Austin Sound

It’s about time to start thinking about Halloween, and the Boxing Lesson have a new video to help you get in the mood. Using the song “Brighter” from the Boxing Lesson’s recent Wild Streaks and Windy Days, director Victor Yiu created the stop-motion animation from over 7000 still photos, and the jittery vibe helps increase the playfully eerie tone of the video. Watch below as Paul Waclawsky and Jaylinn Davidson go tripping through the graveyard!

Last month, Hayes Carll and Brian Keane took home the Song of the Year award from the Americana Music Association for their absolutely hilarious tune, “She Left Me For Jesus.” The song is from Carll’s excellent third album, Trouble In Mind, which was released earlier this year, and is easily one of the top country songs you’re going to hear this year. Carll and company has just released a video for it that matches the absolute absurdity of the song. It’s a must see, featuring Jesse Dayton as the jilted boyfriend and even Jimmie Dale Gilmore with a quick cameo as Judas. Seriously, just check it out below!

This past Saturday, Okkervil River delivered an absolutely epic ACL aftershow at Emo’s, which included a cameo by former Okkervil-er Jonathan Meiburg on the incredible “Lost Coastlines” from the freshly released The Stand Ins. The group also just released a video for the song, which you can check out below. In keeping with their meta-theme of fame and media, the video presents the guys tv talking heads, which is both a little awkward and awesome.

Need more of a reason to love Belaire? We know you don’t, but their new video for “You Really Got Me Goin’” from last year’s wonderful Exploding, Impacting is pure delight. It’s another animated treat from the folks at Super! Alright!, and it’s as colorful and poppy visually as Belaire is musically. Check out the video below!

Even more exciting is the prospect of catching Belaire live TWO times in the upcoming weeks. Their performances are intermittent, but usually the sweeter for it. You can catch the pop quartet this Friday at the Mohawk with a lineup of some of Austin’s best young guns: Black Joe Lewis, White Denim, and Freshmillions. They’ll also be delivering an ACL afterparty on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Mohawk. Good times!

We admit that most bands tour videos are usually pretty boring; after all, we hate suffering through a drive through the Midwest, so why would we want to watch someone else do it, even if it is our favorite band? But still, we dutifully check out the episodes that local bands post of their tours, and lo, if the Lions haven’t actually made theirs amusing! The local trio of guitar heroes recently posted up their first look at their current tour with the Toadies, and it’s pretty hilarious. Granted, not as sweet as the fake trailer for the “film” they put together a couple of years ago, but certainly worth the entertainment. Check out the video below.

Fantastic. That’s about all that needs to be said about Josh Allen’s song, and video, “Orpheus.” From the solo album by the same name, the Whiskey Brother delivers a stunning Texas Hill Country spin to the classic myth, relating the troubadour life to that of the tragic narrative of the bard and Eurydice. The beauty of Allen’s song though, is that it casts the Greek myth in universal terms, and the mythic elements of Orpheus’ trip to the underworld become a frame for the songwriters’ mind and life. And rather than being heavy handed in the parallel, and parable, it tells the story in a simple and direct manner, but with some absolutely gorgeous lines of poetry. The authentic echo of Townes Van Zandt lingers all over Allen’s work, and that’s high praise indeed.

The video for “Orpheus” was directed by Carlos Haynes. You can see Josh play live at the end of this month when he takes the stage at Freddy’s Place on Sept. 26, or with the raucous Whiskey Brothers at the Creekside Lounge the night before. Check out the video below.

We love Switchburn’s live videos, and their tri-camera approach is even better when they direct their lenses to bands like Transmography. Hell, it would probably take more then three POV’s to capture the mesmerizing percussive force of the duo. “Exoskeleton,” filmed back in July at Emo’s, is an excellent example of Transmography’s ever-evolving sound, the synth and drum sparring punctuated by shouted vocals.

Loxsly’s Flashlights EP, released earlier this year, was a fantastic 4 song surprise from a group that has been kicking around just below the radar of the Austin scene for a while. Now they’ve come out with an equally polished video for the song “Lamprey Eels,” directed by guitarist Garrett Johnston. Join us as we follow our hero on pharmaceutical trip through the modern state of everyday anxiety. We think we know this guy. Oh wait, we are this guy!!

Hey all you pigeon-holing, unimaginative, hack music critics out there, the Aliens’ Blake Sandberg has a message for you: “Don’t label me!” Oh wait, maybe he’s talking to us. Aliens, fresh off a US tour and return to Sanberg’s old stomping grounds of NYC, have a new video for their song “Moving Parts,” with live footage shot by Andy Palmer. The song is off of Aliens’ impressive debut LP, Head First on Sandberg’s even more impressive Misc. Music label. Check out the video below below.

In preparation of the release next week of The Stand Ins, Okkervil River has created a series of videos featuring some of their favorite artists covering songs from the album. Among those that are posted on their newly set-up Youtube page are Bon Iver doing “Blue Tulip”, David Vandervelde with “Singer Songwriter”, Bird of Youth offering “Pop Lie”, and Jack Ladder with “Starry Stairs.” There is also one with Will Sheff and the New Pornographers A.C. Newman trading vocals on “Lost Coastlines,” which we posted Okkervil’s mp3 of a few weeks ago. Watch the video below.