Paul Simon's Graceland turned twenty-five this year. And whether or not you think the album is a landmark or a cloying bit of cultural appropriation (hint: it's the first), we still haven't finished feeling the effects of Graceland's mutation of American singer-songwriting and African pop. Simon himself has done a great deal before and since Graceland, but you can certainly expect a few cuts from that album when he arrives at the Cedar Park Center on November 5th. more ›

“Don’t believe the hype,” Public Enemy warned us way back in 1988, and as on their eerily prescient “Cold Lampin’ With Flavor” which made the surprising case for Flava Flave’s longevity, they were right, of course. And hype, by definition, should always be suspect. From the moment Vampire Weekend, the quirky New York quartet began making the blog rounds and collecting the sort of adjectives that pointed their way toward them becoming The Next Big Thing, we, as a music community, needed to take a breath, sit down, and just relax. Losing our shit about inventive New York rock debuts are just going to result in another band like The Strokes, and we all know where that got us. more ›

Childlike optimism and one recording artist's poetic ponderings have inspired two local artists to create vivid new works on display at the East Austin gallery, Art Palace. Artistic friends Eric Gibbons and Nathan Green have teamed up to create the new exhibit,“Lasers in the Jungle," which opens Saturday. Gibbons' whimsical portraits pay homage to one of his music idols. "It comes from a lot of Paul Simon listening," he admits. "I have an affinity for... more ›

Single Frame has been creating eclectic electro-pop for a good number of years now. The band formed in 2000 in Austin and early recordings included a first full-length, Wetheads Come Running, and the Burn Radio Airtest EP released under their original moniker Single Frame Ashtray. Now veterans of two additional records, Single Frame distinguishes itself with eccentric pop that utilizes a variety of jingles, be it the simply synth outputs or unusual sounds obtained from... more ›

Bishop Allen The Broken String (Dead Oceans) So, the Brooklyn-based (man, it gets tiring typing that out every week) blog band Bishop Allen are a sort of east coast Voxtrot in that they've wet the pop-frenzied masses with a series of well-received EPs over the last couple of years. Instead of releasing an album full of highly anticipated new material, however, they've polished a bunch of old tracks (and previously only available live songs)... more ›

FRIDAY [12] Some of you have asked that we publish the Weekend IST List on Thursdays, in order to better help you plan your goings-on. We're happy to oblige. Starting today, we'll be including Friday-Sunday listings both on Thursday and Fridays. --Ed. Note music • Yacht Rock Party with DJ Starsign -- Chicago, Steely Dan, America, Air Supply, Toto, Boz Scaggs, Loggins and Messina, Carole King, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Doobie Brothers, Seals and... more ›

It's the Saturday Hatha instructor at YogaYoga South, or Orange Hat Bike Messenger guy. It's one of the Lone Star Rollergirls, or your favorite coffee house employee. It's your local secret crush. After spending many fruitless mornings skulking around Whole Foods, trying to meet the elusive "cute red-haired guy who works the (Whole Foods) counter up North," we move on to an entirely different Crush-Out request in the interest of keeping them coming. He's a... more ›

Those kids from Rilo Kiley seem to have more side projects than you could shake a side project shaking stick at. Among these non-Rilo Kiley ventures is Blake Sennett's (Rilo Kiley's guitarist/co-songwriter) band, the Elected. Somewhere between indie pop and alt country, the Elected feature genuine steel guitar and sweet harmonies just almost reminescent of 1960s film scores. They'll be serving up music to swoon to at Emo's Lounge tonight. more ›

MONDAY [24] [film] The Pop Films of Peter Whitehead Series at Alamo Downtown (7pm) LINK [film] The Pink Panther at Paramount Theatre (7pm) LINK [film] Nightwatch at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) LINK [film] Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at Austin Java (8pm, Free) LINK [film] KOOP Monthly Benefit Screening: Granito de Arena at Monkeywrench Books (8pm, $5) LINK [film] The Big Lebowski at Café Mundi (8:30pm, Free) LINK [film] The Party at Paramount Theatre... more ›

Three weeks after serving the president the most satisfyingly brazen smack-down ever to grace C-SPAN (not that that's saying a lot), Stephen Colbert has some big-time bragging rights: an audio version of his skewering of George W. hit number one on iTunes. more ›