Results tagged “music”

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.

Marc Savlov interviews Danzig. "I do a record when I have something to say, and I want it to be better or bigger or stronger each time. Because otherwise, why do it? There's no money in music anymore, so I'm not doing it for the money."

Okay, now on to the fun! Co-sponsored by Austin Eavesdropper and Ultra 8201, the Bleet-Up this year is a conglomeration of partners including press outlets (ahem), PR Teams, restaurants and more.

What’s the Deal: Fun Fun Fun Fest has built a reputation of bringing in “What the… I never thought I’d ever have a chance to see that band” bands over the past few years with groups like Dead Milkmen, Bad Brains, Danzig and The Jesus Lizard. In most cities, The Jesus Lizard reunion shows probably wouldn’t be a main event to the masses. But, here in Austin, where an almost unnatural lust for the music we loved from a bygone era (even though the 90s aren’t that long gone) mixes with the fact that the group formed here about 20 years ago before relocating to Chicago, their performance is at the top of many Fun Fest goers’ must-see lists. Also, it doesn’t hurt that the group has a reputation for putting on exciting and ferocious live shows.

Brazos’ debut LPs has been in the works for a while now. It’s been two years since principal member Martin Crane released the first EPs to fly the Brazos banner, A City Just as Tall and Feeding Frenzy, which he wrote and recorded entirely on his own. The fact that those EPs were essentially bedroom recording projects, coupled with the two year absence of any new material during which Crane assembled a (mostly) steady lineup for the band, may account for why Phosphorescent Blues is such a compelling departure from the original Brazos recordings. The album is beautifully recorded, and filled, for lack of a better phrase, with a kind of joyful nostalgia—both for the past and the future, if that’s even possible.

Orange stagers take note: Fun Fun Fun Fest derives much of its credentials from what could only be named the Black Stage, an uncanny gathering of punk and metal legends you won’t see in any one place anywhere else. Even Especially if your neti pot is the most hardcore element of your daily routine, take our advice and spend a few hours at the Black Stage this weekend; the carnage you’ll witness features the blue blood of many a noble music lineage. One such act is D.R.I (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), one of the very first bands to fuse punk with thrash metal way back in the mid-80s. Their 1987 album Crossover, virtually gave birth to this eponymous movement. Among D.R.I.’s earliest tour experience is “Rock Against Reagan” with the Dead Kennedys.

An update to our earlier post about Fun Fest early pick-up at Club Deville: if you're buying tickets there, you'll be set at will call on Saturday, no physical tickets will be mailed

They were just here, but Royal Bangs, out of Knoxville, obviously can't get enough of Austin.

To reduce your time spent waiting in lines this weekend, the good folks at Fun Fun Fun Fest are giving you plenty of opportunities to pick up your tickets early.

Update! If you've been planning your Fun Fun Fun Fest according to the map on their site, we've got a couple notes for you. The main difference is those little green boxes, which designate exclusive areas accessible by those who have purchased PIP passes. The poster show has also moved from the north side of the park to the middle, near the orange stage.

An Austin band by way of Brooklyn, Neon Indian is the elusive new project of Alan Palamo (also behind the one-man electro project Vega). The name Neon Indian itself gives due justice to the type of music Palamo produces—mystical synth noise, kooky hooks, and sensual vocals. The project started as a bunch of lo-fi recordings before the No Way Down EP was made in 2008. Full of reverb and distortion, song titles like "Should Have Taken Acid With You," add to the mystique of the project.

The local boys in Harlem have been helping Austinites relearn how to dance to rock and roll with their catchy garage pop since their arrival on the scene not too long before their first record, Free Drugs, dropped last year. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when Matador Records made things official with the band in a marriage that means a multi-record, worldwide deal. We grabbed Harlem bassist, Jose Boyer, before their Fun Fun Fun Fest performance this weekend to get a quick word on their next album, playing house parties, girls and drugs.

Starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening, Maura Johnston (Idolator), Justin Gage (Aquarium Drunkard), Peter Gaston (SPIN), David Prince (Billboard, Daily Swarm), Joe Gross (Austin American-Statesman) and Paige Maguire (Austinist, WOXY) will be discussing the ever-thinning line between new media and the mainstream. There will be a question period and cocktails after the panel.

So you’ve put away the Halloween costumes for another year and adjusted your clocks. The beautiful weather outside makes those hours spent in your cubicle tick away oh so slowly. And the promise of turkey ‘n’ fixins is still a few weeks away. It all adds up to thing -- Fun Fun Fun Fest is here! Two days of amazing music, comedy, and entertainment at Waterloo Park beckon and we’re going to alleviate your case of the Mondays by offering up two weekend passes to the fourth edition of the festival. Enter your information in the form below for a chance to win.

Few bands do a better job tossing catchy melodies and choruses into such a mucky stew of noise and deliberately crappy recording techniques than Columbus, Ohio's Times New Viking. The trio, critically-lauded yet still dodging most of the mainstream love they probably deserve, is riding high on perhaps their crispest and most complete LP yet, Born Again Revisited, a batch of concoctions that sticks in the mind even though about 80% of its words are unintelligible. In preparation for their performance (which, if their other concerts are any indication, will be a nonstop onslaught of energy) at Fun Fun Fun Fest this Saturday, we shot some questions across the internet at Times New Viking, and guitarist Jared Phillips shot back some answers, including this little nugget: "fuck art." Enjoy.

Photos courtesy Eric Uhlir. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.

Texas has nurtured more than its fair share of talented musical acts over the course of our esteemed history. Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson, ZZ Top, Roy Orbison, and Stevie Ray Vaughan have garnered worldwide fame and acclaim, but digging a little deeper and looking beyond every instantly recognizable musician from the Lone Star State uncovers some of the most unique acts to emerge from this land. And thus, we arrive at the Butthole Surfers, a legendary Austin band armed with a moniker that’s had parents and censors running for cover for almost three decades, and a sound that has largely defied categorization through the years.

Ok, ok, it’s been said before, and it will all be said again, but something happens to a society on edge and at war, and that something is happening now, an subconscious shiver that plays out tangibly, and literally, not just on cable and the and radiowaves but in music venues across the U.S. Will 2009 ultimately be dubbed Year of the Freakout? There’s a case to be made there, as we all the meantime follow “Mad Men,” transfixed by characters grappling with identity issues, about to be caught in a riptide of racial politics and a national disgrace of a war. Hmm. Well, it’s a good year for Halloween, as citizens all over the political spectrum slog, wade, or tip-toe through suspenseful pauses. And the Black Angels, homecomers fresh off a tour with The Raveonettes, know this. That’s why they’re hosting a freakout, complete with an event poster featuring an ambivalent, Voltron-eyed Obama in a Jean Genet-esque pose. (We guess.)

With Gossip, you're going to get a seasoned group of creative minds who are truly talented. They've got ten years under their belt in which time they've pumped out four full-length albums, a bunch of EPs and a live album. They've toured with Cindy Lauper, Le Tigre and CSS and have been remixed by MSTRKRFT, among others. Self-proclaimed feminists, Gossip must have thought it'd be cute to call their latest album "Music for Men."

Photos courtesy Pooneh Ghana.

We've talked a few times about the Austin Batcave, a non-profit organization that aims to further the writing skills (both creative and non-fiction) of children and teenagers.

It’s not that Warpaint doesn’t want you to read the proverbial writing on the wall; this beguiling psychedelic outfit has smudged the message simply because they like it better that way, and you probably do, too. Offering you a hit of backlit, smoky lullabies sung in dreamy female harmonies, it’s no wonder this Los Angeles band has gained both Hollywood devotees (Heath Ledger was among them), and a reputation for stealing live shows from their headliners.

Photos courtesy Steve Hopson.

With Fun Fun Fun Fest fast approaching, be reminded that the festival also includes a number of comedians. Chelsea Peretti is among the standup acts on this year's bill. The New Yorker does a full circuit of stage shows and gets booked on college campuses, but she's also a regular on Tru TV's "The Smoking Gun Presents," one of the masterminds of BlackPeopleLoveUs.com, and a writer whose work has been featured in publications including Details, Playgirl, and the Village Voice.

Fun Fun Fun Fest is just a couple of weeks away and we sure are licking our chops in anticipation of what promises to be the biggest installment of the emerging annual festival. The organizers have been keeping busy, doling out tickets weekly via their Tuesday Trivia on Twitter contest, and last Saturday, over 40 teams participated in a Scavenger Hunt to win a whole host of prizes. Check out all the pictures -- you won’t regret it!

The Pablove Foundation is a California-based organization whose aim is to "improve the lives of children with cancer, at both a national level as well as a local level here in Los Angeles."