Austin Sound

I shouldn’t worry about the future. Obama is President, the world still turns, my cats are healthy. And yet I have a nagging feeling of anxiety; maybe it’s because the economy, as I write this, is entering one of those death spirals that promises to drag us all down to depths of hobo-like destitution the likes of which haven’t been seen outside of American Experience documentaries. Maybe that’s it. And so, given our strange contemporary combination of happy political developments and dark economic ones, we need a soundtrack that speaks to what’s ailing us - some audio pick-me-up for our new Great Depression.

And then along comes the latest Many Birthdays EP, Emptiness Is Forever and we’re almost there.

Many Birthday’s have finally released a follow up to their awesome 2006 EP, Days of Beat/ Days of Hollow, in the form of a limited edition EP called Emptiness is Forever. Cheery bunch, huh!? You might not get from the title, though, just how much fun and infectious Many Birthdays is, so they’ve put out this video for the song “Rock It” just to prove it to you. It’s a gritty, night club type pastiche that includes some live footage from the fine folks over at Switchburn.

The ever-evolving cast of Many Birthdays puts together an electronic guitar and synth storm that is both fascinating and filled with dance ready beats. Born initially as a recording project of John Dixon, Sarah Luce joined a year later adding their distinct pairing of male-female vocals and mix of Japanese-English lyrics. The swirling effects and textures that Many Birthdays evokes were brilliantly brought to life on 2006’s Days of Beat/ Days of Hollow EP, and the group is planning on releasing their follow up this summer, and they’ve presented a new song for download, the infectious “Black Crow Remix.” They are also apparently currently looking for a drummer, so hit them up from the links below if interested, or better yet, catch their show this Thursday, April 10 at Club Deville.

If you’re like me, multi-lingual pop music kind of begins with Stereolab and ends with Stereo Total, and there’s not a whole heck of a lot in between. Part of the appeal of those bands was that they were, well, European, where everybody has to speak a whole alphabet stew anyways. “How sophisticated they are!,” you’d say, as you heard Laeticia Sadier intone communist-party slogans in French, in “French Disko.” “How funny she sounds!,” you’d go, as Francoise Cactus sang “I Love You ONO” in her silly French-German accent. And, of course, you’d also be thinking about how cosmopolitan and continental you yourself were, as you appreciated such stuff. Mais oui!