Austin Sound

Denton has no shortage of excellent artists, but Doug Burr has sit somewhere near the top of any list documenting the North Texas music scene. With his mellow, plaintive moaning vocals and exceptional songwriting, he stands out from the already stellar pack. Burr has a new album that was recently released called The Shawl, which has converted (or perhaps restored) some Psalms to songs. “Should’ve Known,” though, is his own tune, which appeared on 2007’s stunning On Promenade. The video for the song was recently made by Jon Collins and James Hurd, and is certainly one of the higher quality videos we’ve seen in a while. So just in case you missed his show last night at Antone’s with Son Volt, here’s some incentive not let his next gig pass you by!

The Moon is the first release from the Dallas-based foursome Elkhart, although the individuals have been bouncing around the Dallas music scene for some time. On the band’s website, Travis Hopper, Elkhart’s singer and songwriter, revealed to fans the creative space that The Moon was inspired in “something low key…lush…kind of mellow…something that sounds good driving late at night or through the country, something that sounds better as it gets colder outside…”

So it seems appropriate that The Moon has the restrained, country soft-rock feel that it does. Its color is sparse, and the textures shimmer akin to a star flickering in the distance. Exemplary is the opening track, “Change Your Mind,” where Hopper and Co. seem to be at an impassable lull, but one where some introspection takes place.

Our Thursday night favorite the Cornell Hurd Band has lost another much-loved member. Following rubboarder Danny Roy Young’s passing last year, the Statesman reported that guitarist Paul Skelton succumbed to lung cancer this past Sunday at age 55. Skelton energized Hurd’s herd since the 1980’s, as well as playing with Wayne Hancock, the Texana Dames, Ted Roddy, and Libbi Bosworth. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Austin Memorial Park.

We don’t hype up too many big name tours that come through town, as they get enough attention. But we would be very remiss if we didn’t remind everyone tickets for Leonard Cohen’s show here at the Long Center on April 2 go on sale this Friday at 10am. This will be one of those not-to-miss shows, even if tickets do start at $85.50 a pop. Austin marks the kickoff for Cohen’s first US tour in over 15 years, quite an honor for our fair little city indeed! To get tickets, go to Front Gate’s website or call 512.474.LONG (5664) at 10:00am this Friday.

After releasing two much celebrated full length albums, Golden Bear has come out with their first release in over a year, much to the delight of an ever growing audience left enchanted by the five-piece band. With new bass player Austin Jenkins, Golden Bear offers up Everest, the new digital EP. The sound delivers an often times fuzzy guitar, the delightfully unsure voice of lead singer Chris “Grizzle” Gregory, and the steady tinkling of keyboards that has served as the backbone for this super-group. This five-song collection, highlighting the continual progress of the band, gives longtime fans the same sense of pride one has when watching their best friend’s high school band - providing that your best friend is immensely talented. As for Golden Bear newcomers, prepare to be charmed.

Few young artists have done as much to promote the local music scene as the Lonesome Hereos, who started up the Wednesday alt. country nights at the Hole in the Wall. Like the lineups that founders Rich Russell and Landry McMeans booked, the Heroes’ music has an eclectic roots range. There are touches of cosmic country and Sweetheart of the Rodeo in their psychedelic tinged, restless country tunes, but the real draw of the Heroes is excellent melding of Russell and McMeans in spirit and sound. McMeans dulcet twang and expansive dobro, and Russells’ more grounded drawl and guitar combine for a mesmerizing and beautiful exchange, while their songs evoke the open west Texas expanse of road and possibilities. With their latest album, Crooked Highway, they have assembled a stellar band of local luminaries, and you can see the songs come alive twice this week. The Lonesome Heroes play the Hole in the Wall this Wednesday with Tiny Tin Hearts and the Axons, and then will be dropping into Red River on Thursday, February 26 with Aimee Bobruk , Lee Barber, and Danny Malone for a show at Club DeVille.

What to do when your band is named the Black and White Years and you’re trying to stand out in the bright and shiny world of indie rock? Go neon! But not just any neon, crazy day-glo neon! Local production crew Birds-on-Fire films have done the Black and White Years the courtesy of electrifying their image to match the jittery dance rock yelps on their song “Zeroes and Ones.” The tune is off of their killer eponymous debut, which we’ve been digging throughout the past year, and the video was directed by Carlos LaRotta.

It’s Friday again, and we hope you survived the week - that awful weathering of time between weekend and next weekend - as well as we have here at Austin Sound. But rest assured, your week of workin’ hard (or hardly workin’, as the joke goes) is soon to be in the money. Topping an exhaustive list of ways to cash out this weekend, we have Misprint Magazine’s Third Annual Beard and Mustache Contest, along with two nights of reunion tours from Pop Unknown, who haven’t graced an Austin stage since their last night at Emo’s in 2002. All three nights bring us top notch openers, including Cavedweller, Low Line Caller,Crash Gallery, Jets Under Fire, and many more. For all this and more, follow us to the Weekend Preview.

Since releasing their debut EP, The Meat of the Fruit, last summer, the Sour Notes have quickly become local favorites, and with good reason. Principle Note Jared Boulanger crafts beautiful and questioning melodies that are rife with a direct pop angst. Yet that angst is sweetly plied, never over-bearing or melodramatic, and the quartet continually upends its pop stylings with unexpected samples and keyboard bursts that manage to keep the songs fascinating through repeated listenings, even as the short eight song album is over much too quickly.

There is an undeniable Death Cab for Cutie earnestness to many of the songs, bolstered by Boulanger’s Ben Gibbard-nodding vocals that are youthful and slightly sentimental. There is also a sense of the New Year’s hazy sound in the guitar tones and kind of sad suburban angst that seems to define the Kadane Brothers’ musings. While those bands best describe the Sour Notes overall aesthetic, Received in Bitterness also proves that they have much more to their music, however.

It’s been about a year and a half since we profiled Seaholm Electric in our Sound Off. At that point, the band had recently changed its name from the Swells, but were still unloading their fantastic melodic shoegaze rock sound that had defined the Swells for years in Austin. Now we’ve finally received word that Seaholm is putting the finishing touches on their debut album under that name, and it should be out at some point this summer. You can download a demo of the new song, “Frame That,” below and get a taste of what to expect. The vocals kick with a bit more jagged edge, which with the pounding rhythm give the song a darker edge. The sextet doesn’t currently have any shows scheduled as they finish up the recording, but stay tuned!