Category: News

ACL Artist Spotlight: Leon Bridges

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Leon BridgesSo that time of the year is fast approaching here in Austin: ACL season! With this slight break in the blistering heat I’ve been dreaming of our near future frolicking in field of Zilker Park and it’s only good and proper that we begin our pre-fest coverage now so you’re adequately prepared to bounce around from stage to stage with your well tuned and highlighted game plan. Schedule conflicts be damned, we’re here to help you make the most of your weekend(s), and that starts with Leon Bridges.

Follow the jump for some songs and my brief take on why you shouldn’t miss Leon Bridges. Read more

Sweet! New DIIV Tune

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DIIV

DIIV

A few years ago, DIIV was all the rage on the Internet, but when their album came out, I’ll admit I wasn’t blown away…as much as people expected me to be. But, I had a lot of hope for the band going forward, especially after they put on an incredible set at Levitation Fest this past year. Lucky for us, their new single fulfills on the live sets promise. It holds onto the slightly jangling post rock atmosphere, while driving home a pop-centric vocal that’s perfectly fitting. The date of their confusingly titled Is The Is Are has yet to be announced, but rest assured, it’s coming soon via Captured Tracks.

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New Chain of Flowers Track

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chainofflowersIf you’re booking gigs with the likes of The Fall, Destruction Unit and Ceremony, you’ve got to be doing something right in my book, thus why I’ve caught onto Cardiff’s Chain of Flowers. Musically, you’re ears are surrounded by a huge wall of noise, with buzzsaw guitars grinding at the front of the mix. From the back of the club, however, you can hear the vocals echoing over a pounding rhythm section. The group is set to release their self-titled debut on October 16th via Alter, so let’s keep our fingers crossed that it lives up to the promise of the early singles.

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ATX Spotlight: Grivo

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11000827_1662911327269974_5012879236338174425_nHave we mentioned before that Austin is chock full of incredibly promising bands on the rise?  No?  Well it is.  Yet again here is a band from the ATX called Grivo who I’ve seen on some bills around town, but never actually taken the time to listen to.  I’m pleased with myself for giving the band a few spins today as I’m rather enjoying what I’ve discovered.  The band is describes their sound as primarily shoe gaze, though to me it’s as if they are in a genre all their own.  Think shoe gaze blended with dark and melodic pop sounds.  You’ll just have to hit play to see what I mean.

Check out more tunes from Grivo on their bandcamp page.

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Show Preview: Jenny Hval @ Holy Mountain (Tonight)

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jennyThere must be a soft spot in the hearts of Holy Mountain, as they’ve got a couple of really beautiful songstresses playing their venue in the next week, Jenny Hval, however, is first up. She’s gotten a lot of praise for Apocalypse, girl, her newest album, with the 7.9 from everyone’s favorite haters over at P4K. Clearly, she’s doing something right, which should encourage you to head over to Holy Mountain tonight to check out her set. She’ll be accompanied by Briana Marela, who is know slouch in her own right, having recently released All Around Us for Jagjaguwar.  It’s a heavy hitting evening of ladies, and it’s only $11 bucks, HERE.

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Sing-A-Long with Stanley Brinks and the Wave Pictures

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berlinThere’s just something about the work between The Wave Pictures and Stanley Brinks that’s just exceptionally charming. You can hum the words or sing them at full strength, but regardless you’ll find yourself being charmed. It’s just some sort of insane magic they’ve concocted together, with more coming in the form of the album titled My Ass. But, while we wait for it, Fika Recordings is letting you grab a 7″ with this wonderful tune; I think I already have half the words memorized, and plan to have the whole thing down by the time you read this. Grab copies of the album or the 7″ directly from the wonderful label.

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ATX Popfest 2015

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ATX Popfest 00It all started when Nathan ran his mouth about getting a bunch of bands together to celebrate just how damn good Austin’s Pop scene is right now. It is a renaissance. With long time ATH faves like Shivery Shakes, She Sir, Young Girls (HTX) and Letting Up Despite Great Faults, Popfest had a number of shiny new things to shimmy to including Templo X, Summer Salt, Polio Club, (new to me) MCG and new old friends in Tres Oui to round things out. Well, OK, Tres Oui is kinda Literature, but not really, so still “new”…

Pics and recap? Sure.

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Why Not Share This New Craft Spells Track?

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1005485_10152016345456055_1677839790_nThe name Craft Spells has essentially become synonymous with bedroom pop music that will set your feet to dancing and your head spinning with each dreamy soundscapes, so when I see that there’s a new track from this project of Justin Vallesteros, I have to share it with you. It looks like this new track comes from an upcoming 7″ that will be released October 30th via Captured Tracks, and it still features the swirling pop from before, but this time around it feels like that swirling pop has been dowsed in a healthy dose of funk. The beat is slowed, and bursts of strange synth sounds crop up regularly. It’s a chill tune, but one that manages to hold your attention all the way through. What do you think?

 

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Gun Outfit Unleash New Single

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gunoutfitJust when you thought you had Gun Outfit pegged, they go and mix things up on you, tossing out a real slow burner as their latest single. Kind of sounds like the post-rock ghost of Bill Callahan, which I won’t be complaining about anytime soon. There’s all sorts of space in the track being filled in and out with guitar noodling and percussive touches to flesh out the number. Their new album, Dream All Over, definitely will be on my list of must buys, but just in case you haven’t been thoroughly convinced, give this one a listen. You can grab the album from Paradise of Bachelors on October 16th.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/204356468″ params=”color=ff9900&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Black Lips Give Us a Ditty

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blacklipsI’ve always enjoyed the Black Lips, but I have to admit, sometimes their ramshackle approach can make a full length listen difficult. Surely this new track exemplifies the band’s knack for wrapping their sound around warm melodies; it’s almost just a jangling folk pop tune…and that’s definitely fine by me. Perhaps it’s unexpected in the long run of their musical approach, but looking forward it might offer a glimpse at where the band is going. We get to hear this number on a new 7″ with my favorite ladies, The Coathangers, when they release a double-sided split on November 13th via Suicide Squeeze Records.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/221352593″ params=”color=ff9900&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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