Ugh! Myspace. Don’t really care for it much these days. Sluggish and buggy. But…it is the EELS and I love me some EELS.

Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire drops next Tuesday June the 2nd, but you can listen to the album in it’s entirety @ EELS Myspace. Just click the pic to get you where you want to be.

By now, I’m sure that most of you have seen the reports of the shooting that took place early this morning outside of the downtown club Spiro’s, injuring 6 people. Spiro’s happens to be next to one of our frequented haunts Emo’s. As we happened to leave the area just a few hours before, two bands that we had just watched perform @ Emo’s, got caught up in the scene. Austin’s Boxing Lesson and the LA band Gliss were loading gear into their vehicles when the shooting took place, luckily escaping any physical harm. A few accounts of the situation from the bands:

The Boxing Lesson’s Paul Waclawsky posted on Facebook:

“So happy to be alive. Loading out of Emo’s and a fight erupts in front of Spiro’s and people start getting shot. Ryan and I jumped in the back of the truck to safety. The Boxing Lesson truck filled with gear is part of the crime scene in the middle of Red River and they aren’t letting us leave. WTF”

“there is blood on the grill of our truck. so, do i have to clean it up or do the cops???”

And this was posted on the Gliss iLike site

I really do like Tiny Vipers. Great name first of all, and Jesy Fortino’s dark, seductive voice and guitar are hard to deny.

2007′s Hands Across The Void probably didn’t get as much recognition as it deserved, but enough people are paying attention that Fortino’s sophomore effort will definitely stir up a blog buzz. The recording of the upcoming release Life on Earth began in Fortino’s home town of Seattle and was completed for release here in Austin by Andrew Hernandez.

As described on the Sub Pop website:

Transcending the mere folk tag (“She’s not telling stories; she’s after incantation and trance”—New York Times), Fortino leaves behind her contemporaries. The music has been deconstructed into an aether that floats beside the poignant lyrics. Drawing from disparate inspirational sources, from the avant-garde or country musician Townes Van Zandt, Fortino’s playing is no imitation. It stands as its own, giving a musical life to those themes that inhabit her lyricisms: love found and lost, places come and gone. The persona of this album stands like a mountain watching the world go by, changing so fast. The future annihilates the past, consuming it like a fire.

Yet this is no bleak dirge. There are triumphs hidden behind the sorrows. A shining hope permeates the threat of doom here. Desperation fades and leaves you free in the end.

Life on Earth is set for release 7/7 on Sup Pop Records.

MP3> Tiny Vipers ‘Dreamer’

Tiny Vipers hit the road in June, with several dates scheduled playing with locals Balmorhea. Full list of dates here.

Video from Burn To Shine Seattle DVD

Fans of fuzzed out, hazy, sexy, guitar bliss should be heading to Emo’s tonight to catch LA’s trio, Gliss. I didn’t really mean that to rhyme, it just happened, and I don’t spend much time editing myself. I probably should.

The band released it’s sophomore effort Devotion Implosion this past April, and have already spent some quality time on the road with the likes of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Raveonettes, and Smashing Pumpkins (2 out of 3 ain’t bad). The influences run rampant through the songs leaning heavy on the sounds of the late 80′s and early 90′s a la Jesus and Mary Chain, Blur, and even Joy Division, while holding steady in the sound of Gliss. Big guitar forward tracks and slow sexy numbers are found all over Devotion Implossion, as the band members trade off instruments adding to the dynamics of the trio’s sound. I’m looking forward to seeing this changing of instruments in the live setting.

Gliss is scheduled 2nd out of 4 bands tonight along with Monument to No One, local psych-rock favs The Boxing Lesson and San Fransisco based female trio Von Iva. Show starts @ 10, so get there early.

MP3> Gliss ‘Morning Light’

Manchester Orchestra’s debut release I’m Like A Virgin Losing A Child was an interesting character driven rock portrait, created by the mind of band leader Andy Hull. Although the album found little success, the band’s relentless touring schedule, finding them sharing the road with bands Brand New, Saves the Day, and even Kings of Leon, secured a fan base in wait of what could be next. What came next was a record on which the band turns up the volume, and pushes the guitar heavy rock sound prevalent in their live shows, onto the follow up Mean Everything to Nothing. As the heavier sound is welcomed and excuted well for most of the recording the switch from character driven lyrics to more personal accounts from the mind of Hull tend to detract from the music at times. A young man that has addressed issues lyrically, that most many years older haven’t in real life, struggling with the reality of now and his place in the world. A poet, prophet, or lyricist of any interest is yet to be seen in the future legacy of Hull.

Manchester Orchestra are definitely a band that will demand attention, for what I believe to be, years to come. The live show never disappoints, and Tuesday night @ Emo’s will be the stage to hear the band’s recent transition from opening act to headliner, from slightly unknowns to darlings of the magazines and blogs. And they’ll bring the rock.

Manchester Orchestra @ Emo’s outside w/Fun, Audrye Sessions, and Winston Audio

Show starts @ 8:30

MP3> Manchester Orchestra ‘I’ve Got  Friends’

I honestly set myself up for utter dissappointment with Silversun Pickup’s sophmore release Swoon, but have found this recording to be in contention for one of the most listened to albums of this year. It’s a great rock record dense with orchestration, and the question of how they are going to fill in those spaces live, is to be answered. This video for one of my favorite tracks “The Royal We”, taped by the folks over at Spinner.com touches on that answer, but the live experience will only complete. I think we all know that the live show from the band is usually pretty far off the mark (ACL 2008?). We wait. Until then.

Head over to Spinner.com for more of the performance and an interview by the band.

Jay Bennett, multi-instrumentalist and ex-member of the band Wilco, passed away early Sunday morning (May 24th) at the age of 45, in his sleep. According to sources, the cause of death is unknown and an autopsy will be performed.

Bennett was most well known for his work and contributions while as a member of Wilco during the earlier years of the band. Bennett was on board for the recordings Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as well as the two Billy Bragg collaborations celebrating the work of Woodie Guthrie, Mermaid Avenue and Mermaid Avenue II.

The departure from the band was well documented in the 2003 Wilco documentary “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”, in which differences in musical direction and creativity between Bennett and founding member Jeff Tweedy revealed themselves. Bennett continued on producing solo works, but never found the commercial success that he had experienced during his time with the band.

Bennett’s death comes a short 3 weeks after he had filed a lawsuit against Tweedy for “breach of contract” for alleged non-compensation for his appearance in the film, as well as for unpaid royalties for his work while a member of the band.

A talent that made memorable contributions to music that shall live on, and be appreciated for years to come, leaves us.

Bear buzz slowly swinging into full effect:

Speaking of Sonic Youth…

I kid, I kid. The comparisons have been made on many occassion, but with the latest release of the Sunshower EP, local trio Ume, have proven that they are carving out their own individual and unique sound that has much of the Austin music scene abuzz. The band has been recently recieved to play Canada’s NXNE and will take the buzz on the road during their trek to rock our friends up north.

After the jump, the tour.

MP3> Ume ‘The Conductor’

Ume 2009 North American Summer Tour Dates: Read more

Post-punk icons, Sonic Youth are still at and haven’t slowed down much since they first hit the scene, quite a few years ago. The band has a new record coming out June 9th, on a new label for them, Matador Records, titled Eternal. What’s gonna be different with the new recording, other than the label? Hopefully not too much, as Sonic Youth are perfectly fine doing what they have been doing for years. Making glorious sonic noise, and doing better than many others that have tried to follow in their footsteps.

Download the first available track and check out two video clips from Later With Jools Holland for 3 songs off of the upcoming release. “What We Know”, “Sacred Trickster”, and “Antenna”.

The band is playing this years ACL Festival, much to my delight, and the tickets are going fast if you haven’t heard. More tour dates after the jump.

MP3> Sonic Youth ‘Sacred Trickster’

Sonic Youth Tour Dates Read more

I’ve always enjoyed the Black Cab Sessions. There’s something unique about having a band play in the back of a..cab and capturing the performance. The St. Vincent and My Morning Jacket performances were great, and now Black Cab Sessions brings us one of the more buzzed about bands around the indie rock world, Grizzly Bear. The band got shrugged by Letterman a few nights ago, but that’s not going to slow down the “Bear train”.

Click this little pic to watch the session:

Grizzly Bear plays the Parish on June 16th and Veckatimest drops May 26th. One of the most anticipating records of the year for sure.

photo: Sarahana

I recently passed along my tardy discovery of the local band Balmorhea, and the great music that they are producing. And soon enough the opportunity to catch that music performed live by the band arises. Fresh off a European tour, the band is welcomed back in town with a show @ Stubb’s inside on Saturday night. A nice alternative to the “chaos” going down in the Red River zone this weekend.

MP3> Balmorhea ‘Coahulia’

Pompeii and Alex Dupree and The Trapdoor Band get things started.  Tickets.

Can’t make it to the Stubbs show? Then mark June 2nd on your calendar when the band will be appearing @ The Mohawk.

Check out an interview with the band over @ Austin Sound.

Two bands, in two different places in their careers, and two bands that both hold specific memories for me in regards to the music that they make.

Great Northern, more recently had captured my attention @ a show that I happened across purely by accident a couple of years ago @ Club DeVille. I couldn’t help but become completely engaged with the beautiful, soaring, melodic arrangements produced by the band and the seductive, smokey vocals of Rachel Stolte. Over the past couple of years the band’s sound has evolved, moving the guitars forward in the mix, leading the songs more directly, rock forward, while still holding on to their trademark sound. The 3rd time to see the band live, only confirmed this band evolution. A welcomed one at that. Stolte and guitarist/love interest Solon Bixler have clearly taken the helm and are moving the band along in a direction that will hopefully have them in my sites for years to come.

The Dears speak more to a past interest of mine, specifically to the No Cities Left record years, and the opportunity to catch the band’s live performance, has managed to slip by me over the years. As the band has hovered through the interest of fans and critics alike over the many years, while scratching the surface a ceiling to their career that might have lead to bigger things, they continue to produced albums that manage a relative holding position for their career. Being quite honest, my interest in the band this evening was to hopefully catch a glimpse at the band that acquired those moments for me during those early years, and although a glimpse shimmered for a few moments, I felt that the band had shed that skin, and my opportunity to live those songs as they were once performed has passed. The band’s performance was solid, Murray Lightburn was the front-man I expected to see, and the crowd gathered for this Monday night, many of which I might expect not might even be much familiar with the rich history of the group, left entertained and content.

Just wanted to list a few of the more interesting reads that I have come across this week on the ol internet. Some about the business of music and some just for pure pleasure.

-I’ll start with something of just pure pleasure. I came across this post over @ MuzzleofBees.com containing a video clip of Bon Iver doing an acoustic cover of The Jayhawks “Tampa To Tulsa”. The video itself isn’t all that great, but the audio is decent, and it was refreshing to see one of my current favs covering one of my favorite Jayhawks songs. Inspired me to dig into the music collection and revisit the band for the morning. Video: Bon Iver :: “Tampa To Tulsa” (Jayhawks cover)

MP3> The Jayhawks ‘Tampa To Tulsa‘

-Question: How many of you know who Chrisette Michelle is? I sure as hell don’t have any idea, but you would think after reading this, you should. Haven’t subscribed to the Lefsetz Letter yet? What are you waiting for? Start with this read: Sales-Week Ending 5/10/09

-When I opened up my latest copy of Paste Magazine, I found the editors letter or editorial by Josh Jackson to be titled “What, Me Worry?”. Essentially, Jackson discusses the lean times in the print industry and the efforts being made by Paste to stay in the game. He sounds confident and reassuring. And then this surfaces on the Pop Candy blog: Can ‘Paste’ Magazine Be Saved? Not only that, if you go to the Paste website you’ll find this:

So sad….

-This is geared to the music business geeks who are interested in the current state of the industry in regards to the tracking and dealing with/of album leaks by labels, management, and tracking companies. Once again the newest Wilco album leaks weeks before it’s official street date, and this is an interesting examination on Billboard.com of how the industry has responded: Wilco Album Leak Generates ‘Net Buzz

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