After spreading the funk all over the Southern and Mid-Western United States, The Bright Light Social Hour returned home to Austin on Saturday with a sold-out show at The Mohawk with The Happen-Ins and more. Photos by Ryan Pollack. more ›

This summer, the Bright Light Social Hour recorded their first album. In the studio, they're an ambitious and detail-oriented band, so the sessions were thorough and occasionally intense. Resulting stresses were abated by the band's camaraderie and indulgence in various homoerotic jokes. As producer Danny Reisch recorded the album at his home and at Cacophony Studios, I recorded a few hours of takes and studio chatter with my handheld over four days and reduced them to nine minutes in the collage below. more ›

The Bright Light Social Hour is part of the small and non-nascent Montopolis music scene. I spoke to guitarist Curtis Roush and bassist Jack O'Brien at Curtis's home in the southeast Austin neighborhood, where the band often practices and records. Two weeks ago, they won the "Sound and the Jury" battle of the bands at Antone's, earning themselves a show at ACL. more ›

Think you’ve had it hard before at eleven forty-five am during ACL Festival? Stumbling your way into the blaring Zilker Park sun after the after-show after-party is rough on anyone, but right this moment there are five bands working their asses off in hopeful anticipation of playing to the pitiable ACL crowd at that very hour. The Sound and the Jury, ACL Festival’s annual battle of the bands, is down to the final five contestants. They have been battling it out in venues both physical and digital for months now, trying to network and self-promote their way onto the Dell stage the winners will share with industry goliaths like Andrew Bird, Phoenix, the Decemberists, and Bon Iver this Friday. more ›

When it's time for some booty shakin', look no further than Bright Light Social Hour. The local indie group combines raw, jazzy vocals with poppy musicality enough to make any crowd dance. Tonight, they become another member of the 101X Homegrown Live concert series which has brought us many organic specialties as of late. BLSH is no exception. more ›