the zells - Austin Town Hall

Last Week’s Jams (10.9 – 10.13)

October 16, 2023 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

We’re getting to that point when everyone is scrambling to find their favorite tracks, find their favorite collection of songs to put into those fruitful lists that you’ll all look at, then claim to hate! We do it too! Still, covered a bunch of great new music last week. There were great new tunes from Red Pants and Teenage Tom Petties, plus we got to celebrate a really busy release week with stuff from Lightheaded and Upchuck, among others. Our friend Jared Leibowich had a new tune up, but it didn’t make it onto the DPSs yet, so be sure to circle back and check on that one. There’s a couple of long-burns too, from Native Cats, a Beacon School and the Uptights, all worthy of some deep listening. Stream on!

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Baked and the Zells Announce Split on Crafted Sounds

October 9, 2023 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

Looking back at a few things I missed while folks are thinking of a “holiday,” I was shocked at my own faults as I missed the announcement of the Zells and Baked working on a new split release for Crafted Sounds, titled Queensburgh. For my two cents, Baked come across like a really heavy version of Pedro the Lion; the vocals have that similar syllabic fade, like a wave of emotion washing over you, only to ebb away. Still, there’s a heaviness in the riffs, keeping you cool. For their part, the Zells seem stoked to bring you the sunnier side of pop, kicking off a track that brings in a steadier toe-tap throughout, which for some reason reminds me of all the Wilco-indebted pop-punkers of years past. Totally cool. The split EP will be out on November 2nd via Crafted Sounds.

<a href="https://craftedsounds.bandcamp.com/album/queensburgh-a-baked-zells-split">Queensburgh: a Baked & Zells Split by Baked</a>

<a href="https://craftedsounds.bandcamp.com/album/queensburgh-a-baked-zells-split">Queensburgh: a Baked & Zells Split by The Zells</a>

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Catchy Pop from The Zells

August 16, 2019 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

It’s Friday, and on Friday’s you deserve a good solid guitar driven slacker anthem, something that casually catches your ear and takes you into a weekend of blissed out fun. In regards to this Zells tune, I love the seeming crunchiness of the guitar sound, though it gets spliced by a nice little guitar noodle starving for attention; it’s matched by the vocals, with a backing vocal also grabbing for that star, grabbing for your ear. It would seem that all this would work against success, but somehow, the band manage to make it sound like a joyous pop number that burrows deep into your soul. Their No More Heroes EP will be out on October 11th courtesy of Crafted Sounds.

<a href="http://denzell.bandcamp.com/album/no-more-heroes-3">No More Heroes by The Zells</a>

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The Zells Share Brand New Video

February 18, 2019 nathan.lankford Leave a comment

During the busy fall release schedule, we perhaps neglected to tell you about the great Failure to Slide LP from the Zells. A few months on, a tour and some shows behind them, the band have shared a new video for standout track, “Tracy.” This song reflects the band’s devotion to 90s slacker rock, but perhaps hitting home for me is the band’s natural exuberance recording/playing together; it comes out in so many moments on this track. And, as if they knew what I was thinking, they crafted a video built around their times on the road supporting the record; it’s always endearing to see the fun a group has together on tour. There’s a few copies of their album left over at Crafted Sounds, where you can stream the record as well!

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