Austin Sound

Let this be a lesson to us all, then: this is your brain when you “listen to coffee all day.” It apparently becomes some glorious freaked up mash of Revel’s “Bolero” in a blender. My, how we’ve missed Bee vs. Moth! The Austin quintet finally has a new album coming out next month, the follow-up to their 2007 debut Soundhorn, which will be titled Acronyms. From what we’ve heard (and you can get a taste with the track “I Listen to Coffee All Day” below), it’s the expectedly unexpected from the group, their brand crazy that falls somewhere between jazz and Zappa (Jazzappa!?). Among everything that they throw onto this release is apparently “vibraphone, accordion, trombone, banjo, percussion, flute, slide whistle, and the intonarumori.” We really can’t remember the last time we heard a good intonarumori solo, hard to believe as that is. Also, be sure to check out their beyond awesome video for “Ugly is the New Black.” Bee Vs. Moth will be rolling into Club DeVille on Thursday, August 19, with Darling New Neighbors and Sad Accordions, and then will tour the album in October. Also in the works is a collaboration with the Invincible Czars on a duel band arrangement of the Mussorgsky/Ravel composition Pictures at an Exhibition. Because someone had to do it! Check out the new BvM tune below, and look for Acronyms next month.

Ah, Woven Bones. Likely to get another nice little local boost when they open for Pavement in September on the big stage at Stubb’s, the trio is also dropping a new single on Hardly Art next month. These guys have more labels than a kindergarten classroom! We think this is label #4, following this spring’s full length LP on HoZac, In and Out and Back Again. The new single will be “I’ve Gotta Get” b/w “Hey Kid”, and you can get a taste of the A-side below. The initial pressing will be 1000, with 500 on translucent red vinyl. Ooh, purty! The band is also planning their sophomore album for release next year, which means another opportunity for a new label! Woven Bones will be heading out to the west coast for a little tourage next month, but they’ll hit up the United States Art Authority here in town first with a gig on August 6th. Check out “I’ve Gotta Get” below.

Sunset is gearing for the release of their next album, called Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too. Set for digital release on September 7 and as a 2LP/CD on October 12th via Autobus Records, the bits that we’ve been hearing are pretty fantastic. Case in point is the beautiful “Late Night Dawning”, which features vocal contributions from Crystal Fulbright and Red Hunter. “Excuse me while I go insane, or whatever they call it now.” We call it being Bill Baird! Zing! Also contributed for your consideration is “Loveshines II”, with mp3 below and the video available here. This was released as 7-inch last year (TWSS). Baird and Co. are currently out on the road, having mis-adventures and raiding open mics alongside sister project Sleep Good. Tracklist and cover art Loveshines But The Moon Is Shining Too is available here, should you be so inclined to take a gander.

You really have to respect a band like the Sword, and not because we’re intimidated by them. They are one of Austin’s biggest bands at the moment, riding some awesome success, and about to release their third album, Warp Riders (Kemado), and play the ACL Fest in October. (We’re really holding out hope that there will finally be the much demanded Sword/Asleep at the Wheel jam session at ACL!) So what do Austin’s reigning metal gods have in store for their third album? Well, according to the press release, it’s an “epic sci-fi narrative” exploring “dualistic themes such as light vs dark and organic vs artificial.” Um, OK! So Warp Riders will be like the sequel to Time Bandits, or something? “Tres Brujas” is the lead single from Warp Riders, and we hope it becomes the theme song for whatever freakin’ online anime series this album is inevitably going to inspire. In fact, there is apparently a three part video series that the Sword will be rolling out over the next few weeks in anticipation of the album. We really can’t wait to see who they cast as the Tres Brujas! While we wait for that great reveal though, check out the track below. (Photo by Matt Rainwaters)

Ryan Bingham already knows a thing or two about other folks singing his tunes, the local songwriter having garnered acclaim for his theme to the The Weary Kind. Now he’s turning the tables with a cover of Otis Redding’s hit “That’s How Strong My Love Is.” This is part of a series that is being done by Levi’s (of course, because we need more denim in our music) where popular indie artists cover some of their favorite songs. All in all, it’s pretty cool, and Bingham is the last of the bunch to go, so you can download all of the tracks from the project’s website. Among the other goodies are the Shin’s covering Squeeze’s “Goodbye Girl”, the Dirty Projectors pulling out some Dylan, and Passion Pit covering the Smashing Pumpkins. Thirteen tracks in all, simply for the sharing of your email address, if you’re into that sort thing and want to keep up to date on all the hot Levi summer styles. Or something. We’re just waiting for our acid washed jeans to come back into style. In the meantime, check out the Bingham cover below.

The Black Angels will be dropping their third LP, Phosphene Dream, on September 14th. We’re going to go out on a limb and say that it’s going to be a platter of heavy droning psych rock. The Angels are actually the first band signed to relaunch Seymour Stein’s Blue Horizon label, so that’s kind of a big deal. “Bad Vibrations” was officially released into the wild yesterday to give us a taste of what the Austin quintet is cooking on Phosphene Dream, and you can check it out below. Wait for the freakout at the end! This comes on the heals of the group’s primo placement of their collaborative tune UNKLE, “With You in My Head,” on the new Twilight soundtrack - we bet the wolf kids in San Antonio will be totally stoked about this! (You can download their previously released track with UNKLE, “Natural Selection”, from our friends over at Covert Curiosity) The Black Angels are doing a bunch of fests in Europe leading up to the album, and ATP in New York, but we hope they’ll be back down here for a release show.

Still reeling from the (not that surprising) breakup of Voxtrot? Well, here are your new Austin pop idols. We’ve been keeping tabs on Hollywood Gossip since their debut EP, You’re So Quiet, got us moving to kick off 2009. And now the local quartet has their debut full-length dropping this weekend. Called Dear as Diamonds, it clearly shows the band getting ahold of their sound and maturing, while not letting go of any of the bopping delight that we loved in the first place. Below, you can download the lead single from the album, “Narcissus in a Window”, which honestly sounds like a super jangled-out cut from the Smiths. In other words, pretty dang good! Hollywood Gossip will be celebrating the CD release at the Ghost Room this Saturday, June 19th, along with Sally Crewe and the Sudden Moves and One Hundred Flowers.

Wild Moccasins, one our favorite pop delights out of Houston, have just released their debut LP, titled Skin Collision Past. Their first taste at recording, last year’s Microscopic Metronomes, won us over with it’s frenetic pop and exchanged vocal interplay from couple Zahira Gutierrez and Cody Swann. It’s a delight even further enforced by their live shows. After all, we do love a good snake pit! You can download the title track for the new album below, which the quintet is offering up as they prepare to head out on tour to support the album next month. Unfortunately, no Austin dates, and we’re not sure what’s up with that. Hopefully that will be amended when they get back at the end of July. We’re going to spend the time trying to figure out what the hell “Skin Collision Past” is supposed to mean. We, of course, just assume it’s something dirty.

What began as the dreamy pop project of Will Patterson (also of Sunset), has developed into a full band over the past couple of years. If you enjoy Bill Baird’s brand of pop, then chances are you’ll dig Sleep Good as well, grammar aside. After self releasing a series of lo-fi albums, Sleep Good’s fourth offering, Skyclimber, gets a proper release via local collective Autobus Records, out digitally on the 15th of this month, and in physical form come late August. In fact, we recommend going ahead and trying out the digital in preparation for summer, as these tunes seem ready-made for lazy days. Case in point, “Schlitterbahn,” which you can download below. The band now boasts a full quintet, and no word on when they’ll have an official local release show yet, as they will be heading up the east coast with Sunset next month. But you can check out some older videos on their myspace page. And in other Autobus news, the Weird Weeds have finished they’re fourth album, called Help Me Name Melody which due out in September. They’re apparently so excited, they can’t keep their clothes on.

It’s been a good while since we’ve heard new material from the Noise Revival Orchestra (nee “Experience”?), but with good reason. For one thing, Noise Revival orchestrator Nathan Felix has been over in Denmark doing it up at the Spot Festival. You can actually read about it in this week’s Chronicle as Margaret Moser justifies the trip with a lengthy article. As for TNRO, Felix reports that he’s working on a new album, but also passed along this little collaboration with the always entertaining Paul Banks. Called “BMBT” (which stands for “Be My Baby Tonight”), this is a pretty damned epic 4-minute flash of chamber backed pop-soul, with Banks laying it out for all he’s worth. These types of collaborations seem pretty ideal for TNRO, and hopefully we’ll see more of them in the interim till the new album. Two more singles that don’t exactly “fit” with the new recordings are also due up this year, so keep your ears open. Check out “BMBT” below.