Photo from the Austin History Center archives Since so many of you wrote in asking about places to watch the Democratic Presidential Debate, we went ahead and called around town. Below are your best options if you missed out on the Alamo's watch parties or the Texas Democrats' party—both are now sold out. We still recommend calling ahead to make sure the folks below haven't changed their minds, and feel free to share any that......

Upon arriving around 2:50pm, we found quite a bit of chaos. An unfortunate propane tank explosion had injured four ACL staffers, so fire trucks, EMS vehicles, and golf carts were buzzing everywhere. Our tickets were stuck with a friend inside, so we found a shady tree and hung out until the dust settled around 3:15. We entered to the wafting notes of Peter, Bjorn, and John, who had attracted such a huge crowd we......

It’s really cold right now in Sydney. But Australia’s arty-pop, indie rock five-some, Dappled Cities Fly (although they are taking a break from the ‘Fly’ for a while), are about to make the trek across the ocean and the seasons to begin their first U.S. tour. They’ve built up a sizable resume of flattering Australian press. But now, with the release of Granddance in the U.S. earlier this year, these Aussie lads are beginning......

We're back in New York where people are trying to recover from SXSW, here's the last entry of Nate from My Brightest Diamond's Austin tour diary he kept for us. Read the first part here. Over at Gothamist we've got Pela's tour diary...we totally snuck in to their hotel room and found it under their pillow. SXSW DAY 2: A DAY, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER In contrast to my first 24 hours here at the......

Jason Quever combines anecdotal songwriting with lush folk-pop in Papercuts’ Can’t Go Back, out soon on Gnomonsong. The San Francisco based musician finds a unique balance between malaise and vigor on his new release. Moody narratives are married with layered orchestrations to conjure a somewhat manic depressive feel. The album opener, “Dear Employee” ends with resigned refrains of “I don’t need you no more” while the possibly tongue-in-cheek “Unavailable” repeats “He’s stepping out for a......

Shipwreck - House of Cards EP Psyching yourself into being a prolific musician means that you either (a.) end up with some good records at the end of a long creative push, or (b.) make loads of crap that will sit buried in the back of your closet with your broken pride. Gambling with this possibility, Illinoisemakers Shipwreck promised to release four EPs in 16 months with House of Cards their first. The foursome have......

Architecture in Helsinki is an enterprising collective of musicians adept at relaying diverse and distinct sounds in unison, and they bring their eclectic catalogue (and promise of a new record) to Austin this March for the annual SXSW music festival. The band’s multi-instrumentation utilizes the usual goodness (guitars, drums, bass), along with synthesizers, horns, a variety of percussion, assorted audio samples; the list is long but it all adds to the band’s flair and......

It appears birds are having a real rough time staying alive lately. You may have thought Austin's bird population was having a bad week, but Australian news sources are reporting that thousands, not scores, of birds have been dropping dead in West Australia over the past few weeks. According to The Australian, officials are trying "hose down" any concerns over avian flu and tests are still being conducted. Opting out of the excitement of a......

Believe it or not, Love Travels At Illegal Speeds is former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon’s sixth solo record. His third since leaving the band, LTAIS boasts crunching guitar hooks and sparkling pop-rock along with a plethora of downtrodden, forlorn ballads. As the title of the album suggests, Coxon tackles the fluctuating fortunes of love and the struggles of being smitten. Lyrics like "When I saw you / my life turned so beautiful / I......

*This post comes from Austinist Special World Cup Correspondent Ben Gardner, Co-Host of KOOP’s SoccerMad, who is in Germany for this year’s Cup.* Three weeks in to the tournament and there are many storylines. The favorites are succeeding, while the Asian and African countries were sent packing, not to mention North America, which saw three of its four representatives finish bottom of their groups. From these three continents, only Mexico and Ghana made the cut,......

As a uniquely American genre, westerns have traveled a long and dusty trail since John Ford’s My Darling Clementine. In John Hillcoat’s The Proposition, the trail winds its way to the Australian Outback. Brutal yet brilliant, beautiful though bloody, the screenplay by Aussie rocker Nick Cave (The Bad Seeds) holds true to the elements of the genre: Symbolic of all things good is the woman from the east, a fight for survival and power against......

We still need a few drinks before doing any kind of karaoke, even if our jobs depend on it. Several employees at a Vietnamese Oil Company are being punished by their employer for not participating in the festivities. Perhaps they just hadn't gotten to the Jager shots yet. The Texas French Bread on 29th and Rio Grande is feeling the effects of a raid on illegal immigrants. Several employees were arrested, some deported. Some......

If you haven't had the vaguely familiar pleasure of hearing Wolfmother yet, think Black Sabbath meets MC5 meets Black Sabbath with a smidgen of Led Zeppelin for taste. Did we mention they also conjure shades of metal progenitors, Black Sabbath? Sunday evening at The Parish, this Aussie power trio did their best to remind us of the enduring relevance of proto-metal. Having trimmed the proggy fat off their forefathers music, they stopped in to......

A piece of their body of work, that is! Austinist's favorite Aussie transplants -- the dashing foursome going by The Handsome Charlies -- are playing a (free) show at Hole in The Wall tomorrow evening (Saturday), with Happy Bullets from Dallas and The Unbearables. And, because we're in a festive mood, we're giving away two copies of their recently released LP, Gentlemen Never Tell, and a Handsome Charlies T-shirt (new, not used.) Send us......