Results tagged “music”

Photos courtesy Pooneh Ghana.

We’ve been enjoying the live videos from Fun Fun Fun Fest nightly but as enticing as it sounds, repeated viewings of this priceless performance by The Jesus Lizard or this epic Les Savy Fav clip at home shouldn’t be a part of anyone’s Friday evening agenda. Especially since Red 7 is hosting a handful of top-notch local rock acts that will surely expunge any lingering post-Fun Fest lethargy. But be warned, the sounds resonating from the venue this night are not for the weak of heart. Eagle Claw bring the thunder early on with an ample supply of sizzling guitar licks, Woodgrain’s chiming experiments continue the sonic onslaught, and the always impressive Tia Carrera bludgeon through lengthy doses of psych-metal in the penultimate slot. Black Cock’s thumping electro-rock brings down the curtain on this exceptional noise-laden bill, adding some vocals to all the racket along the way. Chock-full of resonating keys and immaculately layered vocals, the band’s debut full-length Robot Child With A God spawns ominous soundscapes that might not usher in the end of days just yet but are disconcerting enough to imply impending doom and darkness. We chatted with Black Cock’s ringleader Chico Jones earlier this week to learn more about the band’s recording process, and their hopes and dreams.

What’s the Deal: Quirky, capricious and dreamy are all adjectives you could use to describe the music of New York’s Freelance Whales. The five piece experimental folk pop outfit has experience playing in locations ranging from decent sized venues as on their current US tour with Fanfarlo to busking on sidewalks and train stations in New York City. They’ve been very busy since their start in late 2008, and this past August saw the release of their debut album, Weathervanes. It’s comprised of vast, melodic arrangements using everything from harmonium and banjo to glockenspiel and waterphone built up around bright, glittering to eerie choruses.

Here's something special. Our much-cherished local singer-songwriter, Mr. Daniel Johnston, will be playing an intimate show at the St. David's Episcopal Church this evening at 6:00pm.

ElfGirl and JenRea (a.k.a. Team Fabrication) present Fabrication 7, an annual rendezvous of fashion, music, and everything in between, this Saturday at The Mohawk. Besides admiring plenty of exciting new designs, you can also participate in the beloved Karaoke Underground, and enjoy live music by the likes of 'Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, Ovenbirds, The Laughing, and The Happen-Ins.

Friendly Fires are one of the most fun dance-rock bands we've heard in recent years, despite there being a myriad of purveyors of that genre. The band throw copious percussion, pretty synths, and choruses full of harmony into a sound equal parts Cut Copy and Franz Ferdinand, which implies that they're on the more interesting side of the indie dance-pop fence. In recent months, the group have been nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, toured with Interpol, and (perhaps most importantly) have had their single "Jump In The Pool" chosen as the theme for BBC's football highlight show! After a trip to SXSW 2009 was canceled due to the chance to play some big European dates, Friendly Fires finally arrive on Red River tonight, and we suspect there will be a lot of dancing.

Kansas City’s The Get Up Kids formed in 1995 and fast became an integral part of the emo movement that captured many a heart in the latter half of the decade. Chock-full of enduring melodies and introspective lyricism, the band’s seminal recordings (full-lengths Four Minute Mile and Something To Write Home About, and the Woodson and Red Letter Day EPs) positioned them at the forefront of a genre that has inspired much of today’s rampant pop-punk scene. Sure, “emo” was originally utilized to refer to hardcore bands in both the ‘80s and the early ‘90s but after the music world got a taste of Weezer’s Pinkerton as well as artists such as The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, The Promise Ring, and Texas’ own Mineral, the use of the term shifted to signify a slightly softer side of punk -- a mainstream-ready, pop-friendly sound marked by poignant tales of personal plight. You could probably blame thank attribute much of the Warped Tour’s 21st century roster to the lingering effects of The Get Up Kids’ heyday and the influence of those aforementioned albums.

Check it out: Temper Trap, Japandroids and a few others are already confirmed for SXSW 2010. We can't believe it's already begun (guess it's time to start planning our day party!) but look forward to more rounds of reveals.

Austin Bat Cave, a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids, recently hosted a Writing About Music workshop led by Austinist music writers. Students wrote reviews of several songs and performed interviews, with some students posing as musicians. We're so proud of the budding rock journalists that we decided to share some of the work from these little geniuses. Enjoy!

It takes some serious effort (and pocket change) to sift through all the handmade CD-Rs, cassettes and seven-inches that fill up the annals of scum-rock and "New Weird American" music. Certainly a fair amount of these groups veer towards noise and semi-ambient clatter and drift, but the line from No Neck Blues Band and Talibam! to an outfit like Blues Control ends up quite squiggly.

Photos courtesy of Chad Wadsworth.

Photos courtesy Steve Hopson. Monsters of Folk consists of Jim James from My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis from Bright Eyes and M. Ward.

Akron/Family will be back in town Wed, Feb 24 at the Parish with Warpaint.

Pornographically peppy Canadian indie fronstman Joel Gibb has describes his Hidden Cameras sound as "gay church folk music." (This is a congregation we would definitely join.) He has also called for a ban on marriage, and suggested "let's do it like we're underage.” While he cheerfully scampers through lyrics we don’t need his degree in semiotics to interpret (and blush at), audiences at Hidden Cameras shows have in the past been treated to not-so-hidden go-go dancers, cheerleaders, video, glockenspiels, very irreverent choirs, and other things perhaps best described as etc. Just think of an agitprop Polyphonic Spree cabaret show peppered with Foucault references. You may also be asked onstage to play tambourine.

If only most romantic films were as honest as an Ola Podrida track. More contained, if not as muscular, as 2007’s self-titled album, Belly of the Lion plays nimbly with the tension between his expansive sound and his inward lyrics. Its opening track, “The Closest We Will Ever Be,” initiates a theme inverting the typical freedom-of-the-open-road ballad. Against tableaus of sprawling Americana play out not visions of freedom, but tender appreciation for interpersonal tethers. Mournfully, but without resignation, Wingo sings, "There's always some shadows within the prettiest of scenes/ I'll cast one on you, and you'll cast one on me…That’s alright if this is the closest we will ever be.”

Yes, someone dumped a friend's ashes on the stage after Danzig performed.

It’s a fantastic thing to see the band at what might be their second peak - each onstage member of Mission of Burma seemed utterly devoted to the performance, and we can only assume the same for tape manipulator Bob Weston, apparently hidden away in the sound booth.

Sound is in love with Regina Spektor. There’s nothing it won’t let her do. She’s made her mouth into a synthesizer, morphed her lips into a kazoo-trumpet hybrid, made heartbeats and drumsticks their own instruments, rocked hard with an unamped electric guitar, and put a piano bridge in the middle of a punk song. At first, you might not recognize that adventurous spirit on Spektor’s most recent album, Far. Listen again.

This year's Fun Fest was a huge success. We were just as happy to spend Sunday in the mud as we were to indulge in Saturday's spring-like sunshine. Between 90 bands, four stages and thousands of music lovers, Fun Fest proved itself to be one of the most important Austin events of the year. Each year's festival has enjoyed sizable growth without losing the intimate feel its become known for; and the good-natured volunteers, bartenders, security folks and box office staff all make that possible -- even remarkable. Oh yeah - there were nearly 100 bands, comedians and DJs to watch this year, and they all seemed to feed off the audience's palpable devotion, offering 100% one each stage all weekend long, regardless of weather. We can't wait for next year, when we'll undoubtedly see Transmission Entertainment and everyone involved in the fest proving themselves worthy of one more ladder step. Thanks to all of you who worked with us in the media lounge and box office over the weekend - we look forward to seeing you again next year!

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Charged with the bittersweet task of christening the orange stage at Fun Fun Fun Fest, The Laughing - whom many still remember as a band with a fetish/fondness for plush toys and neon - did their best to disabuse audiences of that recollection, playing up beat-based compositions lacking in either face paint or saxophone. The band is sharper this metamorphosis around, with a heavy emphasis on drums.

Thanks to everyone who came out Friday night for Local Music Is Sexy. We had a wonderful time. All the bands were amazing, and we can't wait to see you again next time. Austin Kleon was on hand drawing the party from his viewpoint on the balcony, view the rest of his images here.

Despite its confoundingly inquisitive band name and general unclassifiability, the Bay Area/Cincinnati hip hop/indie act Why? has built quite the niche for themselves, satisfying those with a love for rhyme and meticulous, tightly-wound musicianship. Toss in a lyric sheet of ear-catching revelations regarding the human psyche's underbelly so disarmingly honest they'd make even your most offensive friends blush, and what you have is a cocktail for one of today's most intriguing and singular outfits. Still riding high off the breakthrough that was last year's Alopecia, Why? is now supporting its latest release, the well-received Eskimo Snow. Out of respect for this, and for the band's performance at Fun Fun Fun Fest this afternoon, we hooked up for a phone call with Why? frontman and wordsmith Yoni Wolf to talk about persona, mowing lawns, and the Bible's breeziest book.

Clint Conley works hard as a television producer in Boston, and plays hard at the bass in Mission of Burma. I spoke with him on Monday toward the end of his workday. Can you believe that he doesn't own his bass amp, and that his bandmate Roger Miller doesn't own any guitars?

I talked with Fun Fun Fun Fest organizer Graham Williams on Friday afternoon at his homey office on Neches Street. We discussed the effect of outdoor stages on comedians, festival dos and don'ts, and the mechanical bulls of Tijuana, although I edited that part out.

Alex Ebert was the singer of the LA-based outfit Ima Robot with a major label deal and all the stress that goes with it. So, after some very attitude-changing realizations about himself and his state of mind, he started a new band with new sound and a new outlook on life. Enter Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros with their spirited folk tunes touching down in Ennio Morricone and psychedelic territory from time to time and staying catchy enough to sing along to and dance with the band. We spoke with Ebert before their show in Austin at The Independent to hear about the secret ingredient to a happy band.

Lacking lyrics, Red Sparowes nonetheless have plenty to say. This instrumental rock band is erudite, expansive, and poised to release on their next album the culmination of their career evolution. On the eve of Fun Fun Fun Fest, our conversation with Dave Clifford (drums) and Greg Burns (bass/pedal steel) touched upon just about everything from Mao and the Sophists to the trouble with labels beginning with post-.

Street Dogs hail from Boston's Dorchester neigorborhood, and are damn proud of it. The band features original Dropkick Murphys vocalist Mike McColgan (who left the Murphys for several years work as a fireman before returning to music) and features a mixture of punk and folk stylings in their songs, many of which have a definite political bent. While the 2006 album Fading American Dream addressed the Bush administration's failings and working-class problems with hearts firmly on sleeve, the band's latest, 2008's State Of Grace, feels more positive in its tonality. With heroes like Billy Bragg and Joe Strummer, it would be difficult for anyone not to enjoy spending 45 minutes with Street Dogs this weekend - because they really mean what they're doing, and you'll know it.

So you missed last night's Bleet Up, the first event leading up to what will surely prove to be the best Fun Fun Fun Fest of all time. Well fear not, music-loving citizen: you have an excellent opportunity to redeem yourself tonight by attending, and definitely not, in any way, shape, or fashion missing, the greatest installment of Local Music is Sexy yet. Even better than the Bleet Up ('cause it's free!), Austinist will take over both stages of the Mohawk and the outside stage Club Deville tonight to present sets by some of our city’s finest practitioners of the rock and roll—not to mention disorderly marching music—to help you celebrate the imminence of the only fest that offers you fun in triplicate.

The music starts at 8pm following the early-ish After the Jump blogger panel (featuring Austinist's own music editor Paige Maguire), and runs until midnight. We’re keeping mum, but there may or may not be a few surprises in store for those who stick around the Mohawk’s inside stage after the clock strikes 12. Let’s run this down one more time: free, sexy, local, music. Those are the makings of a definite must-attend event in our book. Follow the jump for a complete list of bands and set times, and we'll see you tonight!

It might not be a total surprise that one of the underground debut records of the year is a volatile stew of insistent, young and charged vocals, driving guitar and churning, turn-on-a-dime rhythms. It's the stuff that garage, punk and hard-rock legends are made of. But it might be unprecedented that it's a recently-uncovered and nearly 35-year-old recording made by a band that disappeared from the radar screen almost as soon as it popped up.