Austin's Balmorhea released River's Arms last week, and kicked off their tour here in town. Their tour to support the record will follow the east coast, and land them back here in time for some SXSW gigs. Sample some of the instrumental band's lulling, hypnotic tunes c/o Western Vinyl, and check back here for a full-length review very soon....

Between now and January, New Release Tuesday will focus on 2007 reflections and music news related to both this year's releases and 2008's potential. The standard NRT posts will resume in 2008. As 2007 winds down, most of the Internet begins to consider their favorite releases of the last twelve months. Austinist is no different: our top albums of 2007 (a collective list based on all the writers' top picks) is in the works.......

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......

Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg and Thor Harris played a gorgeous set of songs (mostly) from the soon-to-be re-rereleased Palo Santo on Sunday afternoon at the Rock N Romp Mohawk. The show also featured readings from Neal Pollack and a performance by Black Before Red.......

On Sunday afternoon, Austin Rock N Romp and Book People are sponsoring an all-ages event on the patio at Mohawk featuring Neal Pollack and Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg. The show will also feature Black Before Red, amps still warm from their Local Music is Sexy 3 performance the night before. Rock N Romp has been putting on all ages rock shows since last summer, and in the coming months will be moving their events to......

In his latest release, Alternadad, Neal Pollack chronicles his experiences as a father and family-man in the early 21st-century. Pollack proves in his fourth bound collection of pages that it is indeed an exciting time to be alive and parenting. Please be sure to read Austinist's exquisite review of Alternadad, an instant American classic. Having said that, we think it's important to let you know that Neal Pollack is coming to Austin. We won't tell......

For some of you, SXSW is an obsession. For others...not so much. While we're rather immersed in the whole SXSW experience at Austinist, we know that many of you just want to take in a free or cheap event or two during the festival to experience the thing. No problem. Here's a list of events featuring local merchants, community organizations, and radio stations that will allow you to casually dip a toe in the......

Say what you will about the Austin music scene, if there's one thing we've got in spades, it's heart. And breakfast tacos. But that's another story altogether. Our bands can take any other city's bands on when it comes to sheer per capita productivity and playing out, never leaving their respective constituencies on the sidelines. And albums? Lordy, just walk into Waterloo Records and check out the local music section: 2006 was a banner......

FRIDAY [17] music • Frida Hyvonen, Tacks the Boy Disaster, Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) at Emo's Lounge music • She Wants Revenge & Pretty Girls Make Graves at Stubb's music • Deftones, Deadsy at Austin Music Hall music • Steve Carter at Waterloo Records music • Grupo Fantasma at Antone's music • Golden Bear, The Lemurs, Glass Family at Continental Club (9:30pm) music • Joe Ely at Cactus Café music • Chin Up Chin Up,......

The following is a weekly column by guest contributor Laurie Gallardo. Hear her Friday evenings on KUT 90.5FM, from 11pm-3am. -- The Editors Hello again, kids! I’m not sure how you’ve been feeling as of late, but it seems time is flying by faster than I can read the clock. Must be all the shows that keep popping up, one right after the other. That spells goldmine for me.  First things first, ladies and......

There may not exactly be a dearth of talented female pianists these days, but Sweden’s Frida Hyvönen, in her understated, unassuming matter, might just trump them all at the moment. Her debut album, Until Death Comes, was released in America last month, and she's quickly garnering some attention. Less frantic and, indeed, less intricate than Tori Amos, Hyvönen creates songs that an unsuspecting listener could almost dismiss as mere background music. Her compositions are......

WEDNESDAY [23] film • AFS 20th Anniversary screening of "The Mirror" at Drafthouse Downtown ® books/party • Happy Hour with the Writers' League of Texas at Tambaleo (6pm) ® books • Ben Barnes, former Lt. Governor of Texas, presents Barn Burning, Barn Burning at BookPeople (7pm) ® music • Tuna Helpers, Baby Dee, Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater) at Emo's ® music • Beerfest Week! Gorch Fock, The F and the C, Fire vs Extinguisher at......

Shearwater's back in town tonight for the penultimate stop of their summer tour, and seeing as how we were floored by their new album, Palo Santo, we're looking forward to the Emo's show: Palo Santo shows Shearwater progressing from straight-forward folk tunes to something richer and harder to pin down. Folk elements remain prominent, but the band demonstrates skill at pilfering the best elements of other genres as well. Bits of gospel, rock, and......

We know how you love to support local artists. It's our primary raison d’être and the reason you keep coming back to Austinist. With that in mind, we wanted to let you now about a small film opening this weekend at the Dobie. Fall to Grace is an independent film that was shot entirely in Austin and features music from local musicians (Travis Weller & Jonathan Meiburg). University of Texas graduate Mari Marchbanks attempts......

One of our favorite bands from Brooklyn (we hear there might be a few over there) is rolling into town for an early show at Emo's. They're called The Honorary Title, and together with Limbeck, Koufax, and Cory Branan (for Austin) they've embarked on a national tour so aggressive that someone saw fit to create a Myspace account just for it. A while back they released Anything Else But the Truth, a fiesty album of......

M O N D A Y [20] [art] Sex Workers' Art Show comes to UT-Austin at Texas Union Showroom (RM. 2.208) at UT-Austin (Free, 7pm) (link) [music] Tammany Hall Machine, Impossible Shapes, and Red Hunter at Stubb's (link) [film] "The Outdoorsmen: Blood, Sweat and Beers" at Alamo South (Monday-Thursday, 10:05pm) (link) [film] "Penitentiary" at Alamo Downtown (7pm) (link) [film] "930 F" (a documentary about DC's 9:30 Club) at Alamo Downtown ($1, 9:45pm) (link) [film] "The......

We've been given some free CDs and a few spots on the guestlist for tonight's I Eat Records label launch show at Emo's, which we're passing on to you guys ... because we love you! Yes, you. The gargantuan lineup starts at 8 and includes sets by (take a deep breath): The Glass Family Thor & Friends Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater The Casting Couch Orange Mothers Ethan Azarian Will Sheff (of Okkervil River) Hitchhike......

This week's IST list is a work in progress. Bear with us -- we're tired and hungover. M O N D A Y music · I Eat Records label launch show at Emo's with: The Glass Family, Thor & Friends, Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, The Casting Couch, Orange Mothers, Ethan Azarian, Will Sheff (of Okkervil River), Hitchhike, The Handsome Charlies, Fluffers Union, and Fine Fifteen. Benefiting SafePlace and Capital Area Food Bank, new compilation CDs......