We thought Bright Blue Dream was the main course, but it was really just an appetizer – Sunset’s pu-pu platter, the tasty lead-up to the onslaught of almond or orange chickens and tofu surprise. Could we have predicted that just a few months after unleashing Bright Blue Dream into the world that a follow-up was hot on its heels? Sure. Bill Baird, the moody progenitor of Sunset’s tunes, has been known to record and release albums with a reckless abandon that crawls closer to Ryan Adams’ near-endless output every day. Before Bright Blue Dream came Sunset’s Pink Clouds cassette release, and even that followed two discs in 2006 (recorded as Bill Baird’s Sunset, or something similar). And so, to quote Sunset’s label Autobus records, “the song cycle continues,” with eighteen(!) more expertly produced, carefully crafted studio art-pop tracks....

Bill Baird’s most ambitious work since the demise of his former project Sound Team, Bright Blue Dream seems at first like it's Baird’s way of putting that book back on the shelf for good – but that’s only half of the story. ...

In case you're still curious about where to vote on Tuesday, we've reprinted the official list from the Travis County Clerk web site as of Monday evening. For up-to-date information, you might want to double-check the Office of the Registrar's database To find out which precint you're in, use their handy Voter Verification form. From the Elections Divison: Registered voters can vote with a voter registration card, driver’s license or any official photo ID,......

The ol’ Compound next to Scoot Inn on the east side is throwing a party, and you’re invited! How about that! Also invited: three awesome bands for your listening pleasure. There’s a cover of just three measly bucks, and it’s B.Y.O.B. If you’re looking to kick-start your weekend with good tunes, look no further, but make sure to save some of your hearing for Saturday night’s Black Lips/White Denim show, for sure....

Austin's Balmorhea released River's Arms last week, and kicked off their tour here in town. Their tour to support the record will follow the east coast, and land them back here in time for some SXSW gigs. Sample some of the instrumental band's lulling, hypnotic tunes c/o Western Vinyl, and check back here for a full-length review very soon....

This month's Green Drinks is kicking the New Year off with some eat-right type resolutions. Salila Travers, organizer of the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market and owner of Aztec Organic Pest Service for over 25 years, will be on tap to share her passion for organic foods and nutritional expertise with the environmentally aware and sustainability professionals that make up Austin Green Drinks....

While every performance the Church of the Friendly Ghost puts on is assuredly special, this Wednesday evening they will host three diverse acts at the Salvage Vanguard Theatre sure to satisfy your every experimental, avant-garde whim. ...

Photo by Annie Gunn on flickr {{{Sunset}}} and Gulf of MexicoTuesday, December 11Beerland (711-1/2 Red River)[info] Bill Baird is starting from the ground up. After his previous band Sound Team imploded under the weight of diminished returns for their major label debut, Monster Movie, Baird has assembled a new band, and is recording anew at his Big Orange studio in East Austin. While the name of Baird’s projects are subject to change, from just Bill......

Image from www.sustain-a-ball.org Sustainable Shopper’s Ball, "Have a Green, Green Christmas!" FestivalSaturday, December 1Burger Center (3200 Jones Road)9am-2pm, FREE[info]It's time for the second annual Sustainable Shopper's Ball Green Holiday Festival! Over 60 local vendors will be at the Sunset Valley Farmer's Market at Burger Center this Saturday with plenty of sustainable products and gift ideas to choose from. You can finally buy that sun oven for your brother-in-law, or an electronic motorcycle for yourself. You......

Photo from Soundcheck Magazine Austin's 2nd Annual Green Holiday Festival, "The Sustainable Shopper's Ball!", returns to the Sunset Valley Farmers Market with over 60 local vendors and educators offering everything from bamboo homewares to luxury organic linens SXSW Film Festival Producer Matt Dentler shares some insider tips on what the film programming team is looking for - "Should you spend money on a fancy press kit? Should you check your DVD screener 4 different times......

Tonight, Canada will officially move south, as Spencer Krug's beautiful brainchild Sunset Rubdown will grace this Texas town with crazy keyboards, arcane guitars, and a variety of other weapons of musicanery. Their just-released Random Spirit Lover, appreciated by critics all the continent-wide, is certain not to disappoint...unless, of course, you hate eerily strange pop music wrapped danger-tight with eccentricity. Follow the jump for more information on this event and the chance to win a......

It’s not too often that a modern-day musician says “here, take this, it’s my whole freaking brain, synapses and gooey parts and all,” but Spencer Krug, the madman extraordinaire behind Sunset Rubdown (as well as the widely adored Wolf Parade), has done just that. With Random Spirit Lover, he throws his cerebrum straight off the parking garage, giving the audience a meandering but purposeful masterwork of clatter whose intricacy is belied only by its complication.......

Austin Sound, if you haven't checked it out already, is a great site featuring information about local music. This Saturday, they're pulling out all the stops to celebrate their one year anniversary, and throwing a mini-ACL that's much, much cheaper. With 13 bands playing, there's bound to be someone to rock your picky ass. Also: free food and FREE BEER for five bucks! We know, it doesn't make sense to us either, but it......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Anyone interested in learning about the farm bill, buying some sustainable grass-fed beef and fresh local eggs and long beans, or just finding somewhere nice to walk around with a fair-trade, locally-roasted coffee should consider heading to one of Austin’s farmers markets this Saturday. Figs, apples, pears, purple long beans, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, squash blossoms, greens, basil, garlic, shallots, onions, and summer squash are among the fresh seasonal picks available at the markets this......

The Austin/San Francisco-based thoughtful, ambient rock group Monahans (previously Milton Mapes) is, according to The Parish calendar, having its CD release show there Thursday night. However, the album was released over a month ago, so make of it what you will. Either way, their soothing sounds of longing are sure to put you in a trancelike state, not unlike the effect of mixing old R.E.M. and hallucinogenics on a long, solemn sea voyage. Monahans’......

If you’re looking to expand your knowledge of Icelandic bands beyond the normal Björk, Sigur Rós, and Múm, then you needn’t look further than Emo’s Lounge Friday night. Benni Hemm Hemm come bearing orchestral pop tunes from their chilly island nation with titles like “Snjorljossnjor.” This soft-spoken band comprised of between 8 and 17 revolving-door musicians features conventional rock elements as well as a full horn section. Austin natives Loxsly may not be able......

The Mohawk residency concert series continues tonight with Treewave, who we hear will be joined by special guest Bill Baird. Treewave, as you probably know, are a Dallas-based band that practice shoe-gazingly superb songs that utilizes otherwise obsolete '70s and '80s video game gear. They are truly kickin' it 8bit style. The songs are created with really gritty assembly code, and is made possible by Commodore 64s, an old PC FM sound card (OPL3),......

FRIDAY [15] juneteenth/parade • Alvin Patterson Battle of the Bands and Drumline Competition at Congress Avenue (2pm) books • Lama Surya Das presents Buddha is as Buddha Does at BookPeople (7:00pm) comedy • Billy D Washington with Doug Mellard at Cap City Comedy Club comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Constellation, a site-specific dance work from Sally Jacques at Pickle & Thornberry Federal Courthouses (9pm) dance......

FRIDAY [27] music • While You Were Out, presented by Bueno Music Bureau, with The Unbearables, She Sir, The Scripts, Friday After Dark at Club de Ville ($5) books • Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D., presents Dancing Between Myth and Reality at CAAAS (UT - Jester A232) (3:00pm) comedy • Tig Notaro and Steve Burr at Cap City Comedy Club comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Fetish and Other......

*The views expressed in The Laurie Show are those of the author and do not represent Austinist as a whole.* -The Editors All right, kids. This evening is going to be a tad different for yours truly. Instead of the usual Laurie Show time, from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m., I’m sitting in for Jeff McCord on his Friday night shindig, Left Of the Dial. Thanks to Jeff for letting me take the helm.......

By and large, Canada has never been seen, in the eyes of the world, as quite the bastion of excess that the United States is. But until relatively recently, the world had not seen the spectacle of the Canadian indie scene. A tradition of ridiculous extravagance, borderline nepotistic chumminess, and overlapping personnel in the style of European royalty or American boards of directors is proudly continued in Beast Moans, the outstanding debut from Swan......

If you survived the Deliverance-esque Ikea parking lot this weekend, and didn't get shot trying to get yourself a PS3, you deserve to spend even more of your hard-earned cash on records. Here's what you can find on the shelves at fine local establishments like End of an Ear or Waterloo today. Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas (Asthmatic Kitty) Featuring five discs worth of holiday music spanning the course of five years, tinsel used......

Although Art From the Streets has had their show and sale benefitting the homeless for 14 years now, last year was the first time we visited the show (after reading about it here). We were stunned by the amount of great works available for purchase. We had already paid for two abstract paintings (one by John Monbelly and one by Stacy) when we realized there was a whole room full of art we had......

Former Texas State Rep. Rick Green shoved and then punched State Rep. Patrick Rose, Dem. Dripping Springs, while outside a polling place at Sunset Canyon Baptist Church. A poll worker has been arrested for allegedly choking a voter in Kentucky. Faith Hill is super pissed that she did not win best female country vocalist of the year. Britney Spears is filing for divorce from K-Fed. Here are some very early election returns in the......

From the Statesman: Hays County authorities are investigating a report that State House District 45 Rep. Patrick Rose, D-Dripping Springs was assaulted today while standing outside a polling place at Sunset Canyon Baptist Church east of Dripping Springs. Rose, an attorney with the Ratliff Law Firm and a licensed Realtor, said he was punched by Rick Green, his 2002 Republican opponent. "Rick lost his temper," he said. "It's unfortunate that something like this happened on......

We try not to be fanatics about stuff, but John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats totally does it for us. He's smart, he's nice, and he's lo-fi (well, decreasingly so, but the sentiment is there). Also, the first time we saw him in concert, he performed solo with an acoustic guitar and burst into a rousing chorus of "Hail, Satan!" As for street cred, the Mountain Goats have released roughly a billion albums, many......

Wilco’s not trying to break your heart by skipping Austin on this tour, they’re just trying to focus on some of the towns they rarely get a chance to visit. Fortunately for us, one of those towns is our neighbor to the south, San Antonio. So, why not jump in the car and head down to Sunset Station in the Alamo City tomorrow night to check out one of America’s finest bands? Hell, grab some......

Fans of the indie-rock will find much to like in the latest concert update. Flying V lovers My Morning Jacket, the willfully obtuse Fiery Furnaces, and alt.country godfather Jay Farrar have each been added to Austin's fall music schedule. As we've mentioned, the sheer volume of shows is unprecedented, so get out and enjoy the fact that every band you like is coming to town in the next two months. Thanks as always to......

[The following is an editorial column by contributor Alison Coffey and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] Tonight is the night. Will Meredith Grey of Grey's Anatomy pick Dr. Hot Vet (aka Chris O'Donnell) or former pizza delivery guy/gigolo, Dr. McDreamy? Personally, I'd go for the unmarried guy who loves animals, but I'm not a 100 lb surgeon in training with a cute lisp and a habit of......