With the geographic world continuing to shrink in the 21st century and the increased ease of travel and communication opening new doors every day, today’s musical landscape is constantly evolving. Instruments from other cultures have always been utilized in western music, but of late, world styles are making major dents in the indie scene. Be it Vampire Weekend’s African accentuation, M.I.A.’s Bollywood beats, or Beirut evoking adventures in far off lands, we have been privy to some choice innovations in this decade. New York based Gogol Bordello’s brand of “Gypsy Punk” (falling in the geographic vicinity of Beirut’s concoctions) has been garnering momentum with the release of 2005’s Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike and last year’s Super Taranta!...

The Invincible Czars have long had a knack for blending rock with various genres to create entertaining concoctions and unexpected inventions. From ska to metal, from jazz to country, a Czars live show twists and turns through a variety of rhythms and tempos, all while demonstrating their astute musicianship....

Brownout! kick off their tour this week but not before supplying the Beauty Bar with diverse concoctions comprised of Latin funk, Afro-beats, soul and R&B. Following their Tuesday night gig in Austin, the eight-piece plays one more show in the Lone Star State, at Zeppelin’s Pub in El Paso before leaving for California....

There is absolutely no reason to stay in on Friday evening. Whether it's DJ Shadow at La Zona Rosa or Future Clouds and Radar at The Parish, downtown offers you a wide variety of music to kick off your weekend....

Emo’s Free Week has come and gone, but the venue and the city march on with a buffet of mouth-watering shows available for consumption tonight. Eclectic beats from Dan Deacon pace Emo’s inside stage (as a part of the Ultimate Reality Tour) while Steamroller, She Craves, Killer Crocs of Uganda, and The Banner Year rock Emo’s Lounge....

The first big non-SXSW show announcement of 2008 is here, and guess what: it's a massive dance party. Straight out of Paris, the electronic duo known as Justice will kick off their US tour at Stubb's on Monday, March 3rd. This is actually a small venue for the band - just a week after the Austin date, they'll headline Madison Square Garden. If you've not already heard Justice, start with Daft Punk or MSTRKRFT as sonic reference points, then add some scruffy beards and leather jackets. Justice also revel in the rock 'n' roll imagery, so their live show features a huge backlit cross (pictured at right) and stacks upon stacks of Marshall guitar amps to blow everyone right out of the venue. The band are touring in support of 2007 album †, which spawned the hit single "D.A.N.C.E." and was quite the critical darling as well. Their set at Coachella '07 was widely praised as a festival highlight, so this March gig should be something special....

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!. ...

The holiday season can slow things down in town but it cannot keep you from yearning for some good, live music and busting out your new, Santa provided wardrobe. If you have not had your mistletoe and Kringle fix, Emo’s steps in with a Christmas special (literally) on Friday. Christmas Special (featuring members of Voxtrot) provide Holiday cheer and Christmas carols with support from The Black and Red Leaves....

The Beauty Bar hosts the fascinating Gil Mantera’s Party Dream this Saturday. Hailing from Ohio originally, the duo consists of Gil Mantera and Ultimate Donny, two brothers who combine thumping dance beats and traditional rock music to create an electric smorgasbord of synth-pop that will keep you on the dance floor all night long. The hodgepodge of beats and sounds is as exhilarating as it is intriguing; always entertaining, sometimes cheesy. The duo’s live show seems to be quite a spectacle and a DVD (Live Video Archive [Vol. 01]) showcasing all the glory is also available. Gil Mantera’s Party Dream self-released two records before 2005’s bloodsongs on Audio Eagle Records. ...

Photo by Daniel Perlaky The Black and White Years Wednesday, November 28Emos (603 Red River St)$5, 10 pm[info] Locals The Black and White Years have had their genre-blurring, squiggly synth rock compared to The Talking Heads so many times it should come as no surprise that Jerry Harrison of that band (not to mention a one-time member of The Modern Lovers) produced their self-titled debut album. As a producer, Harrison’s work can be seen all......

unattributed press photoSo there’s this band. They’re called Battles, and they’re getting pretty damn big pretty damn fast. The reason for this burgeoning bigness is at least three-fold: their critically-adored debut album Mirrored, the YouTube sensation known as the “Atlas” video (watch it after the jump), and, not least of all, their ferociously energetic live show. While there's no doubting that their music can be a bit challenging, and isn’t for the faint of heart,......

Mac Lethal has been called a “contemporary cross between a folk singer and a stand-up comic” by Rolling Stone – and that dichotomy of inane observation and thought-provoking insight defines his debut album, 11:11. We spoke with Mac Lethal from his tour bus while on the road for the Everybody Loves a Clown Tour with label-mates Grayskul and Atmosphere. That tour bus is currently parked outside of Emo’s, where the Everybody Loves a Clown......

The Black Lips impressed us immensely during their various SxSW performances this year. Their fusion of garage, punk, blues, and pyschedelia packaged in an extremely energetic live show was one of the more memorable moments of the festival. The Atlanta based act returns to Austin this Friday for multiple performances yet again. The Black Lips released their fifth album (and their first studio full-length for Vice Records), Good Bad Not Evil in 2007. The......

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......

Lick Lick and The Invincible Czars head up an evening of eccentric rock n’ roll tonight at Room 710. Self classified as “prunk”, the former concentrates on post-punk assembled with catchy guitar riffs and per their MySpace page, “Lick Lick are sure to make prunk a household term in 2007.” The band is set to join the likes of Tia Carrera, Gorch Fock, and Attack Formation on the local Australian Cattle God Records for......

Chicago based David Vandervelde plays Emo’s this evening in support of his debut full-length The Moonstation House Band, out now on Secretly Canadian. The album highlights Vandervelde’s versatility and multi-instrumental panache. His ability to tint pop songs with an orchestral emphasis, psychedelic strains, and worldly sounds results in an intriguing and enjoyable product. Vandervelde’s vocals bleed sincerity and the live show tonight should combine all his potential into one powerful performance. Blitzen Trapper from......

In a town as creative as ours, there is plenty of ongoing chatter about “the next big thing," and (usually) further discussions regarding the viability of the buzz related to those bands. We strive to bring our readers show listings and news updates for some of Austin’s finest, be it Spoon or Ghostland Observatory. Amidst all that, we also do our best to recommend some of the city’s lesser known but equally talented acts.......

Bad Brains Build a Nation (Mega Force) It's been a decade since the proper Bad Brains lineup released a proper studio album, and Build a Nation finds the group just as furious as ever. Produced by the Beastie Boys's Adam Yauch, Nation is reminiscent of I Against I-era BB, and the album's songs are split pretty evenly between hardcore and reggae, as you might expect. For those uninitiated, the release of another full-length by......

Emo’s 15th Anniversary ends this Sunday with structured post-rock from Battles set to invigorate the inside stage. The New York quartet comprised of John Stanier, Ian Williams, David Konopka, and Tyondai Braxton recently released their first full-length, Mirrored, garnering some solid reviews. Each band member brings a prolific resume to Battles, and their experience and versatility binds the oft-explosive sound together. Battles’ live show promises to be an extravaganza of a wide variety of......

This is completely subjective, but it's good to see that The Parish is once again hosting some halfway compelling indie-rockers. After some changes in management, resulting in some rather bizarre talent decisons, perhaps our old stomping grounds is returning to form? One can only hope. That's neither here nor there this evening as we are blessed by a visit from Portland trailblazers (har har) Menomena in all their precocious glory. Riding high on the......

You’ve got to possess a certain amount of bravado or at least a total lack of giving a shit about current trends to bust out the white denim and strut down the street, or Mohawk Friday night. And that’s exactly how the band must feel about their music, taking long strides with their heads held high. Because White Denim has created something that is uniquely alarming in all its post-whatever, garage-ish experimentation. My comrades......

The Narrator All That to the Wall (Flameshovel) The Chicago group’s interlocking skeletal structures of stark clean guitars and bouncy, thick elastic rhythms might remind one of Foolish era Superchunk or …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead at their most mild. However, it is the vocal arrangements on the album that are the most interesting. The hooks are like dissonant harmonic cries for help so catchy they urge you to sing......

White Denim are sort of an anomaly in Austin: they aren't iPod dance-rock, they don't have a gimmick, and they haven't been consumed by the scene's self-conscious rock elite. They seem to be making it based on the purest of rock 'n roll fantasies: a live show that makes people turn around and smile at each other, and songs which catalyze that in more ways than one. But describing their sound can be difficult.......

So it’s Wednesday and you have no plans for your hump day. Modest Mouse isn’t worth the drive to you while Kings of Leon is sold out. How about a combo of quality local events on Red River instead? Join the lovely lasses of Team Fabrication after work at the Mohawk for an installment of Guest Bartender Night, sponsored by The Onion. The ladies mix the beats proficiently and there’s no reason to believe they......

Damien Rice will perform tonight at Bass Concert Hall in support of his most recent work, 9, an album wrought with angst, anger and (not surprisingly) sexual frustration. Last year, we reviewed the album and were pleased with Rice for not letting the follow up to a brilliant work (his previous full-length, O) suffer the slump: Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice has carried quite a weight the past four years. Ever since his debut release,......

Japanese experimental noise-mongers (and frequent Austin tour-devils) Mono have built their reputation on whiplash-inducing extremes; whispered vocals and delicate major-key guitar shapes exploding into walls of noise and feedback flutters. From what we understand, a Mono live show is a transcendent experience, which has our ears ever-so-pricked. With Temporary Residence labelmates Grails and World's End Girlfriend. You should check it out, on us! Congrats, Y'all! Mono, Grails, World's End Girlfriend Thursday, May 3 Emo's indoor......

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......

Sam Duckworth (aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) just celebrated his 21st birthday by headlining a sold-out 2,000 seat theatre in London. If that's not precocious enough for you, he also has three UK Top 40 singles and made almost all of the major British magazines' Top 100 albums of '06 lists. The emotive and earnest vocals Duckworth employs are a touch emo, often political, and quite radio-friendly, which has earned him comparisons to......

Austin's post-drone heroes My Education have stayed very busy the last year, issuing Moody Dipper, a CD with original and remixed work courtesy friends like Teith (Trevor from Pelican) and Red Sparowes, recording their upcoming 12" release of Arvo Part's "Spiegel im Spiegel" with Dalek, and they've been diligently working on a new full-length in their home studio. This Sunday, the band will undertake a live soundtracking of F.W. Murnau's 1927 classic silent film,......

In the last year, Greg Gillis' Girl Talk has become a sort of household name for the music community at large as his third full length album, Night Ripper, stopped party-goers in their tracks and took the art of mixing to an entirely new level. Bio-medical researcher by day and party catalyst by night, Gillis is an entrepreneur of sound as mind fuck: spinning Top 40 radio against explicit rap and hip-hop against 70s......