Babe Rainbow – The Organic Band

Rating: ★★★★☆

Turn your gaze up. The naked stars are out. The boombox is cranked to 11, salty air on the fresh breeze, and cool sand squeezes between your toes. You enjoy friendly conversation at length and share some laughs. It is “Smile Time”…so much so that your jaws hurt. Find the cooler covered in wet sand and grab some cold beers. Time to wax up the Hobie longboard for tomorrow A.M.’s rally, and gather ’round a warm fire dug into the sand. After a long sunny Saturday in the surf, that sounds epic to me. Now picture this vibe in album form. That is the newest effort from Babe Rainbow, The Organic Band, wrapped in a tight wetsuit. It is Saturday Night.

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SXSW Interview: Mammoth Penguins

When Standard Fare called it a day, Emma Kupa moved on to from Mammoth Penguins. I’ve been a huge fan from day one, and There’s No Fight We Can’t Both Win was one of my favorite LPs last year. All that said, I’ve never caught the band live, so I’m more than excited to finally get to see them at SXSW this year. We caught up with the group real quick to grab some answers to our little interview.

Oh…and if you’re so inclined…it’s tough to get bands from the UK to the US, so you can help by buying some Mammoth Penguins merch HERE.

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Show Review: Tool @ Erwin Center 1/21

It’s been said, when summer turns to winter in Austin, we put away our white T-shirts and get out our black ones. So it was appropriate for TOOL to come to the Frank Erwin Center in the month of January. Nobody had to change clothes they just had to show up. And show up they did. Thousands of black shirts and hoodies filled Austins nostalgic Drum, with the hopes of experiencing a “Great and Powerful” live performance. Hit the jump for more.

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Sound On Sound: Lindstrom @ Cheer Up (11/10)

We all shed a tear when we learned that Sound On Sound was cancelled. We have a lot of good friends that put so much effort into making this year’s festival amazing, a quantum leap over last year.nnWe will not debate the valor of their efforts to save the festival or lament the missed opportunity of seeing Iggy Pop surrounded by a Ren Fair here.

The thing we may not understand about the festival circuit is that bands are on tour and need to use the festivals to home base around a few stops nearby before and after. Knowing this, the SoS team was able to schedule a few makeup shows to accommodate the travelers. One such show was for Lindstrom, a guy from Norway that was travelling a long way to hang with us. This set was high on my list for standing in a field with friends vibing. We replace the open spaces and axe-throwing for the friendly confines of Cheer Up Charlie’s.

Head past the break for more details and notes on DJ sets from Cap’n Tits and The Juan Maclean.

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SXSW Interview: Slow Caves

Slow Caves are a hook-laden bunch of pop rockers from Fort Collins, making their way towards Austin for SXSW. They’ll be hitting town to spread their name, supporting their new release, The Desert Minded EP (Old Flame), which hits a few days before they blow into town. We tossed them a few quick questions, and they kindly responded. Look for one of their new tracks below too!

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Show Review: Florence + the Machine @ Austin City Limits (5/20/16)

florence-2On Friday night, the Moody Theater hosted one of the strongest and well-renowned acts in the music world on the ACLTV stage. Florence + the Machine brought their trademark flare for the dramatic and pumped out an epic and high-energy 12 song performance in the midst of their How Beautiful World Tour. The night prior the group hit an evening at the Circuit of the Americas Amphitheater to a much larger audience, but the element of subtlety and artistic restraint are nowhere to be found within the front woman’s agenda. When she gets on stage, it is laid out for all to see and bare witness like an emotional tsunami; unpredictable and unrelenting.

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FFFX: Team ATH Recap

FFFX BannerThere was a lot of talk this year comparing Fun Fun Fun Fest to ACL this. Perhaps it is the proximity with the second weekend, perhaps the tenth anniversary. FFFX returned to it’s original home with a few tweaks to the layout to accommodate demands by Parks and Recreation department. I understand the city wants to protect the competing interests investments, but without events like FFF, this land is kind of under-loved. Let’s get through to the thoughts from our team that had boots on the ground and away from the grounds, too.

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Fan Fest Invades Rainey St.

Rainey-Street-Fan-Fest-2015It is Formula One weekend. Do not get scared and stay home; go out and party among the race fans. Put on a fake accent and pretend you are Dutch, yesh? Make some new friends for when you travel to Mexico, Brazil, Germany or the UK. Apologize about the weather as the last few races at COTA have been blessed by perfect sunshiny goodness.

Here is a quick rundown of the Rainey St. Bud Light stage headliners…

Tonight!
8:20 p.m. Elle King
9:45 p.m. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Friday:
7:00 p.m. Money Chicha
8:30 p.m. Ozomatli
10:30 p.m. Mayer Hawthorne

Saturday:
7:00 p.m. Holiday Mountain
8:30 p.m. A-Trak
10:30 p.m. Public Enemy

There is also a show at ACL Live for you willing to shell some jack to have an evening with Lionel Richie on Saturday and plenty more shows and offers tied to Fan Fest at venues you know and love; for instance Dan Falconberry at Mohawk or Gang of Four at The Parish on Friday. You’ll notice there is nothing planned for Sunday. If you get a Sunday F1 ticket, you can see Elton John post-race. They are using the Super Stage set up Metallica and Nicki Manaj had during the X Games. I’ll be there wearing big sunglasses.

SxSW Music 2016 – First Round

SxSW 16All kinds of festival news today, from ACL wristbands and FFFX schedules, SxSW Music has announced its first round of artists for the 2016 Conference. We have plenty to be intrigued by and plenty of locals already in the scheduling pool. Some random pull outs and intriguing names in alphabetical: Bombino, Caveman, Crystal Castles, A Giant Dog, Har Mar Superstar, Into It. Over It., Moving Panoramas, Pure Bathing Culture, Wildhoney and Yuck.

We shall see what we post about between now and then. Click through and see a list of bands and a selection of panels and their hosts…

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