Austin Town Hall

We’ve got to get out and support local Austin bands people.  I know, we all live here and love the music, and go to our fair amount of shows, but I feel like the attendees for great Austin acts have dwindled in recent years–unfortunately. Well, now’s your chance to rectify that, and get out to Beerland this Thursday to support the July residency of Bloody Knives.  They may not be the most well known band…yet, but their live shows are phenomenal, and the music just as good (if not better).  It’s time for us to back up our talk and get out to more local shows, so you know we’ll be here.  If you can’t make it this Thursday, it’s sort of okay, because you can plan ahead and make it to next weeks show, again, at Beerland.

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Download:Bloody Knives – Bleed Out [MP3]

It’s already been a great year for our friends over at Matinee Recordings, having released the new Cats on Fire and several great EPs.  And they’re at it again with a new EP from Brazil’s Pale Sunday.  The title for the release is The Fake Stories About You and Me, and you can grab it from the label right now.  Gentle pop music seems to be the group’s specialty, and you can see similarities to the great Teenage Fanclub, but personally I think that things on this listen are a lot softer–in an endearing way of course.  Find yourself falling in love with this new track…it’s easy to do.

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Download:Pale Sunday – Happy (When You Lived Here)  [MP3]

The big lineup announcement for the much anticipated Fun Fun Fun Fest  in November is nearly upon we eagerly awaiting fans.  Until that fateful midnight ball drop on Wednesday, the festival kids are continuing their quirky lineup announcements with a Bingo themed one going down Wednesday night at Lucky Lady Bingo in North Austin.  Festival planners are offering free drinks & nachos, prizes, “other fucked up shit”, and of course the big lineup announcement.  Stay tuned here on Thursday for the Fun Fest lineup and commentary from yours truly.

In other news, PIP passes for the festival are still on sale (regular tickets gone bye bye) and apparently Run DMC is planning to reunite and headline.  Say wha!?

Big Wave Riders aren’t exactly new to our radar, as we’ve been following the group carefully ever since they signed to Soliti Music, but now they’re drawing closer to the release of their debut, Life Less Ordinary. Listening to this new single from the album, I can’t help but recall a bit of The Mary Onettes, though with a bit more of a personality.  You can sense the same sort of electronic-influenced melodic rock, but there’s a hint of energy lurking in the vocals…something you’ll surely notice too. Look for more great tracks from the band when they release their record on August 24th!

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Download:Big Wave Riders – Sunny Season [MP3]

A few months back we brought you the tune “Plain Sight” from the self-titled EP from My Great Ghost.  Now, as the date draws near for the July 10th release of their EP, we’ve got another track from their EP to share with you, “Photograph.”  Again, the duo has crafted some well organized electronic pop that builds steadily throughout the track, which is indicative of all the tracks on the group’s EP.  With a start like this EP, the future looks bright for the groups from New York, so be sure to check out the release, and keep the band on your radar.

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Download:My Great Ghost – Photograph [MP3]

You’ve heard me rave about Velcro for a few months now, but the members working on that project also dabble in another great group called The Ocean Party.  Curtis, a member of both groups, reached out to us with the band’s latest single, In A Knot.  It’s a mellowed out four song-single, which the band are currently offering up for free download, though you can purchase the single via CD. It’s precisely the chilled out pop music I’ve come to expect from the heavy-hitters in Australia featuring gently gliding guitar lines, cool melodies and real world lyrics. You can expect a full-length titled Social Clubs to come from the band in October, but for now, enjoy this gem.

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Download:The Ocean Party – In A Knot [MP3]

You’d think that I would have been head over heals for Tame Impala when they first released their album Innerspeaker; the band is from Australia and they make sort of an avant-pop sound.  But, I didn’t warm to them immediately for some reason or another, but as you’ll see with this new track from their forthcoming Lonersim, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the group is on top of their game.  I love the wash of the vocals atop the instruments, and the breakdown near the middle of the track sees the group breaking up the monotony of the typical formula.  I’m definitely on board this time; you can pick up the record in October from Modular.

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Download:Tame Impala – Apocalypse Dreams [MP3]

Indian Wells has a track up to download that prominently features sampled sounds of the 1980 Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. I assume 1980 because the name of the track is “Wimbledon 1980″. It takes a bit to get used to the samples, but once the textured and layered soundscape takes over, the song puts out a cooling ambient atmosphere.

While “Wimbledon 1980″ gets the interesting song of the day award, I want to feature a favorite song from the Bad Panda released Night Drops. The track maintains the tennis theme in name.

Stream “Duece” below and hit this link to listen to and download “Wimbledon 1980″.

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