Okkervil River are offering the second in their series of Golden Opportunities cover EPs on their website now, for free. The first mix came out in 2007. See our March interview with Okkervil principal Will Sheff here. more ›

Our writers and photographers present a sampling of what happened on day one at Fun Fun Fun Fest. more ›

So yes, you all broke out your nautical knowledge and decoded the first five bands announced in the line-up leak. More on the announcement follows. more ›

• Dallas trash-talks the city of Miami. This has something to do with grown men playing round ball.
• Will Sheff (of Okkervil River) and Singer-songwriter Steve Earle chew the fat—and talk about the reasons they live outside of Texas.
• Human breast milk: the saga of the buyers, the sellers and the milk banks.

We're a little behind in posting these, but thought you'd want to see - Okkervil River played the Scoot Inn the end of last month, and our photographer John Pesina caught the action. more ›

• Following the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, people gathered to celebrate outside of Former President Bush’s current home in the Dallas area.
• NPR is streaming the new Okkervil River album. It sounds darker and more grown-up than their previous work.
• Farmers and small food makers want to be able to more easily sell their products to consumers. (This change might even make it easier to get your hands on raw milk.)

It was just announced that Okkervil River will play a last minute show on Monday night at Scoot Inn in support of their upcoming release, I Am Very Far. Tickets are $12, and are on sale exclusively at Waterloo Records today, beginning at noon. Dana Falconberry will support, doors at 6 p.m. more ›

Beginning with his earliest days as a songwriter for both Shearwater and his own band Okkervil River, Will Sheff has been exploring worlds of strange beauty and emotional resonance that have sustained longtime fans and ensnared new listeners. Okkervil River's latest album is called I Am Very Far, and is scheduled for release in early May. Sheff spoke with us about the frustrations of finding new directions, the levity of chance and experimentation, car problems, and how even bad music seems to be less bad these days. more ›

This weekend marks yet another varied set from our friends at Church of the Friendly Ghost, so despite all sorts of setbacks in the political sphere, one can mark the second full weekend in December at Salvage Vanguard Theatre with some good old-fashioned Austin homemade avant-garde activity. more ›

• Our prayers have been answered: there’s now fried beer at the State Fair of Texas!
• We’re shocked! A BP exec is "astonished" at a mistake in the failsafe device for the oil well that caused that oil spill in the Gulf. Next, will they reveal that they were expecting unicorns to come in and clean up the mess?
• If you aren’t ready to pile in the car and go to this Houston sushi joint immediately after reading this review, you might be suffering from a defective sense of yummy.

While the name James Milne might not be familiar to you (yet), Milne's resume will resonate with most fans of melodic indie rock. A former member of both The Brunettes and The Ruby Suns, Milne has also worked in the touring version of Austin's Okkervil River on occasion. Which brings us to Lawrence Arabia - Milne's pseudonym, which has now become both a band and his primary musical project. The music shows signs of everything from solo John Lennon to Of Montreal, and has a sense of '70's AM gold to it as well. It's studied but easygoing, and you'll have a chance to see the results this week at SXSW. We recently emailed Milne to discuss New Zealand beer, Will Sheff, and more. more ›

Roky Erickson is hard at work on a new album called True Love Cast Out All Evil, out on April 20th on Anti-. Helping out are some familiar Austin faces, the guys in Okkervil River. As Okkervil backs Erickson, singer/songwriter Will Sheff produces the record. The album will feature "found-sound and archival recordings culled from Erickson's home videos and recordings made in the Rusk State Hospital for the Criminally Insane," according to a press release. more ›

We hear quite of a bit of Doves influencing their sound, pared down just enough to firmly place the Mercers within the camp of sarcastic pop bands currently flashing chord progressions as juicy as their lyrics’ wit is dry. Austin seems to be an incubator for this "Wit Pop" (can we trademark that?) sound, hatching such masters of the style as Spoon and Okkervil River. more ›

For nearly a decade, John Vanderslice has consistently accomplished the difficult task of seamlessly, and seemingly carelessly, blending the streamlined, edgy production he terms "sloppy hi-fi" with complicated lyrics expressed by cryptic characters. more ›

If Buckner’s voice were a wine, it would be heavy with oak, and his instrumentation is also undeniably gnarled with country fundamentals, cutting a swath following the simplest path the way a river does. And yet, his vocals resonate with a shimmering, almost phosphorescent quality that rises above the workaday flesh of the very songs they narrate. more ›

On March 1st, Will Sheff and a couple members of his band Okkervil River gave a songwriting workshop at the Austin Bat Cave, a non-profit writing and tutoring center for kids. For two hours, Sheff talked with a group of high school students about song craft, listened to their compositions, and offered his encouragement and suggestions. The event culminated with a stripped-down performance of “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” featuring guitarist Lauren Gurgiolo and drummer Travis Nelsen, all of which was recounted by Rolling Stone magazine. more ›

On Sunday March 1st, local non-profit writing and tutoring center Austin Bat Cave will host a songwriting workshop featuring the homegrown talents of Will Sheff and Okkervil River. more ›

While one of Austin's favorite indie rock outlets takes what seems to be a limitless hiatus, frontman Mike Booher adapts, forming a new group to live up to the tour plans already scheduled with Okkervil River. His Turkeyz, comprised of members of Zookeeper and Frank Smith, will kick off the tour in Seattle at the Showbox, a place Booher describes as " ... a massive and terrifying place for a first show, unless you're Pearl Jam. We're not really that much like Pearl Jam." more ›

As you might already know, Zilker Park's Dinoland opened last weekend. What you might not have known is that Ghostland Observatory is a "Hadrosaurus Sponsor," meaning they contributed at least $10,000 to the exhibit. more ›

A companion piece to last year's the Stage Names, Stand Ins finds the band stretching out into more energetic and urgent-sounding group. Bouncing bass lines, country-tinged swing and swaggering horns compliment Will Sheff's always dense lyricism. more ›

Preview Okkervil River's new album, The Stand Ins, at their MySpace, where you can listen to "Lost Coastlines." more ›

If you’re a fan of Okkervil River, the news keeps getting better. First there was an online release of an exclusive mix-tape titled Golden Opportunities last December. Then, the smaller matter of the recently announced SXSW gig with Roky Erikson at the Annual Austin Music Awards. Finally, we get to enjoy a live webcast of their show in Amsterdam tomorrow at the Paradiso -- hold your horses if you’re logging onto Orbitz already, it is sold out! more ›

New York songstress Nina Nastasia stops by the Mohawk tonight at the near-beginning of what will become a sprawling world-wide tour, meeting up with Denton's well-liked Tre Orsi and the local Silver Pines in the process. Nastasia has garnered herself quite the underground momentum, moving from humble roots as an untethered musician wandering her way through the dimly-lit club scene, to an artist with international demand and the respect of idolized names such as producer Steve Albini and Dirty Three drummer Jim White. Her debut album, Dogs, is impossible to find and is futilely sought in a way not unfamiliar to Belle & Sebastian's debut cut, Tigermilk. But she's not just a machine for hype---she plays some pretty fine music, too, using her acoustic guitar and a knack for captivating storytelling to cut through the muck of singer-songwriter-dom to create a niche all her own. And that niche has her and her band being called everything from "remarkable" to "enrapturing" to "inspired" by critics. more ›

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. more ›

Local production company Action Figure might not be a household name yet, but we bet you know their work. The group, based in (where else) East Austin, has produced shows like "Rollergirls" for A&E, and the Lone Star Grammy nominated show "Downtown" for KLRU/PBS. They're also not too shabby when it comes to dabbling in the music video market: their work for Okkervil River's "Our Life Is Not a Movie (Or Maybe)" made the e-rounds late last year, and this year, a company video they produced found its way into the hearts of local DJ duo Ocelot Mthrfckrs. more ›

It’s possible you’ve been tricked into thinking Free Week at Emo’s cares not for days as fickle as Sunday, but, just in case, let’s clear things up: YES, Free Week rolls all the way through, with not a break to be seen. And not only that, but Sunday offers up some of the most compelling bands of the whole shebang, including noted acts Ume, Until We’re Blue or Destroy and that nature battle you’ve been dying to see: Bee vs. Moth. more ›

There was no escaping the gravity of Austin in 2007. Three major festivals drew artists, labels, promoters and press from around the world. Critically and commercially, Spoon was an undeniably dominating force. Production power increased with the emergence of C3 Presents, a joint venture between heavyweights Charles Attal, Charlie Jones and Charlie Walker. Yet our unique universe still grows from within. Bands like Okkervil River and businesses like Transmission Entertainment continue to expand our horizons. My best of list is a celebration of what makes the Austin music scene independent and innovative. more ›

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!. more ›

Born to a rickety plastic world that has since dissolved in a smooth digital sea, the mix tape has outlived its own name. For there is something about the basic structure, the essential production process, which cannot be changed. You must begin at the end and move backwards. This becomes an analog loop, unreeling and flipping back upon itself, transformed into an infinite self-portrait. Yet it always leads to the inspiration, away from the composer and back to the audience. Okkervil River’s latest creation is officially labeled a mix tape. Golden Opportunities is a collection of nine live songs performed in 2006 and 2007. The resulting album is a collection of old postcards and snapshots refashioned as a unique found object. more ›