Austin Sound

To look at Phosphorescent Blues as a mere expansion of the themes that made Brazos’ debut EP, A City Just As Tall, so successful might be the best critical approach, but it would hardly do justice to the completeness and solidarity that characterize the success of the new release as a true album. Suffice it to say then, if you liked A City Just As Tall, fear not - you’ll love Phosphorescent Blues. But give the album a chance to work new and different angles, like soft piano interludes and expanded attention to textures, and you’ll find the interplay of themes and textures, both lyrically and musically, are a stunning accomplishment unto their own.

Oh lord, it’s like the Sixties all over again! What started out as friendly and fun and awesome has now turned bitter. Bring in the lawyers! Two years ago, the Black Angels and Live Music Capitol started up the Austin Psych Fest the weekend before SXSW, held up on Burnet Road at the Red Barn. Last year, it expanded to 3 days and took place down on Sixth Street at the Radio Room (what’s up with that place, btw? We were promised a new venue!). But today the Chronicle reports that Adam Demetri of the events company Live Music Capitol is suing the Black Angels over the name. Um, wtf guys? Really? First of all - yeah, suing a band is always a worthwhile endeavor, and second, it’s not like this is ACL or even Fun Fun Fun Fest for that matter. It’s just a damn party! Everybody chill out. The really hilarious part of all this, though, is that as the Black Angels prepare for Austin Psych Fest 3 next April, Demetri is booking another version of the event around the same time that he’s calling the “Official Psych Fest,” and dropping hints that he’s going to pull the Doors’ Robby Krieger as a headliner. So, it looks like we might have a Psych Fest face-off after SXSW. We’re not sure if we can handle that much acid, but if the Black Angels’ goal was to return Austin to it’s Sixties Psych peak, we guess this is one way to do it.

There has always been something exciting and dangerous about the bull-in-the-glass-house style of spazz rock espoused by groups like Austin’s White Denim. While there is something to be said for order and structure, journeying to new rhythmic grounds is far more fun, especially in a live setting. The trick is to remember the way back home, and with the local trio’s new full-length and first album to receive a proper US release, Fits, it becomes patently obvious that the group didn’t bring a compass.

We’re skeptical of the timing of this new video from the Sour Notes. First of all, there’s the whole death of Michael Jackson fad (is the death of a pop icon a fad? Sure, why not?). Second of all, we can’t help but think that putting a video on Youtube right before Halloween with “Thriller” in the title is some kind of major SEO chicanery on the part of said Sour Notes! We’re also wondering how director Paul Raila managed to so accurately capture every relationship we’ve ever been in. Well, us and William Burroughs. We’re told this is an homage to Jean Luc Godard’s “A Woman is a Woman,” but we don’t do film, so we’ll just have to take their word on that one. What we can say is it’s a damn finely shot video for damn fine song. Check it out below. You can also next catch the local quartet tomorrow, Oct. 28, when 101X’s Homegrown series hits Trophy’s with Visitors and Candi and the Cavities. The Sour Notes will have an official video release show (because that’s actually a thing, now) on November 10 with Diagonals for Alexander Speed’s debut CD release party. Hmm, Sour Notes and Speed - sounds like a night of Austin music to us!

It’s October 8th and I find myself inside the elegantly lit Hideout Theater listening to local folk singer Joanna Barbera pick at her guitar, stomp her foot, and sing raspily into the mic. I’m front left and can almost reach out and touch her. While she is singing, I notice the absolute silence that surrounds her — the unfaltering focus — and it seems that no where else would such nuanced and subtle finger-picking and lullaby-intoning ring out so clearly and impress with such emotional force.

Back in the late Seventies and early Eighties, T. Tex Edwards helped define the “cowpunk” sound in Texas, first with the Cramps-ian ferocity of The Nervebreakers and later with the rootsier pull of his projects that would evolve into T. Tex Edwards and Out on Parole. At times twisted and brooding, T. Tex Edwards’ brand of psycho-billy trolls the darker edges of Americana with a surly Texas swagger and irreverence that rips rockabilly and jungle-twang. Edwards is preparing a career compilation album for release early next year, as well as a new Nervebreakers record, but this Saturday, Oct. 31, you can spend Halloween with the legend and fellow local icons as T. Tex Edwards and Out on Parole desecrate the Hole in the Wall alongside the notorious Hickoids and the Gay Sportscasters featuring guitar giant Evan Johns. Also, we highly recommend following @Ttexed for some incomparable history lessons!

Chris Simpson’s revolving carnival known as Zookeeper recently showcased some new tunes on his myspace, and has offered one up for download below. We’re digging the new stuff, even more so than Zookeeper’s 2006 eponymous debut or 07’s Becoming All Things. Who knows, maybe 2010 when the new record is set to come out will be the year that Simpson is finally able to ditch his inevitable tag as “the former Mineral and the Gloria Record leader.” Not yet, though! Simpson is also on the prowl for some label support for the upcoming album, so heads up all you big money record label moguls. “Mary of the Morning,” available below, gives off a distinct Phosphorescent flair thanks to the slow, twinging horns and Simpson’s fantastically aching voice. That’s of course only one sound that jumps out from Zookeeper’s typically eclectic tent, though, so check out the other new tunes on his myspace.

So CMJ is a rockin’ and a rollin’ up in New York this week, or as we like to think of it, New York’s shittier version of SXSW. Sonic Bids has apparently made it their mission to get a bunch of Austin bands up there to play, which we can dig. Among the artists they apparently helped get shows at CMJ are some of our favorites, including Moth!Fight!, Corto Maltese, My Education, and The Great Nostalgic. They’re also pimping out UME with a showcase that happened last night, and below is a little video and interview with local trio, chilling with the Meat Puppets’ new drummer Ted Marcus, for some reason. Oh, they say hi, by the way. Word from the band is that Joan Jett was in attendance at their show as well, which could be important as they are currently without label and Miss Jett seems to like signing rockin’ women to her Blackheart Records label, eh, Girl in a Coma?

The Great Nostalgic is nothing if not a band of southern charmers - hell, it’s implied in their name. The nostalgia has recently expanded as the group has added Jimmy Rhea and Rachel Samartin into the fold. They’re currently taking their southern charm north for a gig at CMJ this Friday, but this tune is the b-side to an upcoming 7″ called Cave Paintings that they’ll be putting out November 21. You can also listen to the A-side, “Spirit World” on their myspace. “Southern Charmer” was actually recorded as part of their fine debut, but didn’t make the cut for that album - a shame considering it’s a good tune. The band actually seems to keep moving forward despite their moniker, already prepping a new EP called As Meninas, which will be available for download soon. In the meantime, download Southern Charmer below, and prepare for their return to Austin on October 27 as they play the Mohawk as the aftershow to Islands.

We can hardly get through one festival around here without having to start preparing for the next. The dust (er, mud) has settled from ACL, we’re exercising daily in anticipation of Fun Fun Fun Fest in two weeks (not really), and now SXSW has to stick its nose back above the water for some attention. The madhouse fest, scheduled to run its music portion from March 17-21 next spring, announced today that Smokey Robinson, sans any Miracles, will be keynoting the Fest on Thursday, March 18. You can’t really argue with that selection, especially as Motown is going through its cyclical reissue and honoring phase these days. We just hope he doesn’t go on speaking for three friggin’ days like Mr. Quincy Delight Jones last year! Robinson’s awards, achievements, and influence are, of course, incomparable, but we love the fact that SXSW felt the need to highlight his current impact on music by noting that “Robinson continues to forge new trails, mentoring “American Idol” contestants in 2009 and writing and recording new music.” Ah, career, consider yourself climaxed!