Les RAV - "Darkest" Live @ The Parish, 09.01.12

Some footage of a new local favorite Les RAV. This comes from their show I caught last week (September 1, 2012) at The Parish. If Les RAV catches your ear, then keep your eyes open for a kickstarter campaign to fund their recording project that should be launching at some point in the near future. 

Dum Dum Girls (Dee Dee & Jules) - "I Will Be" Live @ Mohawk, 08.12.11

This past Friday the beautiful duo Dee Dee & Jules of the Dum Dum Girls made a stop at Austin's Mohawk for a stripped down set. The performance gave them a chance to test out the quieter side of the band and preview new material from their forthcoming album Only In Dreams. However the quieter side of the band isn't that much quieter than the full band. Stripped down to two guitars, Dee Dee & Jules sound extra reverby. The performance was far from an acoustic one as Jules kept with her pedals and effects. It did help emphasize the harmonies found in the vocals. Dee Dee's love sick tales had a little extra brood effect.

Along with new songs, the Austin show also included familiar Dum Dum tunes like the title track off their debut I Will Be-- video of which is below.

After the jump check out the trailer for Only In Dreams.

Moonface - "Whale Song (Song Instead of a Kiss)" and "All Fires" Live @ Emo's, 07.25.11

Here's a couple clips of Spencer Krug's first performance in Austin under his Moonface moniker. The first video is for "Whale Song (Song Instead of a Kiss)," which comes off the impressive new album Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped. Below that is video for a song originally done by one of Krug's other bands, Swan Lake. It's called "All Fires" and take a drastic turn from it's original quite tone.

Enjoy, and after the jump check out a few shots from the evening.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - "Run Myself Into The Ground" and "Standing In The Sun" Live @ Emo's, 04.23.11

To put it simple, Jessica Lea Mayfield is pure gorgeousness at all levels. Saturday's show was without a doubt the best performance I've seen from her. As I pointed out in my review of her last album Tell Me, Mayfield showed some evident stage shyness in the past . That now has definitely changed. She's more confident and has fully embraced her role as a performer. She shared stories, joked with the crowd, and of course gave us a handful of spectacular songs sung beautifully.

Check out the video below of Mayfield performing my favorite track from Tell Me, "Run Myself Into The Ground." We were also treated to a new song that is yet unreleased, "Standing In The Sun." On the latter clip you can see how Mayfield was engaging the crowd, and how just about everything she does is completely adorable. Then see more evidence of her utter hottness after the jump.

Tamaryn - "The Waves" Live @ Emo's, 04.12.11

Here is a clip of the gorgeous Ms Tamaryn performing "The Waves," the title title song off her debut full-length album, this past Tuesday at Emo's. Also see a couple pics, including show headliners The Raveonettes, after the jump.

SXSW 2011: Highlight Videos pt.2

If you haven't listened to the new Wye Oak album Civilian, you are doing an injustice to yourself. It certainly makes the early best of the year list and is garnering the Baltimore duo a heap of praise. They have been selling out a lot of venues on their latest trek across the country and luckily they played several times during SXSW. So if you didn't get a chance to catch them that week, you have done yourself another injustice. But you can at least watch the video below of them performing the title song off the new album during the Merge Records showcase.

Also below is a great SXSW highlight from Austin's own Okkervil River giving us a blast from the Black Sheep Boy days. All good stuff.










See my SXSW Highlights blog posts here. For more SXSW videos please check out my youtube channel, and additional photos can be seen on my facebook.

SXSW 2011: Highlight Videos pt.1

I was very excited to see La Sera perform during SXSW. Katy Goodman's solo project is kind of getting brushed off quickly since the next Vivian Girls album is just around the corner, but it is definitely a project that deserves its moment in the spotlight. So it was good to see Goodman get a chance to showcase on her own. Her harmonies have always elevated the songs of the Vivian Girls, and those skills are highlighted on her La Sera album. It's filled with catchy hooks that are made even more infectious coming from Goodman's breathy vocals. I highly recommend giving the album a listen.
Below are some highlight videos from SXSW, including a performance one of my favorite Le Sera tracks "Devils Hearts Grow Gold."  

Loungin' with Do512

Do512.com is very easily the best online source to navigate the Austin scene in planning your intake of the live music capital. Without that site I’d be a bumbling idiot randomly going into different venues along Red River trying to remember where Black Joe Lewis was performing. Actually, I’m probably still a bumbling idiot and it has nothing to do with forgetting where to catch a show. Anyways… Now the folks at Do512 have teamed up with Shiner to also have an awesome spot to throw private parties and have Austin’s best artists provide the entertainment. The Do512 Lounge is kind of like if you set up your living room with a performance stage and red velvet curtains. But it’s much cooler than your living room because you don’t have a performance stage with red velvet curtains. The shows are private affairs in which you need to be a mega-hipster or have a rich uncle who invented Toaster Strudel or something to get an invite. Obviously that was a joke because I got invited, and there ain’t nothing special about me. All you need to do is follow Do512 on Facebook and Twitter for the chance to get a spot on the guestlist.

This past Saturday [03.05.11] the Lounge was host to an awesome lineup of high quality hometown acts: Auroravore, The Black and White Years, Zeale, and one of my personal favorites Ume. Check out some snap shots below along with videos of Ume and Zeale. An additional video of Ume performing "The Conductor" can be seen here. For proper quality video keep an eye on Austin Music Weekly, the designated documenters for these performances.

My hat goes off to the staff at Do512 for creating one of the most unique experiences for Austin music.

Auroravore 

The Black and White Years 

Ume

Zeale

p.s. In hindsight I noticed there were slight moments of emo self loathing in this post. For that, I apologize. 

♪♫♪♫♪♪♪♫♫♪♫♪♫♫♪♫♪♪♫

Balmorhea @ Mohawk, 02.25.11

Let me start by saying that my recent trend of naming blog posts with the artist's lyrics really won't work when the band doesn't have words in their music.

Austin band Balmorhea is directly responsible for the revelation of how much I like modern classical. Or is it called chamber music? Either way, their are some really great artists composing masterful symphonies these days— Brooklyn Rider, Clogs, Sarah Kirkland Snider— but Balmorhea is the most prolific. Lead by the duo of Michael Muller and Rob Lowe, the band has a massively impressive catalog including last year's album Constellations and their most recent release the "Candor / Clamor" 7-inch. Each project is pure awe inspiring beauty.

Mohawk was the scene of Balmorhea's first hometown show since September. Here are some photos from that night and a video of them performing the Constellations standout "Bowsprit."

I also uploaded video of "Night Squall" and "Candor" on youtube. Balmorhea is swinging around the west coast for a couple of weeks. They will be back in town for SXSW as they are part of the Western Vinyl Showcase at Lamberts on the Saturday the 19th. 

We're Off To See The Sea

Follow That Bird! @ Mohawk, 02.12.11

I finally got the chance to catch Austin band Follow That Bird! last night. They had been on my to see list for quite a while. They stole the show on the first Casual Victim Pile album last year with their song "The Ghosts That Wake You." Then I saw a picture and noticed that the girls in the band are ridiculously gorgeous, which only further sparked my interest. Musically, they have that traditional indie-guitar rock meets riot-grrl punk thing. It's a little Sleater-Kinney, a little bit of the Strokes, and full adrenaline inducing.

Somewhere I read that they are working on a full-length album, but until then they have a new 7" hitting the streets in time for SXSW. Those two songs are already digitally available on bandcamp in the meantime.

I'm really digging this band to say the least. Count me as a full fledged fan now. Here are video and pics from the show.

Sugar Taste the Sweetest When it Goes Straight to Your Head

Agent Ribbons @ Red 7, 02.11.11

Here are shots from the Agent Ribbons performance at Red 7 this past Friday. The girls kicked of their set with "The World is a Cigarette" and the video I shot is posted below. I also took video of "Grey Gardens," which can be seen here.

Special thanks to Lauren and Natalie for being the first participants in my Portrait Series.

[portraits have been moved to separate posts here and here]

I hope to do more of these "portrait" shots in the future and will collect them in one blog posting when I have enough.

We Rode on Horses Made of Sticks

Murder By Death @ Red 7, 02.05.11

Here are some shots from the show last night, along with a video I shot of frontman Adam Turla doing a solo rendition of "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)."