Austin Town Hall

I’m really excited for my far away friend Nick and his wonderful label to be celebrating two successful years.  Soliti Music has brought us gems from Cats on Fire to The New Tigers to Big Wave Riders, and in honor of that celebration, the label is giving up an 8 track compilation of tunes that are either unreleased or demo versions.  They’ve even got a few words about each of the songs, which you can find HERE.  But, if you want to get your hands on some great tunes, or perhaps even discover your new favorite band, then click HERE.  For now, here’s my favorite track from the label.

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Download: Cats on Fire – My Sense Of Pride [MP3]

Joe Steinhardt is working under the moniker Modern Hut, and it’s time we introduce this fantastic new voice to you all.  His songs, like the one below, are pretty basic in construction, just using guitar and some minimal backing accompaniment. But, I’m particularly interested in the way his vocals are delivered, not to mention the lyrics that tie everything together.  Perhaps you can ascribe similarities to John Darnielle or a more serious Adam Green, which both count as great things in my book.  His album Generic Treasure will be coming out on August 17th courtesy of Don Giovanni Records.

My apologies first off for the late notice on this show, but we deem it necessary to keep you informed on great shows despite our lack of timeliness.  Now that we have that out of the way, let’s discuss our highly anticipated show by veterans and always underrated Texans Centro-matic.  These guys have been doing their thing for a long time and it’s hard to believe the amount of music they now have to choose from in the live setting.  Opening support is provided by locals Kingdom of Suicide Lovers.  Don’t miss out.

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Download: Centro-matic – Flashed and Cables [MP3]

Admittedly, I’m not a fan of Foxygen, at least in so far as the live setting goes. I thought the band was so horrible that I actually walked out of their set.  But, that being said, I can’t say enough about the songwriters in that band, especially Jonathan Rado.  He’s announced a solo effort for Woodsist, and it definitely harkens back to days of sincere pop.  If you didn’t hear the 60s influence on his writing before, you’re definitely going to hear it in this new track.  The album is titled Law and Order and should see a release date at some point in the fall.

It’s contest time yet again and today I’m excited to offer up some tickets to a great lineup at Mohawk on Sunday night.  I’m personally excited to see up and comers Beach Day in the middle slot, but the lineup as a whole is impressive.  Deets:

Date: 6/9/13

Lineup: Blank Tapes, Beach Day, and Deep Space

Up For Grabs: Your name +1 on the promoter’s list

How to enter: Leave a comment with anything you like and we’ll pick the most interesting post

Closing time: We’ll email a winner at high noon on Sunday so leave a valid email!

Check out our brief interview with Kimmy from Beach Day for some inspiration.  Good luck!

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Download: The Blank Tapes – Coast To Coast [MP3]

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Download: Beach Day – Walking on the Streets [MP3]

The ATH crew always gets a little excited when we’re sent music with female vocalists that know how to hold their own and rock.  This new track, “Jet Pack”, by lady rocking sisters Dog Party is just that.  It’s a raw punk rock song, but can also bring out some nice pop elements to make the track worthy of repeated spins.

New album Lost Control is due out August 13th on Asian Man Records.

This newish 7″ from Tape Deck Mountain is really solid.  It opens with this huge wall of noise that blares right in your face; you think it’s just going to be a big loud rocker from the get-go.  But, they pull back just a tiny bit, revealing a quiet pop tendency, which is briefly interrupted by a wash of noisy atmospherics from time to time.  Those moments begin to unfold more often, accentuated by machine gun snare hits, as the song drifts towards its end.  Always down to hear something new from this group; they never seem to let me down.

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Download: Tape Deck Mountain – Always Lie [MP3]

It’s a very rare thing when you wade through tons of emails enticing you towards the next big thing and happen upon the title “New Music From Superchunk“. We of course welcome such things, but clearly were shocked to receive the great news. Save 2010′s masterpiece Majesty Shredding, they stayed quiet for most of the 00s, after one of the most prolific stints during the 90s. I think we’re just excited to hear that the band won’t be going on another extended hiatus. New track “FOH” is the first breath of new material since 2010 and it certainly doesn’t disappoint as a chant worthy rock n roll number. We could all use some unabashed rock music right? Right.

New album I Hate Music will be available August 20th on Merge Records.