The speed of light is just under 300,000 km/s. It takes about 8 seconds for the sun’s light to reach us on earth, and that’s about how long it should take you to find Lightspeed Champion (aka Dev Hynes) completely charming. After his days in the short-lived, dance-core group Test Icicles, Hynes began this folked-out, playful, indie-pop project. His debut full-length, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, comes out February 5th, and it’s full of players that provide the perfect accent to his earnest twang and sweetly-sung melodies. For the album, the American-born, U.K.-raised Hynes struck out for Omaha and decided to enlist Mike Mogis as producer to add that Saddle Creek sound. It was here that he found his additional players for the record in Mogis, Nate Walcott, Clark Baechle from the Faint, as well as members of Cursive and Tilly And The Wall. He keeps good company, even on tour. He’s been out with Bright Eyes, Final Fantasy and Patrick Wolf. While touring, Hynes enlists a rotating cast of accompanying musicians pulled from a list of his musician friends. more ›

Austin-based online music/film/literature magazine Urban Pollution launched today, and they're already in top form: the sharply-designed indie upstart - a clear contender for the Pitchfork/PopMatters set - unveiled a bevy of nifty content, with reviews ranging from albums (The Mendoza Line, Test Icicles, Cat Power) to films ("Match Point," "Brokeback Mountain," "Shop Girl") to books (Salvador Plascencia's The People of Paper). Of the last section, we were especially pleased to see a review of Michael Chabon's (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh) latest novella, The Final Solution, which Austinist had the delightful and unforgettable pleasure of hearing read aloud by Mister Chabon himself a few years ago at a swanky soiree thrown by The Paris Review. Dare we say that these hipster kids - who write quite well, we might add - are after our hearts (and yours)? Check 'em out for yourselves! more ›

Trailer from the Bloc Party Documentary/Concert DVD, "God Bless Bloc Party" [mov]	Be Your Own PET - "Let's Get Sandy" [ram]
Richard Ashcroft - "Break The Night With Colour" [stream]	Shelby - "The Golden Boy," created by Austin's Super!Alright! [view]

Downloads
• [mp3] Cat Power - "The Greatest"
• [mp3] Clearlake - "I Hate That I Got What I Wanted
• [mp3] Clearlake - "No Kind Of Life

The new year started off pretty slowly for music, with a few lackluster albums (The Strokes' third LP, Morningwood's bubblegum rock rehash) failing to excite, really, anyone. Not today. Cat Power's eagerly awaited follow-up to 2003's You Are Free comes out alongside the new Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley, The Postal Service) side project, Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins and Richard Ashcroft's Keys to the World. Other notable bands include the unfortunately-named Test Icicles,... more ›