Austin Sound

I swear to the Gods of Rock n’ Roll, the Mohawk was built for Will Johnson. The indoor stage, in its tiny glory, is the perfect fit for Johnson’s solo show. Packed into the sliver of space between the bar and the stage, which is no more than a few feet off the ground, I can’t help but feel like I’m there to see my friend’s band’s first gig at the tiniest, most out of the way place in town. But the same intimacy that makes watching your friend’s band awkward makes the Mohawk perfect for Will Johnson.

{{{Sunset}}} (Get it? {0} is the “empty set” so they’re “sunset.” I have no idea if that’s intentional, but I love math jokes.) have just taken the stage as I arrived. Sure they play some music, I’ll tell you about it, but first thing’s first: is their name pronounced “Sunset,” or “Bracket Bracket Bracket Sunset Bracket Bracket Bracket” (which is ridiculous)? These ‘symbol’ band names are a difficult for me - imagine my embarrassment when I asked a fellow music snob what he thought of “Exclamation Point Exclamation Point Exclamation Point”. Boy, was I sorry! So when Bill Baird leans into the mic between songs and announces that the band’s called “Sunset” I was relieved, to say the least.

In July, Soundcheck Magazine put together an exceptional show for their Summer Showcase, including local standouts Octopus Project and Clap! Clap! For their Winter Showcase, they’ve tapped two new up-and-coming acts in the form of Mothfight! and the Soldier Thread, as well as recent Austin transplant, singer-songwriter Micah P. Hinson.

Review by John Michael Cassetta/ Photos by Doug Freeman
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As I was entering Emo’s, The Soldier Thread, relative newcomers to the Austin music scene, had just kicked off their set. I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard much about this band at all, aside from the few facts being thrown around on their Sound Off this past week. They’ve made it to the quarter finals of Spin Magazine’s Music Nation contest, and within the first few minutes of their set, it was obvious why. Their music translated well live, and the dynamic contrast of the male to female vocals played out beautifully (although my eyes fell into a swoon over their keyboardist’s Rhodes). The drone of the keyboard and spacious guitars filled the still sparsely populated club, and almost as soon as they really got going, their short set came to an end. Nonetheless, The Soldier Thread are a band to keep an eye on.

Micah P. Hinson is about the most interesting character you’ll ever see on stage. He is essentially the preposterous juxtaposition of more things than I can count: southern, hipster, European, rock n’ roll, folk, disgruntled, stiff, loud, bluegrass, charming, etc. Watching him on stage is like watching the realization of all my dreams when I first “discovered” music: I wanted to be a rock star, a folk singer, and an avant-garde experimentalist all at once. Hinson seemed to embody small parts of all of these at once, varying from an intimate croon over sparse guitar interjections that bring Will Johnson solo albums to mind (the last time I saw Hinson he was opening for Johnson, actually), to screaming mic-stand-toppling vocals hidden under a cackling, shrieking guitar. Hinson’s shows are always entertaining; he seems to always find a comfortable, relaxed way to fit between folk music and the sound of impending doom.

Last year’s somewhat impromptu inaugural Fun Fun Fun Fest was a success despite the December cold, and this year’s upped the ante with a bigger lineup, better organization, and, thankfully, a beautiful early November weekend. Expanding to 2 days and serving now as the premier event for the recently formed Transmission Entertainment, FFFFest captures everything that is great about Austin music, from the laid back atmosphere, local vendors, and, best of all, a cross-section of indie, punk, hardcore, hip-hop, and djs that highlights the diversity of the local scene. Though headliners like the New Pornographers, Girl Talk, and the re-united Murder City Devils offered spectacular sets as expected, the local acts once again proved to be the backbone of the Fest. And while the dual stage setup on the indie and hardcore stages provided fast set ups that kept the music flowing, it also meant less opportunity, or at least tougher decisions, in exploring the full lineup. The weekend was about as packed with non-stop music as it could it have been, and the easy going atmosphere of the fest extended to the fans as well. Below we have our review and photos of the Fest from Doug Freeman and John Laird, as well as a few questions with festival organizer Graham Williams and the impressions from some of the local artists that made the weekend such a success.

Photos by John Laird and Doug Freeman
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Day 1: Doug Freeman

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Review by John Michael Cassetta/ Photos by Eric Uhlir

Despite the chilly nights we’ve seen here in Austin lately, Sixth street patrons were out in full force, and while I arrived fairly early in the night, the streets were already crowded with a sense of happening. Somewhere nestled in the middle of this hubbub of fake id’s and southern comforts some of the best up-and-coming bands of America were preparing for musical happenings of their own. Still touring on the critically acclaimed and, quite simply, fantastic album We All Belong, Dr. Dog stopped in Austin for the second time in just over a month. Too much of a good thing is a very good thing indeed. This time they brought along opening acts Delta Spirit and Apollo Sunshine, bands who are “getting the job done on a lot of levels” according to Dr. Dog’s own Toby Leaman.

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Review by John Laird/Photos by Doug Freeman

Riding a massive wave of positive buzz that stems from 2006’s EP Project and the recent release of their sophomore album, The Broken String, on new local imprint Dead Oceans, Bishop Allen joyfully strolled into town with Page France, the Teeth and locals Frank Smith in tow. Each band was doing their best to support their latest full lengths, so all of their sets were spirited enough to peak the interest of even the most unengaged scene kids that were present at Emo’s Lounge.

The trio of Frank Smith hit the stage right about 10pm and proceeded to play a nice set of twangy, simplistic folk. Apparently, the band normally operates as a six-piece, which would have definitely given them a boost in the sound department, but they managed well enough on their own and turned in a decent performance. I believe it’s a good idea to expect to see more in the future from this Austin-by-way-of- Boston outfit.

Of the four quality acts that played, it was the Philadelphia quartet The Teeth who turned in the most pleasantly surprising set of the night. It was filled with a lot of energy and their quirky style of indie pop provided a much needed change of pace from the more folk oriented sounds of the other two opening acts, Frank Smith and Page France. The sweat poured from the group as they flung around the stage, especially the fantastically mustachioed bassist. Check out their latest, You’re My Lover Now, if possible.

It’s hard to fault Page France for not going out of their way to turn their detailed-littered folk songs into foot stomping crowd pleasers whenever they’re in a live setting, as that would probably take away everything that makes their records so good, but it does seem as if they’re getting better at straddling the line between the two. Much of their set actually strayed from the more subtle, slightly stiff performances of the previous times that I’ve seen them, and it was a rather nice change.

My only complaint was that too much of their set consisted of material from their new Page France And The Family Telephone. I think Hello, Dear Wind is just too good to only briefly visit.

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Review by John Laird/Photos by Arian Brumby

Celebrating the release of her debut Marry Me, Dallas native St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, brought a full band along for the tour, her first non-festival shows with complete backing. The band allowed Clark to focus more on her exceptional guitar work, which she has previously contributed to the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Steven’s orchestra, and better fulfill the stunning sound of the songs on the album. British songwriter Scout Niblett, now hailing from Portland, joined Clark in support, plying songs from her new Just Do It/Dinosaur Egg EP.

Austin is finally returning back to normal after SXSW and Austin Sound, like everyone else, is now taking stock and trying to figure out just what the hell happened. Among the entire Austin Sound crew, we all took in more shows than we could fathom. And on top of that, we managed to help out with a couple shows ourselves – Tuesday night’s Art Disaster Kickoff at the Beauty Bar and Thursday’s big Texas Homebrew at Spiderhouse. Below are a few random pictures that some of our friends and contributors captured around town. Thanks to Austin Powell, Jeremy Dean, Ian Williamson, Mike Perazzetti and Eric Uhlir for sharing their pics.

We also wanted to do a roundup of some other great local perspectives, so you should also check out Covert Curiosity for his take and pictures from a great week and Party Ends has some great stuff including shots from their awesome Four on the Floor Party. The Rich Girls are Weeping, although now up in Brooklyn and unable to make it down to SXSW, called in their rockstar connections to amass an insider’s take on the week from the likes of Jonathan Meiburg, Nick Hennies and Peter Hughes. And Both Sides of the Mouth’s recap is worth checking for their always inimitable artwork. Seriously, we love those guys.

As far as our favorites from SXSW, well, the usual suspects apply of course. Iggy and the Stooges went all-out with their showcase performance, Jandek was intense inside the Central Presbyterian Church, Boris killed at Spiro’s and Tom Morello’s all-star jam with Slash, Perry Farrell, Wayne Kramer, and Les Claypool at the Parish was amazing. And of course we can’t forget Public Enemy. But it’s always the more unknown bands that you leave loving the most at SXSW - for us it was Dragons of Zynth, O’Death, and Apes & Androids, to name but a few, while buzzers that lived up to the billing included Matt & Kim, Rock Plaza Central, and the utterly ridiculous Deerhunter. But perhaps the best show has to go to Shearwater in the Central Presbyterian Church as the venue seemed to accentuate Meiburg’s voice better than any club ever could. Simply gorgeous, and rockin’.

And despite all the afterparty hubbub, this was an exceptional SXSW - honestly much better than we had anticipated from the lineup. To imagine this size of an event being executed every year with so few problems or disasters is pretty impressive.

You can also see our pics from the Gorilla vs. Bear, Austinist and Gothamist show at the Mohawk on Wednesday here.

Here are shots from the Texas Homebrew Party on Thursday at Spiderhouse, sponsored in part by Austin Sound along with the Austin Independent, Indierect Records, Austin Music Magazine and more.
Photos by Austin Powell.

Leatherbag

Lomita

Bello Ragazzo

Many Birthdays

We haven’t had much time to get pictures up or check as much as we wanted, but with this much music in town, sitting in front of the computer just isn’t top priority. And the Austin Sound crew has caught A LOT of AWESOME music this week that we’ll be wrapping up next week. Best so far has to go to the Nightwatchman’s show at the Parish last night, which a couple of us wandered into to find Rage Against the Machiner Tom Morello on stage with friggin’ Slash and Perry Farrell. Gotta love SXSW. Morello brought them all back, along with MC5’s Wayne Kramer, Alexi Murdoch, and Primus’ Les Claypool to close out the night with “This Land is Your Land.” Read Austin Powell’s excellent writeup on the show over at the Into the Void Blog!!

The Gorilla vs. Bear, Austinist and Gothamist show at the Mohawk was easily the best all-around lineup of the day on Wednesday, with one of our sleeper picks The Shivers kicking things off early at 11:50. It took a couple cups of coffee, but we made it there and it was more than worth it. After the Shivers, the sweet falsetto croons of Tom Brosseau took over the Inside Stage while outside locals Loxsly rocked it proper. This led unfortunately to the competing shows of Jared Van Fleet’s Sparrow House inside vs. the might Zepplin-esque rock of Earl Greyhound outside. Let’s just say it again: Earl Greyhound fuckin’ rocks. Here are some pics:

The Shivers:

In the wake of the beautiful first official release Lightness Red Hunter and company settled in at the Mohawk for an intimate Peter and the Wolf show. Only a few songs from the new album made it onto the setlist, and even those seemed characteristically off-the-cuff. But along with openers The Interest Kills and the Charles Potts Magic Windmill Band, the evening proved to be an interesting and rewarding mixture of sounds.