Category: Featured

SXSW Watchlist: Grand Atlantic

Leave a comment

We’re falling in love with the South Pacific this year.  Bands like Crayon Fields, Surf City and The Clean have made their mark on our site, and I’ve found another gem in Australia’s Grand Atlantic.  This band shoots straight for the heart of those in love with power-pop.  There’s a little bit of fuzz in their sound, which recalls Teenage Fanclub or the lesser known band, The Comas.  But, the tune I’m bringing you today reminds me a lot of Dandy Warhols.  All these little markings demonstrate just what a wide array of influences go into the band’s most recent album How We Survive. In a year where guitar bands are making their comeback, this is a group you’ll want to catch during SXSW.  It’s just simple poewr-pop, made for those about to rock. They’re playing Sounds Australia party, as well as a few other dates, so do yourself a favor and get into Grand Atlantic.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/02-Tripwires-1.mp3]

Download: Grand Atlantic – Tripwires [MP3]

SXSW Watchlist: Still Life Still

Leave a comment

slsWe continue our highlight on a few SXSW bands this week with Canadian outfit Still Life Still.  Having formed close to 10 years ago, you would expect this band to be a lot more well known in the national blogosphere.  However, when you take into account that the guys formed up as teenagers and have had a few band names changes, it’s not surprising that they still fly a bit under the radar.  Still Life Still even fly a bit under our radar, as we sort of missed out on their admirable debut LP of 09 Girls Come Too.  The stand out track from that album “Kid” can be found below.  It sounds a bit like some old school post-emo bands with a bit more of a pop beat backing it.  Also, our SXSW watchlists from here on out will now include a brief 5-6 question interview of questions we generated for our favorite SXSW artists.  We hope this helps you to get to know these artists a little bit better.  Still Life Still band member Brendon Sarinnen answers our questions after the jump.

Read more

FTC: Sir Douglas Quintet

One comment

sdq

From the closet this week is the San Antonio based Sir Douglas Quintet, whose albums, The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet(1966) and Mendocino (1968) were pretty much the soundtrack to my childhood.  The latter of which is still one of my favorite albums of all time. Riding on the coattails of the British invasion of the early sixties, Doug Sahm, (who passed away about 10 years ago) decided on a British sounding name, despite his obvious Texan drawl and with fellow members predominantly from Mexico.  Regardless of their lack of British ties, they still recorded an international hit 1965’s “She’s About A Mover”, and went on to influence a young Bob Dylan and later the mutual influence of the Grateful Dead, when Sahm moved his band out to San Francisco in 1966. On “At The Crossroads”, Doug Sahm’s raspy lyric, “You just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul” to this day still speaks to a whole generation of Texans.  A part Willie and a part Grateful Dead, SDQ deserves to be brought out and enjoyed by a more modern listening audience.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Sir_Douglas_Quintet_-_Mendocino_-_01_-_Mendocino.mp3]

SXSW Watchlist: Fergus and Geronimo

Leave a comment

f&gWe all know what a great music scene Austin has, but SXSW gives us all a chance to support our Texas brethren, and we’re here to do our part by highlighting Denton’s Fergus and Geronimo.  Primarily the work of Andrew Savage and Jason Kelly, the group expands to a raucous foursome for live purposes.  You might find them in the same line as The Strange Boys, though I’ll definitely have to give it to this group for their vocal qualities over our Austin compatriots.  If you want to get a head start on the band, you will be happy to know that they currently have three 7 inches up for grabs, all of which feature the band’s traditional American garage sound.  After seeing them open for The Dutchess and the Duke earlier this year, I found that they are the sort of band you can get behind every single night.  Fergus and Geronimo have several shows during SXSW, one being at the Woodsist showcase, so be sure to catch hold of them now, as they’ll be a hot ticket for the rest of the year.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/01-Tell-It-In-My-Ear.mp3]

Download: Fergus and Geronimo – Tell It In My Ear [MP3]

A2W: Clouds Are Ghosts

Leave a comment

cloudsrghostsIt’s been awhile since our last artist to watch feature, so we thought we’d press on this week with Austin band The Clouds Are Ghosts.  The band has been building a lot of deserving positive press recently around town on sites like The Austinist who also dropped an interview with the band several months ago.  Being a bit new to the Austin music scene having formed only in 2008, it’s surprising to see such a fresh band growing so quickly.  The recent rise in popularity is of course attributed to the quality of the band’s sound which has been compared to their Radiohead & Massive Attack cited influences.  This writer is ready to call them a more atmospheric and electronic version of European bands like Muse.  You definitely won’t hear the wailing rock guitars like that band, but Clouds Are Ghosts certainly have that “epic” feeling to their music.  The band, fronted by Jason Morris, recently came off an east coast tour and also just released their debut self-titled LP back in September.  We’re jumping on the hype bandwagon with this band and we’re betting you will too.  If you’d like to hear more, the band is currently offering up their new LP for free high-quality download on their website.  Live shows coming up are February 27th at Mohawk and a few TBA shows during SXSW.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Fields.mp3]

Download: The Clouds Are Ghosts – Fields [MP3]

SXSW Watchlist: Happy Hollows

3 comments

happyholowsWhen talking about L.A. band Happy Hollows, it’s all about lead singer and primary songwriter Sarah Negahdari.  She’s been called many things like “one of the coolest women of rock” by Wired magazine and a “rock goddess” by The Huffington Post.  All of these tags being fully deserved as evidenced by her intense and energy packed live shows.  No slouches themselves, band-mates Charlie Mahoney and Chris Hernandez joined up in 2006 to form the 3 piece band after Negahdari had done mostly open mic nights for several years.  Coming into 2010, The Happy Hollows just released their debut LP Spells to mostly positive reviews.  I expect these guys to bring some rock n roll to our SXSW festival in these times with rock bands gettin’ more and more mellow.  Stay tuned for details on shows during SXSW week featuring Happy Hollows.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/The-Happy-Hollows_01_Faces.mp3]

Download: The Happy Hollows – Faces [MP3]

FTC: The English Beat

2 comments

englishThis Friday over at Emo’s you can get into see the legendary The English Beat. Even more legendary is the fact that they’re known as a different band on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean, as our British compatriots refer to them simply as The Beat. But, what stands the test of time is their music.  They combined a lot of the two-tone ska elements and they combined them with really catchy pop hooks.  Sure, this was over-done by many people in that last wave of ska (we’re looking at you Sublime and Reel Big Fish), but The English Beat did it with a whole lot more sensibility than the rest; they did it a whole lot earlier too! My first introduction to the group was through “Mirror in the Bathroom,” though I found the rendition from SLC Punk by Fifi a bit more my pace.  The song that sticks for me though is perfect for all your dance party mixes, so throw this tune on the mix, and revisit The English Beat, or The Beat. Whatever.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/07-Save-It-For-Later.mp3]

SXSW Watchlist: We Are Wolves

One comment

wolvesWe continue our SXSW watchlist coverage this week with Montreal based band We Are Wolves.  Formed in 2000, the 3 piece outfit began as a small project amongst friends that later grew until a full time touring band circa 2005.  The guys currently sport 3 LPs with their most recent effort, Invisible Violence, seeing the light of day last week (our Canadian friends got that one back in October).  Now with several North American and European tours under their belts, We Are Wolves are heading down to SXSW in March for our little festival.  We’ve come to enjoy the dance oriented garage rock sounds these Canadians bring to the table and think you will too.  To quote the band directly, the sound is “A post-punk landscape filled with analogue trees. It’s like rock after the post-modern explosion.”  Hell yeah.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/We_Are_Wolves_Holding_Hands_128.mp3]

Download: We Are Wolves – Holding Hands [MP3]

1 … 51 52 53 54 55 … 77
Social Media Auto Publish Powered By : XYZScripts.com