This is fine.
The crooning pop of Ra Ra Riot will make its way into Austin this Friday, twice! They will be playing a free show at our favorite record store, Waterloo Records at 5 PM. Then they’ll graba bite to eat before heading on over to the Parish to close out the evening. If you’re not sure about whether you want to go, just check out our review of the latest album The Rhumb Line .
You can find yourself tickets for the show at Frontgate Tickets.
Rating: 
A few months back I was fortunate enough to come across a short album by Atlanta band, Carbonas. After careful research I came across Gentleman Jesse and His Men, a band fronted by Carbonas bass player, Jesse Smith. I adore the more abrasive album featuring Jesse on bass, nothing comes close to my level of enjoyment when listening to the power-pop of the band he fronts.
Immediate references will draw upon similarities to bands such as The Exploding Hearts, due to vocal delivery, and Buzzcocks, based solely on emotional similarities. Still, one would have to go much farther back, back into the 50s bandstand rock n roll in order to complete the circle of influences. Every riff seems straight out of an era, but done so refreshingly that its hard not to fall in love right away.
Remember those bands you grew up listening to when you were younger? This should have been one of those bands. This should have been the only one. Every song has staying power, and it goes beyond the box we’ve placed Gentleman Jesse inside. If teenagers had good tastes, then they would spend countless hours in their mirrors singing and bouncing along to this album with a hairbrush in hand, wishing they could take to the stage. This album has that much power.
Vocal inflections allow for the listener to differentiate between each song, though you might find that the rhythm section becomes a little redundant at times. Still, you could list every single song on the album as a hit. Pick a song, sing along and you’ll bob your head for the rest of the day.
“All I Need Tonight,” the third track definitely jumps out at you as one of the more powerful songs. The backing vocals bring back the simplicity in garage rock, just in time for the killer solo at the end of the song. It’s precisely the way it was always meant to be; straightforward rock music without meandering into noise and atmospherics. “The Rest of My Days” ask “where is time going,” and its clear that the rest of my days will be spent listening to this album, this song.
The latter half of the night packs just as much punch as the first half of the album. Songs like “I Get So Excited” and “You Got Me Where You Want Me” are meant to be sung by entire audiences. Each song is full of fervor, hoping to grab the audience and hold them close to the speakers one last time before the album winds down to its end. No one should skip a song.
After listening to the album in my ears for days, its hard to be really objective here; this album is the most refreshing thing to come by and cleanse my pallet, which is odd due to its apparent nostalgia in the realm of power-pop. Those of you interested in good clean pop rock will do well to find this immediately. I can see it nearing the Top 10 right now as it plays again and again.
ATH caught up with Tegan & Sara at ACL Festival, and we had the good fortune of asking Sara a few questions about the band. We discuss things like why she hasn’t killed her sister yet, the current state of music in Canada, and a whole slew of other things. Full interview after the jump.
Danielson is offering up more free music by bringing you a new live EP entitled Danielson Alive! The songs can be downloaded indvidually or you can grab the whole thing at emusic (no subscription required). More new music from the New Jersey band will be coming soon enough!
In the week leading up to ACL, we had the pleasure of speaking with lead singer James Hyland of South Austin Jug Band. James and I discuss the departure of founding members of his band, why ACL is still a big deal, and why a Beck cover seemed like a good idea. Read the entire interview after the jump.
Longtime members of Merge Records, The Broken West are hitting up Austin tonight. The band comes to town fresh on the heels of their newest release, Now or Heaven and will be taking to the stage along with Hollywood Gossip. Mohawk says that they will open the doors at 8 PM, so expect the bands to take the stage around 9:30.
You can head on over to Merge Records to listen to the latest album from The Broken West.
Rating: 
On their first album, Wild Mountain Nation, Blitzen Trapper was all over the place. They played classic rock in a crooked modern pop manner, but the vocals lacked clarity in delivery. Their newest album, Furr, offered hopes of better production with the backing of Sub Pop Records, and dreams of consistency.
Those of us with high hopes might have to admit that despite the band’s efforts, we are only having our needs fulfilled on one level, that of the vocal delivery. It’s predominant departure from their previous effort, which does make this one exceedingly better than its predecessor.
One would be hard-fought not to notice the 60s-70s rock influences draped across this entire album, but they were there in the past. The previous albums spoke softly of such influences, but they step it up entirely on this album. All of this is furthered by the strength in production on this album, which pushed the influences to the forefront, rather than disguising them in a lack of clarity created by walls of noise.
They did write one of their worst songs ever, and chose to include it. “Love U” is full of unadulterated yelping, and it rarely provides anything worth holding onto. It’s merely walls of screaming, accompanied by sloppy musicianship, and it stands right in the middle of the album–just skip it.
Almost every single listener who has a weakness for the folkier moments in rock n’ roll will surely find the rest of the album enjoyable. Each track seems to recall another musician at every turn, as if the band set out to write an album full of covers. Songs like “Echos/Always on/EZ con” and title track “Furr” are purely magnificent. The subdued tones of each song warrants repeated listens for the rest of the year; the folkier side of Blitzen Trapper is where the band, ultimately, performs at their best.
It would be easy to pigeonhole this band as one intent upon revisiting the past, but they seem to have their own spin on our heralded past. One would be remiss to toss this band to the side due to a lack of originality; give it a couple of spins and you’ll find that the songs seem strikingly modern. The band is knocking at the door step of a solid album, and Furr is an album that furthers that dream for both the listener and the band.
