LA's Midnight Movies contented themselves with deadpan post-punk minimalism on their early singles, but Nights pulls the curtains wide open to present widescreen Technicolor rock action. The record opens and closes with a histrionic cover of the Moody Blues' renaissance-fair chestnut "Nights In White Satin" (the second version is sung in French). Complete with time changes, backup singers on the chorus, and woodwind interlude, the tune does the original justice while proving the band can afford to drop serious cash for studio time....

Another SXSW has come and gone in a mind-addled, Sparks-fueled hurry, and just like every other virtual self-professed music lover, Austinist is taking a moment to reflect. You'll no doubt get your fill of commentary on the business of SXSW, the delicate balance between branding and community, our city's perceptions about the music industry and its impact on them as music lovers elsewhere. There are no doubt oodles of performance reviews as well (follow this post's jump for a handful of those), but the most impressive (and arguably vexing) facet of this year's SXSW for me was the always astounding dedication of the musicians who make it down here each year. ...

Baltimore duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, who record as Beach House, have perfected a genre unto themselves which you might call “love songs for ghosts.” Songs drift by in a haze nudged along by dusty drum machine beats, Scally’s sleepy guitar figures, and Legrand’s glassy organ playing and hypnotic vocals, which could be described and melodramatic if they sounded like they were produced by a living person. ...

Once upon a time there was a Virginian noise-pop band called Skywave, who released a tidy avalanche of washed-out fuzz-rock singles and one full-length before calling it a day in 2004. Bassist Oliver Ackerman moved to New York to form A Place To Bury Strangers and build custom guitar pedals under the banner Death By Audio, while co-Skywavers Paul Baker and John Fedowitz formed the similar-minded Ceremony and stayed behind to hold it down in Fredericksburg, VA. Skywave (and to some extent its offspring) engaged in post-psychedelic guitar mangling of the My Bloody Slowdive Chain 500 variety, featuring massively distorted guitar chords recorded inside the world’s largest underground parking garage, slamming drum machine beats, and vocal performances so completely humorless they might have been (but probably weren’t) a put-on. Seeing as how bands featuring former Skywave members are currently the talk of the town, we've put all three bands' records head-to-head to see what’s what:...

Stoner metal bands ply their thankless trade in a vacuum. Holed up in bedrooms throughout their teenage years, learning every riff from Ride The Lightning, the bands typically have technical chops but lack that inherent charisma that comes from, y'know, regular human contact. Consequently very few of these bands make it big. Occasionally a Josh Homme or Matt Pike will jump the fence from their old band into a more profitable project--Queens of the Stone Age and High on Fire, respectively--but more often than not these bands toil away strictly for the love of the game....

Full disclosure: we wanted to like Juno, long before it was released. We knew we would like it from the very first stirrings of online teaser previews. The cast alone was enough to make us giddy....

ACL Previews Interview: Patterson Hood Del McCoury Band, Preservation Hall Jazz Band Jon Dee Graham, Kevin Devine, and Ike Reilly Assassination Beau Soleil & Will Hoges Rail Road Earth It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow So You Wanna See An ACL Taping Trent Summar, Steve Earle, & DeVotchKa Interview: Crowded House It's Official: Bob Dylan & His Band Set to Play Stubb's Aftershow Weekly Features The Accidental Gentrifist:......

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis......

ACL Previews Austinist Launches Dedicated ACL Page! Preview: Manchester Orchestra and Patterson Hood Preview: Ian Ball and the Little Ones Interview: Paolo Nutini ACL Band Clash, Round 2: The Killers Vs. Björk Weekly Features Tales Of Mere Existence Hots On #9: Sound Off New Release Tuesday: Frisell's Floratone The Argyle Academy New Movie Releases: The Invasion, Superbad, Death at a Funeral, and More Truesday: Friesday The Laurie Show News, Features, and More Travis County......

Do we need to explain this contest? Hot Chip are coming. We implore you to go and see them. And we have a pair of tickets for one lucky reader. Austinist Interviews Joe Goddard of Hot Chip Hot Chip's The Warning Takes #3 on Austinist's Top 15 Albums of 2006 Austinist Glowingly Reviews Hot Chip's The Warning Hot Chip Nominated For Mercury Music Prize Hot Chip Blow The Roof Off New York's Webster Hall......

Austinist presents our "Peg Your Clique Quiz" ... and we're still embarrassed by our score Additional SXSW bands were announced (Platinum Pass for auction!), and we finally saw the first week of great music releases for 2006 Reviews: Waterloo and Veronica (books); Danceworks Laboratory's latest works-in-progress showing (dance) Here's to getting past the most depressing day of the year. Thankfully, Carnivale's just a few days away! Is our fair city getting its own Central......

Only very recently did we go to Austinist landmark and creative foods diner Texicalli Grille on Oltorf (by Curra's). It's an unassuming little place, so much so that we don't think we ever really noticed it before, even though we've eaten at Curra's many times. We went on the recommendation of coworkers and were urged to order a Dr. Pepper which is made with real cane sugar and not high fructose corn syrup. We......

**Well, well...thanks for the head's up Jooley. Apparently KUT is carrying Iggy Pop and Tim Curry. But we are listening to "today's" Fresh Air on their website. Quite confusing indeed. This is a first. (The discrepancy of the programming, not us being wrong)** In case you have been buried underneath a sound-proofed rock and had not heard, today is the final day of the KUT fall pledge drive, so call in or go online......

See any good shows this weekend? Don't forget to send us your Reader Weekend Reviews! Send 'em here. M O N D A Y music · Green Potato Ventures presents Chicago's The City on Film, Stories from the Frontier and Sad Accordians at Emo's. Inside, 10pm [myspace stream: Stories From the Frontier] [mp3: The City On Film - For Holly] music · "Puyo Punk Music for All": Gadjo Bango at The Parlor [mp3: Gadjo Bango......

We're duly impressed by the responses we received for this week's Reader Reviews - keep 'em coming! From Cole Wimpee: Local Bluesman virtuoso, Scott H. (for 'Hiram') Biram, is briefly back in Austin after a supposed stint in Costa Rica and before the launching of a tour across the nation in September and seizing on the opportunity to see him in the interim, I checked out the midnight-monday-morning show at Beerland yesterday... Biram is......

Starting this week, we're running a new feature that we're tentatively naming "Reader Reviews". Because we can't possibly all attend every single weekend concert/gig/show in town, we thought we'd open things up for everyone to comment on the bands they saw. Like so: Elizabeth McShahazmabat writes: "We showed up fashionably late to the Nic Armstrong / Thieves and World Leader Pretend show at Stubb's on Friday, but they started right when the doors opened! Was......

Tonight's Killers + Louis XIV show at Stubb's is completely sold out - you could opt to unload $160 for a pair of tickets, but they're simply not worth it. Instead, we have two great alternatives for you... and they're free! The White Ghost Shivers are, well, kinda nuts. And that's why we like them! That, and the fact that they play a lively blend of hillbilly bluegrass folk and always seem to put on......