The Mohawk presents a solid double bill of local pop this evening. The Lemurs have been writing new material over the last few months and a handful of those songs will be included in their set tonight. The band enjoyed a stellar 2007 -- highlights included licensing their music to NBC show Las Vegas (as well as an Australian indie flick called Newcastle) and touring with Canadian act Stars. This past Sunday, ME Television telecast a 2nd ME Live! featuring The Lemurs' shimmering melodies in concert at a recent La Zona Rosa gig....

Brighton's indie rock quartet have come a long way since 2003's The Decline of British Sea Power. The band's eccentric catalog has evolved through familiar Britpop idiosyncrasies on their debut, eased into more global pop hooks on the follow-up, Open Season, and now enters the great big world of stadium rockin' indie with this year's Do You Like Rock Music?...

When Built By Snow contacted us via MySpace to share their love of The Beatles and Weezer, we were admittedly intrigued by what these local lads are capable of. It’s not everyday we get a message from an act about having the same two favorite bands as us. Noise, Built By Snow’s debut EP, appeared in our mail in due time and we discovered a talented act with catchy tunes that land somewhere between The Rentals and Ozma with a dash of Weezer mixed in....

Image from Myspace; Photo by Colin Smith The Ponys + Chin Up Chin UpWednesday November 14The Mohawk (912 Red River)Doors at 9pm, Free![info] [The Ponys MySpace] [Chin Up Chin Up MySpace]Chicago's The Ponys traffic in post-punk and dark overtones, and have been tirelessly touring the club circuit for years. The band have recently opened for both Spoon and Bloc Party, but are now headlining their own fall trek through the South. Their latest work Turn......

Stockholm's Shout Out Louds released their sophomore album Our Ill Wills in September. The band channels sounds familiar to all fans of 80's college rock, throwing together a contrast of bright, melodic indie-pop music and sad, direct lyrical imagery. This juxtaposition of the upfront drums and chime-filled guitar lines with tales of lost love and sadness isn't miles away from the poppier material of The Smiths and The Cure, and makes for hugely enjoyable......

As promised, today we're giving away two pairs of tickets to KLRU's ACL taping of British indie rockers Bloc Party. These are general admission tickets, which means you'll be guaranteed a seat as long as you show up by 9pm. Enter below, and good luck! This contest is now closed. Congrats, winners! Related: A Weekend In Our City - Austinist Interviews Bloc Party Austinist's ACL Coverage Bloc Party ACL Taping Monday, September 17th 9pm......

Some of the biggest artists playing at next week's Austin City Limits Music Festival will also be taping episodes of KLRU's Austin City Limits, the wide-acclaimed PBS show that begat it all. Unfortunately, the demand for space-available tickets is so intense that they're only announcing them via the radio. Fortunately, we've got the scoop on when and where you should be listening: below are the stations and times that you'll need to tune into......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

In 2005, Bloc Party released their debut album Silent Alarm, a glorious highlight of the postpunk revival that the New York Times described as "angsty and urgent, with jagged guitars and sexy dance-punk drums." Unlike many of their British rock contemporaries, the band have aggressively toured America in the interim, stopping in Austin for both SXSW and ACL Fest in 2005 and 2007 and at Stubb's in 2006. This approach may help explain why......

Let's get to it: ACL Fest organizers dropped the aftershow schedule yesterday, and it's fairly extensive. Stubb's, La Zona Rosa, The Parish, and Antone's will all host aftershows over the Thursday to Sunday that everyone is in town for the big event. Highlights include an intimate show from The White Stripes and Cold War Kids at Stubb's, an extra gig from Argentina's loungerific Gotan Project (also at Stubb's), appearances by Spoon, Common, and Queens......

After a month of guesswork, the ACL Fest lineup is here. And it's quite a good one. While the wild speculation of headliners like Neil Young and Stevie Wonder once again proved false, the key items one sees this year are depth and balance. Having spent yesterday looking over the roster, we have the following observations on the 2007 edition of ACL. The Good: A Great Top 10. Had you told us that we'd......

The Electric Soft Parade No Need To Be Downhearted Like an indie pop amnesiac, we find The Electric Soft Parade wandering somewhere in the woods on No Need To Be Downhearted. The group is unable to choose between three possible identities; one of Smiths-inspired Brit pop, another caught in experimental, lo-fi doldrums and a third all about the dance-able angular guitars that made so many fall in love with the first Bloc Party record. However,......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. Congrats to the winner of our last contest, who'll be announced at the......

The second album curse has felled bands both big (The Killers) and small (Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) in recent months. The short attention span and indie band hype created by the music blogger community only add to the pressure of the big follow-up. It is a relief, then, to report that Bloc Party emerge relatively unscathed on A Weekend In The City, their follow-up to 2005's wonderful Silent Alarm. A wider (and louder)......

I'm not sure if today would be the day to go shopping at Waterloo or not, but if you do go, check out today's new releases: Bloc Party A Weekend In the City (Vice) The story of bands like Bloc Party is familiar, but still depends upon a sort of mystery to come to fruition. Whereas the huge fame and irrepressible buzz seemed to propel them into official stardom, the stress and anguish that......

Saturday night the wonderful folks at Mohawk are throwing a Winter Dance Party. Now hold on minute o jaded one, this isn't your wastoid scenester roommate's type of dance party. No DJs in funny hats. No Madonna/Bloc Party mash-ups, no ironic 80s, and probably no bump 'n' grind. This is a 100% pure rock dance party, and you can bet your Beatle boots that you will be moved along with the rest of the......

As SX07 approaches, we'll be keeping you informed on all of the official confirmations, rumors, and non-SX events that we feel are worth your attention. With January's arrival, a lot of news has surfaced in the past few days. Here's a quick recap: Confirmed Performers (via SXSW): Pete Townshend, Rachel Fuller, Emmylou Harris, The Stooges, Interpol, Lily Allen, Bloc Party, Devin The Dude, Hoodoo Gurus, Matt & Kim, Ghostland Observatory, The Watson Twins, Stax......

When most people think of lemurs, cuddly ring-tailed animals usually come to mind, and not, say, an enterprising Austin band as equally fitting on a bill with The Smiths as with Bloc Party. The word lemur actually means "spirit of the night," and like a spirit in the night, local favs The Lemurs are going to sneak their infectious melodies into your brain this Saturday at Emo's to celebrate their CD release. Drawing on......

WIN AN OPENING SPOT AT CMJ!Awesome Inc. -- made up of folks from Austinist, Super!Alright!, Car Stereo (Wars), Learning Secrets, Finger on the Pulse (NYC) and more -- have teamed up with imeem to throw a massive Dia De Los Muertos party during CMJ in New York City. We've already booked a handful of great acts; now, we're looking for an excellent up-and-coming act to open. Submit audio or video tracks that best represent......

As MSTRKRFT, Canadian duo Jesse F. Keeler and Al-P first gained prominence back in late 2004 for their remix of The Panthers' “Thank Me With Your Hands," included in a Vice sampler disc. Since then, they've gone on to remix everyone from Bloc Party ("Two More Years") and Metric ("Monster Hospital") to Buck 65 ("Kennedy Killed The Hat") and The Gossip ("Listen Up"). “We like to make the songs we remix our own,” says......

Hang on to your wristbands, people, there's a lot going on this week in the world of legitimately released music! The Rapture Pieces of the People We Love (UMVD) The Rapture have finally caught up with their own hype following 2003's Echoes, working with producers Danger Mouse (Gorillaz/Gnarls Barkley), Paul Epworth (Bloc Party) and Ewan Pearson (UK DJ/Remixer) and delivering a disco, funk, punk and pop-influenced album worthy of all your parties, speedy drives......

THURSDAY [10] [music] Harry & The Potters with Draco and the Malfoys at Wooldridge Square Park (6pm) ® [film] Bullitt at Paramount Theatre (7pm) [film] Blanks on a Blank - Group B at Alamo Downtown (7pm) ® [film] Dirty Harry at Paramount Theatre (9:20pm) ® [film] Beastie Boys Rap-along at Alamo Downtown (9:45pm, $10) ® [film] Terror Thursday: Evils of the Night at Alamo Downtown (11:55pm, Free) [food] Austin Farmers Market at Plaza Saltillo, 5th......

Our favorite London-based art rockers, Bloc Party, will be at Stubb's Thursday night with J Versus K. Their debut, Silent Alarm, was voted by NME critics as the best of 2005, and their upcoming release (we've heard September) promises to be incredible. Look for songs like "Waiting For The 7.18," "Uniform," and "Perfect Teens" at the show, as they are tastes of the new album. The bill originally included Denmark's prog-rock darlings Mew as......

While August continues to look farily quiet for roadshows, September and October are just blowing up. Many indie stalwarts have recently scheduled appearances for fall semester, so start saving up some coin. Among the highlights: Sufjan Stevens, The Decemberists, M. Ward, Jose Gonzales, and Ladytron. Unless you've been under a rock this week, you already know that loud dinosaurs The Rolling Stones are also planning a visit; that said, no ticket info has become......

Check this week's IST list to see when these artists will be performing. Miranda Sound [mp3] Close Calls [mp3] The Lull of Youngsters [mp3] Midas Black Heart Procession [mp3] Not Just Words Peel [mp3] Moxy Blues Buttercup [mp3] Hot Love [mp3] We're Easy [mp3] Anti-Antarctica Diplo [mp3] Gold Lion (remix) [mp3] Bloc Party's "Helicopter" (remix) [mp3] Staring At the Sun (remix) CSS [mp3] Lets Make Love and Listen to Death From Above The Theatre......

Lots of random music news today. Let's get to it before ACL Fest's lineup gets announced on Thursday and we forget about this stuff: - Prefuse 73 has cancelled his Austin appearance later this month due to a serious illness. A note on Prefuse's Myspace page makes it sound as though the health issues are pretty severe. Pitchfork reports that the shows may be rescheduled later this year. - Bloc Party has announced a......

Car Stereo (Wars), the weekly indie rock/electro dance party championed by members of Austin band Single Frame and visual media artist collective Super!Alright! - the latter which recently was tapped to create all of the nifty vignettes for the 2006 Plug Awards in New York City - is moving from Sunday nights to Fridays at Plush, known otherwise as "that lounge/club that we generally avoid any other night." Formed roughly six months ago, Car Stereo......

Austin is Taradise! And Lance and Sheryl split Congrats to Adlai McMahon, winner of our giveaway contest for Bloc Party's documentary/concert DVD, God Bless Bloc Party! The SXSW Music Festival roster expanded to over 1,100 this week, including such esteemed acts as Morrissey and The Flaming Lips Austinist photographer Matt Wright captures yet another amazing night shot in Austin, as well as some sexy shots of last week's Box Magazine issue release party. The......

UPDATE: Congrats to Jeff Orr, who won a pair of tickets to the show! Former Austinites-turned-coastal dwellers Oliver Future are heading back to the town from whence they came, playing a couple of shows through Saturday night. We'll bring you a proper show preview sometime tomorrow, but for now we're giving away a pair of tickets to see the dynamic bunch for yourself! The recent LA Times-selected "Buzz Band" spent January enjoying a ridiculously-successful......

Austin City Limits is pretty nifty, we'll admit. But let's face it: the lineup for Coachella, ACL's glammed-up West Coast sibling in the desiccated wastelands near Joshua Tree, has all but reigned supreme these last few years. And this year, they're at it again; earlier this week they announced the full roster for the two-day festival, to be headlined this year by Depeche Mode (huzzah!) and ... Tool (huh?). The entire lineup: Saturday, April......