Austin Sound

As they say, with a name like the Magnificent Snails, it better be good. Luckily for the local trio, who drops their debut EP, Baby Acid Trips, this week, they brandish a kind of pop flair that manages to be both catchy and continually interesting. With touches of horns and experimental torques, the Snails can ripple with softly gleaming harmonies, bounce with a kind of Vampire Weekend punch of infectiousness and even cut funky, garage-glam with an effective relish. Despite the fact that the trio includes Austin Sound contributor Chris Galis, we still recommend checking them out this Friday, February 18, at Club 1808, for their EP release show with Waldo Wittenmeyer and the Natural. Get a taste of Baby Acid Trips below.

So seems the Murdocks have finally had enough of us. You know, they just got really good, so it only makes sense to go out on top and thus up the pricetag on their eventual reunion show. Good business strategy. Very savvy. Of course, seeing as how it took them nearly half a decade to get their last LP out, maybe this isn’t so much a hiatus as it is a break to do some recording. Or something. Last year the local trio impressed with the release of Distortionist, but according to the band, this Thursday will mark their last show for the indeterminate future. We know how these “trial separations” go, though - first you start up the side project, and then things just fall off, and before you know it, it’s been two years since you thought about all those good old Murdocks days. It’s cool though - we can take it. The funny thing about this breakup though, is that they’re going to still dump a bunch of videos and tunes on us over the next year that they have in the attic. So what’s up guys, is this good bye or not? Don’t tease us. Either way, we’ll still be down at Emo’s on Thursday night for one final fling with Murdocks as the band unloads their “hits” from across the past decade with support from Paper Shapes, Antic Romantics and Shazz.

A couple of weeks ago, our friends over at Do512 officially launched their new in-house concert series with the inauguration of the Do512 Lounge. With help from Austin Music Weekly filming the gigs, they have put together an amazing, intimate experience. Consider it kinda Austin City Limits for next generation. So while they don’t have a deal with TV (yet!), they do have the web and the awesome talents of the AMW crew. Their first “pilot” show in the Lounge was Saints of Valory, but the Black Angels were really the ones to initially set the tone for what the Do512 folks want to accomplish - big bands, intimate venue, and free beer. Sounds like Austin to us! The Black Angels played about a 5 song set to a crowd of about 50 fans, and if you couldn’t be there, you should definitely check out the video below and pay attention to Do512 for your chance to get in on some of their upcoming performances in the Lounge. You can also check out more videos from the series on Austin Music Weekly’s Youtube page (as well as other great shows from around town), including the most recent Lounge sets from James McMurtry and the Bright Light Social Hour.

Next week the Sour Notes will be releasing their fourth LP (in as many years!), titled Last Looks. We’ve been following, and fans of, the quintet over that time, with the band proving to be impressively aggressive in their evolution. Last Looks, which was actually recorded on the heels of last year’s It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty, was held onto for release until now as the band upped their touring profile, and we’re excited to finally get to hear their new material and share it with you via the streams they’ve offered up below. The quintet now features drummer Taylor Steinberg, pianist Kelly DeWitt and bassist Amarah Ulghani joining founding Notes Chris Page and Jared Boulanger, but perhaps even more exciting is the additional strings and brass added across Last Looks courtesy of Mother Falcon, who will be joining the Sour Notes live for the CD release show next Thursday at the Mohawk. Also on the bill are For Hours And Hours and Missions. If you can’t wait until then to get a taste of the band’s latest sound, you can catch them tomorrow, February 12, as they participate in the free “Rehearsal at the Astoria” series at Atrhouse, and wet your palette with the full album stream of Last Looks below:

Um, WOW. We have to admit that we weren’t expecting to wake up this morning to animated erections! (Ok, maybe we were, but that’s a different story). We were, though, really excited (not as excited as some, apparently) about the new animated video for the Boxing Lesson from their album Fur State. Like their earlier video, this one was done by Jeanne Hospod, and is pretty trippy and odd. Hell, we’re even a little confused by the video’s actual description: “Alien woman seduces hapless human male involving a very unusual flower.” Hahaha, hapless human males! Also, he should really have his penis looked at now, because we’re pretty sure it’s not supposed to glow like that. What the hell is going on here! Honestly though, the best part about this video is the end, when the hapless human male wakes up from his wet dream to three cats staring at him. Oh man, if we only had a nickel… Watch the video below, unless you’re at school or somewhere where it matters if someone thinks you’re some kind of pervert or something. The Boxing Lesson, first with the Furries, now this.

Any conversation about the best new bands in Austin has to include Marmalakes, a trio that on the strength of last year’s debut EP, Wonder Winds, and charmingly buoyant live shows have helped galvanize a scene of unassuming, earnest and impressive young artists. On songs like the anthemic “Vittoria”, the band catches a perfect pop folk-pop hook that shadows elements of Local Natives and even Vampire Weekend, while winding through detailed landscapes with an alliterative laden wit. Marmalakes will be releasing their second EP later this year, but you should catch them as soon as possible, which happens to be this Thursday, February 10 at the Mohawk along with Austin heavy-hitters Fastball, and rising starts Quiet Company.

The second round of performers for this year’s Fourth Annual Austin Psych Fest, curated by the Black Angels, has been announced, and it’s hard to argue with any Psych Fest bill that tops itself with Roky Erickson. The Angels and Erickson of course have some history together, so hopefully we’ll even get to see some of that action from Night of the Vampire come alive. The Fest this year is both moving shop, and benefiting from some better timing, taking place over the three days of April 29 through March 1 at the East Side Drive In. Among the other new additions announced that we’re excited about are Young Prisms, Black Hollies, and Lower Heaven, and this is on top of the initial round that included Black Moth Super Rainbow, Atlas Sound, Sleepy Sun, and so much other good stuff. Check out the lineup as it now stands below, or visit the Psych Fest website at your seizured risk.

We do love our Dylan covers, but Royal Forest has one upped that by putting out a free, two song dose for download of Dylan’s “You’re a Big Girl Now” with Neil Young’s “Borrowed Tune”! Royal Forest is of course the re-branded quintet Loxly, who thankfully chose the new, less-taken name last year. Now they’re gearing up for a new LP which will be out sometime this summer. Both of the cover tunes are pretty lo-fi and a little trippy, which you might expect from a band who recorded their last tuneusing a four track powered by a car battery. If we had to compare it to anything, it would probably be some Jeff Tweedy outtakes or something. Royal Forest doesn’t currently have any gigs lined up until SXSW, but you can check out the Dylan ditty below, and get them both for free download from the band’s bandcamp page.

You might be inclined to write off a band like Not in the Face! simply on the basis of their name, but that would be a mistake. The duo of Jonathan Terrell and Wes Cargal cast raw rock nuggets that can claw and scratch with a garagey abrasiveness, kick dirty roots, and even unload an outright fury of heavy Zeppelin-esque prog that would seem impossible from a two-piece. With Cargal abusing on the drums and Terrell flailing out front with proto-punk intensity, Not in the Face! delivers it direct and untempered. They’ll be playing Club DeVille this Friday, February 4 alongside Crooks and DJ uLOVEi as part of Knuckle Rumbler and From the Mind of Adi’s First Friday Frolic. You can also catch Terrell running his rootsier solo project, JT & the Heartache Tycoons, at the Ghost Room on Saturday the 5th with Frank Smith and Sad Accordions.

Will Patterson’s Sleep Good has blossomed over the past couple of years from a bedroom pop project into a full scale outfit that mirrors the rise of his other work with Bill Baird’s Sunset. The two bands are often on the same bill together, and with good reason; both swim in the psych-pop wake of early Harry Nilsson, effusive and catchy, but not without a good amount of tongue-in-cheek wit that can bite and barb with ease and unexpected turns and experimentation that seem ever evolving in arrangements. Sleep Good dropped two noteworthy albums last year, Skyclimber and the December cassette Strange Vacations, and you can catch the quintet this Friday, January 28, at the Mohawk along with ((Sounder)) and the Denton five-piece Seryn, who will be releasing their debut EP at the show, This is Where We Are.