After years of successfully crafting the kind of spare, smoky folk best set in the introspective blear of a middle-of-nowhere spirit journey, Matthew Houck has turned his mind and his musical output toward the exuberance of the full-blown country spectacular. That means pedal steel. And the Alabama-born musician's embrace of a bigger, more rollicking sound has been a hit so far: his newest album, Here’s to Taking It Easy, is a wonderland of seventies-style country embellished with indie production techniques and, as always, his pained, searching voice. Click MORE> for a chance at a pair of tix to the big show at ND—if Houck's shows of the past are any indication, it’ll be a good one. more ›

Phosphorescent, the woodsy and brutally honest project of Brooklyn-by-way-of-Athens-and-Alabama musician Matthew Houck, used the strength of last year's Pride to firmly establish itself as an act to be reckoned with. Combining haunting natural effects and skillful understatement, the album presents an intentionally rough-around-the-edges sound that has drawn complimentary comparisons to everyone from Dylan to Oldham. In advance of Phosphorescent's three SXSW shows, including the Austinist/Gothamist get together on Wednesday, Matthew Houck spoke to us while snowed-in in New York. more ›

While working as the label manager for Misra records, Phil Waldorf released albums by many notable local acts like Centro-matic and Shearwater, not to mention records by Athens mainstays Marshmallow Coast and The Mendoza Line. When Waldorf decided to leave the Misra label to start his own Dead Oceans imprint, he took a few bands with him, including Phosphorescent, another Athens project with a big, country-psychedelic bent. Matthew Houck is the main man behind... more ›

*Photo taken from Phosphorescent's MySpace page* more ›

Phosphorescent is the musical experiment of 26-year-old Matthew Houck (pronounced “How-k”) and a rotating cast of musicians from Athens, Georgia. His second full-length album, Aw Come Aw Wry, was just released by Austin’s own Misra Records. Phosphorescent is currently touring with a line-up that includes Houck's friends Nick Cervini (vocals, horns, slide whistle), Jesse Flavin (vocals, bass guitar), Brent Jones (vocals, horns, drums), and Austinite Lynn Boland (horns, keyboard). We caught up with the band before the third date of their current tour with The Cloud Room and the Pernice Brothers to find out about their (inevitable) Austin connection, their love for their hometown, recording the new album and life on the road. more ›

We will give you seven reasons to head over to Emo’s this Friday. 1. It is Loxsly’s CD release show. After becoming a full fledged band over the past year, Loxsly has matured (literally) into quite the local boy band. Cody Ground and his bubble-pop brigade are set to self-release Maps + Organs, which expands on their 2003 Forecast a Brainstorm release which was mostly just Cody messing around with his electro-pop sound. When... more ›