Austin Sound

Belaire’s long awaited debut full-length, Exploding, Impacting is a bit misleading on a couple of fronts. One might expect some affinity to Voxtrot, considering that half the band (Matt Simon and Jason Chronis) pulls double duty for both Austin acts. But the opening track should immediately quell any of those expectations – this is clearly a different project, primarily fueled by twin twee powerhouses Cari and Christa Palazzolo. These opening tracks also provide another act of misdirection as Exploding, Impacting takes some interesting turns in 38 minutes and 18 seconds. After “Jen,” an instrumental intro, the first few tracks are pure and delicious candy. “You Really Got Me Goin’” floats with airy “aahhs” of harmony behind Cari’s punctuated verses, while the title track, the best of these, is an up-beat, put-the-windows-down song. But these first songs are not the whole story.

There comes a time when your music taste becomes painfully predictable. So when our esteemed editor handed me Paul Banks’ album and said “I hear some Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds in here, I think you’ll like it,” I didn’t fight it. Truth be told, I’m not a big Wainwright fan, but when you like Ben Folds, people make certain assumptions (iTunes also makes certain assumptions: “Like this? You might also like Guster!”). Banks, it turns out, can probably count both of these nasally piano players as influences (although, he’s not nasally), but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also add a bit of his own stuff to the mix.

Photo by Alicia J. Rose

During their a previous visit to Austin, the Decemberists were dealing with the theft of all their gear, but this didn’t stop them from bringing their smartish, geekish, “hyperliterate” (as Pitchfork describes it) rock to Emo’s stage.

Back then, they were promoting their Picaresque album, and they closed the performance with a version of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” that had drummer John Moen running in circles as he beat the hell out of his drum. These are the things that happen at a Decemberists show, and if you missed it you have a chance to make things right. This time, it’s Stubb’s and the album is The Crane Wife – the band’s first recording on Capitol Records.

When Zach Schwartz got laid off at the tail end of the tech boom, he decided to change directions. This is a detail that most reviews of the band’s work tend to zoom in on. Schwartz is no longer, though. That is, he changed his name, possibly as a way to leave his “Office Space” existence behind. He changed his name to Zach Rogue, pieced together, Rogue Wave (at present, the band consists of Rogue, Pat Spurgeon, Evan Farrell, and Gram LeBron), and recorded Out of the Shadow in 2004. The album that drew immediate comparisons to labelmates (and tourmates) The Shins, and the band’s most recent effort, Descended Like Vultures, has a similar sound. Yet the Wave no longer has to rely on comparisons - they bring their own brand of indie-pop to the Parish on September 22.

Fans of The Shins have been waiting quite a long time for a follow up to Chutes Too Narrow. Released in 2003, the band’s second full-length was a slightly more polished version of the pop melodies we heard on their first record, Oh, Inverted World. However, the wait will soon be over�sort of. The band’s site recently announced an “official” release date for the new record�sort of. According to an announcement on their website (incidentally, the band’s web site has gotten a serious facelift – maybe this is why the record is taking so long?) from September 4: “We are pleased, relieved, shocked, amazed, etc, to announce that the new record has finally been given a confirmed release date. January 23rd, 2007 is the anticipated (at least by us) day in question. Trust us if we had our way it would be out next week, but “The Man” has seen fit to do otherwise.”

Sorta’s Strange And Sad But True is dedicated to Lorena Osorio, a 21 year-old woman who was thrown from a highway overpass by her boyfriend, Paul Stephens. Frontman Trey Johnson offers Lorena’s story in “85 Feet,” a song that is equal parts touching, heartbreaking, and creepy. The creepiness comes from Johnson’s detailed recounting of the tale: “her body came to lay on Janette Durham’s Crown Victoria.” Yet, the song also explains that this story is not a simple one “she was sweet and he was rotten / as with any story many sides will be forgotten.”