Austin Sound

So this is what happens when you mix Free Drugs and Hippies? Yikes, this is some slummin’ Harlem afterparty action here, and apparently the local trio takes the line “Someday soon you’ll be on fire, And you’ll ask me for a glass of water. I’ll say ‘no, You can just let that shit burn’” quite seriously. These firecracker shenanigans should get everyone in the mood for the 4th of July, but remember it’s all fun and games until Coomers takes a bottle rocket to the crotch. “Someday Soon” is of course off of Harlem’s recently released debut for Matador, Hippies. Unlike the previous video for “Gay Human Bones,” this one is a little more, um, grainy? It was “directed” by Aaron Brown and Ben Chappell, and we put that in quotation marks, because really, how much direction was there on this? We love imagining one of these guys sitting in a director’s chair yelling, “Cut Cut Cut!!! This is all wrong - I’m just not feeling the level of hipster jackass-ery that we’re going for here!” Harlem is currently on the road touring all across the states, and also have a slew of dates lined up with the Dead Weather in July. Not a bad gig, boys. Try not to kill yourselves. Video below:

This video doesn’t seem to have been made specifically for Built by Snow’s “Invaders,” but it sure as hell could have been. Or vice versa. BBS’s brand of geekery fits perfectly with the Space Invaders-themed pixelization of New York City put together by onemoreprod.com. According the Youtube, someone saw the video, and thought the local quartet’s song offered the ideal soundtrack. Point, Youtube! If you have any love for Built By Snow’s glitchy Atari pop, then you’re likely already sold on what will happen below. If you’re not yet convinced, maybe the video will lead you there, but you can also check out the band live tonight as they digitize Trophy’s alongside The Kilns, Frants, and Reggie O’Farrell, none of whom we’ve ever heard of before. Which doesn’t necessarily mean anything - we’re just going to go to watch the ROT Rally-ers try figure out what the hell is up with these nerds! Hope Trophy’s has the chicken wire screen up in front of the stage.

Normally, we probably wouldn’t post this, as its relationship to Austin is somewhat tenuous. Yet the just released video for Gil Scott-Heron’s take on local luminary Bill Callahan’s “I’m New Here” is pretty danged stop-you-in-your-tracks worthy. The song, originally from Callahan’s 2005, new-to-Austin album A River Ain’t Too Much To Love (back when he was still operating under the Smog moniker), serves as the title track for Scott-Heron’s recent comeback venture - the famed Sixties songwriter’s first in 16 years. Safe to say, Scott-Heron thoroughly makes the song his own, and it is both haunting and redemptive, served well by his aged perspective and voice. The essential Smog-iness of the song still lingers, however, so we give it thumbs up all round. We also wonder what Bill Callahan actually thinks of Scott-Heron’s take on it. Maybe we’ll find out one day, despite his typical, soft-spoken reticence. (We’re still not sure what “Sycamore” is based on). In the meantime, we’ll have to make due with Callahan’s new Drag City release of live recordings, Rough Travel for a Rare Thing. Watch Scott-Heron’s video below, as well as a Youtube of Callahan’s original.

Finally! How long have we all been waiting for this one, you guys! A video for the Bob Schneider mega-hit from the Nineties! Oh, this is actually a new song? Could have fooled us. On the one hand, this thing is directed by Robert Rodriguez; on the other hand, it’s Bob Schneider. This video really has it all, though. A cute girl, walks along Lady Bird Lake, good times at Hello Cupcake! And for some reason, a kid that comes into the equation halfway through? It’s “40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet)”, based on the novel by Nick Hornby, apparently. Ok, so we’ll go along with this cute little instant family scenario, and Bob Schneider single-dadin’ it up and all, but only because it raises the very relevant question of what happened to the kid’s mom? We’ve always had our suspicions about Austin’s most-loved artist. Just sayin’: watch your back, cute girl. It’s all red balloons and cupcakes until you tell Bob Schneider how you really feel about his music.

According to the Frontier Brothers’ new single, “they’re irreverent, glamorous, and pissed off.” According to their new video for that single, they’re also into furries, and you should start a band. It’s a damn catchy little song, and the quartet will be releasing it on their new EP tomorrow night at the Parish with a bill that includes the Lemurs and the Bright Light Social Hour. Bring your dancin’ shows. It’s also part of the 101X Homegrown Live series, so we guess that makes it Andy Langer approved. And bring your bear costumes, apparently. (We’re looking at you, Butcher Bear!). Check out the video for “You Should Start a Band” below, but really, isn’t this a bit too much preaching to the choir, guys? You live in Austin - everybody has already started a band! We do declare this a vast improvement over the space jumpsuits, though.

We have clearly been taking David Wingo and Ola Podrida waaaayyyyy too seriously. Ola Podrida’s debut was gorgeous, and last year’s sophomore LP put out by local imprint Western Vinyl, Belly of the Lion, was equally mesmerizing. Wingo’s songs are like half-remembered daydreams, but this, well this is just something else entirely. “In Soviet Russia, David Wingo dreams of you!” This little peep into our nightmares was envisioned by Todd Rohal, who directed The Guatemalan Handshake (starring Will Oldham, of course). So that explains that, maybe. This is really just one of those things that you have to watch, because us explaining it does no good. Wingo is currently off troubadouring in Spain, or somewhere in Europe. We can only assume he’s trying to nail down a collaboration with this guy. Video below:

In our review of Harlem’s kickass sophomore album, Hippies, we said that “Gay Human Bones” was “nearly indecipherable in its vocals and meaning.” Well, this video certainly clears things up, if by “clears things up” we mean just confuses the hell out of us even more. We’re pretty sure the lyrics to the chorus are “My basketball team’s name is gay human bones, we win most of the games we play at my home?” What? Seriously, somebody help us out here. The video is pretty awesome, we guess, if you like John Waters and all. We feel like how Michael Coomers and Curtis O’Mara’s parents must feel about their band: We just nod and tell them it’s good and we support them while pretending to know what the hell they’re talking about. We’re very proud. But we also just tell our neighbors that the boys are off fighting in the war. Or in prison. Things are just easier that way. Anyway, Harlem had their release show for Hippies last Thursday, and the album is officially out tomorrow on Matador. Ole!

In our post SXSW trolling of the internet, we came across this lovely little gem from the fine party folks over at Republic of Austin. As part of their “Voyeur Music Video” series (which is a little weird to begin with, but whatever), they recently spied on Kat Edmonson doing a gorgeous version of her tune “Lucky.” Of course, when is a Kat Edmonson tune not gorgeous? Don’t try to answer, it’s a trick question! This looks like it was filmed down at Ladybird Lake, but we’re not sure where that stage came from. Is that a thing? If so, we want to play on it. And if it was only put there for the video, then we have to wonder exactly what the RoA folks are doing with a stage like this in their back pockets. Portable disco floors for everyone! This is a fairly stripped down version of “Lucky,” with Edmonson accompanied only by vibraphone from Laura Scarborough, which makes the tune that much more enchanting. Check it out below, as well as Republic of Austin’s first video in the series from Hollywood Gossip playing outside of Shangri La.

We thought Shearwater’s whole “dossier” idea was a little odd and extravagant, but they continue to mine the bizarre with the new video for “Hidden Lakes” off of next week’s release, The Golden Archipelago. Really, what the hell is going on here? Is this some post-apocalyptic desolation? If so, then why are we dressed like the 1800’s? And wearing mascara? And what’s with the puppies? Our theory: these are two designated heathens from the “After the Rapture Pet Care” service! The video was directed by Alma Har’el, with Eduard Grau doing the amazing cinematography. How can Shearwater be so beautiful and so damned depressing? The band is currently over in Europe, but they’ll be back in Austin on March 13 for a show at Red 7 with Noveller and Xiu Xiu. Check out the video below, as well an Mp3 of “Black Eyes” in case you missed it earlier:

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: two rock stars walk into a toy store. There’s not much of a punch line, but this little teaser video for the new Roky Erickson and Okkervil River collaboration is pretty cool. In fact, it’s kind of adorable. The two Austin luminaries take a trip to Toy Joy with a camera in tow and spend awhile rummaging around through all the stuff. It’s a little trippy, and all pretty amusing, with some poignant shots of Roky among the toys looking a little bewildered. Kinda like this guy! In case you don’t know what all this is about, the “Rokkervil” album will be coming out on April 20th on Anti-, titled True Love Cast Out All Evil. More details on that here, but they have released the cover art, which you can see below, along with the track listing. They have a youtube channel up, so hopefully we’ll get more videos of Erickson and Sheff running around hallowed Austin sites - maybe taking a dip in Barton Springs, or having a picnic under the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue, or something. Video and album details below: