Get to Know Mike Pace and the Child Actors

mikeyI’m really glad to hear Mike Pace making new music.  I was bummed when his old act, Oxford Collapse, called it a day; the group had these catchy pop rock songs that bordered on art rock.  Now he’s back with Mike Pace and the Child Actors, working on some new material that you’ll want to get to know. The example we have below throws Pace back into solid sounds of solid guitar pop, while his vocals still have that slightly strain that made his previous work more than just ordinary.  If you’re in need of something energetic and undoubtedly strong in the realms of pop rock, then just listen to this track on repeat all day.  Best Boy, the band’s new LP, will be out January 13th..so soon!

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Oxford Collapse Call It Quits

oxford_collapse_2A sad day in the world of indie music news as one of our favorite bands of 2008 Oxford Collapse have decided to call it quits after over 8 years in existence.  We’ve enjoyed this band ever since we caught their show at Mohawk several months back and had the chance to interview them before their set.  You can read an official statement about the break up over on the Sub Pop blog.  Take some time today to check out the last single from Oxford Collapse called “Birthday Wars” or read our positive review of the band’s last album Bits.  Let’s hope the guys keep making music outside of this project.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/birthdaywars.mp3]

Download: Oxford Collapse – Birthday Wars [MP3]

Oxford Collapse @ Mohawk (8/27)

Oxford Collapse will see a return to Mohawk Austin on Wednesday evening after playing a free show at the venue earlier this summer.  Doors for the show are set to open at 7pm with opening act Love as Laughter kicking things off around 8pm.  Get a head start and buy tickets for only $10 from Front Gate Tickets.  Austin Town Hall will be on hand with for a show review, pictures and interview of the band. Also, preview the show by reading our highly praising review of the band’s new album Bits.

Oxford Collapse – Bits

Rating: ★★★★½

Throughout this summer, music fans have mostly been greeted by mellower forms of tunes, with an absence of rock coming our ways–and by this, I mean the kind of music with loud guitars and banging drums. Well folks, Oxford Collapse wants to change that.

As the car peels out in “Electric Arc,” the drums come banging in your ears. Soon, the guitar will join this fray, and off the band goes. It’s hard not to feel your heart beating a little quicker in this song. Nice start boys.

They follow that up with another short song full of angular guitars and simple melodies, but its done just the right way, throwing the band back to the classic post-punk sounds of the mid-90s–a la Braid and Jawbreaker. Then they come with a tension building song in “Vernon Jackson,” which builds up continuously through the song, only to have the band slow it down in the end as the song begins to fade out. It’s clear by this point that they have enough control over themselves to pull back the reigns at just the right time.

They just keep going from here, pushing their guitars into your ears, as the drums pound away. Oxford Collapse sound tighter than they have, and a lot more comfortable as well, which may be why they claim “we’re doing fine” in “Young Love Delivers.” But, then they throw a change up. “A Wedding” slows things down, and sounds as if they took a cue from Final Fantasy, using string instruments to back the strength of their vocals. Its a good breathing point.

Then they go right back to it–walls of feedback thrown right back into your face as they continue their rocking onslaught. For me, they seem really straightforward with their approach, and they don’t seem to go off into the distance of atmospherics and noise as they did on their last album.

Towards the end, they start to switch it up, and its for the betterment of the album. “Children’s Crusade” is a brilliant song, and one that will probably make a lot of my mixes throughout the year. “John Blood” similarly slows things down, at least during the chorus, where a female chants her way through the chorus. Still, there is enough guitar work on this song, to make it border between rocker and ballad. “B Roll” also takes a gentler approach, but that approach is matched again by the tension building of the guitar work.  I do wish that this time, they just would have unleashed that guitar completely, but for me, this is their first misstep.

They close it off with “I Hate Nobody” which isn’t immediately gratifying, but as you work your way through the end of the song, it wraps up the album perfectly. Anguished guitars fueled by the deliberately dense drumming, and finally, you can breathe. It’s over.

It’s hard to find much wrong with this record. Personally, I think the mix on the vocals had some issues in a few places, but for the most part, I just went along with the album. It’s enjoyable as you follow around each of the corners and twists and turns.  Let’s hope for more rock like this as we wrap up 2008.

Oxford Collapse returns to Austin on August 27th at The Mohawk, but as of yet, tickets are not readily available.

Have a listen to a new song from their album:

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/birthdaywars.mp3]

Download: Oxford Collapse – Birthday Wars [MP3]

New Single from Oxford Collapse

We here at Austin Town Hall are quite fond of Oxford Collapse, so when we got ourselves this little piece of magic, we had to post it.  The song is called “The Birthday Wars” and it comes off the new album BITS, which is going to be released by Sup Pop on August 5th.  The guitar work alone makes this song for me.  Look for our review of BITS soon.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/birthday_wars.mp3]

Download: birthday_wars.mp3