Austin Sound

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.

The first words from Danny Malone’s mouth are strangely obvious as I can hear the hiss of inclement weather on the line, but he manages to give it a name, a definition as a sort of enigmatic, chance poet. It’s the kind of dry lyricism coloring the earthy tones of last year’s release, Cuddlebug, that also pervade his conversation. Not much is certain about Danny Malone — even he can attest to that. He has curious bios online, claiming he’s a number of fantastical things, but these all seem fabrications of Malone’s overactive imagination, and almost diversions from the heartfelt songwriter that listeners find in his music. What we do know is that July 29th has been officially declared Danny Malone Day here in Austin, and Malone himself remains humble and politely reticent of his local fame. Austin Sound sat down with the twenty-something songsmith to chat about his commemoration, his seemingly endless ambition as a musician, his forthcoming album, and the Parkside vs. Best Wurst controversy, about which he cares so deeply.

What Made Milwaukee Famous, aside from its cheeky name, is quietly recognized as one of the most notorious indie rock bands of the last decade to come from Austin, or anywhere for that matter. They toured with indie icons like the National, had placement on national television, and were regular and much anticipated faces on the summer festival circuit. Yet despite getting all the appropriate breaks, they still never have managed to gain significant traction. But with such a regal, indie pedigree, it makes sense that Drew Patrizi’s solo endeavor of his own stockpiled material from the last couple years — which has donned the name Trumpeter Swan — would take the power-pop, crank-the-stereo idioms that defined WMMF’s visceral and heartfelt rock to the next level. Patrizi, in his solo effort, has opted for chamber-pop and studio acrobatics to produce an emotive and lush record, comparable in emotional scope to any of his previous group’s pursuits.

Someday Parish, the new project from Austin songwriter/folkster and McMercy Family Band member Ted Hadji, teeters dangerously on the line between subliminally spiritual folk rock, and Christian Americana. As a reviewer and connoisseur of modern trends in music, I don’t really have a high tolerance for the submissive and servile nature of Christian rock. To me, it seems less like art and more like trying to pander religion to a younger crowd that doesn’t really respond to the whole hymnal, mass/service tradition — but there are always exceptions to every rule. Hadji sidesteps many of those inclinations by taking momentary vacations from his religious focus to dwell on his own personal life, though it may not be enough.

Formerly known as Operator, The White Hotel has finally released their debut album, Operator. Much hyped as one of Austin’s soon-to-be breakout acts, The White Hotel, have cavorted about the Austin music scene for a few years, touting an ear for New-Wave pop and a panache for sardonic, cynical songs backed by sometimes harrowing, sometimes ecstatic, electronic drums and synths.

Debut albums are an unspoken line in the sand, though, especially bands with clout such as The White Hotel, but Operator seems to dodge any assumptions about influence, aesthetic, or technique and deftly lands on a cushy middle ground — nothing too commercial or definitive while at the same time being readily accessible to the pop-minded. The sextet seems to take the “physical over intellectual” approach with Operator as most of the cuts reek of The White Hotel’s dark, danceable electronic fuzz.

Hug is sheer novelty - something to amuse and offend listeners with their self-aware, completely ludicrous rock. It’s no surprise that the band pictured on the inside sleeve of their latest LP, Cravings, Lust, and Chaos, has two out of three members in a dress swaying back and forth in a drunk-possessed state, consumed by their own meta-pop about adulterous gay politicians, buying drugs in Mexico, and taking your pants off just for the hell of it.

Chaos plays like a cheap party trick. Stuck somewhere between blissfully unaware of its own tongue-in-cheek tackiness and subliminally insane, the tracks meander through patches of electro kraut-rock, socio-cultural narratives about humanity’s penchant for its own destruction, and a bout or two of actually listenable, tolerable, lucid moments, which unfortunately only work as relief from the rest of the album, and less as compliment.

With such a long and foreboding title, Mediocrity is the Strongest Inevitability, you’d think Austin duo, Dirty Dancing, would have somehow managed to avoid the inevitable. Over Mediocrity’s fourteen tracks of low-fi, electro-guitar noise, they manage to demonstrate the very dangerous, intimate nature of home recording, engineering, and producing. In pouring through their long-playing catalogue, there are only a few moments, somewhere near the album’s middle torso that glimmer with a chance of hope, and that’s only if you have the accepting palate: plenty of Velvet Underground, some 80s music by groups who were really good in the 70s, and a tolerance for (art?) noise.

For those of you who haven’t noticed, SXSW has started already. The music kickoff comes Wednesday night, but there have been free shows going on downtown since Saturday (like when I was at Harlem, the Strange Boys, and Blair at the Red Eyed Fly for free) including local garage rockers Woven Bones, the Octopus Project, and second-city R&B duo Flosstradamus at the Mohawk on Sunday night—one that I regret to have missed. So here is the SXSW Music Tuesday unofficial preview.

Legs Against Arms’ debut EP gives a glimpse at what we could see later this year with their first full-length release. With a title like Come On Let’s Disappear, you’re going to mine connotative thoughts of early decade alt-rock bands playing radio-friendly tunes and getting placement on crummy WB teen dramas. But Legs Against Arms manages to overstep such dubious prejudices despite the presence of cinematic crescendos and throaty, heart felt vocals — there’s something more bubbling below. It’s somewhere between the glassy, streamlined rock and roll of the EP’s first three tracks and the conclusive two-part epic of Disappear’s’s last two songs, “B.I.O.L.O.G.Y.” and “Paper Ships”.

On 2009’s debut, …And Girls Club, the Strange Boys grape-vined through sixteen songs of unabashed, uninhibited, youthful garage rock. Their tunes wavered between alt-country, blues and R&B, and sultry lo-fi noodling — all maintaining the indiscernible trademark of front man Ryan Sambol’s cerebral, tongue-in-cheek whimsy. Critics applauded it and (a few) disliked it — all for the same reasons. The Strange Boys just didn’t seem to be playing by the rules.

For their latest offering, Be Brave acts like more of a mantra than a title track or album name for the Austin foursome. Where …And Girls Club had edge and swagger — perhaps even a decided indifference to perfection and professionalism — Be Brave has a more mellow and tame persona. This departure in sound and album aesthetic will definitely divide the room on whether the sophomore album was a step up or not.