Wanting to run light, I grabbed the camera and mounted the smallest and lightest lens I have to go be amongst the EBM family the filled The Mohawk on a Tuesday night. That crowd was there to see Front 242, legends in the dark electro game, credited among the founders of the EBM scene. If you do not know of Front 242, shame on you.
I’ve had a good run of nostalgia lately. Perhaps I could keep the streak alive? Maybe not, but it wasn’t the band’s fault. Click through for a couple comments about the openers and the legends with pics from the crowd.
I mentioned that OMD was playing a sold out show at Emo’s in a Have A Nice Weekend post last Friday. I stressed that of all the bands that were formative to new wave that still influences so many bands today, the only one touring right now with the same level of love for their music, past and present, is Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. They are touring in support of their recent release The Punishment of Luxury, which if you haven’t given a shot, you might want to.
In addition to their hit after hit set, OMD brought along GGOOLLDD, some fun indie pop stuff that you can dance to, with outfits and poppy fun.
Let’s get to a few random thoughts and plenty of pics.
So there are some things going on tonight. I’ll be in nostalgia land with OMD at Emos. It is sold out. They are bringing along GGOOLLDD to open. Should be a pleasant evening with the wife. I was telling a co-worker that the last time I saw OMD, you realize that there are bands still touring to make pay for their landscaping and others that still really love their songs. OMD is the latter and it doesn’t hurt that the new stuff is solid, too. There is also a fellow photographer’s belated birthday party at Cheer Up. Super lineup.
Little Boots has a new EP out. You can listen to a few tracks over at Soundcloudand on youtube. I added “Picture” to my Soundcloud bucket. The Bucket is my catch all, a little under four hours, full of my faves from ATH and some other randoms. Try it out, below.
If you don’t know anything about me, know that I will go see Cut Copy any chance I get. Of non-Austin bands, I’d say they are the one band I have seen more times than any other. That kinda snuck up on me. Sure, they played one exclusive party during SxSW and did some DJ sets, but tonight, they play Stubb’s, the unofficial home of Cut Copy in America. I am curious if they are just hanging about, playing Dallas last night, but being almost two weeks removed from SxSW, you have to wonder if they were doing some recording here?
But they are the known here. How about I give some love to the opener? Kauf has been in and out of The Bucket playlist over on Soundcloud. I use that playlist to mix newer faves into other playlists when entertaining. The song featured below is called “Pacify”, a song with an understated elegance that builds, ebbs and peaks before release; Nicole shared it on ATH in late 2016. Maybe also check out “A Ruin”. Hopefully, it will push you over the edge to pick up a ticket, show up early and dance with us.
Been a hot minute since I did a HANW post. We’ll start this off with a semi-local favorite,Lou Rebecca. Her self-titled EP made with Mr. Josh Mills is out today on Holodeck, use the link in the previous sentence to make it yours. To celebrate, they have released the official video for “Tonight”, shot in and around Austin (greenbelt and Justine’s) by Daniel Everett Di Domenico starring the singer and ATH Records’ alum Ramesh.
There were a slew of festival announcements. Meh. A ton of overlapping lukewarmers with occasional “oh, that’s cool” in the small print. For instance, ATX friend Roger Sellers will be playing several fests as Bayonne. I won’t echo a recent Uproxx editorial in detail, but I really hope that ACL being in a fairly unique spot in the festival season could pull off a few interesting names, bands not really touring until 2019 or a legit one off surprise (please let it be Bon Jovi so I can win a three year old bet). May the bookers pay homage to FFF and pull in some legit counter-culture to the lawn.
Finally, I am going to PYAITK for a band I listened to late last year a bit but never highlighted. Boy Harsher is amazing. Friends on the left coast keep an eye out, they are booking shows.
Nowness is presenting this video for the latest track to hit the internet for the forthcoming release by TR/ST. The video is a collaboration project, taking the track called “Destroyer” and setting it to choreography and direction by Ryan Heffington, assisted by Justin Tyler Close to create a simple, but awkward visual that becomes more engaging and emotional as you are drawn into the music and the motion. This song is also a bit of a departure for Mr. Alfons in my opinion, a piano melody rolling on and on with more present vocals instead of the cavernous synth. Even more excited about he still-unnamed LP due early next year, which is soon, so I’m even more excited.
We all shed a tear when we learned that Sound On Sound was cancelled. We have a lot of good friends that put so much effort into making this year’s festival amazing, a quantum leap over last year.nnWe will not debate the valor of their efforts to save the festival or lament the missed opportunity of seeing Iggy Pop surrounded by a Ren Fair here.
The thing we may not understand about the festival circuit is that bands are on tour and need to use the festivals to home base around a few stops nearby before and after. Knowing this, the SoS team was able to schedule a few makeup shows to accommodate the travelers. One such show was for Lindstrom, a guy from Norway that was travelling a long way to hang with us. This set was high on my list for standing in a field with friends vibing. We replace the open spaces and axe-throwing for the friendly confines of Cheer Up Charlie’s.
It has been a pretty good week of electronic jams. From the new Fever Ray today to Bayonne’s latest to the Korine track. All solid offerings. Maybe you should just resolve to shimmy all weekend with this cooler weather. It is finally fall. LCD Soundsystem out at COTA seems a good way to spend Halloween. I am hoping my skwuad can rock our onesies. If you see a platypus, perhaps with a camera, say hi.
I will leave everyone with one last bit of electro-pop goodness. It is from French-born, part-time local Lou Rebecca, who with Josh Mills on programming and keys, has been turning out wonderfully crafted French disco. Holodeck picked up the pending release and we now have a full shimmy-inducing slice of heaven following the more thoughtfully subdued and bilingual lead singlefrom the S/T EP.
This is brlliant. The new record from Fever Ray, Plunge, is available to stream on the youtube here. Going to share one track to stream below. So good. Go get it, go stream it, add to playlists, whatever, just do it.
Oh Roger Sellers, you’ve got a habit of making great pop music. It’s been a minute since Bayonne (Roger’s stage name) officially released Primitives, but now we have a slight glimmer of what’s to come from the multi-instrumentalist. What I love about this new song is that it doesn’t feel like a typical composition; it almost feels like the product of a full band working in the studio, rather than the genius of just one man. Pop fans will surely appreciate the construction, especially when it comes to those vocal melodies that seem to rise from the mix. Who knows when we’ll get more from Bayonne, but for now, this great tune will suffice.