Free week soldiers on through Saturday night, with a showcase at Beauty Bar featuring a grand total of eight bands. Headlining the evening are local shoegaze rockers Ringo Deathstarr, fresh off a tour opening for the Smashing Pumpkins across Europe. With frequent comparisons to My Bloody Valentine, Ringo Deathstarr manage to create tunes that sound fresh, teetering between melodies and fuzzed out noise. In memoriam of Esme Barrera, the group is also helping raise funds for her funeral by giving a cover of "Sailin' On" to anyone who donates to the cause here. more ›

You have many options this New Year's eve, and we'd be thrilled if you wanted to come celebrate with us, The Chronicle, Austin Town Hall, etc. at Cheer Up Charlies to roll in 2012. At a scant $5, your admission gets you into the venue and free champagne, along with eight bands and a DJ. Kicking off around eight, bands including Marmalakes and TV Torso will take turns on stage before Ringo Deathstarr starts the new year off right with blazing cuts from their latest album Colour Trip, etc. The schedule for all three stages after the jump. more ›

After finally releasing their debut album Colour Trip this year, Ringo Deathstarr are making it official by trekking to Europe with none other than The Smashing Pumpkins. more ›

Prodigal son of the Austinist Dan Solomon is back today with a two-part photo series of shots he took for us at Chaos in Tejas. Dan braved elbows to the face and bad lighting to bring us shots of Ceremony, Dillinger Escape Plan, Ringo Deathstarr, and Youth of Today. more ›

In a city that hosts ACL and South by Southwest, it's easy for smaller, more genre-targeted festivals to get overlooked. Not that people aren't taking notice of Chaos in Tejas, though. This year's iteration of the punk/hardcore/noise festival is its seventh, and features more bands than ever before swarming into the Red River district. Timmy Hefner has curated the festival's strongest lineup yet, replete with big names in the scene from across the globe. more ›

It will take you about eight seconds into your first listen of Colour Trip, the debut full-length from local shoegaze-revivalists Ringo Deathstarr, to identify the band’s number one influence. It’s Loveless. My Bloody Valentine’s 1991 masterpiece was the big bang for the sound that became known as shoegaze - effects-laden, heavily-textured guitar pop with airy vocals and layers of noise, the aural equivalent of squinting into the sun. Colour Trip bears all the accoutrements of a classic shoegaze album, with pulsating reverb, squalling, seasick guitars and pummeling percussion adding up to a sonic maelstrom. There are quality melodies ghosting around the amplified fuzz, too, which serves as a reminder that Ringo Deathstarr, like their sonic progenitors, are something like a pop band at heart. more ›

We caught up with spearhead Elliott Frazier earlier this week to check up on the band’s recent activities. We’re pleased to report the debut LP is currently being recorded and produced with Jason Buntz at The Bubble here in Austin. The album is expected to hit streets in January of next year, but in the interim, you can check out the band at a number of shows in town over the course of the next few months. Ringo Deathstarr performs at Beerland tonight with locals Black Panda and The Cassingles, and a couple of touring acts from Sacremento, BOATS! and The Enlows. Following that, you’ll be able to catch the band in all its glory at Emo’s on September 4th, The Mohawk on September 11th, and Cheer Up Charlies on October 9th. more ›

The band's set this evening at Emo's will include the entirety of their 1989 album Bizarro, and the band no doubt has left some room for other high points of their career. Opening for The Wedding Present are locals Ringo Deathstarr, who have been supporting the band on the road as well. more ›

Another talented Austin band The Strange Boys gets things going on the outside stage and San Francisco’s The Fresh & Only follow with still more infectious fuzz-pop nuggets. But it is Arish Khan a.k.a. King Khan who will surely reign supreme at Emo’s this evening. A genuine international man of mystery, Khan was born in Canada to Indian parents and lives in Germany now. And boy, does he have the Midas touch at the moment. Besides being an integral member of The King Khan & BBQ Show and The Almighty Defenders, both compelling in their own right, and squeezing in an enticing collaboration with GZA, the prolific Khan leads the irresistible nine-piece known as King Khan & The Shrines. Arguably the most enjoyable of all of his projects, The Shrines’ psychedelic-garage-soul stylings allow Khan to parade around stage in his trademark novel outfits and bestow his considerable persona upon the adoring masses. The music itself is nothing short of inspirational either, a stirring conglomeration of a whole slew of genres that we all love. more ›

As part of Austinist's Psych Fest coverage, we're running some interesting interviews with participating bands written by our friend, Ryan Muldoon. Here's his first contribution, an interview with Ringo Death Starr. more ›

Having trouble getting over the hump? Midweek malaise got you down? Turn that frown upside down at Beerland this Wednesday. Better Than The Van and Do512 have put together a nice little free happy hour show featuring Ringo Deathstarr, Visitors, and O’Brother to nudge us towards the promised land that is the weekend. more ›

Happy birthday, Austinist photographer and notable Austinite Aasim Syed! No longer content with a round of birthday drinks or a nice dinner at Bagpipes, Mr. Syed is instead having his own mini-festival at the Mohawk this Saturday. more ›

Austinist is proud to announce a new concert series showcasing local talent, appropriately titled the New Music Discovery Series, and is kicking off its inauguration at Stubb's inside with Ringo Deathstarr and True Widow. more ›

Ringo Deathstarr kicks off its pre-SXSW tour this Wednesday at Emo’s (Outside) -- the shoegaze stalwarts travel to Virginia after tonight’s gig and continue on to New York for a couple of dates before heading south to Georgia on March 14th. They band will be back in town after that for a few unofficial SXSW shows, including the ominously named South by South DEATH at Beerland on the 17th. more ›

101X FM’s 4th Annual Independent Workforce X-Mas show isn’t the only entertainment on offer at Emo’s this Thursday -- the station presents the latest installment of its Homegrown Live series on the inside stage with a triple shot of local talent. more ›

So our friends over at kvrx.org have put together a stellar lineup of local bands for their nth annual Back-To-School Extravaganza... more ›

When Park Ave. (featuring a certain Conor Oberst) broke up in 2001, Jamie Williams and Neely Jenkinks formed Tilly and the Wall, releasing Wild Like Children on Oberst’s Team Love label in 2004. Bottom of Barrels followed two years later, and this June, the band dropped their third full-length, O. (Buy it here.) O is actually untitled; it goes by the letter of the alphabet that best describes the frame of its artwork, and the revolving images within that “O” will be fan provided artwork! Tilly and the Wall’s video for the first single “Pot Kettle Black” premiered on Stereogum last month, and the band also garnered an Artist of the Day merit from SPIN in June. more ›

A weekend night at Beauty Bar is never without dance floor mayhem; the unending beats are usually provided either by a top notch DJ or an exhilarating electro-pop act. more ›

Some of Austin’s most active live acts take the stage at Emo’s on Thursday evening to bring an end to the venue’s Free Week. Horse + Donkey are riding high following the release of their impressive self-titled full-length. The album finally gives us locals a chance to enjoy the act’s reverb-heavy droning psychedelia at our pleasure, at home or in the car. Still, that’s no excuse to stop playing live, and the trio has been averaging a solid amount of gigs in town over the last few months. The explosive, vivid video for Horse + Donkey’s “Magic Horse” was directed by Wiley Wiggins and can be viewed here. more ›

AUSTIN BANDS more ›

As Christmas approaches, good shows tend to get sporadic and good friends tend to leave town, but the promise of Emo’s Free Week will carry us into the empty canvas that is 2008. Still, we have ten days or so to find that one last good moment of 2007. more ›

Ringo Deathstarr auteur Elliott Frazier has had a banner year: having soldiered on through countless lineup changes, the band managed to release the best shoegaze record of the year (well, EP), earned a coveted slot among The Onion AV Club's Worst Band Names of the Year (scroll down a page or so), and head out for an east coast tour in February (nothing to put in parentheses here)! You can wish them well tonight at Emo's where they'll play with their pals in La Snacks, plus Haunting Oboe Music and Fever Dreams. Also, Merry Christmas! more ›

What’s the Deal: Definitely one of the better pun band names, with an extra ‘r’ thrown on the end to avoid any messy copyright fisticuffs with Lucas and the Star Wars powers that be. This Austin foursome have very successfully emerged in time with a re-popularization of shoegaze in a way that doesn’t seem contrived or cleverly created to take advantage of this renewed interest. Instead, they fit right in there with Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, or at least a step below. It’s fuzzy, super-loud, noise pop with a steady beat, wave after wave of ambient guitar noise and warm vocals that melt into the music. more ›

Image from Scion's websiteSo you’re all set for an afternoon with the family and/or friends, tons of food on the horizon, be it Turkey or Tofurkey. Still, you need to scratch that live music itch before heading home. Well, fear not oh lovely residents of Austin, the city has a solid night of gigs on the 21st in store for the common layperson. If you’re not already planning on hitting up the Benko and The... more ›

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is... more ›

Image from Ringo Deathstarr’s MySpace It’s no secret that Austin is home to one of the most prolific artistic scenes in the country, Live Music Capital of the World or not. Any weekend in the city promises a number of day time occurences and a plethora of evening events. A quick browse through this weekend’s notifications leads one to fun activities for the kids at The Flying Theater Machine’s Wang Dang Doodle Hour or a... more ›

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -ed. note Photos of Mice & Rifles, and Ringo Deathstarr. With the exception of unmerciful allergy issues (sniff), I've been having a great time rounding up ideas to inspire this evening's escapades on The Laurie Show on KUT 90.5. Just give me several boxes of tissue - with aloe, please - and I'll be... more ›

Although Hoot Nights and Tribute shows tend to occur frequently, Saturday’s extravaganza at Ruta Maya promises to trump all with an extensive lineup of local talent set to cover a variety of tunes recorded (or released) in 1967, known otherwise as the Summer Of Love. Get there early, even if the music does only start at the respectable time of 4:20 p.m. Full lineup below but we have to mention some of our favorites --... more ›

With bands constantly forming, regrouping, burning out or fading away, it takes moxie to stick around on the Austin club scene long enough to get noticed. Case in point: Elliott Frazier and his jangly noise-pop trio Ringo Deathstarr. Frazier originally formed Deathstarr two years ago with confederates fom his hometown of Beaumont; following a seemingly endless period of lineup changes, the band is currently making waves on fancy music blogs and radio playlists worldwide. We... more ›

Another Tuesday means another stellar evening featuring Texas bands at the Mohawk. Horse+Donkey and Basic brought the rock last week for a festive pre-4th of July effort, complete with chants of “U.S.A.” This week, recent Red River regulars Ume headline a night of amazing, ear-shattering noise-rock at the weekly series. Ringo Deathstarr open with their brand of Jesus and Mary Chain inspired feedback, reverberations, and shoegazing sensibility. We cannot stop listening to their demos on... more ›