Sunny Pop from Cayucas

We love pretty much everything that’s being put out by Secretly Canadian, and this new release from Cayucas is surely going to be another hit we’ll adore for some time.  The recent signing has an upcoming 7″ featuring two tracks to give us all an introduction to the band.  This first taste is just what you’d expect a California pop band to construct, full of vibrant energy and tasty melodies.  It sort of sounds like the meeting ground between The Drums and Generationals, both bands we fawn over, so how could we, and you, not love this?

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/01-Cayucos.mp3]

Download:Cayucas – Cayucos [MP3]

More New Pop from Generationals

Hearing all these new tunes from Generationals really has me excited to see what they’re going to do next.  This new tune shows a darker electronic tone than what we’ve heard from the duo in the past, so when they get a full-length of such sounds under their belt I have a feeling it’s going to be something everyone will use as the soundtrack to their next party.  For now though, you can listen to this dark-wave gem, and prepare yourself to enjoy their newest Lucky Numbers EP, which is currently making waves at your local record store.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Sale-City.mp3]

And if you live in Austin, the band will be coming to town at the Mohawk on November 20th.

New Pop Tunes from Generationals

We’ve long supported Generationals over here at ATH, and I don’t think that’s going to stop anytime soon.  There’s something effortless about the way they construct their tunes, and this new single definitely epitomizes that aspect; it’s not overly produced, with just a simple vocal over an electronic beat in the background.  You can find this song on their upcoming Lucky Numbers EP, which will be available to the masses on October 2nd.  It seems to have a lot less of the guitar hooks, but when it sounds this good, who cares.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/58052680″ params=”auto_play=false&show_artwork=false&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Free EP from Generationals

Surely you know of our love over here for Generationals, as we’ve raved about the band for some time now.  If you haven’t caught on to them, go get yourself a copy of their most recent, Actor Caster, and you’ll no doubt be having a good time.  The good folks over at Park the Van are offering up a new EP from the group, featuring a few remixes and a new tune.  The best part? It’s all free. All you have to do is head HERE, and the EP is yours for free.  Who doesn’t enjoy free music, especially when it’s from a great band.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/02-You-Got-Me.mp3]

Download: Generationals – You Got Me [MP3]

Show Preview: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. @ Emos (5.28)

Date Saturday, May 28th
Location Emos
Doors 900p
Tickets $12 from Ticketweb

One of the hottest tickets in town this weekend has to be this excellent show over at Emos on Saturday night.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a hihgly respected act, winning accolades for music both recorded and live.  Then, you have the killer punch in my personal opinion, as Generationals are opening up.  These guys are probably one of my favorite indie pop bands, period. Their songs are catchy, and they always kill it live. Oh, and if that wasn’t good enough, the always excellent Austin band, Sleep Good, will be opening the whole evening.  You have no reason not to make it out to Emos on Saturday.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/09_Greenleaf.mp3]

Download: Generationals – Greenleaf [MP3]

Generationals – Actor Caster

Rating: ★★★½☆

On their 2009 album, Con Law, the duo known as Generationals sort of left their mark by being all over the place, touching on various genres of modern indie pop.  For their second album, Actor Caster, the band sounds a lot more confident, clearly having spent loads of time developing their sound into a cohesive gem of an album, ready for mass consumption by anyone and everyone.

Kicking off the party with “Ten Twenty Ten” seems like as good an option as any for the band, as it definitely has this rootsy pop-rock guitar bubbling through it, ready to boil over with melodic pop momentum.  Here the band sounds really steady, and instead of hitting you over the head with hooks like on their last release, those moments slowly build beneath the songs on Actor Caster, making it more infectious the more you listen.  Similarly, “I Promise” uses this jangling sunny guitar line to reach up and grab you and carry you swinging arm in arm out the door. A slight piano track in the background adds to the jangling, giving more texture to the band’s sound, again making lasting impressions.

Of course, the band will definitely find themselves compared to other groups with some of the tracks present here, namely comparisons to The Drums.  But, unlike the latter, Generationals have something stronger in their summery swagger, such as “You Say It Too.”  It’s got that clever little surf-rock guitar hook here, and vocals upon vocals, some oohs to boot, but it’s got more substance than other like-minded groups.  In “Goose & Gander” you’ll find yourself sitting at your desk, or wherever  you are, tapping your feet.  You can try all you want to avoid it, but once a hook inserts itself in your subconscious, there’s nothing that will get you away from happily swaying moments from left to right.

You’ll still be able to find bits of pop experimentation on this record, so don’t go thinking it’s all same-old same-old.  “Tell Me Now” is probably one of the more distinctive songs on this entire collection, and it’s the vocals that seem to take hold of you here, as opposed to the overall hooks of guitars and melodies.  That’s probably one of the greatest things about listening to Generationals, they just have an arsenal of hooks and pop wonderment that will instantly win you over; there’s no fighting it folks, so you may as well just let yourself get absorbed in it all.  Whether you want a jangling guitar, or a piano-laden track or even a sing-a-long chorus, you’re going to find it here.

In the end, their ability to harness that exuberant energy into a more confined sound is going to be greatly beneficial. Actor Caster is just chock full of hit after hit, begging you to open up the windows and share these joyous listening moments with anyone, and everyone, who is willing to open their ears. At the end of the day, Generationals have constructed yet another record full of tracks that you can, and should, take anywhere, as they’ll be around for some time, destined to bring you every bit of sun your heart desires.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/09_Greenleaf.mp3]

Download: Generationals – Greenleaf [MP3]

SXSW Interviews: Generationals

ATH: You’ve got a new album coming out, Actor-Caster. How will this album compare with the work/sound of Con Law? Did you try any new tricks this time around?

Grant: This album is a little more cohesive than Con Law. The songs hang together a little better. I thought that the diversity of that record was one of its strong points, but we wanted to make this new record more of a unit than a collection of different influences. Not too many new tricks. I think we’ve gotten better and more confident at producing our demos. The demos we came in with for Actor-Caster were very close to what ended up on the record. A lot of the actual tracks from the demos made it onto the final record, so I think that reflects the fact that we’re getting closer to honing in on exactly what we want at an earlier stage in the writing process. As a result of that, I can hear that the performances are stronger and more confident, the vocals are stronger and better performances. We didn’t really worry about whether or not we could even make a record, which was something that we struggled with on the first one.

ATH: As a band that hails from New Orleans, how does the city’s music history influence your music, or do you tend to work against that history, choosing to create your own sound entirely?

Grant: It’s not a direct influence nor is it an anti-influence that we actively try to work against. That is not to say that we don’t appreciate traditional New Orleans music. Very much the opposite, Ted and I have spent a lot of our time in New Orleans going to see bands and musicians play traditional New Orleans music, especially in our high school years. Specifically The Meters, Art Neville, Irma Thomas, Rebirth Brass Band. We are huge fans of the city and the kind of music that New Orleans is famous for, we just don’t try to play it.

ATH: At this point in your career, where are you guys hoping to go, either musically, or popularity wise, etc.? Let it be known, we’re thinking you should be huge.

Grant: Thank you. We also think that we should be huge. I just read online that LCD Soundsystem instantly sold out their final show at Madison Square Garden. We will feel like justice has been done when we can instantly sell out the Louisiana Superdome instantly, which holds about 80,000. We would also like to be the first band to play a concert from the top of Mount Everest which we would broadcast over the web for all to see. We are currently talking to some folks at WFMU in New York about sponsoring that concert for us.

ATH: What are you looking forward to about your trip to Austin for SXSW? Are there any bands you’re looking forward to seeing? Sites or restaurants you have to hit up?

Grant: We’re playing a Force Field party on Wednesday 3/16 that I heard Lower Dens will be on also, we are admirers of their stuff so I hope that rumor is true. The Park The Van showcase at Mi Casa Cantina on 3/18 is going to be insane. We’re playing with Floating Action, The Spinto Band, Giant Cloud, Brass Bed and Empress Hotel. And that place is not a big venue so I know it’s going to be packed and it’s going to be so fun.

We really love Austin, we were there in August recording the Trust EP and we just fell in love with it. I can’t wait to get back. I will go straight back to Maria’s Taco Xpress on S. Lamar, Home Slice Pizza on S. Congress, we love Club De Ville and I can’t wait to go hang out there again. I’m getting really excited thinking about it!

ATH: You guys are a band who has this huge sound on record. In the live setting, do you think that you’re album transfers the way you want it to? Are there things you wish you had on hand to boost the sound, or things you wish you could leave out?

Grant: We have been tinkering with the formula of our live show for a couple of years now and I feel like we finally got something that I think is translating the songs really well to the live setting. At this point we’re playing the songs very faithfully to the recorded versions. We added a fifth member to the lineup so that we can fit in more of the parts and we’ve also added a couple of trumpets for all the shows we’ve done this year so far and we intend to keep that going for the foreseeable future. It might get hard for all the SXSW events we are playing, but we are trying really hard to set that up the horns for SXSW right now. Our old drummer Tess has started her own band called Au Ras Au Ras and we replaced her with our friend Juston Stens who has a style of drumming that is much closer to the records that we’ve made. Including horns, we’ve had seven and eight people onstage at a time for all of these shows, so I feel like we’re getting to where we are finally able to really put a really full huge sound together for the live shows, which is fun.

ATH: You’re in Austin, you meet a random guy on the street, and you’re trying to convince him to make it out to your show. What do you say? How do you pull it off?

Grant: “Do you want to continue to live in the darkness of not having seen this Generationals show? Come with us into the back yard of Sidebar, we will change your fucking life right now.”

Thanks ATH! You guys are radical.

ATH: No, thank you, Grant.

Generationals will be playing at Mi Casa Cantina on 3/18 @ 1 AM

New Track from Generationals

It’s time for Generationals to re-emerge as the pop-rock duo we feel in love with back during thier first record.  This past year the Trust EP made its way out, but now word is that Park the Van will be releasing the group’s newest effort on March 29, titled Actor-Caster.  This new single is just as full of pop hooks as the music we’ve come to expect from the group.  I mean, who doesn’t love a track with some jangling piano and a nice little bit of handclap?  Okay, it’s all about the handclap.  Don’t forget to check out the band for their upcoming shows, including SXSW!

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/09_Greenleaf.mp3]

Download: Generationals – Greenleaf [MP3]

New Music from Generationals

I was all about Generationals when their catchy album Con Law hit the streets, and now it seems like there is even more reason to be excited. They’ve got a new EP coming out soon on Park the Van, and it was recorded by our very own Austinite Bill Baird!  This new track, “Trust,” shows the band bringing a grittier bit to their pop du jour.  Pounding drums, clever vocal delivery, and those angular guitar lines cutting through one another just make this the perfect end of fall to winter jam.  The Trust EP will be in stores on November 16th!

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Generationals-Trust.mp3]

Download: Generationals – Trust [MP3]

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