Austin Town Hall

Oh man, is 2011 over already?  It is indeed, which means End of Year list time!  Of course, that means it’s time for you to tell us where we went wrong, but on this list, we’re thinking we got it pretty right on.  You’ll notice we expanded our list to a Top 15 of Texas Artists, as we thought our state did a great job, musically (not politically) speaking this year.  I’ll admit, it might be a little Austin-centric, but we’re based in the town, so get the Austin word a lot faster.  Apologies to Houston and San Antonio, as your scenes weren’t represented, but it’s nothing personal.  Feel free to leave us a comment to yell at us or tell us we were right on.  But, that being said, remember this is just the OPINION of a few dudes keeping it real in Austin.

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Lucky for us, we were able to catch up with one of our favorites, Jim Ward, prior to his gig at Fun Fun Fun Fest this past weekend. Read on for a bit of info on Jim, as well as his future recordings with Sparta. Read More

Fun Fun Fun Fest starts today, and not like tonight, it kicked off around noon. You’re already late! Some of us are disappointed that the festival was forced to move away from its stomping grounds at Waterloo Park, and now set up at the large landscape of Auditorium Shores. No matter how dusty or crowded it gets, there are so many great bands performing that will keep you bobbin’ your happy little head. Here are the top 5 acts that I am most stoked about seeing.

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With all the music we’ve got going on at Auditorium Shores, it’s time we look at some decisions.  Fun Fun Fun Fest is going to be a blast, but sometimes you’ll have to make up your mind who you want to see.  Here’s the first battle that I’ve come across since the schedule was released yesterday: Jim Ward vs. Mind Spiders. Read More

At this point in his career, Jim Ward has put out more music than some musicians hope to write and record in a lifetime.  With his legendary work for At the Drive-In, Sparta, Sleepercar and his solo recordings, the guy really has done at all.  After saying that, I guess one thing he hasn’t done is a duet with Tegan Quin, which is just what you’ll get on this new single “Broken Songs”.  The new acoustic ballad style song appears on Jim’s upcoming album Quiet in the Valley, On the Shores the End Begins & The Electric Six due out August 2nd on Tembloroso Recordings.

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Download: Jim Ward – Broken Songs [MP3]

Friday is another one of those rare (or not so rare) days in Austin that comes around every once and a while that blows the minds of us music types.  The day is so jammed full of music goodness that we are dedicating a whole post just to Friday’s shows.  Which one are you headed to?

The Parish: Elvis Perkins & A. A. Bondy @ 8pm for $14.

Mohawk: Bishop Allen and Darwin Deez outside @ 8pm.  Tickets for $10.

Stubbs: Indie supergroup Monsters of Folk @ 7pm for just $35.

Beerland: Local boys Frantic Clam, Visitors, Basic & Hotel Hotel for only $5 @ door.

Austin Music Hall: Mastodon, Dethklok, High on Fire, & Converge @ 6:30 for $35.

Red 7: The Revival Tour with Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Jim Ward (Sparta), Frank Turner, Possessed By Paul James, & Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price (Drag the River) for only $10.

Jim Ward’s project outside of Sparta, Sleepercar, will be showing up at Mohawk this dull Monday evening.  Doors for the event are set for 8pm with no opening band yet announced.  Preview the show with the band’s most recent single “A Broken Promise”.

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Download: Sleepercar – A Broken Promise