This is fine.
The photo guy has to have his best of list, right?
The five photos featured are my favorite moments shooting music this year. I want to share some background about them, what was going on when they happened. These aren’t the “best” photos I have taken, but they are all my best memories captured. Thank you, 2011 Live Music, and thank you Austin Town Hall for inviting me to be part of the team.
Break it for the rundown and a gallery of other favorites…
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On a day when the announcement of a new Shins record is probably taking lots of attention, there’s news from the former Shins camp that, for me, is just as exciting. Former member Dave Hernandez who made his fame pre-Shins with Scared of Chaka has a new outfit titled Little Cuts. The band is set to release their first 7″, Plastic Disaster, via the excellent Dirtnap Records, and this track we’re premiering is excellent. It’s got this brooding post-hardcore feel to it, but still is able to maintain a great bit of pop sensibility, showing that the band can go any which way; it’s everything you want if you’re an old rocker growing up. I’m pretty excited for this, and I hope you are too!
| Date | 12/16/11 |
|---|---|
| Location | The North Door |
| Doors | 7:30 |
| Tickets | FREE! |
We had so much fun at our council meeting last month, we decided to do it all over again on Friday night at The North Door! It’s pretty much the same story as last time kids: great music, cheap drinks, and plenty of good people to hang with on Friday night. Being that it’s the holiday season, we’ll also try to incorporate some sweet holiday jams and give away some awesome holiday themed ATH prizes. Don’t forget that you can also partake of the great food provided at the North Door bar by the incredible Tamale Molly. Entrance to the North Door is in the alley directly behind The ND venue. According to the by-laws of Austin Town Hall, all readers of this site are required to attend.
[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/07_Repatriated.mp3]Download: Handsome Furs – Repatriated [MP3]
One of the bands that really excited me in 2011 was Radical Dads, the Brooklyn group that released Mega Rama this year. The group’s just put out their Skateboard Bulldog 7“, which features two new excellent songs. We’ve already tossed up one, and we’ve got the second one to offer you today. On this number you can hear the cacophonous indie pop just blasting straight at you from the minute the song starts. For me, it exemplifies everything great about the band; they’re just out there kicking out good solid rock n’ roll in the name of fun. There’s no tricks, no hidden agenda, just straight up indie pop…of the best sort of course. Pick up the 7” HERE.
Download: Radical Dads – Know It All [MP3]
As previously reported, The Coast of Nebraska are planning to release an EP of new material every month for the next year. A staggering task to say the least, the band have been it at for just two months now with their October EP already out and new EP Hope Swallows out now. The group admit a little bit of delay for their November release, but we won’t hold it against them. A stream of the entire new EP is over on bandcamp or you can check out my favorite new tune “Hope Swallows” below.
Download: The Coast of Nebraska – Hope Swallows [MP3]
Here’s a soothing new snyth-pop tune from Portland based group Lovers. The song appears on the band’s recently released album I Was The East via Badman Recordings. I honestly knew close to nothing about this group prior to hearing this tune and it’s caused me to do a bit more research on the band. More coming soon.
Download: Lovers – How Beautiful You Are [MP3]
Just recently we brought you a tune from Tobias Isaksson and his project Azure Blue, and we’ve got another wonderful track to share with you. This number comes from the band’s Rule of Thirds record, which you can purchase right now from Matinee Recordings (one of my favorites). On the track below, there’s this old school New Order feel, at least in the organic construction of the song, but Isaksson’s vocals have a very different quality, almost airy or dreamy. It alters the club-driven soundscape, but carries you into a far off place in your mind nonetheless. Pick up the album at your local store now!
Download: Azure Blue – Little Confusions [MP3]
If you checked out our Top Songs, you probably saw Terry Malts, and hopefully you were all over that jam. But now, as the band promised when we caught up with them at 29th Street Ballroom, they’ve finally got their album, Killing Time, ready for release on Slumberland on February 21st. This track’s a mix of the group’s former project, Magic Bullets, and their own fuzzy pop sensibility that they’ve portrayed in TM. It’s definitely not as quick as “Something About You,” but in its brevity, it almost begs you to play it again, rather than lay it all on the line quick as can be. Still, it’s going to be awesome.
Download: Terry Malts – Tumble Down [MP3]
We’ve already brought you our songs of the year and Texas albums of the year, so now it’s time for the much anticipated albums of the year list. I’m sure many of you will notice some big names off the list and you will be ready to plead your case about why we are wrong. We’ll hear ya out… Feel free to drop us a comment with your own list or just to debate with us. Follow the jump for list.
50) The New Tigers – s/t
49) Secret Cities – Strange Hearts
48) AM & Shawn Lee – Celestial Electric
47) Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
46) Blue Skies for Black Hearts – Embracing the Modern Age
45) Geoffrey O’ Connor – Vanity is Forever
44) Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams
43) Destroyer – Kaputt
42) Obits – Moody, Standard and Poor
41) The Rosebuds – Loud Planes Fly Low
40) Tim Cohen – Magic Trick
39) Bad Sports – Kings of the Weekend
38) Chelsea Wolfe – Apokalypsis
37) Chad Van Gaalen – Diaper Island
36) Male Bonding – Nothing Hurts
35) Crystal Stilts – In Love With Oblivion
34) Cold Cave – Cherish the Light Years
33) Devon Williams – Euphoria
32) Okkervil River – I Am Very Far
31) Sonny and the Sunsets – Hit After Hit
30) Smith Westerns – Dye It Blonde
29) Wax Idols – No Future
28) Grooms – Prom
27) Cut Off Your Hands – Hollow
26) The War on Drugs – Slave Ambient
25) Ducktails – Ducktails III
24) Papercuts – Fading Parade
23) Atlas Sound – Parallax
22) Mind Spiders – s/t
21) Craft Spells – Idle Labor
20) Yuck – s/t
19) The Joy Formidable – The Big Roar
18) Comet Gain – Howl of the Lonely Crowd
17) The Drums – Portamento
16) Snowmine – Laminate Pet Animal
15) King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
14) The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
13) Girls Names – Dead to Me
12) Light for Fire – s/t
11) Other Lives – Tamer Animals
10) Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
9) Iceage – New Brigade
8 The Antlers – Burst Apart
7) Seapony – Go With Me
6) Pure X – Pleasure
5) Cloud Nothings – s/t
4) Real Estate – Days
3) Gold Leaves – The Ornament
2) The Twerps – s/t
1) Wye Oak – Civilian
So that’s it ladies and gents, we are officially putting an end to 2011. What do you like and what do you not like? Let’s hear it.
One of the bands that we really got behind this year was Guards, and they’ve just hooked up with the folks over at White Iris to release a brand spanking new 7″. This new track is super rambunctious, and I absolutely adore the way the guitars stutter along before they burst into this breezy pop chorus. Of course, the band then returns to the stuttering guitar lines before jumping completely back into the joyousness that epitomizes everything I enjoy about listening to this band. You can get your hands on this 7″ now, so what are you waiting for?
Download: Guards – Do It Again [MP3]
