Austin Sound

PRESENTING THE 2008 SAMMIES

Greetings from the ever soggy, though otherwise climatically inconsistent city of Houston. You know, we, the editors of The Skyline Network, know we have a responsibility not just to make up new words and tell people what the hottest new dice is, we also should participate in some sort of feedback loop wherein we ask our readers what some of their tite mite be. That’s why, every year since 2007, we’ve organized The Sammy Awards, recognizing 713/281/832 favorites among our exceptionally good looking audience. We give them the categories, they give us the votes, we give the winners Certificates of Achievement that we found at the dollar store. And while more of them were thrown in the firepit at the awards party than actually made it out the door (at least one now hangs in the venue’s rest room), it’s our way of saying thanks for the memories. This year, as an added bonus, we were able to assemble a notable cast of notables to provide Special Comments on the winners. We’re very Pine Belt about all this. Without further ado we present The Sammies.

This month in our ongoing blog swap with Dallas-based blog We Shot JR and Houston’s The Skyline Network, we check back in with WSJR who delivers an awesome mix of North Texas oldies in a new series they’ve started up. Below you’ll find 13 tracks for download from artists ranging from Plastic Idols and Telefones to Skuds and Nervebreakers, songs that have slipped through the cracks and been gratefully recovered for your enjoyment. Follow the link on each title to download the song. This will be a continuing series on We Shot Jr., so be sure to check in on their blog regularly for more great music from the archives, as well as the best of what’s going on with our northern neighbors. And keep up to date on Houston’s scene with Skyline!

This month in our Outside Austin blogswap, we hear from the Skyline Network in Houston, who tunes us in to the corrosive potentials of Rusted Shut’s new EP, Hot Sex. Outside Austin is a new monthly feature in which we check in with two of our favorite Texas blogs to hear what’s hot in their scenes, with the Skyline Network reporting from Houston and We Shot JR keeping us up to date on the Dallas/Ft. Worth scene. Be sure to check out their sites to stay on top of what’s happening, because the music don’t stop at Austin City limits! Rusted Shut will be unloading at the Beauty Bar here in Austin this Saturday, November 15.

This week we are excited to debut a new monthly feature with help from our friends at the Dallas/Ft. Worth blog We Shot JR and Houston’s the Skyline Network that offers some incite into what’s hot in their hometowns right now. We Shot JR takes the pulse of the North Texas scene better than any publication around, and the Skyline Network consistently uncovers the best of Houston before it breaks. Each month, Austin Sound will alternate checking in with each to see what bands are making waves in their neighborhoods and that we in Austin should be on the lookout for. In our first installment, We Shot Jr. offers up four local bands that have recently impressed them: Darktown Strutters, Bad Sports, Sunnybrook, and Febrifuge. Next month, we’ll check in with the Skyline Network to see what’s turning heads in Houston, but we recommend you keep up with both sites for the best that those towns have to offer.