Damage Pants used the word “bulldozes” to describe what they’re doing on their album, and bulldozes definitely seems like the right word. These guitars are thick, these drums are aggressive, and these vocals are intense. Their album art has a cinderblock and a cliff on it.
Back in 1995, when Mineral's career peaked with their The Power of Failing LP, "emo" wasn't a throwaway term used to describe flimsy pseudo-emotive pop-punk. Emo had some real heft. It could carry real crescendos, dig into some deep places. You could actually get away with naming a record "The Power of Failing" without even a hint of irony. Here's to that mid-90s sincerity. I miss it sometimes.
Wow, I always love music from Austin. This has got to be one of the best scenes around the country. Wild Child uses ukuleles, violins, cellos, and banjos, so I expected them to be really generic and typical in a sort of “I’m trying really hard to be different” kind of way, but that is not at all the case. This is a really, really great band. These rhythms are so much more driving than you’d expect from the usual folk band. I write so many reviews that I can’t afford to always buy the albums that I listen to on Bandcamp, but I’m probably going to buy this one. It’s amazing.
The Zoltars will be releasing their full length debut in April 2012, and you can be sure I will review it. I could only find two of their songs online, but I am excited for what they will produce in the future.
Some of the most fascinating phenomena of every day life happen when you put one mirror in front of another. Light should bounce forever. You can see the back of your head. Electronica should be fascinating, and that's why Mirrors Reflecting Mirrors is a perfect name for an electronica band.
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Redding Hunter, who records under the moniker Peter and the Wolf, describes his latest full-length as "a concept album about the art of hitting rock bottom". While heavy thematically, his soft orchestral folk songs have a certain mournful levity to them as they waft up and away like lost balloons. This is great music to fall asleep to. Easy Mountain can be purchased now as an $11 download or a $15 handmade CD package.
It is my hope that someone, even just a single person, who is unfamiliar with all the great things that have happened in Austin in the last decade or so would stumble upon this blog and discover one of the best bands in the history of Texas music. Sound Team isn’t a band anymore, but that’s the beauty of recording. Music made in times of great personal success for a band can be kept even after the band breaks up and enjoyed by others.
The name of Whalers’ album on BandCamp is “Paddle Easy, and it begins with a surf rock-esque whammy-bar bent chord. This band is immediately catchy. I had the first line from “Cheat On Each Other” stuck in my head for about an hour while I was doing nothing but listening to other music.
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Austin's indie-folk duo White Dress have been having a pretty busy start to their winter. Their Daytrotter session just went live and now they're in the midst of an east coast tour. Here's one of their older tunes, the bare-bones, hauntingly fragile 'Magnolia'.
Read more about White Dress - 'Magnolia'
What has Andrew Kenny been doing since that Home EP he made with Ben Gibbard? You might find yourself asking yourself that if you’re not a very serious fan of his work, but you may already know that the former American Analog Set frontman has been playing with The Wooden Birds in Austin since 2008.