Austin Sound

Ralph White sings a world unto himself. At times terrifying, playful, stoic and passionate, the multi-instrumentalist upends roots with squawking, understated moan and wail. Swirling in layered loops of fiddle, banjo, kalimba, and accordion, White’s tunes are mesmerizing in their raw, off-beat dexterity as the former Bad Liver continues to prove himself one of Austin’s most unique musical visionaries. Primarily based on ragged banjo with the tinkling clip of overlayed kalimba, White melds the plucked virtuosity and world reach of Sandy Bull with the cataclysmic daring Eugene Chadbourne, yet it’s his harrowing vocals that always remain the primary draw and most visceral element of the tunes.

By year’s end, Austin will have boasted an impressive number of singles. Credit the the downturn of the economy, the upturn of vinyl, or the changing culture of Mp3s and singles, the result has been a boon for short-stack lovers. No doubt, however, that these four recent vinyl releases serve as a nice capstone for local one-offs this year, with Follow That Bird and the Sour Notes both offering up excellent follow ups to debuts that appeared in the past year, and the much anticipated new project of Sound Team’s Matt Oliver, TV Torso, delivering a double shot of 7″ vinyl as a debut. As indicators of what might be around the bend with bigger releases for each band, all of the efforts suggest next 2010 will be a good year for local music.

Monofonus is more than just one of the most eclectic record labels in Austin; it is an impressive multimedia umbrella that brings together musicians, visual artists, and writers to collaborate on incredibly unique projects that inspire and build upon each other. While musically Monofonus has released great albums from the Golden Boys, Diagonals, the Pillow Queens, and the Roller, to take these albums out of the multimedia context for which they were intended (as we often unfortunately have with our reviews) is to lose much of the point and excitement of Monofonus’ projects. Originally formed by the triumvirate of Will Slack, Morgan Coy, and Becca Cohen, the Press, and especially its IF Series, is perhaps the embodiment of Austin’s rich creative culture, with collaborations that are continually unexpected and push artists in new directions. This week, Monofonus releases IF06, featuring the new album Looking for a Spark from Over the Hill, artwork by Noel Waggoner, and the novella Mile Marker by Brian Hart. Hart will be doing a reading at BookPeople tonight, Monday May 18, and Waggoner will be showing his work at Testsite on Tuesday, while Over the Hill caps the release week with a show this Wednesday, May 20, at the Parish with the Pillow Queens and Precious Blood.

There is something vaguely familiar about the Pillow Queens that I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s not like the sound of the local quartet is derivative. Actually, listening to KooKooLegit is like listening to a twelve track homage of all the things that makes one like pure homemade rock and roll. It’s poppy, it makes you move, and, most of all, it’s fun. Even though their name implies that they are a group of self serving lagabouts expecting to be waited on hand and foot, the Queens are the ones who are working hard for the listener. Their cool blend of witty, dark humor and spastic rock and roll is addictively entertaining.

Over the past few years, the Golden Boys have fostered their reputation as the apex of Austin bar bands, at least in the sense they will drink anyone under the table and unload one of the most raucous live shows while doing it. The quintet’s fourth LP evidences the epitome of that sound – loose, unrepentant, and gritty – while also improving on the best elements of last year’s Whiskey Flower. And the title, Goodbye Country, couldn’t be more apt, for though some traces of their rootsier sound still survive, overall the album is garagy and rocking, with more emphasis on the sloppy psychedelic roll that they’ve pummeled into perfection.