Austin Sound

Ever wondered what it’s like to be in the mind of Adi Anand? It’s pretty much all we think about. All the parties! All the shows! All the friends! We can only wish were that popular. The dude currently has 1,548 Facebook friends, which is, of course, the definitive metric for how important someone is. That’s more like a fan page or something! But if Adi is a brand - and let’s face it, Adi is Austin’s most viral brand! - we’re totally buying. And despite Adi’s love for cover bands, when he puts together a show lineup, we know that it’s worth taking in. Thus, the beauty of “From the Mind of Adi”, his new “residency” showcase at the Mohawk (which makes sense, as we’re pretty sure Adi does, in fact, claim residency at the Mohawk on his census form). Tonight (Wednesday, March 31) offers up the second installment in the series, with She Sir, The Authors, and White Dress. There will also be some free Lonestars from Bird’s Barbershop (while it lasts) and food from Home Slice Pizza (while it lasts), because that’s how Adi rolls. Also, the awesome Dániel Perlaky, who lives in Texas and is thus condemned to never have his name pronounced correctly, will be showing off some of his poster art. Because Adi takes care of his friends. Show starts at 7:00pm (Doors at 6:00 if you want in on that Lonestar and pizza action).

What could be a bigger waste of time and money these days than running a music blog? Starting a record label, duh! It’s the natural progression for bloggers: First you get the hits, then you sponsor the shows, then you start releasing the albums. And then you get the women? Powerful DFW-based blog Gorilla Vs. Bear is venturing into the lucrative and exciting world indie label-dom with the announcement earlier this week that they are teaming with Weekly Tape Deck to create Forest Family Records. This is really the indie trifecta for success in naming, we think. You have Gorilla vs. Bear bringing their odd animal pairing title, Weekly Tape Deck providing the retro format cred, and all that’s missing is some rustic, woodsy notion that is taken care of with the name Forest Family. For their first release, they are offering up a 7″ from the band Cults, which is pretty good stuff. You can download the track “Go Outside” below. What’s more, a portion of the proceeds from every release on Forest Family goes to a charity benefiting animals, according to their website. That’s cool and all, but they don’t say what portion, or what charity, or perhaps most importantly, what animals. We really don’t want our money to inadvertently go to supporting jihadist lemurs or something. But good luck to Forest Family! And you can order the highly recommended Cults 7″ here, follow Forest Family Recs on Twitter, or be in like with them on Facebook, because that’s what you do.

In our post SXSW trolling of the internet, we came across this lovely little gem from the fine party folks over at Republic of Austin. As part of their “Voyeur Music Video” series (which is a little weird to begin with, but whatever), they recently spied on Kat Edmonson doing a gorgeous version of her tune “Lucky.” Of course, when is a Kat Edmonson tune not gorgeous? Don’t try to answer, it’s a trick question! This looks like it was filmed down at Ladybird Lake, but we’re not sure where that stage came from. Is that a thing? If so, we want to play on it. And if it was only put there for the video, then we have to wonder exactly what the RoA folks are doing with a stage like this in their back pockets. Portable disco floors for everyone! This is a fairly stripped down version of “Lucky,” with Edmonson accompanied only by vibraphone from Laura Scarborough, which makes the tune that much more enchanting. Check it out below, as well as Republic of Austin’s first video in the series from Hollywood Gossip playing outside of Shangri La.

While we were out last week recovering from the debauchery of SXSW (remember that? Great times!) some really crappy news hit the local music scene. The internet radio tastemakers at WOXY, who just moved to town at the end of last summer, had to shut down their station due to lack of funding. Apparently it’s been an issue for a while, and SXSW was their deadline to get on track, but nothing has come through so far. According to reports from the Statesman, the station was doing fine on audience size, but their parent company Future Sounds has been carrying the station while they attempt to find new funding, but to no avail. While there is still a lot of hope that some deals will come through to revive the station, this really sucks for Austin, and of course the awesome WOXY crew, who even in their short time here have done a lot for our local music scene. Here’s to hoping they can get back on the internet airwaves soon!

The Mercers’ new release, Giant (Victim), marks the second consecutive solid seven song cycle in less than 12 months for one of Austin’s best kept secrets. Recorded at the same time as 2009’s Hovercraft, Giant was shrewdly kept under wraps for a few months as the band prepared for its release. Rather than force 14 songs onto one mixed up full length album, The Mercers appear to have wisely saved the 7 more mellow songs for Hovercraft’s subsequent follow-up EP. And, for the most part, this dual attack works pretty well.

The Mercers’ pop perfect blend of The Who, The Shins, and Guided By Voices continues on Giant. But while Hovercraft landed more towards The Who and Guided By Voices, Giant stomps firmly on The Shins end of the aforementioned spectrum.

Well, it’s certainly not Of Montreal. Some good pop licks and surprising turns, but eh, don’t quit your day job?

…may now be Andrew W.k., who finishes out his set hoarse and dirty but full of fist-pumping positivity. Sorry, James Brown, but the dude has played like 5 shows a day all week.

Dios has added a rough psych element to their sound. Sounds pretty good while retaining some solid pop sway.

A little singer-songwriter action to calm down Saturday night. Dan Mangan is pretty damn great, as is the cool little Live.Create.Lounge. A little bummed to have just now discovered both

These guys are all energy and blazing guitars. Songs are all in Chinese, but still rocks like hell