One of my favorite new bands that I saw during SXSW 2010 was a little band, with some obvious country roots, based out of Athens, GA, called Futurebirds. I do have a thing for Athens bands.

There’s a very low-fi quality to this band’s music that draws from the previously mentioned country roots, while bluegrass runs thick, and guitars wander into sonic washes. The band has a previously recorded EP floating around in limited edition and available digitally on their Bandcamp page, as well as their upcoming label debut Hampton’s Lullaby to be released on July 13th on the Autumn Tone Records label.

MP3> Futurebirds ‘Johnny Utah’

The band is on the road with Jessica Lea Mayfield currently and will be making a stop here in Austin @ Emo’s on July 18th.

Futurebirds tour Read more

Seattle’s Minus The Bear pleasantly caught our attention with their release Menos el Oso, weaving cinematic imagery with expansive sounds supported by spine of technical guitar work.  While the group took their sound and songs further into the prog -rock o sphere on the follow up release Planet Of Ice some critical and fan reactions were mixed. LA based Dangerbird Records saw some potential within the band and signed them to release the latest from the band Omni, which was produced by Grammy Award winning producer Joe Chiccarelli.

While we wait for the reception of the newest material to unfold, the band brings it live to La Zona Rosa this Sunday 5.16.

Git your tickets HERE.

And what do you know…the video for the first single “My Time” just premiered.

The Besnard Lakes are……

What completes that sentence should be of my own words, but the band has so conviently provided a couple of options in the titles of their last two albums recorded for the Jagjaguwar label. The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse (2007) and The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night (2010) couldn’t be more suitable metaphoric self descriptors, but there’s more.

I always love being blindsided by a band, happening upon their music, not knowing what or who I’m listening to and just falling for it with no preconceived ideas of what I think I might expect. Such was the case with The Besnard Lakes. I’ve known the name of the band, and been quietly drawn to investigate, but just hadn’t. Thanks to some late night television host and his show I happened across the band performing “And This Is What We Call Progress” and was completely drawn to the performance and the song.

The Besnard Lakes are from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Formed by husband and wife team of Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas, and have released three albums, but you could’ve found that out exactly where I did. Describing the band’s sound is more difficult that finding statistics on the internet. It’s been described as indie rock (a term that I’m hoping to shed ever using again to describe a band as it’s lost all meaning), as well as shoegaze and post rock.  There’s a soothing atmospheric charm, albeit a bit dark and sometime ominous, layered in rich driving guitars with a swagger of mystery. It definitely stands out from much of the hype driven dribble that finds popularity entirely too quick and lacking any sense of reason why.

The Besnard Lakes are a rock band, much like many a rock band before them, a perfect reason to slip on the headphones and allow yourself to be carried away for 46.5 minutes dancing along the edge of post rock, modern psychedelia.

I highly recommend the recent 2010 release The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night and the band will have a film score for the upcoming Sympathy for Delicious.

MP3> The Besnard Lakes ‘Albatross’

You can check out the band’s television performance that caught my attention HERE.

And you check them live around these parts.. Read more

Here We Go Magic are one of many a “buzz” band that I find myself really liking some of the material and some of it is completely lost on me. Sorry, but I’m an album guy. I like a record that is solid from front to back and the self-titled release didn’t quite achieve that for me, but there’s always next time.

The band is prepping it’s follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2009 release, and what Luke Temple and company have in store for us, is the question that will be answered when Pigeons drops June 8th on Secretly Canadian. A sneak peek, some of you may have caught live during SXSW 2010 and another opportunity arises on April 14th here @ ND @ 501 Studios (formerly The Independent). Buy tickets HERE.

A auditory peek is in the form of this, titled “Collector”

MP3> Here We Go Magic ‘Collector’

I’ve had this record, Exploding Head, in my dirty grimy paws for months now, and each time I put it on for listen, it reveals something more mystical and intriguing than the previous spin. The drive home tonight with “Ego Death” playing on the stereo, accompanied by the 3/4 moon all dark yellow and jaundice looking,  hanging low on the horizon and peeking through the low tree branches and power lines, felt the soundtrack of someone’s life, possibly my own.

The album is appropriately titled Exploding Head, and if you have ever been to a live show of A Place to Bury Strangers you would understand how relevant that is. The band will bring it’s beautiful destructive dissonance to the Parish next month performing opening duties for The Big Pink.  A visual and auditory assault is in-store for those scampering in early for the Euro pop-synth sounds of The Big Pink, and “Dominos” will fall…

I chatted with Oliver from APTBS awhile back..

A Place to Bury Strangers and The Big Pink @ The Parish 4/8 Tickets

MP3> A Place to Bury Strangers ‘Ego Death’

The reunion story of the year (technically last year), if you haven’t caught wind of it yet, is Pavement. The 90′s art-rock, indie/alternative band that influenced many a band you have spinning on your iPod these days are doing what all the “cool” kids do these days. A year full of tour dates including some essential festival stops will be accompanied by the release of  the best of Pavement album titled Quarantine The Past. Now, I’m not usually one that recommends “best of” albums, but the band has a pretty lengthy catalog of material, and being the creative edgy art rockers that they were, it would take a bit of work to sort through some of the material that at some times can test the listener. The band’s label Matador has compiled a pretty comprehensive collection of tracks from the band, that really does capture the “best of” Pavement.

Quarantine The Past sees release on March 9th, and is well worth the time it takes to make your way through the 23 tracks on the album. Have I mentioned yet, that Pavement is one of my favorite bands of all time? Yepper, I dig these kids.

The remastered “Gold Soundz”

MP3> Pavement ‘Gold Soundz’

Tour dates as of now: Read more

What do us Americans need most in times when the economy and employment are in the crapper? French pop music of course via Phoenix! Alternative (Pop) Music according to the Grammys. Alternative to what?

They wowed us @ ACL 2009, and recently @ LaZona Rosa, and are coming back for more Austin love.

April 29th @ Stubbs

It’s a short tour with some festival dates. Read more

It’s was cold and wet, and in Austin and for most of us who live a glutenous life of live music opportunities on a 7 day diet, it might be an easy excuse to not go out on a Thursday night. For the few, and what I would imagine to be committed fans, that did venture to Stubb’s last night, a performance that many of us scour the dirty venues in the dark of night 365 days a year, took place.  Alan Sparhawk has made his reputation crafting music that challenges the listener with a tempo and simple structure that works against what most find listenable. He’s most know for his project Low. What Sparhawk has achieved with his newest formation Retribution Gospel Choir is quite the contradiction.  Rich lyrically and pushing the sonic envelope with his guitar skills, Sparhawk along with Steve Garrington on bass and Eric Pollard on drums delivered what was one of the most impressive live performances that I have seen in years. For an artist that has a catalog that runs so deep, Sparhawk seems fueled and possessed by his lyrics, living every note and every line as passionately as the minute that you would think that each came to him.

And to top it off, after the blistering performance that Sparhawk delivered, he directly went into business mode, selling merch from the side of the stage. You wanna make a living playing music? Take a lesson from this man…..

And catch this band on tour…… Read more

With the sophomore release appropriately titled 2, the Alan Sparhawk (Low) fronted Retribution Gospel Choir channel their inner sonic guitar child and let loose a series of songs that you feel Sparhawk has been itching to set free. From the 43 sec guitar thrash of  ’68 Comeback”, to the anthemic “Working Hard”, and the closing prayer “Bless Us All”, 2 covers a lot of solid ground in a mere 33.8 minutes.

Retribution Gospel Choir return to Stubb’s on Thur night 2.11 with the new songs in tow, and a show that is surely to only breathe more life and meaning into them. Bless us all.

Buy Tickets HERE. 8 bucks early or 10 for procrastinators

MP3> Retribution Gospel Choir ‘Poor Man’s Daughter’

As if music geeks in Austin don’t have a full plate in March with SXSW and various other shows happening, The Flaming Lips add another event to the calendar on March 12th at the Austin Music Hall.

No one else does furries, confetti, fake blood, and tripped out music like the guys from Oklahoma, and you can bet that this show will be an event to remember. Chances are that tickets will move quickly.

On sale this Saturday Jan 30th @ 10 a.m. HERE

Shearwater have established themselves as a band who make beautiful music that is more cerebral and less inviting upon first listen, but always delivers upon time committed. The third release from the band The Golden Archipelago is already being pitched as “not an easy or immediate record”, confirming that the band is staying true to the musical path that they have chosen.

The Golden Archipelago is set for release digitally on Feb 16th and will see physical, both shiny and waxy, on Feb 23rd.

Released MP3 from upcoming album

MP3> Shearwater ‘Black Eye’

Shearwater tour dates Read more

Spoon. If you don’t know who they are by now…..well, I wouldn’t know how to respond to that exactly.

The band is set to release it’s newest offering, and it’s first self-produced, titled Transference on Jan 19th. You can stream the entire album currently @ NPR’s “Exclusive First Listen”, which I’m doing right now. If you are looking for an album that is going to follow closely in the footsteps of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, you might be a bit surprised. Britt Daniel and Co return to the sound that established the band as one of the more original and creative indie band’s over the past 15 years. A bit raw and crafty in timing, while holding on to some of the stylistic songwriting that Daniel has achieved over the years. Upon first listen..Bravo!

In another collaboration with NPR, Spoon will play Stubb’s on March 17th as part of the station’s SXSW coverage.

More Spoon news to surface soon, I would suspect….

If A Place To Bury Strangers haven’t been influenced by early Cure, then the bass line on this track is a weird coincidence. One of my favorite songs off of the 2009 release Exploding Head, while the recording as a whole pretty much rules. The band makes a stop here in Austin @ The Parish, performing opening duties for the big bombastic Brit sounds of The Big Pink. That show takes place April 8th.

A few shots of frontman Oliver Ackerman working away at his other full-time gig, his own Death By Audio guitar pedal factory.

Matador Record’s and current Austin resident, Gerard Cosloy has pieced together a compilation of Austin artists and their songs to be released on Jan 26th. Casual Victim Pile seems a likely title taking into consideration Cosloy’s loss last year when his Austin home burned to the ground. In addition to the release, Matador, WOXY, and The Austinist have put together a string of shows featuring artists from the recording.

The track from a band currently on my radar, Follow That Bird!

MP3> Follow That Bird! ‘The Ghosts That Wake You’

Cosloy’s own words in regards to the release and show(s) details after the… Read more

It’s absolutely official..I have become slightly obsessed with this band. There are so many elements to the sound and the look that are so appealing. Many elements of 80′s indie ala Cure and Cocteau Twins with a dash of psych, and looks that kill.

Warpaint will be in town opening for Akron Family on Feb 24th @ the newly remodeled Parish, and of course SXSW dates will be surfacing soon as well. Get on the Warpaint train as it’s going for a long ride in 2010…

Video for “Elephants” (thanks to Ultra8201 for the heads up)