Featured – Page 50 – Austin Town Hall

FT5: Road Trip Albums

May 7, 2010 jon.wagner 6 comments

Well students, it’s nearly finals time for a lot of you and before the prospect of (dare I say it) summer school, many of you have two or so glorious weeks of freedom. It’s time to hit the old dusty trail and have some adventures farting on each other, spilling beer in your friend’s car and of overheating engines in the middle of nowhere. The wildly adventurous times of our youth elude many of us today, but the memories remain; stuck together like the pack of gummi-bears that fell into the dash air vent. Yes, the good old fashioned road trip is about as American as it gets. Piling in a car, carrying more people than available seatbelts and heading towards the border or greener pastures (wherever they might be). Two questions become instantly prevalent: 1.) What should we listen to? and 2.) Where to? (Although the second is MUCH less important) After all, music and the open road are as inseparable as college and binge drinking. Fear not my young compadres, throw the calculus and audio books out the window and crank up the tunes. Here is the FT5 of Road Trip Albums to get you down along the road and back again.

FTC: Against Me!

May 6, 2010 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

As of late I’ve been revisiting a lot of my favorite pop-punk records. It’s that time of year when I shed my devotion to introspective tunes. It’s sunny outside, and I can’t help but to roll down the windows, letting the pop just blast a smile on my face. One of my steady go-tos in the last several years has been Against Me!. I mean, they combine a little bit of folk/country, a little bit of punk, and yet it all maintains this clever pop sensibility. Their record As the Eternal Cowboy is by far my favorite. I’ll gladly sing you every single song on this album, and I think you’ll find yourself in the same position if you give the band a try. They have a new record coming out titled White Crosses, if you’re into this sort of stuff, or decide you want to be after listening to this killer track.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/04-Sink-Florida-Sink.mp3]

Featured

I Was Wrong: The Walkmen’s You & Me

April 29, 2010 nathan.lankford 15 comments

We’re starting a new feature today, one that we hope you really enjoy. The section is titled “I Was Wrong,” and it’s based on things we’ve either said or reviewed on the site that we’d like to apologize for, since we’ve come to realize now that we were wrong. I know some people want me to apologize right off the bat for my Vampire Weekend review, but I’m not there yet, sorry. The first edition goes to The Walkmen and their album You & Me. When it first came out, I wrote this REVIEW. I found it boring and uninspired, especially after listening to “The Rat” on repeat for years. Now, as time has gone on, and I’ve invested more time in the record, and seen the band perform the songs live, things have changed up a whole lot. There are songs sprawling with emotion, catchy basslines that walk you through the songs, and then there is “In the New Year.” Sharp edged guitars ring in your ears before Hamilton’s vocals crash into the scene. Listen to this song, now! For that matter, go back and listen to the record, and see what I failed to see upon the first ten listens. I made a rash decision based on hurried listening, and I’ve come to regret that entirely. To you, dear reader, I’m sorry, I was wrong.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/the_walkmen_inthenewyear.mp3]

Featured

A2W: Guns Of Navarone

April 28, 2010 RayRay 3 comments

It’s that time yet again! Time for your friends at Austin Town Hall to start hyping some local bands that deserve a little praise. We’ll keep the hype machine going this week with a short feature on Austin band Guns of Navarone. We were first exposed to this quartet last Saturday night when they opened up at Stubbs for our friends Whitman. Upon first listen, the band came across as a dirtier version of Old 97s with a super tight rhythm section provided by bassist Dustin Meyer and drummer Richard Knox. Mix that in with some country picked guitar from Seth Gruenberg and a perfect southern voice from Corey Reinisch, and you’ve got the Guns of Navarone sound. The songs are quite obviously labeled as “alt-country” which makes it easy to compare their sound to early tunes from Uncle Tupelo or the aforementioned Old 97s. Either way, their simple approach to songwriting and fast paced punk-country is a welcome refresher to the often times watered down indie scene full of “weird” and “complex” bands. Guns of Navarone currently have their debut EP up for download on their Band Camp site while they prep their debut LP for release later this summer. Give ’em a shot. You can also check out more of their upcoming tour dates over on myspace.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/01-You-Used-To-Be-100226-1.mp3]

Download: Guns of Navarone – You Used To Be [MP3]

4/23 Local Natives @ Antones

April 26, 2010 nathan.lankford 2 comments

Riding high upon the praise of Gorilla Manor, the band was intent upon showing everyone in Austin precisely why they deserve all the hype. After a poor booking job landed Local Natives inside Emos, the show was moved to Antones, where even still, the show sold out. Luckily, we all got a chance to see one of our favorites, Suckers, open up the show. Follow the jump for the full story.

FT5: Beatles Songs with Subversive Lyrics

April 23, 2010 jon.goodrich 5 comments

The Vatican recently saw fit to forgive The Beatles for wrongs committed against the Catholic Church. The Beatles were guilty of such crimes as: claiming they were bigger than Jesus, having kooky haircuts, and of course, making the the best pop music the world has ever known. In their musical pursuits, the controversy The Beatles fostered was often was linked to the lyrics of their songs. Maybe Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is a reference to LSD. The fire referred to at the end of Norwegian Wood could be an act of arson. And every school boy knows that Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey is really about one man’s unsavory love affair with a primate. For decades people have been decoding Beatles lyrics looking for any minor detail that might be inflammatory, but the fact of the matter is, many Beatles lyrics are more blatantly strange. Follow the jump for the Top 5 Beatles Songs with Subversive Lyrics

FTC: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony

April 22, 2010 RayRay 2 comments

Call Bone Thugs-n-Harmony what you will, but don’t say they’re not original. A focus on harmonic textures may have just come into vogue for a recent wave of indie bands, but it was always a part of Bone’s sound. This wouldn’t be strange in its own right, but Bone brought harmonizing to a place it had rarely been: Hip-hop. The speed at which they rhyme coupled with almost impenetrable slang makes understanding exactly what Bone is saying difficult. But even if you don’t follow every word, the weird mix of rap over singing has to be heard to be appreciated. Bone broke into the main stream in the mid 90’s with “The Thuggish Ruggish Bone” and their tribute to Eazy-E (who famously discovered them) “Tha Crossroads.” For my money though, the “1st of Tha Month” is the best of their popular tracks.

We bring you this because the band is playing @ Emo’s on Saturday for only $18.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony-1st-Of-Tha-Month.mp3]

FT5: Things to Do While Listening to Music

April 16, 2010 nathan.lankford 6 comments

If you find yourself here, odds are that you’re probably a huge music fan, which means that music is going to play a predominant role in your life. I surveyed many friends, and mostly talked to myself, trying to figure out what the majority of people are doing when they decide to jam out. Of course, seeing as I’m the writer, I had to put my own personal touch on this, and thus the ranking of said practices while listening to music.

FTC: Braid

April 15, 2010 nathan.lankford One comment

Vinyl reissues are always a great reason to go and revist the classics, or at least those albums you regard as classics. Luckily, Polyvinyl Records agrees, as they are re-releasing four of the albums by emo band Braid. They’re one of my favorites for the genre, mostly because they brought on just a little bit more punk and experimentation than some of the other groups. Their tunes always had that bounce that got me into the scene as a teenager, yet they also had more agression than a lot of the other groups around at that time. Singer Bob Nanna’s voice has always been one of those I really enjoyed, especially in the live setting. Unfortunately, the band didn’t last forever, eventually parting ways, though 3/4 of the band went on to form Hey Mercedes. HM always seemed a bit softer to me, but I still got into it. Go back and revisit Braid, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor. The track we bring you is from Movie Music Vol. 2.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Braid-Grand_Theft_Autumn.mp3]

Download: Braid – Grand Theft Autumn [MP3]

Featured

ATH Interviews: Bonobo

April 13, 2010 jon.wagner One comment

Coming through Austin this Wednesday is Ninja-Tune artist Bonobo hailing from Brighton, UK. Following the release of his 4^th full length album, Black Sands, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Simon Green (aka Bonobo) took a moment to answer some questions for us. Follow the jump for the interview.

Featured

« 1 … 48 49 50 51 52 … 78 »