Austin BLEET-UP Nov. 5th @ Mohawk – Stalk Some Austin Bloggers
Mohawk on Red River is hosting the Bleet-Up, a chance for Austin Bloggers and hangers-on to hang out, listen to some music, and get some sponsor swag. Feel free to come on out by RSVPing at Do512.com
First 50 people to RSVP get free beer and a bag of goodies. Do it now. Also, be sure to check out the bandlist. Corto Maltese anyone?
White Denim – Fits Review
New review up of Austin golden boys White Denim. These guys have been around too long to create such unsatisfying material. I want to love them — nay, do love them — in a live setting, but something just dies when it hits the magnetic tape in the studio. Their rapid changes in mid-song hold up much better in a live setting, where the audience has a hard time staying focused on loosely-constituted jams. The drastic changes keep things interesting and away from droning sludge territory. That being said, its like the direction of each song fractures and shatters, never reestablishing proper choruses or returning to established licks. Rarely, like on “Say What You Want,”, it works out. Not so much, other times.
Definitely worth a look, but not what the fans were hoping for. The hype may have killed this one before it launched. Here’s a clip and a link to the full review. Read the rest of this entry »
Ghostface Killah ft. Cappadonna at Emo’s Inside 10/11
Ghostface Killah has been the most self-promoting and media-infiltrating member of the Wu-Tang Clan since Method Man’s movie career disappeared post-How High. He seems to appear everywhere, from movies like Iron Man and Walk Hard to appearences on 30 Rock, and always with a certain pimped-out panache.
Seeing Ghostface a.k.a. Tony Starks a.k.a the Iron Man (and the list goes on) one expects that effort to be channeled into an over the top, crazy performance. While his set at Emo’s on Sunday perhaps fell short of a melodramatic mind-explosion Read the rest of this entry »
2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup Released (Alphabetized)
HERE IS THE FFF FEST LINEUP IN EASILY DIGESTIBLE FORM (The FFF site is as reader-friendly as Kindle made of dog poo)
For all those who have had their heads buried under the sand for the last few years, Fun Fun Fun is Austin’s new and most impressive music festival. For anyone that is constantly disappointed with the progressively-weaker acts that ACL brings around, FFF is the perfect place to get your fill. The festival’s organizer also has an uncanny knack for bringing back long-broken-up bands for unlikely reunion shows. That being said, start fiending for tickets like the crack-addled music junkies we all know you are.
Even former Austinite Car Stereo (Wars) is coming back from New York to give his hometown what it deserves. Also, Jesus Lizard reunion show–bam, face blown up.
2009 Fun Fun Fun Fest Line-up: Read the rest of this entry »
Track Review – Matthew and the Arrogant Sea – “Mock Origami”
While the track itself hasn’t even been released in a form that doesn’t flow through the intertubes, Denton band Matthew and the Arrogant Sea’s “Mock Origami” is a refreshing look at the recent Texas Indie Minimalism that has been popular of late.
(Note: Track is first to autoplay on the band’s Myspace)
Within the first few seconds, the song comes alive with a sense of humanity and spirit that makes one’s skin tingle; an army of hands clap/snap along to the haunting sound of Matthew Gray’s resonating voice. The collaboration of the other Grays, Jacob and Caleb, as well as the other members, combine to bring forth a series of harmonies that give each lyric a feeling of circling emotion. The voices flutter around one another like fish in a school, never colliding but forming instead a collective body that moves with each acoustic guitar strum. The coalescing vocals hearken back to Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers, and makes Arrogant Sea stand above its peers. Read the rest of this entry »
Offspring and Against Me! – Dance Beats Be Damned!
Please.
Sitting at a loud bar with a few close friends, one may encounter such an unfortunate impasse as I did just last night. Sipping on mediocre margaritas whose taste was enhanced only by their two dollar price tag, a friend and I heard a familiar beat coming from the speakers; bass kick on one and three, hi-hat hits on the upbeats. A disco beat, to all those familiar with it.
“Fuck man, its that new Against Me! song. Effin’ hate this thing.”
“Huh? Nah, its the Offspring. I’ve been hearing it for 6 months.”
“I can’t hear it all that well but I’m pretty sure its Against Me!”
It was Against Me! (A victory, kaduz!), but that fact was of infinitesimal importance compared to my ensuing realization; it didn’t matter. Both songs are abominations flung in the face of previously great bands, and both sound the same, tainted by dance beats that have no place in their music. Its a half-assed fabrication of a bands own sound, made by that very band. It’s like if Matisse had faked his own death; thinking he’s dead, the public would no longer buy his originals, and instead he had to make forgeries of his own work to earn a living. And earn he did.
Now granted, many can simply call out that one can’t mourn the loss of either of these bands –”they’ve been gone for years,” “any punk band is by nature prepackaged as dead,” etc., but something about these two songs strikes even more painful. Here are the external links to each song, as putting them here would be prohibitively untidy.
The Offspring – You’ll Go Far, Kid
Part of it is the awful lyrics. Read the rest of this entry »
Show List – August ‘09
Coming at you late as usual due to this writer’s own relocation to South Austin, here’s SkyStereo’s picks for August. Late summer is always a bit abysmal show-wise, but we do have 3 straight nights of The Sword on the 27-29th, and Los Campesinos! tomorrow (8/14) so get out there and raise some hell.
8/13 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Daniel Francis Doyle, Elvis, Dana Falconberry at Beerland. Dana is always amazing. If that’s not your thing, the Tragedy playing at Emo’s is not the Tragedy of hardcore legend, is interesting nonetheless (metal Beegee’s Covers? Really?)
8/14 Los Campesinos!, Girls, Smith Westerns at Emo’s. Great, upbeat songs with horrible accents and cute girls. It worked for the Proclaimers…
8/15 Wine and Revolution, Coma in Algiers, The Armed Forces (TN), Literature at the Creekside Lounge. Coma in Algiers at perhaps the hippest of locations. On the river, kids. Read the rest of this entry »
New Modest Mouse Video – “King Rat” Directed by Heath Ledger
The newest Modest Mouse Ep, No One’s First, And You’re Next, was released today, as was the video for one of its tracks, “King Rat”. Anyone familiar with Modest Mouse will recognize the signature discordant sound; guitars clang along with cymbal hits in a staccato, stilted march, and creative use of trumpets and string sections add to the imperialistic feel of the video. As usual, Isaac Brock’s voice overintonates, stretches, and snaps like piano wire drawn too taut.
No doubt the video will gain some instant appeal as Ledger fans seek to find dark significance within the video. While some say it can’t be found, one would be hard pressed to call this an uplifting video. It pushes the boundaries Read the rest of this entry »
Context Clues – Improve Your Diction Review
New review up of the latest release by Austin’s Context Clues:
Austin’s Context Clues seems to have honed their skills at describing themselves; their own website bio states only, “Hello, we’re a pop band from Austin.” While intentionally ambiguous, anyone who picks up a copy of their debut release, Improve Your Diction, will quickly see that the band’s description is apt. Romping through multiple genres and decades of music in a surprisingly short time, the album is 11 tracks of solid music united by little more than their constant optimism and pop sensibility. One may actually be forced to improve his diction merely to come up with enough words to describe the changing sounds of each song. Read the rest of the review…
Look for them tonight at Hole in the Wall on Guadalupe and 26th.
Review: Rancid and Rise Against at Stubbs, 7/17
Its always disheartening to see the beliefs of one’s childhood shattered; whether that all those cookies and milk really do get you more presents on Christmas, or that your Dad’s muscles are the kryptonite of every lesser man on earth, eventually we grow up and find the truth. Seeing Rancid at Stubb’s on Friday left one with mixed feelings. Seeing Rise Against, however, killed my childhood.
On one hand, Rancid was the powerhouse of entertainment they’ve always been. Yes, they inevitably played some of their new material, and it inevitably sucked; they just don’t have a penchant for speedy, incoherent anthems anymore. The waning mental capacity of Tim Armstrong leaves Lars Frederiksen looking more and more like his nurse than bandmate, but these guys give it their all and throw out the classics with a bravado and dirty-precision that can’t be beat.
Seeing them as a backup to headliner Rise Against was something one would have never anticipated–legendary figures should always get the hot seat at the end of the lineup, even if everyone knows they’re past their prime. Hell, people still pay money to listen to Bob Dylan geriatrically hiss out the words of songs he doesn’t even remember writing; let Rancid have the encore.
Nonetheless, Rise Against was one of the best bands of their era Read the rest of this entry »
