Austin Sound

Ah, we hate to see these guys go. We’ve been following and impressed by Peel from the beginning, and the band even kicked off our first Austin Sound compilation. The local pop slackers, though, are transforming into a new era as Josh Permenter heads off to San Francisco, where he’ll presumably hook up with fellow Tone Wheel Collective member and recent Bay area transplant Mark David Ashworth. Dakota Smith and Allison Moore will still be around, however, and working on other projects. At least they’re going to go out with the same laid back, communal attitude that they emerged from, playing their final show at Bill Baird’s new Baby Blue studio in East Austin (1522 East 12th St.). We assume, like the old Big Orange shows, this is a BYBO, sit on the floor kind of deal. Also helping Peel say goodbye are Baird’s phenomenal Sunset, and the song and dance darlings Little Stolen Moments. Party kicks off at 9:00pm.

As we told you last month, Room 710 is shutting down due to, well, being a music club in Austin. This weekend will be their grand finale of shows before they lock up the doors, but they’ve got some good ones. If you’ve missed Tia Carrera’s last happy hour, or the Dicks bringing their insanity to the venue over the last month, you can make up for it before it all fades away. Tonight, some familiar 710-ers take the stage with SuperHeavyGoatAss, Split Hoof, Burn Heavy, Scraps of Life, and New Orleans’ Hawg Jaw, with the onslaught beginning at 9:00pm. Saturday night promises to be even more fun, however, as the ridiculousness that is Hug unloads starting at 8:00pm, followed by locals Pong and Foot Patrol. Too bad they couldn’t book Bankrupt and the Borrowers! (Zing!) We actually expect that Room 710 owner Asher Garber will turn the space into something new with some added investors, maybe even as soon as next year, but in the meantime we can celebrate the hardcore legacy of Room 710 by going out with a bang.

And today from the shameless self promotion department, Off the Record in this week’s Chronicle announced that in September 2010, in conjunction with the start of the Chron’s 30th year of publication, UT Press will be publishing the Austin Chronicle Music Anthology 1981-2010. The book is edited by Austin Powell and myself, your fearless Austin Sound editor. Austin and I have spent the past year and a half plunging into the Chronicle Archives, only half of which are actually available online, and boy, have we pulled out some gems! The book will feature an awesome forward from Daniel Johnston, an introduction by Chronicle editor Louis Black, and intros to each decade from Chronicle music fixtures like Margaret Moser (1980s), Raoul Hernandez (1990s) and Chris Gray (2000s). There will also be tons of fantastic photos included from the paper’s history, like portraits of young Stevie Ray Vaughan and Alejandro Escovedo. We hope the book is a testament both to the richness of the local music scene through the years, and the Chronicle’s place in helping preserve and promote it. It has certainly been a privilege and honor to put it together! Look for more updates from Off the Record as the publication date nears.

Now this just sounds like fun! We’re used to watching our favorite local artists sweat it out onstage, but now we get to see just how they do in real competition. Starting tonight, July 30, Club DeVille will be hosting a three day basketball tournament between Clubs and Bands, featuring teams of five going head [...]

Here’s a nice little project from local quartet Jets Under Fire. This year they’re releasing 4 EPs and making them available for free download. They recently posted up the second installment, featuring four tunes and conveniently titled EP 2. While it’s certainly nothing revolutionary in the style department, the songs are pretty solid. We suspect that these will turn into an album for early next year, so be on the lookout, and EP 3 is expected to be posted in September. You can stream and download the songs from the second set here.

The Invincible Czars’ third studio album, Fortissimo, lives up to its name in some aspects and lacks in others. With nearly an hours worth of metal-infused, classically-envisaged torrents of sound, odd meters, flurries of distorted guitar, percussion, and woodwinds, Fortissimo has everything a die hard Czars fan could want, and perhaps too much for those unaccustomed. The Czars have made a name for themselves from various multimedia performances around Austin — most notably an annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, gone mad — and particularly engrossing performances where their relentless homage-ing of composers and ADD death waltzes rings most true. Unfortunately that is not the case for Fortissimo.

Jay Blazek Crossley is most likely best known for his multi-instrumental work in local punk band Woozyhelmet, the longstanding trio that also features the Octopus Project’s Toto Miranda. So quite a few people might be surprised to hear his screeching vocals be applied to his debut attempt in his realm of folk music. There’s a certain raw and almost uncertain element to Jay’s voice and the music created to frame it in his new album, Tiny Diamonds. Like the few other scattered releases from Soda Pop Sounds, it upholds the quirky, home-produced aesthetic of imprints like Natrix Natrix or SuperPop. The majority of the tracks are no more than 3 minutes long, with Jay cramming as much both lyrically and musically into each song before quickly moving onto the next. His lyrics range from insightful to downright narrative, set to a variation of meandering lo-fi melodies and beats.

Could the Octopus Project be any more adorable? We mean that in a good way, but seriously, they’re going to be your kid sister’s new favorite band, if they aren’t already. That’s alright though, because it just ensures that your kid sister will have good taste in music. Thanks O.P.! The local quartet premiered [...]

Austin’s Context Clues seems to have honed their skills at describing themselves; their own website bio states only, “Hello, we’re a pop band from Austin.” While intentionally ambiguous, anyone who picks up a copy of their debut release, Improve Your Diction, will quickly see that the band’s description is apt. Romping through multiple genres and decades of music in a surprisingly short time, the album is 11 tracks of solid music united by little more than their constant optimism and pop sensibility. One may actually be forced to improve his diction merely to come up with enough words to describe the changing sounds of each song.

A few years ago, Dao Strom was stirring up quite a bit of attention here in Austin behind her hauntingly beautiful and delicate tunes. Born in Vietnam, raised in California, and musically matured with her time spent here, Strom apparently now loosely lives in Juneau, Alaska, and various other places on the road, which will bring her back to Austin this weekend. Under her belt is a stunning new album called Everything That Bloom’s Wrecks Me, locally recorded last year in piecemeal excursions to San Marcos. The album builds off of her debut, 2004’s Send Me Home, both in the confidence of voice and the reach of the music, which still steeps in Appalachian-tinged singer-songwriter territory, but with moments that drift both surreal and ethereal. It’s an aesthetic that is captured pretty well in the video for “Caller of Spirit” off of the new album. The video was made by Kyle MacDonald, and you can check it out below. As for Strom’s upcoming Austin show, it’s listed as the being this Saturday, the 25th, but as a special house show that we don’t we don’t know the location for yet. If anyone knows, please pass along the info in a comment!