Beirut The Flying Club Cup (4AD) Beirut is Zach Condon, and Zach Condon is right on time. His international folk through every instrument imaginable (except guitar) is rich with cultural consciousness and adventure and is just the reinvigoration the folk, indie, rock and whatever-music scenes need to get over their musical malaise. The resplendent and occasionally haunting sounds of the cello, accordion, violin, mandolin, piano, sax, clarinet, glockenspiel, flugelhorn, trumpet and more ukelele than you......

"When was the last time you saw a stuffed chicken taking phone calls, a mermaid playing an ocean harp, and a burnt-out yet decorated has-been singing to a cat in a litter box?”, asked Rebecca Havemeyer in an email. Um, not in quite some time, we thought to ourselves. She continued, “It’s time to get your pennies and prayers together, boys, because a telethon is coming to Austin!” Rebecca is promoting her Live Telethon Jubilee......

Saturday night at Stubb's will likely be awfully warm (the forecast shows around 90 degrees), but it's worth braving the August heat for this strong of a bill. For reasons unknown to us, Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case are both playing at Stubb's, a venue that either performer could likely play on their own. Rufus Wainwright is the moody, theatrical brother in the musical Wainwright clan, which includes father Loudon Wainwright III, sister Martha,......

Tomorrow night Emo's Lounge will be hosting a massive jamboree to celebrate the release of Karrie Hopper's new CD An Unusual Move. Hopper's influences range from Rufus Wainwright to Suzanne Vega, though her musical roots in San Antonio involved a seven-piece instrumental group that she's described as "loud and powerful". Interesting to consider that the album was recorded at a lake house over the summer, with instrumentation and lyrics coming in between dips in......

Singer-songwriter Glen Phillips first burst onto the music scene in the 90's as the lead singer of Toad the Wet Sprocket, a group of four guys from the laid-back, sun-drenched California beachside town of Santa Barbara. Remember "All I Want" or "Come Down"? After Toad broke up in 1998, Phillips went on to a fairly promising solo career, releasing in 2001 the highly acclaimed Abulum. This album was largely a reminiscence of days long......