Big announcements today - the 5th Mess With Texas fest is going down this year on Saturday, March 19th, starting at 11:30 at the East Side Drive In. It's all-ages and free with RSVP (keep checking that website for more all that). Bands performing include headliners The Dead Milkmen, !!!, Odd Future (OFWGKTA), Surfer Blood, The Dodos, Ted Leo (Solo), Thee Oh Sees, Deer Tick, OFF!, Screaming Females, The Strange Boys, The Fresh and Onlys, Davila 666, Big Freedia, Lemuria, Dom, Esben and The Witch, Devin Therriault, The Growlers, We Barbarians, EMA, and more to be announced. more ›

Photos of the sold-out Stubb's show courtesy Eric Uhlir. more ›

Seriously, drums haven't sounded this good since Talking Heads' Fear Of Music. more ›

Part of the Anticon hip-hop collective, Odd Nosdam (a.k.a. David P. Madson) is a DJ and an audio chemist whose credits include work with cLOUDDEAD, remixing Boards of Canada, and five full lengths under his own name. A label as much as it is consortium of like-minds, Anticon is known for taking a collaborative and fresh approach to hip-hop and turntable-ism, two genres that, despite the many realms of possibility, can often be strikingly homogeneous.... more ›

Brandon Rhyder slings the sort of country-fueled solo work that Texas has become known for. Full of hooks and smooth, slightly twangy vocals, Rhyder's songs focus on longing for the small towns and small-town friends left behind, telling stories about football games, girls from Fort Worth, and winding backroads. Working out of Austin, Rhyder has been touring somewhat relentlessly, playing everywhere he can and releasing a live album recorded in College Station and Nacogdoches... more ›

Since unleashing the Peter Gabriel-like "Staring At The Sun" in 2003, TV On The Radio has done just about everything an indie band can hope for. They've released two lauded albums, made the major label jump, opened for the Pixies, recorded with David Bowie, and won the Shortlist Prize. And while The Arcade Fire may be the most blogged about band of the last two years, one could argue that TVOTR may be the... more ›

FRIDAY [15] music • Ghostland Observatory and Thee Emergency at The Mohawk (912 Red River) ® party • Earthdance at NiaSpace (7:30pm-10pm, $15) party • Eastside City Limits party with Pink Nasty, Tnlons Fort, I Kill Cars, Missing Tapes, Brothesr and Sisters, Til We're Blue or Destroy, The Black at Red Scoot Inn and Old Austin Daze Compound (9pm-4am, FREE) ® party • Teleport Door presents the Pop Yo Colla' party with DJs Daniel... more ›

We have discovered yet another wonderful entry in the “if you’re too tired or broke or claustrophobic or agoraphobic to make it to ACL” music alternatives. La club and radio DJ Paul V. will be airing his Smash Mix of ACL indie bands on Indie 103.1FM tonight at 7:30pm. Mix and Tracklisting: Flaming Lips vs. Massive Attack - Unfinished YeahYeahpathy (DJ Paul V. mashup) Deadboy & The Elephantmen - Stop, I’m Already Dead Muse -... more ›

Only one more week and I'll be waking up in Austin, ready to put on an entire bottle of sunscreen and head out to Zilker Park for my favorite music festival in the world. I know you guys may have thought I forgot about you - but I've been hard at work on my Austin City Limits Festival Preview Page, trying to wrap up the project before the festival actually starts. From today through... more ›

There is much to report this week surrounding the Zilker Park-sized dust oven that is ACL Fest. The big news is that a ridiculous number of 'official' ACL aftershow concerts has been announced. Many of the fest's acts will take over all of our club venues immediately after the big show ends each night. All tickets go onsale tomorrow at 10am, except for Sufjan Stevens, which is already onsale. This means that either (a)... more ›

Due to some odd twist of fate—or some serious demographic research—several major/minor art-rock figures are releasing albums today. These artists run the gamut from graceful (Thom Yorke) to chaotic (TV On The Radio) to I’ll-have-whatever-they’re-having (Muse). Let’s take a look: THOM YORKE-THE ERASER Thom Yorke once quipped that, in the United Nations that is Radiohead, he plays America—the joke being that, while he doesn’t have all the ideas (or talent), he sets the aesthetic... more ›

As the white lights slowly went dim and faded to black, the electric hum started and the machinery began to engage itself. Gears walking over gears, the machinery slowly coming to life, cold steel kissing cold steel in an emotionless dirge hell-bent on a single purpose. Forward. Gears and moving parts steadily gained momentum and speed, churning faster and faster, burning fuel and giving off heat, the lifeless metal creature at once began to take on a red, sinister glow. From its maw suddenly came the low moan of a man’s voice, riddled with confusion, anguish, and alienation that seemed all too human. Suddenly a gray cloud of ambient noise and static engulfed the assembled crowd, seeping out in thin wisps from the source, low to the ground but slowly rising. Underneath it all, a tribal rhythm began to take shape, a simple beat followed by a muffled, throaty bass that evoked some primitive spirit in the onlookers. Awaking some forgotten, collective identity, it restarted some innate code found within all of us. This was no machine – this thing was alive, and it summoned us to move with its cadence. more ›

Summer is coming, and the post-SX lull appears to be ending for Austin gigs. Many SX bands are scheduling return appearances, and our outdoor venues are beginning to release May and June schedules. The following list offers some highlights (for comprehensive listings, check Pollstar or Showlist Austin): 4/15 - Calexico (free early show) @ Emo's 4/15 - Deathray Davies + The M's @ Emo's 4/24 - TV on the Radio + Celebration @ Emo's... more ›

Lately, the music industry has been making more moves than a blog editor at a GLO show. Here's a run down on everything you need to fuel your hatred of corporate music and Nashville. If you don’t hate Music City, move there, it took us exactly six hours to develop a serious loathing we allowed to fester for six years. James Blunt, unsurprisingly called Blunt the C*nt by his sassy British friends, became the... more ›

Austin City Limits is pretty nifty, we'll admit. But let's face it: the lineup for Coachella, ACL's glammed-up West Coast sibling in the desiccated wastelands near Joshua Tree, has all but reigned supreme these last few years. And this year, they're at it again; earlier this week they announced the full roster for the two-day festival, to be headlined this year by Depeche Mode (huzzah!) and ... Tool (huh?). The entire lineup: Saturday, April... more ›