Summer time means

Bumping in your car to the new Sleigh Bells CD. The debut album by the Brooklyn duo mixes harsh angled guitar riffs, finger-snaps, hi-hats, and deep round bass into beats that would make the biggest clowns on the commercial rap scene blush.

Track for track the album is straight fire. The heavy beats mix perfectly with the candy-sweet vocal stylings of MC Alexis Krauss. The duo takes old-school big-beat tracks (think Clipse's "Grindin'"), adds a layer of fuzzy, dirty, noisy guitar blended with vocals to create truly unique jams perfect for playing at high volume in a residential neighborhood.

Try out Infinity Guitars, Crown on the Ground, Kids, and Rill Rill for a taste of what I mean.

Preview the album HERE and buy it if you like it!

Summer is here...

SOAK IT UP!

Here are some albums that I have really been digging recently. I've had a lot of time to listen to a plethora of music over the past week due to finals studying and these next few albums are the cream of the crop of the past few weeks.

The National have been quietly making great music for quite some time now and their sophomore album finds the band keeping in key with their songs for the broken-hearted, the alienated and the disillusioned. The album is solid all the way through, listen to "Anyone's Ghost", "Afraid of Everyone", and "Conversation 16" if you need a starting place to get into the album. I wasn't blown away by the album until these tracks struck a chord within me and caused me to listen carefully to the work as a whole. Then I was hooked.

Preview the album HERE and then go buy it, the album dropped today.

Another great album that came out recently was the new self-titled Crystal Castles.

These dudes are so damn hip they don't even waste time naming their albums (indie as fuck!)

Crystal Castles' newest album is the stuff of dreams. Sick, electronic, entrancing dreams. The album departs slightly from the din of unpolished grime towards the direction of truly unique dance tracks. Their first album was good, but it seemed like it was a collection of tracks that were hashed together for the sake of having a release. There were some amazing tracks rifled throughout but you had to suffer through some noise if you were to listen to work as a whole.

The newest effort finds the duo relaxing into their unique blend of rave/8-bit sounds/haunting vocals and creating an album that is great from front to back. There is still a good bit of noise that fans of the first album will recognize but the piece as a whole seems much more calculated and pop-conscious. Alice Glass trades in a lot of her harsher vocals for a smoother approach (relative to Crystal Castles) that work really well among the rest of the electronic storm happening in the background.

If you are new to Crystal Castles do yourself a favor and get the album below and listen to Baptism, Celestica, Empathy Suffocation, Pap Smear.

Recommendation: Crank up with the windows down while making an airplane with your hand outside of the window. Then, hand-fly to the beat.

Preview the album HERE and if you like the album go out and buy it!

SXSW, Wednesday Night

The people over at I Am Sounds Records are throwing a great party for Wednesday night. RSVP and downloads for the bands will be listed below. Check out the albums and then come check out the show with myself and friends.



















[image from ultra8201.com]


Salem explore brooding bass-heavy synth jams perfect for those 2AM Puritan witch- burnings that were ever-so-popular back in the good 'ol days. Check out their EP titled Yes, I Smoke Crack here.



Sleigh Bells are a breakout duo from Brooklyn that have created some buzz for themselves with their debut EP. They have a diverse sound that dabbles in hip-hop, Karen-O-esque vocals, and grimy guitars riffs that come together in a beautiful way. Check out their EP here.



JJ are a mysterious sister/brother duo from Sweden and released one of my favorite ablums of '09. The group uses tropical rhythms/ afro-beats along with some hypnotizing samples (they loosely used Lil' Waynes "lollipop" for their song "Ecstacy") with female vocals.
Check out their great album here.



This show is 21+ and you can RSVP here for some great tunes and free Red Stripe from 7-9pm.

SXSW madness starting with a (all ages!) bang!

My first recommendation for the official start of SXSW, Tuesday March 17th would be the lovely all-ages Terrorbird/Force Field Day party.

Highlights include chillwave (bear with me, it really is a genre) artists Toro Y Moi. Toro Y Moi aka Chaz Bundick made it to Texas A&M University last semester with a great set for MSC Town Hall's Lunch Box Concert series and has been winning audiences over with his sublime vocals that drip and drop over lusciously layered beats that gurgle with soul. Check out his debut full-length album here.

Neon Indian has made a name for himself with the same sort of 8-bit-meets-morphine-and-molasses type of electronic sound. They have been featured at festivals all around the nation (ACL, Funfunfunfest, Bonaroo '10) and should be breaking into the rest of America's eardrums soon after their SXSW domination. Check out their great debut album here.

The Rural Alberta Advantage play perfect indie-folk jams. Throw in some xylaphone, some one-and-two-and electro beats sparringly along with songs reminiscent of the places we came to love and cherish growing up and you've got yourself a bonafied SXSW breakthrough artist. Check out their stunning album, Hometowns, here.


If you're not sure who Real Estate is, then for God sakes scroll down about half-way and check out the post about them on this blog earlier in the year. Think bonfire on the beach with your best friends and a couple guitars to get the idea of the vibe these guys convey (60's california, not 00's O.C.). Check it here.

Those Darlins from Tennessee are an amalgamation of jingle-jangled whiskey-tinged breath along with 60's girl pop jams. But much more of the former. Outlaw country tunes sung by twenty-something year old girls doesn't get any better than this. Song matter includes: drunk biking, broken hearts, country cookin' and good ol' honkeytonkin'! Check it out here.


Oh yea... forgot to mention the FREE BEER for those of age.


Terrorbird / Force Field Day Party
Toro Y Moi, Neon Indian, Real Estate, The Rural Alberta Advantage, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Matias Aguayo, Those Darlins, Beach Fossils, Oh No Ono, Choir of Young Believers, The Fresh & Onlys, Frankie Rose and the Outs, Stricken City, Inlets, Ernest Gonzales, The Splinters at Red 7 [a] [m] [noon-6pm, free, all ages, free beer noon-2pm]
(from showlistaustin.com)

It's been a minute but...

It's about that time folks... SXSW is only a month away and the parties and unofficial showcases are already being revealed. I will be posting all of the unofficial stuff going down. And by unofficial I mean free. No badges. No bullshit. Yes hipsters (as far as the eye can see). Yes Lone Star (most of the unofficial stuff going on is 21+ but there are a few dope parties that are 18+ or all ages). There is no need to spend $600+ on a laminated badge when you can catch all of the real stuff happening with the people who just want to throw a good time and don't care about the money. I'm talking house parties, parking lots, parks, genuine DIY festivals that provide free quality entertainment for the hell of it. I was able to go to SXSW last year for two days and even then I was overloaded with choices of free stuff to check out. If you've never experienced unofficial SXSW please do yourself a favor and check it out.

I will be posting links to RSVP/whereabouts to house parties throughout the month leading up to SXSW so keep checking back.

To kick off the festival before it even begins, there are a few pre-opening day parties that should start off the week just right.

Tuesday, March 13th is looking to shape up really nice. There are multiple house parties featuring some amazing local and national talent.

Day Before the Mess Fest

• Thee Oh Sees (SF, 1am), The Fresh and Onlys (SF, 12:20am), Woven Bones (midnight), Wounded Lion (LA, 11:40pm), The Baths (SF, 11:20pm), Shapes Have Fangs (11pm) at the 21st Street CO-OP (707 W. 21st St.) [+]
• Harlem (11:30pm), The Beets (NY, 11pm), Beach Fossils (NY, 10:30pm), Air Waves (NY, 10pm), Total Slacker (NY, 9:30pm), Fungi Girls (Denton, 9pm) at House of Guys(1907 Rio Grande) [+]
• The Carrots (8:30pm), Reading Rainbow (PA, 8pm), Eternal Summers (VA, 7:30pm), The Girls at Dawn (NY, 7pm), Predator (GA, 6:30pm) at a house off of 30th and Red River (near Austin vet hospital) [BBQ, BYOB)]

(copied from showlist austin)

Austin locals Shapes Have Fangs are an amazing throwback band that calls on the beginnings of R&B and surf rock. Remember that song Wipeout by The Surfaris? Just like that with a little more grime around the edges.

Check out their album here

Denton band Fungi Girls play some good ol' punk-inspired-noise-infused-surf-tested-Texas-approved garage rrrrrock.

Check out their album here

Harlem have been the garage darlings of Austin for the last 6 months or so and specialize in jangly catchy minute-long songs about girls, drugs, france, and everything in between. Check out their beautiful debut album, Free Drugs, here

The Carrots channel Motown greatness in all its glory.

Check their two song EP here

I will post more shows that I will be attending along with downloads so you can check it out and enjoy the noise before the glory goes down.

long overdue...

seeing as Jay Reatard died a few weeks ago. Just when my musical tastes were starting to be blasted by minute-thirty flashes of punk rock greatness. Even though eleven times out of ten Jay is singing about death, greed, despair and crap relationships (girls, dads, himself) the music always makes me crack a huge grin and jam out on air guitar all day long. I can't imagine how his live shows would have been if they were even half as rabble-rousing as what he laid down in the studio. All I know is if you meet Jay Reatard in heaven playing his white V guitar, you best not interrupt his solo or you're getting a heavenly boot from the legend himself.

Nothing new being said here to anyone who is a fan, but for those who are not, please convert after listening to favorite album (blood visions) here and the matador singles here!

in case you didn't know...

Real Estate from New Jersey are a gem of a band. They have had their self-titled album out for a few months and have received awesome reviews from a multitude of publications. Reverb drapes over the vocals and guitars giving weight to the lyrics that tell beautiful stories of syrupy suburban summers, treasure hunts ("what you find ain't what you had in mind"), and the soothing effect that nature can have on our psyche. All the while guitar strings dance and blend behind the melody, as if in rhythm with the flickering flames on the wick of that old tiki torch you bought at World Market some odd years ago and never used. Now's the time to bring it out, light it up, and call some friends over to enjoy life before it starts to get hectic again. Real Estate's self-titled album...

sounds like the comforting nostalgia that comes with putting your ear up to a sea shell,

tastes like ice-cold soda on the beach after playing in the surf for hours (salty yet quenching),

feels like wet sand on a hot day,

smells like the Atlantic Ocean,

looks like those moments that people say flash before your eyes just before you die...

check out the album here for yourself and enjoy!