Austin Sound

Raised on steady diet of pre-Ghost Is Born Wilco and pretty much anything Ryan Adams has recorded, Wiretree’s sophomore LP, Luck, is a collage of turn-of-the-millennium alt-country rock and pop. Kevin Peroni, who plays the majority of the instrumentation on Luck, sings with hushed urgency to a tuneful track list full of pop idiom and refined rock and roll.

Luck, in many ways, defines the ideal pop sound. Each song, carefully crafted by Peroni, begins in verses that build into choruses while he delicately intones over piano and guitar rock. And you know when the chorus has arrived because the voice takes on a sort metallic tone as it tries to reach those elevated, repeat-worthy melodies, the cymbals come crashing in, and a distorted guitar rings out over the acoustic rhythm. Peroni’s equation-like approach to his songwriting and instrumentation might seem a bit elementary on paper, but for the most part it makes for a quite enjoyable record.

One of the privileges afforded by folk music belongs to the songwriter: the amount of space in which they can craft their worlds and their stories of truth, temptation, and many times, failure and heartache. A handful of leather-throated troubadours like Kris Kristofferson and Towns van Zandt have portrayed their own beautiful and sardonic personas in their carefully written pastoral, road/trail weary narratives. It’s the characters and, often times, their flaws that keep us listening.

In respect to Minorcan’s (aka Ryan Anderson) 12″ debut release on Blood on the Vinyl, Keep at Hand, three characters are woven into the tapestry of this LP. They are apparent on the album’s misleadingly stark cover. Pictured: A man and woman’s lower torsos in partial undress are seen being roped down by a pair of red stained hands.

Conditions weren’t the best for Austin garage rockers, The Strange Boys. The rain had been falling hard from the end of Harlem’s set and all through set up. So it was kind of a relief to hear twangy guitar and mumbled vocals of the Boys. What’s more, the group’s new addition of vocalist/saxophonist Jenna Thornhill [...]

With so many bands submerging themselves under layer of synthesizers and loop effects (like so many electro-pop outfits that performed on the Orange Stage this year), it’s great to see that Austin Harlem are actually playing their own instruments and enjoying their own sound on stage. Coming from the audience, I think its safe to [...]

It’s starting to look a lot like ACL out there. After all the wet hipsters got enough of the indie crooning of Atlas Sound, they made their way over to the Blue Stage for veteran of the electro circle Alaska in the Winter a.k.a. Brandon Bethancourt. Backed up by a band of himself projected overhead, [...]

For L.A. punk band Mika Miko, the taste is sour. They’re on the last fumes of a strong career blaring blistering punk to audiences of misguided youthfulness. Today, they played FFFFest in the slow rain, but somehow maintained as much grace as a two female-led punk band can have without losing its edge. Their spirits, [...]

Fuck Buttons: I don’t get the name, but the music makes sense. It looked like the Bristol, UK gearheads felt more than comfortable in the Texas rain, which played host to their sardonic and dark beat/synth mash ups. Taking cues from other electro pop/rock gurus, such as last night’s Ratatat, Fuck Buttons pumped and pounded [...]

Oh my god. Why the Black & White Years keep getting slated with opening jaunts at indie rock festivals, I can’t say. They’re much, much better than that. Divining electropop like the reincarnation of Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, lead singer Scott Butler’s squelching and whinnying sounded eerily accommodating to the B&WY’s danceable rock with [...]

After a cerebral set by Yeasayer, Les Savy Fav came with something more visceral. Emerging in a mask that we assume was a shot at the Jesus Lizard, front man Tim Harrington proceeded to remove his costume, then his shirt, and then wiped a red substance upon fellow members, that can only be assumed to [...]

Melding influences from new wave, synth-pop, and indie rock, Brooklyn’s indie veterans Yeasayer performed an engaging evening set on the Orange stage. After a meticulous sound check, the band broke into its trademark electro-pop twilling to an audience captive. Things didn’t really take hold, though, until midway through their set, when they began to perform [...]