Austin Sound

Damn, Brownout’s just messing with our heads now. They’ve always laid down that Latin-flavored Seventies funk better than anyone around, but with their new video for the tune “Slinky,” director Miguel Alvarez takes it to a whole new level. This is a like a barrage of the only late night channels we get anymore since we’re too poor to afford cable or a digital converter for the TV. Alvarez splices in a bunch of old school video from Mexican tv and movies - we have no clue what it is, but it’s some appropriately trippy stuff. It’s like El Shafto! (Is Mexploitation a genre?) And what’s up with that flying saucer eyeball thing? But “Slinky” it most certainly is. Alvarez also handles the video projections for Brownout’s show these days under the name Proyector, because everyone needs video for their shows now or else “fans” don’t bother to look up from their cell phones. The song is off of Brownout’s new album, Aguilas and Cobras, on Six Degrees Records. They’ll be having a release show this Saturday at the Mohawk, along with Pong. Check out the video below, and you can find some mp3s off of the new album here and here.

The second annual Pachanga! Fest probably couldn’t have been a much better event. Packed into one day, the Fest cut a broad swath across the Latin Music scene, from radio stars to indie standouts to the most traditional sounds, and was the perfect sampling of the musical landscape whether as long-time followers or uninitiated newcomers. Contributing to the Fest’s success was the beautiful late May Saturday weather and the event’s move from last year’s location at Waterloo Park to the Eastside’s more intimate and accommodating Fiesta Gardens. With two smaller stages alternating on the Park’s east end and the large Pavilion Stage a short, shady foot bridge walk away to the west, the music was constant and more than could be fully absorbed. The Pavilion handled a combination of most of the bigger acts and more traditional sounds (Michael Salgado, the Chris Perez Band, and the sprawling female Mariachi troupe), but the smaller two stages offered up the more intriguing performances of the day (Mexican Institute of Sound, Brownout!, David Garza, Charanga Cakewalk). Altogether, Pachanga! offered 20 bands and one of the best single days of music that Austin has seen in a while.

When Brownout released their debut LP last year, Homenaje, the Latin funk explosion propelled the group to the top of the Austin music scene and earned them Best Latin Contemporary Band at the Austin Music Awards. Oddly enough, it was a position that most of the members already held as part of Grupo Fantasma, but Homenaje established Brownout as it’s own force to be reckoned with and not simply a side project. The group’s tunes are gritty and dirty, horns swaggering atop funky rhythms and percussion and grooving guitar licks that combine for one of the best live experiences in town. You can get experienced this Thursday, September 27 at the Beauty Bar with the seventh installment of the always fantastic Art Disaster showcase, also featuring The Lemurs, The White White Lights, Toko Ri Get High, Til We’re Blue Or Destroy, DJ Nobody and DJ Orion.

Austin continues to be a hotbed for talented instrumental outfits. These four releases cut a broad representational swath across the local instrumental scene, from Brownout’s Latin funk on Homenaje to Thor Harris’ haunting ambient minimalism with the reissue of Fields of Innards. Cue’s third release, Wedding Song proves their best yet, and Micah P. Hinson cohort Nick Phelps presents his debut EP.