Local noise brokers Horse + Donkey dropped their eponymous full-length recently and this Saturday, The Hole In The Wall hosts an official CD release show to celebrate this fine collection of droning post-rock. Opener “At A Station” along with standouts “Dot Dot” and “Riddle” will be familiar to the band’s loyal fans from their live performances; the tracks blend surf rock and psychedelic guitars with wonderfully dark and echoing vocals to create a dreary haze of dissonance. It is often impossible to decipher the lyrics on Horse + Donkey but that only adds to the mystique of it all. “Things” seems to be about some impending doom, “Shoal Heirs” and “Amorous Mare” tell tales we’d love to hear with clarity, and good luck decoding the words and howls in “S.F. S.A.” or “Big End.”...

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. ...

Emo’s Free Week has come and gone, but the venue and the city march on with a buffet of mouth-watering shows available for consumption tonight. Eclectic beats from Dan Deacon pace Emo’s inside stage (as a part of the Ultimate Reality Tour) while Steamroller, She Craves, Killer Crocs of Uganda, and The Banner Year rock Emo’s Lounge....

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....

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......

Image from RCIS.org Solar Austin Happy HourTuesday, November 6Artz Rib House [map]6:30-8:30pm[info]Solar Austin gathers for their monthly happy hour Tuesday at Artz Rib House. Renowned science fiction author and founder of Viridian Design Movement, Bruce Sterling, will be the featured and the topic will be Future Trends in Solar. Best known for his eight science fiction novels, Mr. Sterling is also a contributing editor of WIRED magazine and a columnist for MAKE magazine. He has......

Given that Amy Winehouse's "Rehab" has become resolutely unfunny over the past month (even before she canceled), the title of "band with that one hit song that everyone loves" at ACL has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Sweden's Peter, Bjorn, and John. The group have been plugging away at their charming blend of pop, rock, and indie since 1999, and are anything but an overnight sensation. Their breakthrough hit "Young Folks" is actually......

Untitled by Michael WutzDried heads hanging from a wooden beam, contraptions inspired by dystopian nightmares, and ghostly visions of faceless men: while these sound like images gleamed from next month's Fantastic Fest, they're actually all part of Volitant Gallery's current exhibition, Silver Lining flat lining. Curated by Austin-based art historian and independent curator Till Richter, Silver Lining flat lining is the largest body of works to date by German artist Michael Wutz. Primarily a printmaker,......

The video for Spoon's "The Ghost of You Lingers" is floating around (even if it's probably unofficial) now, have a look: It's a blue, bleeding piano, y'all. Incidentally, we found it amusing to watch this guy read his poetry in one tab while the Spoon song plays in another ... be sure to start them at the same time, it's a sort of Wizard of Oz / The Wall accident that worked out smashingly well.......

As so many make the great migration to the gem of the Lone Star State to experience one of the most dense concentrations of beer, barbeque and amps, The Narrator make their jaunt south from Chicago, ready to play but more ready to have fun. Their album All That To The Wall comes out May 15th on Flameshovel Records. Is SXSW fun or business? I’ll say it’s business, but we’re going for fun. I’m......

We were so excited when Thomas Dolby graced our city with his presence last year, and when the prospect of an interview with the pioneer came our way last week, we literally planned our weekend around it. Now, the thrill has gone and we’re left with some wonderfully insightful responses from the master himself. Enjoy. And then jam out that Grammys performance again. Are you working on new studio material? When can we expect......

Today's big news is the FunFunFun festival, but there are also several new shows in this edition of the concert update. Kasabian, Ben Folds, Mates Of State, and others have all announced Austin shows, and there are tons more on tap for late fall. Have a look: October: 10/21 Pet Shop Boys (The Backyard) 10/21 Ladytron (Stubb's) 10/22 Rolling Stones (Zilker Park) 10/22 Method Man (Emo's) 10/23 Jenny Lewis + Watson Twins (Stubb's) 10/24......

Walking to class down The Drag, we were pleasantly reminded of our childhood--four times. Genuine Waldo sightings on Kerby Lane, then The Hole In The Wall, then Pipes Plus and then the front door of the former Baja Fresh. We rushed back the next day, armed with our camera to snap some shots. We liked them, but then found the artist's own pictures on his Flickr site. Thanks for the shots, the memory and a......

The Paul Green School of Rock started in Philly back in 1998 as a "performance-based, interactive music school," a place where kids could learn the theory and specifics about rock music by playing rock music. In rock clubs. With smoke machines. Founder Green and the original school (of which there are now branches all over the states) was the subject of "Rock School," a hilarious, scary, and altogether impressive documentary that came out last year.......

A piece of their body of work, that is! Austinist's favorite Aussie transplants -- the dashing foursome going by The Handsome Charlies -- are playing a (free) show at Hole in The Wall tomorrow evening (Saturday), with Happy Bullets from Dallas and The Unbearables. And, because we're in a festive mood, we're giving away two copies of their recently released LP, Gentlemen Never Tell, and a Handsome Charlies T-shirt (new, not used.) Send us......

* The IST List will be updated this afternoon to reflect additional events -- The Editors F R I D A Y [3] » [music] Quien es, Boom!, Brothers and Sisters CD release, Lomita, and David Longoria (of the Black) at Beerland » [music] The Early Tapes, Peel and The Happy Familes at Stubb's » [music] Driver Friendly and The Arm at Red Eyed Fly » [music] Rockland Eagles, Yuppie Pricks, Pink Swords, and The......

F R I D A Y [ 2 0 ] [music] Attack Formation at The Parlor [music] Faceless Werewolves, For Those Who Know, The Ugly Beats, Tran Tram play the Benefit for Austin GI Rights at Emo's [music] Just Guns CD release show with northKorean, Stories From the Frontier, Sad Accordions, and Infant of Prague at Beerland (7pm) [theatre] "Two Into War" at the Play! Theatre ($5-$20, 8pm) (link) [theatre] "House and Garden" at Austin......

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday [subs. required] that Austin's economy has again picked up, bringing with it a flood of real estate developers and investors: The rebound comes after the Texas capital lost about 31,000 jobs from the end of 2000 through the close of 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as high-powered tech employers such as Dell Inc. slashed payrolls and some smaller Internet start-ups fizzled. The tech bust also......

: : FRIDAY : : [music] The Zippo Hot Tour Semi-Finals featuring Fractious, 9pm @ The Backroom - FREE! [film] A Bunch of New Movies Open! @ your local theater [film] QT6, 7pm & 9:30pm @ Drafthouse Downtown: Grindhouse Triple Feature also Saturday [music] Mike Graff, 8pm @ End of an Ear [dance] Refraction Arts presents "Shish-ka-bob! An Inventory of Works by Amy Cone," 8pm @ The Blue Theatre [music] Palaxy Tracks, The Glass......

PEEL, a band about which we've written before is playing tonight at The Hole In The Wall. If you're reading blogs on Sunday afternoon, you clearly need something to do, and this show definitely qualifies.......