Austin Sound

Through The Trees’ debut, Dig It Up, is a startlingly audacious ten-song career-opening salvo fired right across the bow. After taking stock of their influences and history – Ben McCormack (vocals/guitars/piano/etc) and Will Tanner (bass/percussion) played together in The Stags, McCormack in a variety of bands ranging from jam to garage band, Rob Jasinski drummed for the long departed garage and hip shaking The Good Looks – Dig It Up is even more disarming. Given where the trio came from, the resulting alt rock as played by late 70s classic rock fans isn’t completely surprising, but it seems refreshingly welcome. Pile on the fact that the band was practically born in the stale beer afternoons at the Hole in the Wall – Tanner owns it, McCormack books it, and Jasinski owns Cream Vintage next door – and one might expect an album of shambling, sloppy burners. Instead, Through The Trees wind up generally soaring through some fifty minutes of majestic rock and roll.

Whoa, the Murdocks are pissed! What the hell, guys? The trio shared the mp3 for “Black Jesus Knocking” with us way back when, and will finally be releasing their new album, Distornist, this Saturday at the Parish. This is their first LP since 2005, and apparently they’ve pent up a little anger and energy. The new video for “Black Jesus Knocking” is just, well, disturbing. Kudos on finding a little kid that looks like he could actually be a young Franklin Morris, but this kids also got some problems. Actually, the stigmata-palm slapped bullies at the end probably have bigger problems. We imagine this is something like how a tea party rally goes down - first they get really mad and bully folks, then have some kind of self-abusing spiritual revelation. Or something. Check out the video below, which was directed by Tina Carlsen, produced, edited, and written by Noël Kristi Wells, and with cinematography by Travis Ragsdale. And catch the Murdocks CD release show this Saturday, Sept 4 at the Parish with The Couch, Naysays, and Through the Trees.

If you haven’t been following Monahans’ mp3 a month project as they build up to a new album, you’re really missing out. Go here and get all six tracks that they currently have up while you can. Their latest song, “I Break the Silence”, offers up some excellent work from drummer Roberto Sanchez, who is literally a primary driving force behind Monahans’ sound, turning Greg Vanderpool and company’s sound into epic dimensions. The song is purportedly inspired and derived from accounts about “Wounded Knee,” but it’s still pretty impressionistic in usual Monahans’ style. The quartet’s third album, composed of these songs and possibly more, should be out early next year if all goes to schedule, and they will next be playing live in Austin in late September with a show at the Parish, which should be a great room for their encompassing sound. Check out “I Break the Silence” below.

There’s not much to say after you tell the Mayor [Lee Leffingwell] that everything’s going “really ‘effing well” and he walks awkwardly away from you after a proclamation that it’s official Danny Malone Day, but Malone still manages to somehow come through. With blues-rock protégés the Steps and School of Songs in tow, Malone managed to put on a show last month at Stubb’s full of choreographed lights and dance, pomp, and his trademark folk rock worthy of a day of his own deserving. Read our interview with him here, and see photos from the show below courtesy of Will Foster.

Like so many first albums before it, Smashed, The Blind Pets’ self released debut, is an admirable stab at rock immortality that comes up short while providing a quite a few glimpses at a promising future. Like the image inside the gatefold and printed directly on the disc, Smashed is a fractured record; at times, the band riffs, solos, and shreds its way out of the mundane and slices a mighty groove. Other times, the band freaks out into metallic spasms, seemingly intended to flip their audiences’ ears into a completely different direction. Just because a young band hasn’t quite put it all together yet on their first try doesn’t mean The Blind Pets should be dismissed. On the contrary, it just means listeners will have to work a little harder to find the hidden gems on the record.

Holy hell! If you missed the Sword yesterday in the Waterloo parking lot, this should help you regret it even more. Today the Sword unsheathes their new album, Warp Riders, on Kemado, and to celebrate they have offered up the first of their “Warp Riders” series of videos. Last month, we previewed the mp3 of “Tres Brujas”, and let’s just say that the video lives up to the epicness of the song. We’ll let you tease out what exactly the story is here, basically because we can’t figure it out. The press release says that it is “Seven Samurai crossed with The Magnificent Seven meets Mad Max filtered through the imagination of the Sword”, which works for us except that the Sword is only a quartet. This video will be followed by two more, ““Lawless Lands” and “Night City,” so you’ll have to wait to see how it all ends. We predict total domination by the Sword though. In the meantime, your next chance to catch them locally is at the Austin City Limits Music Fest in October, after they return from slaughtering Australia and Japan. Check out the video below.

Hold your horses there SXSW and Fun Fun Fun Fest, we aren’t done talking about ACL, yet! Today, C3 announced their official after and pre-shows for the early October bash in Zilker Park, and there is some good stuff for those of you that prefer to pass on the heat. We know it will break your hearts to miss those ACL headliners that everyone is so uber-excited about, but hey, here’s your chance to see the Antwoord. For the Thursday pre-shows, you can kick off the weekend with Spoon at the Mohawk (wow!), while Friday our money is split between Emo’s with the Black Lips, Those Darlins, and The Ettes outside, and Givers, Cults, and TV Torso in, while the Black Keys and Foals take on Stubb’s. For Saturday night, we’d probably take Girls with the Soft Pack at Antone’s, but it’s also tempting to see if there might actually be a tune or two that Jimmie Dale Gilmore does with the Monsters of Folk at Stubb’s. Anyway, peruse the schedule below, or here. And tickets for all of these shows will be going on sale August 27 at 10:00am. We suspect that Spoon at the Mohawk will blow out the servers first.

Building on the chemistry achieved with their former project, The Story Of, Alex Huff, David McCully, and Michael Brennan teamed with drummer Brian Bolek to create Melogrand earlier this year, and already with a 7″ under their belt, the quartet’s melodic pop has been garnering deserved attention down Red River. While maintaining some of the expansive elements that defined The Story Of’s direction, Melogrand smooths the edges with a tighter focus and Brit-pop touch that can still drift into extensive psych-laced digressions, especially live. The band’s debut LP will be released later this year, and looks already to be one the year’s best local premiers. Melogrand will be joining the giant Red River Rocks party this Saturday, August 28, at the Mohawk, which features three stages of bands and DJs including Dead Confederate, Hacienda, Futurebirds, The Eastern Sea, Frank Smith, The Noise Revival Orchestra, The Mercers, Booher and the Turkeyz, The Georgian Company, ZEALE, Freshmillions, Ume, Built By Snow, The Pons, Stereo is a Lie, The Boxing Lesson, Red Falcon, Young Girls, My Education, Team Fabrication, and much more. The party kicks off at 2:00pm.

This week’s Chronicle reports that Daytrotter, the popular site based out of Rock Island, Illinois that has made a name for itself over the past 5 years by offering unique recording sessions with a who’s who of indie’s most popular acts, will be branching out to Austin. The site has partnered with local studio Big Orange to start recording Daytrotter Sessions there full time, helmed by TV Torso’s Matt Oliver. Daytrotter has been using Big Orange during SXSW since 2007, but having them set up full time down here is a huge win, both for Daytrotter and Austin’s indie bands. The site has always had its ear close to the ground when it comes to the Austin music scene, continually tapping up-and-coming ATX bands to do sessions, but recording out of Big Orange full time will allow them to also take advantage of the bands rolling through town on tour, rather than, say, trying to convince them to go out of their way to Rock Island! Daytrotter is currently hitting over 100,000 unique visitors a month, so that’s a nice little bit of attention to bring to the table. Plus, given their horse logo, what better place to set up shop than a studio right next to urban stables!!

Late yesterday it was announced that Emo’s and Antone’s owners Frank Hendrix and Susan Antone will be teaming up to help run the venerable blues club. While they reportedly haven’t yet figured out all the financials, basically Emo’s managers will now be helping run Antone’s, which we imagine can only be good for any blues punk bands in town. Hopefully Emo’s first order of business will be moving that damn stage from the center of the room. The reasoning behind the alliance was simply that Susan, Clifford Antone’s sister, wanted to be freed up from some of the more operational stuff like running the bar. Fair enough. But if it’s true that Emo’s’ Jason Sabala and Bill Corsello will now be handling most of the managerial affairs, we really can’t wait to see what happens when they have to endure their first Bob Schneider show. It’s doubtful there will really be that big of a noticeable change for patrons or the bookings, but it is interesting to think how this might play out for the general booking constellation in town (C3 will continue to book national touring bands at Emo’s and Antone’s). With Emo’s admitting to the Chronicle in May that “We’re coming off the worst year we’ve had since we’ve been in business,” and some major changes coming to Red River with the Waller Creek Tunnel Project development, it’s probably smart for Emo’s and Hendrix to branch out a bit.