Texas boys Best Fwends are back at SXSW this year, bringing their video game-centric melodies and hurried electronic downbeats to old fans and new ones. Call them out on their tongue-in-cheek approach to music making if you must, but these cats know exactly what they're doing, and manage to make three-dimensional songs that also know how to get down. Does Antony know how to get down? No, he really doesn't. Via email, Best Fwends Anthony and Dustin talk with us about their storied history, SXSW, and Daryl "Fucking" Hall....

Fannie Mae says it lost $3.6 billion in the fourth quarter as home-loan delinquencies mounted....

Scientologists' lawyers are threatening a huge lawsuit against the author of this week's controversial new biography of Tom Cruise, which also exposes many of the sect's most embarrassing secrets. Facebook has been asked to remove the Scrabulous game from its website by the makers of Scrabble. Although there's been quite a bit of hype about all the changes this year, which promise singers playing real! live! instruments! and fewer guest coaches, the first Idol......

It's been a big year for local acts. Big name bands like Spoon, Iron & Wine and Okkervil River made a huge impact on the independent music scene world-wide, while up and coming acts like White Denim and Moth!Fight! captured our attention at the indie rock water cooler all year long. As rising hopes and swelling egos swept the town alongside buzz and bravado, we parted ways with bands like SOUND Team and Clap!Clap!. ...

A sad week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

Promotional still from Alamo website Music Mondays: My Name Is Albert AylerMonday, November 19Alamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)(9:45pm, $2)[info] | [tickets]Though not as well known as Ornette Coleman or John Coltrane, Albert Ayler is seen by many as one of the most important figures of the free jazz movement. Over the course of 16 studio albums and countless live releases, Ayler's passionate, aggressive saxophone playing pushed jazz back toward its improvisational heyday--an idea......

Photo courtesy Ricardo B. Brazziell Brownout w/ Bavu BlakesFriday, November 16Flamingo Cantina (515 E. 6th St.)Doors: 9pm[info] Bavu Blakes @ B-Girl CitySaturday, November 17Ruta Maya (3601 South Congress Penn Field)10pm set[info] Bavu BlakesSaturday, November 17Plush (617 Red River)$10, Midnight[info]The anticipated long-form paean to Sparkdawg will have to wait for a week: Bavu Blakes, Austin’s biggest rapper, plays three shows and runs a 5k this weekend before hanging up his hat for the holidays. I caught......

Every fall, Austin looks forward to ACL Fest, and each year, there's always a point where two of your favorite bands are playing on different sides of the park at the exact same time. ACL Band Clash is a weekly series in which Austinist scribes Paige Maguire and Tom Thornton examine the worst ACL scheduling clashes, and try to provide good advice on finding a resolution. Well, good advice might be a stretch, but......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Hello again, music lover! The Laurie Show on KUT 90.5 will be in full swing tonight, featuring great music by local (and formally local) artists whose CDs I now have in my grimy paws. Glee! Plus, I can guarantee you that once again, your live music calendar is going to be rather......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Friday the 13th is good for you, kids. Don't let folks tell you differently! Hope your Friday is going fabulously for you, peeps! I'm preparing quite a feast for the ears for tonight's Laurie Show on KUT 90.5. Special thanks are in order for Kevin Adickes of Moth!Fight! and Nic Saldana of......

You have to wonder sometimes about rationalizations. What societal restrictions are in place to keep kids from grabbing an apple from an outdoor bin at a supermarket? Mostly the possibility of being caught red-handed, I would think. And, for better or worse that's just not going to happen with people downloading Avril Lavigne songs on P2P networks. At least, not immediately. EMI recently introduced an option to purchase music through iTunes at a higher......

A teenage boy walks into DJ Dojo, a small record store in South Austin, and asks, "How much are your turntables?" Manuel "DJ Manny" Muniz greets him with a smile and tells him the turntables aren't for sale - but, he says, there's a studio with turntables in the back of the store. Manny and his coworker, Javier "DJ Bigface" Arrendondo, both teach one-on-one turntable lessons and produce demo CDs for a modest fee......

Old music lovers need to shake a leg - to cut a rug - this Sunday at the Second Sunday Sockhop – a monthly dance party at Longbranch Inn (featuring rare, popular and totally danceable) songs from the ‘50s, ’60s and ’70s. This upcoming Sunday is the one year anniversary. Expect to see records hanging from the ceiling and free mixed CDs, says Westen Borghesi, aka “Shorty Stump.” Weston and the other three DJs (Jim......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note I have returned, music lover! Yes, my on-air escapades on KUT 90.5 FM have been scattered about, but I'm actually working my regular shift tonight, 11 p.m. to 3 in the morning, when the peeps are still stumbling out of the cantinas. And once again, my inspiration for tonight's chaos comes from......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Kids, there's been some confusion in regards to The Laurie Show on KUT 90.5. My usual gig is from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Fridays, but recently, I've either been off duty or sitting in for Jeff McCord on Left of the Dial. I promise I will return to my usual......

Clap! Clap! are a hard-working band. Besides playing numerous shows in and around town, they have been in the studio recording their debut full-length (You Love This), chock full of blistering synth pop-rock no doubt. The number of members in the band has peaked at fifteen during some stages of their career, making for some riveting performances but Josh! Clap! verifies the current number of constituents to be eight. He also points out that......

The Books are not like most performers. Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto’s creative process is impressively genius. The duo composes what the press calls folktronica by weaving samples from obscure videos and tapes they find at various thrift stores with cello, guitar and vocals. The San Francisco Observer described their performances as an “electro-acoustic sound collage.” What’s most intriguing about The Books is their sense of both dark and light humor. This is apparent......

Shearwater Palo Santo Remastered, Expanded (Matador) The release of Palo Santo in 2006 marked Jonathan Meiburg's emergence from the shadow of the 'O' into full light. The songs are dense, revealing themselves slowly and carefully amidst moments of reflective sincerity and emotional cacophony with equal precision. Shearwater's sound is difficult to pin down, but the songs are always centered around Meiburg's unfaltering voice, a dark but lilting instrument that narrows the gap between fragility......

For 15 years, Yokohama's Luminous Orange have been crafting a sound of equal parts gentle Kim Deal-style female vocals, noisy guitar feedback, and rhythms that owe debts to both shoegaze and Sonic Youth. The resolutely indie-rock Japanese outfit makes a return visit to SXSW next month after a successful trip in 2006. Austinist spoke with Luminous Orange founder and vocalist/guitarist Rie Takeuchi about the band's SXSW experiences, along with their general distaste for Texas'......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Hello, sports fans! I was going to make a lame Super Bowl joke, but my knowledge of the sport is nil to be truly witty about it. One of the more shameful remarks I was heard to utter this week was, “Um…what teams are playing?” Nice. I think I’ll stick to radio. One......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -The Editors All right, kids. This evening is going to be a tad different for yours truly. Instead of the usual Laurie Show time, from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m., I’m sitting in for Jeff McCord on his Friday night shindig, Left Of the Dial. Thanks to Jeff for letting me take the helm.......

Happy Holidays! Chances are, you're reading this the day after Christmas, back at your day job after all-too-short a holiday, and the last thing you want from us is stuff about the holidays. But that's just too bad. Because, see, here in the Ist-A-Verse, we do things ahead of time. It might be December 26 for you, but that's what you get for not checking your Favorite Local Blog on Christmas Eve. Austinist is......

The first-ever Fun Fun Fun Fest is this Friday, December 1st, at Waterloo Park. Over two dozen great acts are on the bill, including Spoon, Peaches, The Black Angels, Prefuse 73, and DJ Mel. Tickets are $20, and can be purchased online. Gamblers perform on the punk stage at 6:55. --The Editors How's Volcom treating you? Any Riverboat Gamblers skate decks in your future? Volcom has been great! They give us lots of socks,......

An annual showcase and celebration of all things DIY, the Stitch Fashion Show and Guerrilla Craft Bazaar returns for its fourth installment this Saturday with an even bigger and better lineup. Back in 2003, local designers Jesse Kelly-Landes (Amet and Sasha), Tina Sparkles (Sparkle Craft), Karly Hand (Identity Crisis Clothing) and Jennifer Perkins (Naughty Secretary Club), dismayed that Austin lacked an effective outlet for independent designers to exhibit their work, orchestrated one of the city's......

C-Side Records' psychedelic folk-rock heroes, The Channel, are playing tonight at The Mohawk, and they'll be joined by The Eames Era, Black Before Red and Go Nova. You might remember what we had to say about The Channel's double CD, Tales From the Two Hill Heart / Sibylline Machine earlier this year: Their double-CD, Tales From the Two Hill Heart / Sibylline Machine is one of those rare double CDs that contains music which......

It's National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and our friends at Tito's Vodka are doing their part by participating in the upcoming Susan G. Komen Foundation Breast Cancer 3-Day. They'll be making the 60-mile trek from Dallas to Fort Worth on foot, all in the hopes of raising a little money for research efforts. You can help 'em out by donating goods for their Rock N Roll Garage Sale, happening tomorrow evening at Momo's. They're......

Ahh, vinyl...truly the ideal listening medium. It'll never scratch, skip or melt, it's totally portable, the hardware's hella cheap and, best of all, you can load them right onto your computer! What's not to love? Lies. Nonetheless, vinyl masochists all over Austin will have a chance to buy, trade, haggle, and otherwise obsess over their Shatner LPs, as well as CDs, cassettes, 8-tracks, posters, Eric Clapton action figures, etc., at the Austin Record Convention, a.k.a.......

FRIDAY [1] music • Tacks, The Boy Disaster w. The Channel, Golden Bear at The Parish Room ® books • Jacqueline Winspear presents Messenger of Truth at BookPeople (7pm) film • Chuck Norris Martial Arts Movie Mania with Chuck Norris in Person: Sidekicks at Alamo Downtown (6pm, $10) film • Lawrence of Arabia at Paramount Theatre (7:30pm) film • Chuck Norris Martial Arts Movie Mania with Chuck Norris in Person: Code of Silence at......

Austin's C-Side Records has been busy the last few months, releasing albums by two bands to watch back to back. Golden Bear's self-titled debut is a near perfect collection of songs with influences as diverse as Spacehog, early Built to Spill and My Morning Jacket. Austin music scene bright lights such as Pink Nasty, Voxtrot’s Jared Van Fleet, The Black Angels’ Kyle Hunt, and Jason Morales of Tia Carrera help out on the album,......

New releases by Comets on Fire, Matthew Friedberger, Midlake, and more...