Austin Sound

We love this idea and can not wait for the Singularity, when we will all have replaceable parts. In fact, with the way that we’ve been treating our livers, it’s really our only hope for living out the rest of the decade. And when we do finally replace our dilapidated and crumbling husks of bodies with new pieces to make us faster better stronger whatever, we really hope that the Black and White Years’ sophomore album, Patterns, will provide the OR room/assembly line soundtrack. The new video featuring the always awesome animation of Eric Power, makes us really happy and really sad all at once, kind of like thunderstorms, animal shelters, and twitter. In other words, conflicted! Check out the video for “Cold” below, though, and you’ll have a chance to catch the Black and White Years again here in town when they play a HAAM benefit at Antone’s on April 28.

Yesterday afternoon the Statesman reported that blues pianist, Antone’s fixture, and Austin legend Pinetop Perkins passed away at the age of 97. Perkins reportedly died at home in his sleep due to cardiac arrest. The pianist was a pillar of Austin since moving here with the aid and support of Clifford Antone in 2003, and garnered three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Perkins was an icon of a trifecta of Delta, Chicago and Austin blues, having played with nearly every blues legend of note from Sonny Boy Williamson to Muddy Waters. In a statement posted on the artist’s website, B.B. King called Perkins “one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen,” while Susan Antone notes appropriately, “He was a member of our family, not just the Antone’s family, but the Austin family.” Arrangements are still pending. Watch a video of Pinetop and Clifford Antone playing the Broken Spoke back in 2005 below:

Well how ’bout that? Don’t know about y’all, but yesterday certainly was pretty awesome on our end. What with Jack White and Dave Grohl running around town, there’s bound to be some awesome stuff that pops up, no? Looking over our lists for today, though, seems the best bets are away from the downtown fray, which has become increasingly the case over the past few years. In fact, you could probably do much worse than spending your day bouncing from the East Side between Pitchfork’s show at the East Side Drive-In and Dig for Fire’s lineup at the French Legation Museum. And then for the evening, why not hit up the $5 Night of Rage III on up the road at Baby Blue Studios? That should pretty much have us covered for the the next twelve hours or so through into tomorrow, but we have our favorites listed below for your consideration. What’s been the best you’ve come across so far? Sharon Van Etten and Jessica Lea Mayfield were both stunning and highly recommended, and Country Mice provided some much needed heavy lifting for our first day. Keep up the good work, guys; there’s still lots of music to plow through.

If you survived the pre-partying (and you better have as we’re just getting started!), then you’ll be out there flooding the streets and back alleys today as we officially kick off this little catastrophe we call SXSW. Wednesday Dayshows are generally the best to catch the bands you really want to see if they are playing, as not all the yahoos have yet arrived in town. Below, we’ve thrown down our top choices of shows that are going on, though we recommend also cherrypicking a few of your must sees and knocking them out today if you can. Among our top picks for Wednesday are (of course) the Midgetmen’s annual SXSW Jump Start party, The Austinist’s teaming with the Windish Agency, Forcefield and Terrorbird’s show at Red 7, and Fat Possum, who are taking over Club DeVille. In fact, the venues look pretty much like our typical Red River weekend rounds, with the exception of the local off-the-grid, but sure to please showcase by those kids over at Skanky Possum. C’mon and jump, you know you wanna.

And here we are again, this ol’ rodeo. Some of us have already got almost a week of SXSW under our sleeves, others are just gearing up for the best part, which is obviously music. This year, the official SXSW showcases extended into Tuesday, because they can, but doesn’t really kick off until Wednesday. Needless to say, though, there are some awesome events going to kick off the music side of the fest, and below our are picks to help you kick off the week right. From this point on, expect awesome music, free booze, and hipsters run amuck in our fair city. We’re not gonna bother with the biggest or most ridiculously branded and sponsored shows, or the official badge crap - we’re just looking for a good time and don’t want to stand in stupid lines. Sorry Fader Fort. So today we kick things off with the amazing and sure to get you sweating Ice Cream Man party at Club DeVille, an awesome showcase at Red 7 that will blow your face off, and the 12th incarnation of everybody’s favorite SXSW starter, the Art Disaster Party at Beauty Bar. Check below for lineups and tastes to get you going.

We really don’t thrown around words like absurd casually - really only when the situation truly calls for it, or with Charlie Sheen. So when we say that the lineup for the Austin Music People launch party and first annual benefit is absurd, you know it’s good. Here’s the deal: Back when the non-profit was announced in October, we thought this would be the kind of group that could actually get stuff done for music in Austin. But we just figured that was politics and money stuff - you know, boring. We didn’t anticipate that it would putting on amazing events like this. So to help raise money for AMP, there will be a huge show on Thursday March 31, at the new ACL Live at the Moody Theater (naturally) to help drive membership. Tickets are on sale as of 10am this morning for two prices (including a cheap $20 one!): There’s the $20 Community Membership including ticket to the floor and balcony and membership that includes invites to exclusive AMP events, special discounts and giveaways, or the special $250 Professional Membership, which is a ticket to mezzanine seating as well as a pre-show VIP Happy Hour reception with AMP’s Board and professional members. Plus, AMP membership includes regular professional networking gatherings, project opportunities, key updates, invites to AMP events, and special discounts and giveaways. So yeah yeah yeah, all that i is good stuff, but why are you REALLY going? Because of this lineup below:

We love the Old Settler’s Fest every year. Even when it gets a little too Austin-hippie jam band for us, there are rarely events that are as chilled out and friendly and that compile such top notch talent in a relatively small area. So we are kind of excited that this year, in addition to the expected roots all-stars like Richard Thompson, Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, and Jim Lauderdale, there is also a pretty nice dose of artists we would typically consider more in the indie-oriented realm. Most notably is the Friday night headliner of the Avett Brothers, which indicates that either the Old Settler’s Fest has finally caught on, or that the North Carolina trio has been supplanted by their British tribute act in the form of those Mumford lads and are now down to lower tier festivals. We kid, we kid - this is a win-win in our books! Also interesting to note are Langhorne Slim and Elliot Brood, and of course a ton of great local artists ranging from the young Ruby Jane to Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The Fest and camping will be going on out at Camp Ben McCulloch and the Salt Lick Pavilion from Thursday, April 14 to Sunday, April 17, 2011, and for tickets and more info, check out their website. The full lineup and schedule are below:

Over two albums and the past five years, Wiretree has grown from the solo project of Kevin Peroni into one of the emerging acolytes of power-pop in Austin. Behind Peroni’s ranging and easy tenor, the quartet brings touches of the Pernice Brothers and New Pornographers, with a twinge of pedal steel twang and shades of both classic Eighties and contemporary indie pop. It’s a melding of influences and sounds that seems to finally come together in Wiretree’s latest effort, the band’s third LP tentatively titled Make Up, and currently being recorded at Hot Tracks! for a release later this year. You can check out some their new material in their recent ACL Satellite Set, or catch them this Saturday, February 26, at the Hole in the Wall with Digital Antique and The Lennings.

See your bands in this week’s Chronicle. Get your bands here.

Last month we got a taste of the new Okkervil sound when they debuted the first of their new tunes on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. It was an odd little preview with A.C. Newman and the Roots’ ?uestlove and Damon Bryson helping out on the song “Wake and Be Fine”, which will appear the new Jagjaguwar release I Am Very Far due in May. “Weave Room Blues” is even weirder though - as a non-album B-side, they seem to be feeling the freedom to mess around on the song. Either that, or A.C. Newman’s New Pornographers’ stardom is beginning to rub off. There are no official dates up yet for Okkervil around town, but we do know that they will be here for SXSW, so get your RSVPs on to those parties. Check out “Weave Room Blues” below, and you can already pick up the new 7-incher from the band, Mermaid, now.