New Music from Walter (of Walkmen fame)

walterWhy we’re all still recovering from the sad hiatus of the Walkmen, the various members of the band all seem to have their own projects going on, such as Walter Martin.  Our first taste of his up-coming work has me reminiscing about the early work of Matt Pryor’s Terrible Twos.  The song is seemingly childish, in both subject matter and the way the vocals are delivered.  It only seems fitting that Karen O., who did the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, shows up to lend her voice to this number. I like that there’s an inner child shining through here, and possibly this album is aimed as something he can pass along to his own kid.  The album is titled We’re All Young Together; it comes out on May 13th.

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Austin Spotlight: Party Plants Release EP

partyplantsYou want to keep Austin weird? Well, then the best way to do it is by realizing how great our odd-ball pop bands are.  The latest in the line of quirky music comes to us via Party Plants, who’ve just released a new EP.  Honestly, it reminds me of of the better parts of Presidents of the USA, which really isn’t a knock by any means.  There’s a definitive bounce to the tunes as well, giving the feeling a bit of liveliness that’s much needed to entertain in a live setting.  The band has also been building quite a name for themselves by playing all over town, with no bad reviews coming our way.  You can grab the EP HERE.

Another New Tune from Pillar Point

pillarpointI’m really glad Scott Reitherman is still writing music, as his work in Throw Me the Statue has sorely been missed.  Of course, now that’s he operating under this new Pillar Point moniker, he hasn’t strayed too far from his original sounds. He’s still combining these melodious hooks with pop-centric focus.  Vocals are gentle, yet lofty, rising and falling throughout this song.  It’s just another sign that his upcoming self-titled debut is going to be quite enjoyable for fans of easy-listening pop; it’s being released by Polyvinyl Records on February 25th.

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Personal & the Pizzas Issue “Death Threat” to Pizza Underground

pizzaOkay, so maybe the title is a little bit of hyperbole, but for all intents and purposes, this new track from Personal & the Pizzas is aimed directly at the much-hyped, yet probably worthless, Pizza Underground.  The latter band is all an act, riding on the fame of a child-actor-all-growns-up, but Pesonal…that’s a band.  They’ve been slinging dirty rock n’ roll tunes for quite some time, and this new one, though a dis-track, is right in that vein.  Let’s all embrace the grit and grime, and stake our claim as fans of real rock n’ roll like the Pizzas.

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SXSW 2014 Interviews: Vaadat Charigim

vaadatWe continue our push towards SXSW with yet another interview.  We turn your attention to Israeli band Vaadat Charigim, who’ve just signed on with Burger Records.  This will be their first time in Austin, so let’s make sure they feel welcome. Scroll down for responses from Juval Haring; we’ve also got a few of the bands announced shows listed, with more to follow as the festival draws near.  Read more

A Night Out In Austin (2/5)

Mozes & The FirstbornIt was a busy Wednesday night. We had some solid locals kicking off bills that featured some far travelling acts we have loved and some we wanted to see if they were the real deal. We straddled our two most frequents haunts, The Mohawk and Red7, despite the bone drying cold. I met Nate downtown, brought one camera, one lens. Instead of a normal show review, I am going to do the share few thoughts and plenty of pics thing.

Bands featured: Hundred Visions, Mozes & The Firstborn, The Sour Notes, Yuck and together PANGEA

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Another Tony Molina Jam

tonySo far it seems that Tony Molina‘s work is summed up by two simple adjectives: short and sweet.  This latest track from his reissue clocks in at just under a minute, yet I’m still finding myself hooked due to its immediacy.  It sort of reminds me of Screeching Weasel‘s old school hits blended with the instrumentation of someone that loves playing guitarmonies. While you can easily complain that it’s too short to sink your teeth into, you’ll be happy that Tony’s re-releasing Dissed & Dismissed on Slumberland Records on March 25th. If this isn’t enough for you, then grab the record when it hits stores.

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Have A Nice Weekend With Breton

Breto - War Room StoriesOne of the acts I absolutely loved at SxSW two years ago was Breton. They recently released their latest album War Room Stories on iTunes and are coming back for this year’s conference.

The track I feature below is a poppy number. It is a tour bus collision of Foals and Friendly Fires. The rest of the album is kind of all over the place. You think you can dismiss a song as derivative or against your grain and then it has an odd break or goes a direction you may not have expected. It is a dance pop music mash up with an accent and I kind of dig it. Give it a stream here. “Got Well Soon” is quite brilliant, as well.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/119160803″ params=”color=ff9900&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Austin Spotlight: SHMU Releases Chroma Key

shmuHonestly, I don’t entirely know what to say in order to get you into Austin’s SHMU. There are these weird glitch elements thrown into a pot chocked full of bubbling pop melodies, creating this spectrum of musical experimentation pushed to its limits. It’s off-putting in a fascinating sense; you’re attracted to the oddity of the goings-on, yet you can’t identify precisely what it is you love.  It’s like the Radio Dept. and Working for a Nuclear Free City got mashed up by the makers of Atari. Regardless of how you want to identify the music, I think you’ll all be better off today if you spent some time listening to the most recent release, Chroma Key. It’s a pleasing head-scratcher, to say the least.

Natural Child Expand Their Sound with Out in the Country

naturalchildIf you’re a follower of Natural Child, you could easily tell your friends that you saw this one coming.  From the moment they organized their “Family Band” the riotous barroom rockers have been aching to broaden their horizons.  They’re moving further from the blues-y garage rock styles they employed earlier on; they’re pushing more towards a solid country/blues world.  But, that being said, they’ve still got the chops to make their music a must have in any nerds collection. This smooth number is just an indicator that as they’re songwriting matures, they’re still just as bad ass as you expected them to be. Their new album Dancin With Wolves (which oddly doesn’t feature Kevin Costner on the cover) will be out via Burger Records on February 25th.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/01-01-Out-in-the-Country.mp3]

Download: Natural Child – Out in the Country [MP3]

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