Results tagged “riverst”

SXSW Music kicks off on Wednesday the 12th, as always with the Annual Austin Music Awards at Austin Music Hall, but it has become clear over the last few years that the music really starts the night before. Just thinking back to last year, we remember walking up and down Red River, watching bands like Golden Bear, White Denim and Broken Teeth at venues such as Beauty Bar, Emo’s and Red 7, and congratulating ourselves for getting started early.

Saturday Saturday Saturday! It's a bounty of goodness unlike anything most people of privilege (or non-privilege) have seen, seeming that it is filled not only with SXSW's usual wealth of day-funs and joys and diversities, but that it is also privy to the wonderment that is Mess With Texas 2, a noon-to-ten cornucopia of music and comedy at Waterloo Park. It's sort of like a day of Fun Fun Fun Fest plus comedy minus the price plus the knowledge that there's great stuff going on everywhere else as well. So let's get to it, and all the other great stuff going on EVERYWHERE, shall we? Mess With Texas 2 @ Waterloo Park At this event, it's almost ridiculous what a wide range of musics you'll be able to see, from electro-folk to softcore-punk to anti-pop to alterna-world to whatever-other-hyphenated-genre-you-could-possibly-fabricate. Headlining are the Kim Deal-led Breeders and late-nineties punk-stars NOFX, but they are just icing on the cake of a day that features acts as intriguing as the inimitable Islands and the ever-so-subtle Atlas Sound. And, take a deep breath, because also lining up on one of the three stages is rise-from-the-ashes-via-Juno story Kimya Dawson, the mysteriously-spelled Wooden Shjips, hype-machine Simian Mobile Disco, quick risers Yeasayer, Monotonix, and No Age. And in case you haven't already caught them, this may be a convenient time to check out local respectables Shearwater and White Denim. Seriously, though, that's a ridiculous list already, and it's really just the beginning. And it's free, for God's sake! And there was some comedy at this Mess With Texas thing, too, right? Yeah, you can expect some laughs from the likes of Janeane Garofalo, Brian Posehn, Todd Barry, and Eugene Mirman, among a veritable slew of others. Make sure to get there before the sun goes down if you want to check that out, though, because we all know humor goes best with some sunshine.

Another day, another long list of long list of web-darling music acts and their attendant corporate sponsors.

So the time is ripe for the 2008 SXSW Music Festival and what better way to lead into that madness than with a host of quality bands at Emo’s to kick off this weekend. Friday marks the CD Release show for local outfit What Made Milwaukee Famous. Officially released on March 4th, What Doesn’t Kill Us will be available for purchase during the show; the album finds the band maturing into a polished rock act while maintaining their keen ear for pop melodies, their expert arrangements of well-crafted tracks, and their penchant for catchy guitar hooks. Check out the video for “Sultan” off the new album via YouTube here.

This is what SXSW free day parties are all about. Twelve bands, two venues, and short sets so that you can see as much as you can stomach. Forcefield and Terrorbird are having their blow-out at Emo’s and Emo’s Jr. on the first day of SXSW, kicking things off with quite a bang.

Monochrome is having a big night this Saturday, with the rebellious flower-punk of Atlanta’s Black Lips coming together with our own freewheelin’ sons of garage rock, White Denim.

Sunday night may usually be time for relaxation, for winding down your weekend's bunch-o'-bliss and preparing for the drudgery of Monday and all the muck that follows it. Sunday night may usually mean propping yourself up with a stick, so exhausted from all yer football-inspired whoopin' and hollerin'. Sunday night may even be a time of penance. But this Sunday night, get ready for a change of gears and an old-fashioned opportunity to headbang, because Dead Meadow and Black Mountain are delivering a sea of drums and guitars and outright ferocity to this usually staid part of the week.

They drink Brains, they support Cardiff City FC, and they don’t give a fuck. Best of all, the Super Furry Animals churn out off-kilter psychedelic pop at a prolific rate. Despite having put out eight stellar full-lengths in fifteen years (a couple of those accompanied by simultaneous DVD releases as well), the act is still somewhat under-appreciated, especially outside their home island. Their talent is boundless, their music all over the place yet melodious, and their shows are often enhanced with video medleys as the backdrop, including the clips of that adorable Golden Retriever that accompany, well, "Golden Retriever."

We understood that Cleveland, Ohio was known for rock music, but for subtly bouncy electronic art pop? We we dubious until we discovered that the midwestern mecca is the origin of Joe Williams, whose project White Williams will be stopping through our fair city tonight at Emo's for a show opened by Rings (New York) and Cry Blood Apache (Austin).

So you’ve just moved closer to downtown to be near your institution of employment or what have you. The five minute drive to work in the morning is priceless but damn that late night rock music coming from the bars in the vicinity. Or maybe you've always lived there and you've always found the nightly din a bit much. Well, you’re going to have fight (not literally we hope) the artistic community and the related downtown service industry that thrives on Red River St. (and the adjoining areas) for your voice to be heard.

Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco’s two albums are anomalies on the rap racks: winding, wordy projects with few A-list cameos, recognizable producers, or sure-fire singles. That he’s managed to build himself into a successful international brand is not a little bit attributable to a unique set of circumstances. There’s the trap-hop backlash, a dirge in the straight-up New York sound resulting from Atlanta’s ascent, the Kanye Effect, the Jay-Z Effect, that music blogging thing...

Sometimes there is a rare opportunity to see a band just before they hit it big, at that moment when you can still get into their shows without having the sanctity of your personal space thrown into question, just that itty bitty second before you're paying "real money" to see them from afar, rather than a pittance to see them up close. Tonight at Emo's presents one of those rare opportunities, and in spectacular fashion. See, playing tonight is not only one about-to-get-rich band of ruffians, but two. And if you haven't yet heard of MGMT and Yeasayer, consider this your formal introduction: they won't be this unknown for long.

A healthy dose of semi-abrasive indie rock on a cold weekend night -- what more could you want? Milk and cookies, you say? Sorry, Emo's doesn't serve that. Saturday night, our beloved and hallowed Emo's plays host to Les Savy Fav, supported by Fatal Flying Guillotines and Attack Formation.

We told you last time, and, thank god, you listened. We told you Dan Deacon was coming, and you were ready. Well, we're telling you again.

Some of Austin’s most active live acts take the stage at Emo’s on Thursday evening to bring an end to the venue’s Free Week. Horse + Donkey are riding high following the release of their impressive self-titled full-length. The album finally gives us locals a chance to enjoy the act’s reverb-heavy droning psychedelia at our pleasure, at home or in the car. Still, that’s no excuse to stop playing live, and the trio has been averaging a solid amount of gigs in town over the last few months. The explosive, vivid video for Horse + Donkey’s “Magic Horse” was directed by Wiley Wiggins and can be viewed here.

Free Week is still kicking -- hard. There's a veritable horde of bands to catch tonight and tomorrow.

Steaming on through the weekend, Free Week at Emo's continues Monday night with a mostly local smattering of acts at the lounge and inside stages.

It’s possible you’ve been tricked into thinking Free Week at Emo’s cares not for days as fickle as Sunday, but, just in case, let’s clear things up: YES, Free Week rolls all the way through, with not a break to be seen. And not only that, but Sunday offers up some of the most compelling bands of the whole shebang, including noted acts Ume, Until We’re Blue or Destroy and that nature battle you’ve been dying to see: Bee vs. Moth.

Free Week hits its stride on Saturday with three separate shows at Emo’s Lounge, Emo’s inside stage, and the outside stage as well.

Emo’s Free Week bites back tonight with a smorgasbord of sounds from a variety of acts. Lions draw blood on the outside arena with chant-along chorus’ and scorching guitars. Their 2007 release No Generation allowed the band to voice their political views as well as display their rock n’ roll chops, and their live shows aptly roar with energy and fervor. Lions’ “Heavy Metal Lady” currently encourages the masses in homes everywhere to “unleash your inner rock legend” via Guitar Hero III and you can do the same at Emo's tonight!

When Built By Snow contacted us via MySpace to share their love of The Beatles and Weezer, we were admittedly intrigued by what these local lads are capable of. It’s not everyday we get a message from an act about having the same two favorite bands as us. Noise, Built By Snow’s debut EP, appeared in our mail in due time and we discovered a talented act with catchy tunes that land somewhere between The Rentals and Ozma with a dash of Weezer mixed in.

Ringo Deathstarr auteur Elliott Frazier has had a banner year: having soldiered on through countless lineup changes, the band managed to release the best shoegaze record of the year (well, EP), earned a coveted slot among The Onion AV Club's Worst Band Names of the Year (scroll down a page or so), and head out for an east coast tour in February (nothing to put in parentheses here)! You can wish them well tonight at Emo's where they'll play with their pals in La Snacks, plus Haunting Oboe Music and Fever Dreams. Also, Merry Christmas!

101X FM presents this year’s final installment of their Homegrown Live series on Wednesday at Emo’s Lounge. Homegrown Live has featured a broad array of local hotshots this year including Born To Lose and Black Before Red, staying true to their mantra of “showcasing promising local artists and the kick-ass live music venues in Austin.”

The Strange Attractors MySpace] | [The Koreans MySpace]