowed, and it's all ages and kids under 14 are free. Also: "Carnival, Sideshows, Devil’s Drop Half-Pipe, Overnight Camping; Local Food & Treats Vendors, Punk Wear, Record Shops, Tattoo Parlors, Smoke supplies. no Expensive Beer Vendors, Bring Your Own Cooler Stocked!~BYOB!!" So maybe you will find some food carts, but D.I.Y. or die. more ›

The molten garage howl of King Kahn and the Shrines touches down at the Mohawk tonight. After a contentious, internet-induced break up with longtime collaborator, BBQ Show (aka Mark Sultan), Kahn tours again with a new Scion A/V EP. Somewhere at the intersection where The Sonics meet Stax Records, Kahn and the Shrines a reputation for a cage match live show without the cage. Rock and roll super exes, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed once asked them to "put back the danger into the devil's music”. Here’s your chance to witness a reverse exorcism. more ›

If you’re wondering what to do with your Saturday night, why not make good on your New Year's resolution (the one that says: Read more, Facebook less) and get thee to a local bookstore. ZZ Packer makes an appearance at BookPeople tonight at 7 pm, thanks to American Short Fiction, where she'll be talking with writer Jacqueline Luckett about Luckett’s second novel, Passing Love more ›

Like the whole "I read it for the articles" self-justification surrounding Playboy in its early days, The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, first debuting in 1964, had its presence explained on the kitchen table by the fact that "It only comes out once a year, honey, relax" and plus "the photography is really good...look at how beautiful these beaches are!" and it was an excellent showcase for swimwear, albeit swimwear that is always peeling off and being clutched to the bosom of Tyra Banks or another model with bedroom eyes, appendages stuck in sexy contortions out in the Caribbean. more ›

Jonathan Sanders’ wife calls him “a hoarder of random objects.” If that statement is true, then Sanders has impeccable taste in weathered pipes and tree branches, which make their way into his sculptures. Fusing found items such as railroad spikes, insect-devoured wood, and corroded pipes to concrete, steel, and even resin, Sanders constructs pieces with modern, architectural lines. His Constructed Exploration exhibition opens at Gallery Black Lagoon tonight, 7-10pm. more ›

With an expert blend of humor, romance, fun and booze, the Alamo Drafthouse is hosting a Princess Bride Quote Along Feast in honor of Valentine’s Day and will simultaneously roll out their new signature line of wine. more ›

Tilda Swinton stars in We Need To Talk About Kevin (Oscilloscope). more ›

The last year has registered a veritable explosion of female electronic-focused musicians, including Lykke Li, Oh Land, Austra, Glasser, jj, tUnE-yArDs, Little Boots and more. Zola Jesus, led by Nika Roza Danilova - a Russian American via Wisconsin - leans towards the darker atmospheric side of the genre. Releasing three albums in just as many years, Danilova has evolved her sound throughout this short time by using her inner world images and musical curiosity as fodder. In a recent NYTimes magazine interview, Danilova discussed the music making process: "I like to work with sounds that are indistinguishable, when many different instruments or sounds can blend together to make one solid drone that can move and carry the song. I think my music and my style are connected in a way where they’re both trying to express the same things, or make sense of something greater." more ›

The three piece outfit has perfected a warped, shambolic sound that sounds simple on first listen, but unpacking all the dark nuances is half the fun. Their debut full-length, Should I Try Once More?, "tells the story of someone falling in love, with each song acting as a scene in the story." Garage-rock concept album, anyone? Sundae Records will release it on April 10 via digital, vinyl, and CD versions. more ›

Texas electro garage psych lights up the ND tonight when Indian Jewelry tears into the first road show of their pre-SXSW tour. Often, "psychedelic" is used to describe music sticking to a blotchy formula that’s less interesting than the sweat stains on grandma’s Jefferson Airplane tee shirt. Lately, the genre’s been expanded by some who think that music with any measure of phased, fuzzy, reverb guitar is psych rock. But Indian Jewelry has carved out a rather unique niche, which has garnered them a booking for Austin Psych Fest 2012. Their music ranges from psych pop delight to electro noise rock. Wherever in that spectrum their music might warble, it’s likely to make you wonder who dosed your Lone Star. more ›

Music nerds, take note. South By Southwest organizers just sent out a release saying that 2,000 music wristbands will go on sale at 10am via wristbands.sxsw.com at an initial price of $149. These wristbands grant the wearer space-available access to all evening SXSW showcases from March 13th to March 18th. Over 2,000 bands will perform at the 2012 edition of the festival at approximately 95 venues. more ›

How does Texas - or at least Austin - stack up in 33 1/3 representation? Not so hot, it turns out. So what with 33 1/3's open-minded and expansive appreciation for pitches of various sorts, we entreaty you - readers and writers and friends of readers and writers - to give our State some recognition already. more ›

It’s the day we (film nerds) have been waiting for: most of the lineup for the 2012 SXSW Film Festival has been revealed. In addition to the titles that have already been announced (The Cabin in The Woods, Girls, etc.), we now have dozens more available to Google, judge and ponder before the festival begins on March 9. more ›

Theophilus London performed as part of the grand opening of the Beauty Ballroom on Riverside, sister venue to downtown’s Beauty Bar, part of the cultural shift that’s moving the city’s soul so that people who like to eat generic haute cuisine on the ground floor of anonymous high rises have more choices. The Ballroom is a wonderfully huge and homey space with vaulted ceilings and walls decorated with concentric glitter squares that convey “urban Etsy” warmth. It’s the same crowd as the cookie box downtown venue, so take that as a warning or an enticement. The future schedule, however, looks to be a far more diverse proposition, with some noteworthy hip hop shows thrown in the mix. more ›

There was some consternation last summer when longtime east side blues joint TC's Lounge shuttered its doors after thirty three years of dive bar camaraderie and boozy, sweat-soaked dance marathons. But. BUT. New ownership soon took over the space, renaming it The Sahara Lounge. There's the same comfortable vibe and uniquely themed music nights: Saturday is African Night, at which two of the owners play, and Wednesday is Psychedelic Night. All is well. more ›

On Sunday night, two fresh New York exports brought a genre-bending showcase to Mohawk, courtesy of Gorilla vs. Bear. A sold out crowd packed in to the inside stage for Brooklyn-based newcomers Ava Luna, who combine doo-wop, gospel, rhythm and blues, and electro-pop with their melting pot sound. Think Dirty Projectors’ girl/guy harmonies and falsetto mixed with soul that stylistically fluctuates from '70s deep grooves to '90s diva - the sixtet’s eclectic compositions create a truly unique experience. more ›

Just a reminder that badges for the epic Moontower Comedy and Oddity Festival are on sale as of right now. You can get yours on the festival website, the Paramount’s home page or call 512-474-1221. Single show tickets go on sale Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The illustrious list of twenty four confirmed headliners includes Seth Meyers, Aziz Ansari, Steven Wright, The Amazing Johnathan, Maria Bamford, Hannibal Buress, Matt Bearden, and John Ramsey. more ›

KUT is creating an "Austin Music Map" with funding from the Association of Independents in Radio, Inc. (A.I.R.). The self-described "innovative journalism project" comes courtesy of "Localore," a program created by AIR meant to target "underrepresented musical subcultures." Austin is one of only ten cities that has been awarded the chance to document said subcultures, and KUT's work will be undertaken by producer-in-residence Delaney Hall. more ›