This is fine.
Immaculate Machine have a new single for you to check out from their upcoming album High on Jackson Hill due out in April. The tune is called “Sound the Alarm” and you can get it below.
Download: Immaculate Machine – Sound the Alarm[MP3]
UK indie rockers Gomez have some new tuneage for you to check out. Their new single “Airstream Driver” is set to appear on upcoming album A New Tide due out March 31st. What do you think?
Download: Gomez – Airstream Driver [MP3]
The newest Camera Obscura record, set to come out via 4AD Records on April 20th, has to be my most anticipated album of the year. Lets’ Get Out of This Country is still one of the greats of recent time, so I’m happy to present you with the first single of the forthcoming album, My Maudlin Career.
Download: Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career [MP3]
Rating: 
The Von Bondies crept out of the massive Detroit scene on the heels of The White Stripes. They were well versed in the garage stylings known to their locale. But, then they flipped the switch on us. They followed up their debut with a more straightforward album, and now they completely leave it all behind as they present us with Love, Hate and Then There’s You.
From the minute this album takes off with “Shut Your Mouth” you can tell that the entire group has begun pushing towards new ground. Sure, this opening track still revels in the garage-infused sound of old, but something new exists here, something that could lose fans while gaining scores of new ones. It’s the pop element.
Singer Jason Stollsteimer definitely has a brooding crooner quality, which recalls the vocal quality of a certain Mr. Flowers. It’s not entirely surprising when listening to the rest of this album, as the mood of the songs easily matches the aesthetic quality of Jason’s voice.
In a sense, the band comes off like a hard-edged version of The Killers. This isn’t too say that the band has entirely left behind their past in favor of a more commercial appeal to the masses. “Only to Haunt You” has the feeling of dark swirling pop melodies that garnered acclaim for the aforementioned band. Still, the band holds on to the darker element of this genre, fueled by the precise rhythm section. This batch of songs is clearly the most accessible set of tunes they’ve created up to this point, and the culmination of this point may be welcomed by many.
All the songs are short, and they hit your ears quickly. Occasionally, the vocals are matched with feuding vocal elements from Jason’s female counterpart, which give the band a bit of grit, though they never stray to far from the middle of the road. Therein lies one of the problems with this record: nothing here sounds entirely new to the listener. This isn’t mean to knock on the band entirely, as its quite difficult to produce purely original sounds nowadays, but this just seems a bit to easy for the band. At times the songs seem a bit uninspired, almost as if the band were just throwing about demos inside their studio.
Strong moments do exist throughout the entirety of this record, such as on “Accidents Will Happen.” Here you find the and bouncing along appropriately, as guitars jangle. But, you’ll also find a certain rawness to the vocals, which show that Von Bondies still like to stay close to home. They can’t seem to move on from their own history.
In the end, you find a band wavering on a middle ground, stuck between a poppier quality that is bubbling beneath the surface and their classic garage sound. Many will find that the pop elements warrant approval, while others will relish in the fact that the band could definitely hit it a lot harder. You decide.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/04-only-to-haunt-you.mp3]Download: Von Bondies – Only to Haunt You [MP3]
We’ve been following Appleseed Cast since the days of End of the Ring Wars way back in 1998. It would be easy to think that maybe the guys have lost a step or two having been away from touring for so long, but that wasn’t the case at Mohawk. Some of the older tunes like “Forever Longing the Golden Sunsets” & “Steps and Numbers” were not quite as tight as they used to be, but encore songs “Fight Song” and “Fishing the Sky” sounded like the old days. New tunes from Sagarmatha also quieted the crowd in their low points and blew you away in those typical AC rising actions. Let’s just saw we got exactly what we came for. Before the show, we had the chance to speak with singer, guitar player and founding member Chris Crisci about the state of his band. Follow the jump to read the full interview and check out some pictures from the show.
Passion Pit continues to create positive buzz around their band with an in studio performance for the good people at WOXY. The set features 4 songs from their recent EP out in September of 08. You can check out the whole thing over on the Futurist.
Download: Passion Pit – Sleepyhead(live) [MP3]
In anticipation for a sweet month of music, both at SXSW and the usual releases, we opted to throw out a tune by up and comers Harlem Shakes. The group is set to release their debut March 24th on Gigantic Music, just as you’ve spent all your hard earned cash on SXSW. Well, at least the album, Technicolor Health, has promise, especially based on this song.
Download: Harlem Shakes – Strictly Game [MP3]
Rating: 
It has been a productive year for Nathan Williams of the beach punk band Wavves. He released his first self titled album, a cassette, two 7”s, and now his second LP entitled Wavvves. Whew… but, ferrrrrrrrrrrt. You can’t help but give him credit for being prolific and releasing everything he creates without a filter, but herein lies the problem of not having a solid, well crafted album from beginning to end. His lo-fi approach reminds me of Times New Viking’s recording style in that they are lo-fi for the sake of being lo-fi. They have enough money and resources to record albums properly, but they’re too effing cheap to cough up the dough. It’s either that or they think they’ll get credibility for sounding raw, edgy, and punk as fuck but really, they just sound like total shiite on record. I really don’t understand why someone would want to record an album where a listener can’t even make out the lyrics? Everything is hitting red on the dials while recording which makes it clouded in white noise and fuzz to the point where it all breaks up. This minimal recording method can be thrown to the waste-side, but the album does have some shining moments when the album’s few strong songs break through Williams’ pot-fueled instrumental experiments.
“So Bored” is an instant ear grabber that breaks the trance of “More Fur,” a song in which Williams is setting the course for the Enterprise to deep space and does little more than use delay and an arpeggiator. “So Bored” brings things back to earth by starting off with a driving drumbeat that gets one of the raddest and dirtiest guitar intros I’ve heard in awhile. That’s right mofos, I just said rad. The vocals soon follow and the song is a beautiful dirty mess which showcases his melodic sensibilities instrumentally and vocally. (Note: try and figure out which 80’s song he copies with his closing guitar line. First one to do so gets free drinks on me the whole show when they play here in Austin for SXSW). “No Hope Kids” is another rocker that talks about, well…I don’t know because you can’t understand what in the hell he is saying since the recording sucks so bad. But the chorus is…(drum roll) “Nooooo-hooooope-kiiiiiiiiiiiiidsssss!” “Surf Goth” is another honorable mention just based on the weirdness of the singing alone. It sounds as if Williams invited Gene and Dean Ween over and began knocking a few rounds back and taking whip-its together.
It is tough to say whether Williams’ output is something to admire or if it needs to be controlled. I like the fact that he is willing to put everything out there for everyone. The problem for me is that his ideas seem a little fragmented at times. The space voyages that he goes on are tiring and trying of one’s nerves. Alot of artists will use noises to add to a song for texture later. Some of these ideas can be used, some thrown away. Sometimes the artist will release the songs that aren’t quite as strong on b-sides or reissues in the future. Williams needs to critique himself a little bit more to make an album that is more defined. Shave off the fat, get rid of the noises and the songs that aren’t as good and be patient for at least another 6 months to a year. Then he’ll hopefully have from beginning to end, a slew of well-rounded, more thought out songs.
We will definitely get to see step by step, note for note, the progression or digression of this 22 year old. Will he wait a little bit longer on his next release and fine tune these thoughts? I am curious to see which way Williams is going to go because there are good moments on Wavvves where you can see the hints of potential. I just need to be able to hear what he is saying.
[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/07-so-bored.mp3]
While it’s true that most early Pub rock was just a bunch of British dudes ripping off The Band, at it’s core it was a roots rock movement reacting to the wankering of Emmerson, Lake and Palmer and other over-the-top progressive rock acts of the early 70’s. You can just imagine a working class kid in England seeing this on the telly. More of a circuit of pubs and music halls than an exact musical genre, Pub rock created an outlet for stripped down roots rock that would eventually pave the way for punk rock in England. Ranging from bluesy country to basic rhythm and blues, if there was one aesthetic that was common to all of the Pub rock scene it was a no frills return to basics. So grab a pint, start calling your friends your mates and your pants your trousers, and check out the Pub rock top five.
Now that we have sufficiently hyped up The Appleseed Cast’s latest release Sagarmatha, it’s time for the boys to play a show in our little town. You can catch the band at Mohawk this Saturday evening along with True Widow and Austin locals The Calm Blue Sea. Tickets are running at $10 with doors set to open at 8pm. Don’t miss your chance to see this incredibly underrated band in the live setting.
Download: Appleseed Cast – Forever Longing the Golden Sunsets [MP3]
