Austin Sound

Chris Brecht’s long-awaited 2008 debut, The Great Ride, raked in folk and country roots behind the local songwriter’s winding narratives and distinctive nasally drawl. Brecht’s tunes reel with the lure of the late night open highway, steeped in a poignant and personal loneliness and longing, braced against a wonder for the road. Since The Great Ride’s release, Brecht has expanded his band and sound, and while his characteristic Dylanisms remain strong in the new material, the Dead Flowers buck with a more polished country rock vibe in the vein of the Band or Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds, folding in impressive flourishes from the group that includes, among others, Ricky Ray Jackson (Lomita; Brothers and Sisters) on pedal steel and John Michael Schoepf of the Happen Ins. Chris Brecht and the Dead Flowers will be holding down the Belmont downtown next week on Wednesday, September 9, and they’ve offered up a taste of some of their new material below in the form of both a lo-fi demo and full band take in the studio.

Poor Drew Smith, why so lonely? We asked back in May to no real avail, but we figure listening to that much Randy Newman will make anyone pretty miserable. The local songwriter’s bittersweet pop malaise has grown to encompass current events, though, with his new tune “Bank Ain’t Got the Loan.” We hear ya, Drew, we hear ya. Still, it’s better than “Bank Suckered Me Into A Shitty Sub-Prime Loan.” Drew Smith and his choirboys will be helping Momo’s celebrate its Nine Year Anniversary this weekend with a show on Saturday, August 29. They headline at Midnight, but you can also catch Kacy Crowley, Brian Keane, Wendy Colonna, and Suzanna Choffel beforehand, starting at 7:00pm. The Momo’s party will be kicking all weekend, though, and you can check out the full schedule here. Oh, and our friends over at Party Ends jumped on the Drew Smith love train today, and you can download Smith’s tune “Nilsson Sings Newman” over there, which is off of his most recent eponymous offering. And sorry Drew, we know if we all keep giving away all your tunes, you’ll never make any money, but don’t hate the playa, hate the game!

Here’s a kickass video to get rolling into the weekend. ZZ Top recently took the House of Blues stage in LA with Slash and John Mayer and threw down some serious guitar carnage, and this video was shot from the front of the stage, so it’s pretty hi-quality (via Daily Swarm). Now we know what your thinking: Slash, sure, the guy’s a beast on the guitar and has a badass hat, but John Mayer? What, is this now TMZZ Top? We’re not going to try to defend John Mayer - we’ll let your girlfriend do that - but we will say that pretty boy and douchebag that he is, he still plays a mean guitar. Here’s your proof, so get over your self-righteousness and rock out. We’re also not going to say that ZZ Top isn’t capable of bad ideas, this just doesn’t happen to be one of them. And, of course, we all know that Billy Gibbons’ beard is, in fact, a wonderland.

It’s tempting to dismiss Black Cock as some sort of novelty or talk about the band – since it’s probably a safe bet that their moniker has nothing to do with obsidian feathered fowls – in purely euphemistic terms. Scratch that, it’s beyond tempting. In fact, this author wrote half a review filled with potentially offensive dick jokes that were potentially completely unfunny. While not quite as fun, it’s a bit more challenging to actually discuss the music on the Cock’s newest album Robot Child With A God Complex (Australian Cattle God Records). The short review is: Upon first listen, Black Cock sound almost exactly as one would expect a band named Black Cock to sound. They are relatively abrasive, edgy enough to be punk, and dark enough to appeal to goth and industrial listeners. But, since that’d be a cop out to just say, “Look at the damned band name. Be honest! You’re either going to love them or hate them…”

Here’s the longer review: Black Cock sound almost exactly as one would expect a band named Black Cock to sound.

HA! Could the Wooden Birds have made a more incongruous video for their mellow, chillaxed rhythms than this one for “Hometown Fantasy”? Seriously, our ears are falling asleep and eyes are on adderall. Andrew Kenny’s not-American Analog Set quintet that nonetheless sounds like American Analog Set, recently jaunted over to Europe to lull the crazy Continentals along with Grand Archives, and they took along a camera to make this video and send back home to us. So consider this our forlorn European love letter back home - doesn’t look like they really missed us, though, and notice all the crazy drunken Eurotrash sex wasn’t mentioned. Let’s face it, this relationship is dead in the water. Kenny’s just stringing us along at this point. What’s more, he’s getting ready to leave us again to go on tour with the Great Lake Swimmers, and they’re not even playing an Austin show! “Hometown Fantasy”? Just empty words, Andrew Kenny, empty words. And all we’re left with is this video, and an extended mp3 of the song. We’re cutting your face out of all our promotional press pictures now.

These Fun Fun Fun Fest leakages were getting as bad as an Olestra binge, so it is with great relief that we finally got the full lineup from FX3′ers today. As always, there be a great opportunity to catch some of our best local artists out at Waterloo Park on November 7 and 8, including Harlem, This Will Destroy You, The Black and White Years, and Shearwater. We can also pretty much guarantee insanity from the likes of Les Savy Fav, Of Montreal, and, of course, the Jesus Lizard will burn the place down. Early passes are onsale now for $67.50, and check out what that reasonable price gets you with the lineups for each of the four stages below:

What the hell is ACL thinking? Here they had this nice 90s retro theme going with Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam and the Beastie Boys, and they ruined it! It was totally like your memories of high school prom were plied from your repressed childhood and put on display for everyone to mock in middle of Zilker Park. (They’re all gonna laugh at you!) Then they had to go add the Yeah Yeah Yeahs as the replacement for the Beastie Boys. WTF ACL? Arty dance-punk? That’s like so, 2000s. Not to mention they’re going on opposite Kings of Leon on Friday night, also a band from the past decade. Although, “Sex on Fire” does actually still remind us of our high school prom, too, but probably for different reasons. So Friday night will be for the kids, and the rest of the weekend can still belong to us sad and sagging old farts. But don’t fret too much, nostalgia mongers, because ACL also just announced that they’ve replaced oddly immodestLily Allen with Raphael Saadiq, who was the lead singer of mother fucking Tony! Toni! Toné! Well, it never rains in central Texas, either. Slow jams, kids, Couples’ Skate! Check out the full ACL Schedule here.

Well now, looks like Daniel Johnston has a new album coming out in October. It’s his first in 6 years, and that’s a lot of sweatpants and cigarettes between releases. Well, maybe cigarettes - we’re not sure if Johnston actually changes those sweatpants or not. It’s not like Johnston hasn’t been busy, though. He’s been playing out quite a bit (for Johnston, anyway), including several gigs that he actually managed to show up for at this past SXSW. He also released a DVD of a live performance in London earlier this year. The new album, called Is and Always Was, drops October 6, and you can download the track “Freedom” and check the tracklist below. As you’ll hear, it’s pretty rockin’ for Johnston, which may have more to do with producer Jason Falkner. Since jingles are in these days, we were thinking that McDonald’s should really jump on this and get Johnston to write a tune for them, seeing as how he used to “work” and pass out his tapes there way back in the day. There’s major licensing to be done here, people! The “Walkin’ the Cow” quarter pounder, the Yip/Jump shake, the Hi, How are You kiddie meal! Man, there’s no off to our genius switch! Daniel Johnston: I’m Lovin’ It!

The Tiny Tin Hearts may have provided our most thorough Sound Off ever, which is fitting for the 8 piece ensemble’s impressively cohesive compositions. Shades of the Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens, Neutral Milk Hotel, and even locals like the Noise Revival Orchestra and the Dark Water Hymnal dance flirtatiously throughout the Tiny Tin Hearts’ music, which swells in chamber folk-pop grandiosity, but remains calmly subdued behind Seth Osborne’s subtly winding narratives and quiet, contemplative croon, that at times touches near Ben Folds. The group already caught our attention with their amazing live show, and will be releasing their debut album, Last Flight of the Martyr Aviator, at the end of next month. Last month, the octet won the Austin Chronicle’s Sound Wars to garner a spot on their Hot Sauce Festival lineup this Sunday, August 30, in Waterloo Park, but you can also catch them earlier in the week at Emo’s as they join a solid local lineup of Chief Rival, Peoplefood and Salesman on Thursday, 27.

The Lennings have apparently figured out the best way to get attention in the Austin music scene is to get yourself committed. It’s a rite of passage for any truly great Texas artist. We’re not sure what this says about our mental institutions, but maybe all those performances at the State Hospital are paying off. This is the video for the lead off track from the Lennings’ new EP, Geographic Tongue, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. “Section C,” obviously not to be confused with a “C-Section,” is a pretty sweet dose of fuzzed out power pop from the local quintet, and definitely the kind of thing we’d like to listen to while taking our meds. Providing you can break out of the institution, the Lennings will be playing tonight, Friday 21, at the Mixx on 6th St. (Yeah, we were thinking we’d probably rather just stay in the hospital than join that crowd, too, but they’ll be at Momo’s on the 29th, as well, if you want to preserve what’s left of your sanity). Video -> Jump. You know the drill.