Hot Freaks! is a loose affiliation--a cabal, if you will--of international music and culture bloggers, including Dallas' Gorilla Vs. Bear, New York's brooklynvegan, and Toronto's Chromewaves, who have banded together Voltron-style to wreak cross-promotional havoc on the Western blogosphere. Masterminded by Austin promoter John Mascarenhas, Hot Freaks! has put together a lovely set of after-parties for those of us who won't be snarled in post-ACL parking-lot quagmires until midnight. Both events are looking really tempting,......

Oh No! Oh My! are preparing to release their EP, Between the Devil & the Sea on Hollywood's Dim Mak (home to Datarock, the Rakes and more), oh August 7, and have a tour scheduled to support it. The exclamatory darlings will play shows with Au Revoir Simone, Let's Go Sailing! and the Deadly Syndrome. Follow the jump below for a complete tour date listing, and enjoy this song from their upcoming release: Oh......

Pitchfork reports that Okkervil River have settled on Stage Names for their upcoming release (slated for August 7), featuring artwork by William Schaff (featured left). The album was recorded here in Austin with Brian Beattie and Jim Eno. Follow the cut below for the track listing and tour dates for the summer (hint: there's only three). The Chronicle has taken note of the Tonewheel Collective's recent Beerland extravaganza / farewell show. The news here, incidentally,......

Austinist and Gothamist's second annual SXSW day party (co-hosted this year with Gorilla Vs Bear) was a resounding success, drawing a capacity crowd by the early afternoon. Austin Mayor Will Wynn made a surprise visit during Earl Greyhound's set, articulating the importance of cornerstone venues like The Mohawk on our city's live music scene and suggesting that Austin musicians need better access to healthcare. His speech garnered tremendous applause from the audience, which consisted......

Rain or shine, our day party is definitely happening today, over at the Mohawk. We're also pleased to announce that Austin Mayor Will Wynn will be delivering a brief welcome address at approximately 1:30pm. Flyer by Justin Cox. Austinist, Gothamist, and Gorilla Vs Bear Proudly Present Gonna Gonna Get, Get Down! 2 Inside (11:50am) The Shivers (12:35pm) Tom Brosseau (1:20pm) Sparrow House (2:05pm) Teitur (2:50pm) Peter and the Wolf (3:35pm) Stars of Track and Field......

Believe it or not, there's a bunch of activities going on around town this week other than SXSW. This week's IST List won't include our usual bevy of music and film events; for those, we recommend that you check out our Interactive Guide to SXSW Parties and the Other Side Guide, respectively. We'd also like to welcome LAist editor Tony Pierce and Gothamist arts editor Jen Carlson, both of whom will be joining us......

We've gotten our hands on a bunch of tickets, guestlist spots, and assorted swag for several excellent parties happening during SXSW, and over the course of today we'll be giving these away. Check back every two hours hour for the newest giveaway contest -- each will only run until the next one is posted, so your chances at winning are pretty damn good. First up: two guestlist spots on the private balcony at our Austinist+Gothamist+Gorilla......

Flyer by Justin Cox.Austinist, Gothamist, and Gorilla Vs Bear Proudly Present Gonna Gonna Get, Get Down! 2 Sets By Architecture in Helsinki (Australia) Apes and Androids (New York, NY) Nicole Atkins (Brooklyn, NY) Headlights (Champaign, IL) The Forms (Brooklyn, NY) Earl Greyhound (New York, NY) Loxsly (Austin, TX) Hello Stranger (Los Angeles, CA) The Shivers (New York, NY) Loney, Dear (Stockholm, Sweden) The Hourly Radio (Dallas, TX) Stars of Track and Field (Portland, OR)......

ME Television and the Austin Music Foundation have been doing their fair share in our city to promote local talent and improve artist networks. The former has brought in the likes of Pink Nasty and Sparrow House for their weekly Almost Late Show, while the latter has recently initiated a twice-a-month mixer at the Belmont. Tonight, they combine to bring us the Emerging Artists Series. A $5 cover (with partial proceeds going to AMF)......

Say what you will about the Austin music scene, if there's one thing we've got in spades, it's heart. And breakfast tacos. But that's another story altogether. Our bands can take any other city's bands on when it comes to sheer per capita productivity and playing out, never leaving their respective constituencies on the sidelines. And albums? Lordy, just walk into Waterloo Records and check out the local music section: 2006 was a banner......

"The book is a riddle, it's our generation's bible, and you have to guess the title with one clue: After photoshop was used only to remove certain letters, what remained were the words FACT and CON..."...

*Update: this post has been revised after receiving some very helpful feedback. For a while now, we've been hearing good things about the Tonewheel Collective, a bi-weekly acoustic happy hour show on Thursdays hosted by members of some of Austin's best bands. Two weeks ago, we finally had the opportunity to experience it for ourselves. And, to put it succinctly: wow. Members of Tonewheel include Jared Van Fleet (Voxtrot, Sparrow House), Martin Crane and Mark......

T U E S D A Y [31] » [music] Ghetto Princess, Secular End, The Total Foxes, Tomorrow's Too Late at Emo's » [comedy] Live Comedy Happy Hour at Beerland (8pm) » [karaoke] Karaoke Explosion at The Peacock » [books] Galt Niederhoffer presents Taxonomy of Barnacles at Bookpeople (7pm) » [politics] Austin League of Women Voters puts on the State of the City dinner with Mayor Will Wynn as the evening's speaker at the Austin......

· Laura Cantrell performs two nights of her signature blend of country and folk at the Cactus Cafe. Her third album, Humming By The Flowered Vine, finds the Nashville-born singer again exploring themes of heartache, unrequited love and bittersweet nostalgia. "Letters", her cover of an old Lucinda Williams song, is particularly touching. As is "Khaki & Corduroy", which recounts her experience moving to New York and trying to find her way - she further articulates......