Austin Sound

On 2009’s debut, …And Girls Club, the Strange Boys grape-vined through sixteen songs of unabashed, uninhibited, youthful garage rock. Their tunes wavered between alt-country, blues and R&B, and sultry lo-fi noodling — all maintaining the indiscernible trademark of front man Ryan Sambol’s cerebral, tongue-in-cheek whimsy. Critics applauded it and (a few) disliked it — all for the same reasons. The Strange Boys just didn’t seem to be playing by the rules.

For their latest offering, Be Brave acts like more of a mantra than a title track or album name for the Austin foursome. Where …And Girls Club had edge and swagger — perhaps even a decided indifference to perfection and professionalism — Be Brave has a more mellow and tame persona. This departure in sound and album aesthetic will definitely divide the room on whether the sophomore album was a step up or not.

The Strange Boys sophomore album, Be Brave, is due out later this month, and while not as shockingly fantastic as their debut last year, it’s still pretty damn great. The band has oddly been rather tight with the official details/leaks of the album, with only one song up on their myspace, and no official mp3s or anything released into the wild. But at least they have finally made a video for the title track. Well, kinda made a video, if you can consider lo-fi footage of the kids sittin’ around and motorboatin’ their mouths, watching dogs hump legs, and getting mugged in the streets a video - you know, basically just another day in the life of Strange Boys? Chances are that that life might change here soon with their upcoming massive tour, which includes a nice little stint with Spoon. They’ll be kicking all of that off at Emo’s February 19 and then running up the west coast until SXSW. Check out the video below:

In these days of bleak, wintery weather, it’s nice to remember better times. Like Fun Fun Fun Fest, which was, well, ok, the weather sucked then, too. But at least we were miserable together, right? The F3 folks are trying to let the memories linger, and have been uploading videos of live performances for the past few weeks. We picked a couple of our local favorites, including the Strange Boys debuting the title track from their upcoming sophomore album, Be Brave in the rain. The local lads provided one of the highlights of the fest, especially with the addition of new member and just-moments-before-disbanded Mika Miko fixture Jenna Thornhill, who wails away nicely on sax. It’s actually rather uncanny how similar Ryan Sambol and Thornhill sound when they’re moaning out their ragged R&B. We’ve also posted video below of the Sword unloading “Barael’s Blade,”, because even making fun of Neon Indian is getting boring, especially when the Sword is simply so much better. So if you want to see the videos of Neon Indian or some Jesus Lizard insanity, as well as a bunch of other great live vids from the Fest, check out the Fun Fun Fun Youtube channel. (Thanks to Ultra8201 for the catch).

Earlier this year, the Strange Boys released their debut album, …And Girls Club, through In the Red and blew us away with the effort! The album had been anticipated for several years and went through a number of false starts, but for a group known for their slacker sound, …And Girls Club was an infectious and tight riffing shock of skanky R&B and grooving rock & roll howls slinking behind Ryan Sambol’s distinctive bleary-eyed fronting. The group has recently expanded out with a few new players and is currently preparing their sophomore release, called Be Brave for release early next year. We spoke to Sambol, as much as the typically laconic singer would allow, about the band’s recent tours, handling the enthusiastic responses to their debut, and what they have in store for this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest at Waterloo Park. The Strange Boys are scheduled to go on Sunday, November 8, at 5:20pm on the Yellow Stage.

For the past two years, at least, we’ve been waiting for the Strange Boys official debut album. We’ve watched them transform from infectiously sloppy and slurry garage licks to an incredibly tight quartet, laying down impeccable grooves as they seemed to sweep through an underground history of rock & roll. All this is simply by way of an intro to say that we’ve been impressed by the Strange Boys and loved their live shows, quite literally watched them grow up on stage here in Austin, but still nothing quite prepared us for how amazingly good this debut album is. Sure, the familiar elements are there that make And Girls Club distinctly a Strange Boys album – deciphering Ryan Sambol’s laconic vocals is usually a futile exercise, but also a completely unnecessary one. His voice slides and rolls completely comfortably within the rhythms unloaded by brother Philip on bass, Greg Enlow’s guitar, and Matt Hammer holding down the drums. From the opening burst of “Woe Is You and Me” to the shivering blues-based closer “Death and All the Rest,” there is hardly a moment on the 16 track disc that doesn’t support the notion that the Strange Boys are the best new band in Austin.

How long have we been waiting for the Strange Boys to finally release an official album?! Well, the wait is almost over as next month the quartet will unload their In the Red debut, … And Girls Club in time for SXSW and it is loaded down with 16 garagy nuggets. The video for “Woe Is You and Me” is about as lo-fi and dizzying as the group’s sound, and was directed by Daniel Hill. Check it out below, as well as an Mp3 from the new album.

The Strange Boys recently transplanted from Dallas down to Austin, and they are a more than welcome addition to the local scene. Fronted by brothers Ryan and Philip Sambol, the quartet brilliantly plows through sixties garage riffs overlayed with Ryan’s lazily whined vocals. The Boys dub themselves “the state’s newest noise makers,” and although they haven’t yet officially released any albums, the young group has built a reputation around their live shows, a review of which you can read here. This Saturday, the Strange Boys will be playing the Scoot Inn, where they will also serve as the backing band for one of their heroes, Mighty Hannibal. Also on the bill are the Golden Boys and Black Joe Lewis.

The Strange Boys finally have some songs up on their myspace, which is good news because everybody needs to take a listen. Driving with a sixties garage style, the young Dallas quartet seems to perfectly channel a sound way before their times. Ryan Sambol’s slurred and lazy vocals are equally compelling, at times coming across as indecipherable (and for my money, as good) as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! Imagine if CYHSY! dug even deeper into the pantheon of guitar pop and took things a bit more in stride as these boys do as you might have an idea of what this group is capable of churning out. You can read our review of their show last month with the Black Angels here

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This was our first opportunity to review a show at the Mohawk, and we should note first off what a fantastic venue it is, especially for shooting pictures! And the show wasn’t too shabby either. The Black Angels were exceptional with all their flashback-inducing, psychedelic drones, but the opening acts – Charles Potts Magic Windmill Band and the Strange Boys – were surprising highlights of the night.

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