Milk Adam from SURVIVE has been a busy man lately. I wasn't in Austin last week, but rumor has it that, in addition to hosting two shows, the dude played 12 shows(!) as part of SURVIVE, Thousand Foot Whaleclaw, and his latest act, Troller, which is a collaboration with fellow Austinite Amber Ormand. Reports from ATX have been intriguing, so was stoked to find Troller had uploaded four tunes to their Soundcloud. What's inside? Synthetic cave recordings accompanied by droning vocals that sound like they were recorded by Paulive Oliveros for the Deep Listening Band. Darkness reigns supreme here, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Christa & Sarah New crystalline tunes from Christa & Sarah formerly of Sleep Over. The new project is Boy Friend. Barely scratched the surface so far, but heavily going in on these 4 tunes, which seem to cosmically interline with the current white washed status of the City. A gem*star of an EP on 1st listen from what I can tell.
In other Austin news, Sleep Over have a bunch of new stuff in the works, including some gem stars on TCC. Stay tuned.
"Love Comes Tumbling Down On Me" Quite the departure from his day job fronting psychedelic janglers The Black Angels, "I'd Rather Be Lonely", a demo recording by Alex Maas, is a not cover of the Eddie Spencer's Canadian soul classic "If This Is Love (I'd Rather Be Lonely)." However, the rough gem certainly borrows from Spencer's timeless chorus. Upon my first few spins I likened it to Arthur Russell'sfolkier side, specifically "Eli" and "Close My Eyes", both of which were compiled on last years Love Is Overtaking Me. The demo I have is labeled as part of the "Honeysuckle Folk" genre, which I've never heard of, though it would be an apt description of Mr. Maas's minimalist retro leanings. It's sunny and gothic all at once, as if the repetitive strum of an effected electric guitar and Maas's high lonesome vocal creates a vacuum in the sky which swirls all parts joy and sorrow into a harmonious cumulonimbus cloud. A rough Angels jam or a budding solo project, whatever it is, I'm intrigued and will certainly be keeping my eyes out for more. Alex Maas- I'd Rather Be Lonely
"Psychedelic Tits... They Are The Color Of A Rainbow" Harlem is playing the Charleston on Bedford Ave tonight. Got turned on to them two weeks ago when GvB posted the explosive garage joint "South of France," which has been on high Subway headbang rotation ever since. "South of France" is really irresistible as it is exactly what I'd want to be listening to if I was driving in the South of France and not blasting ABBA. Really don't know anything about these guys except they have one of the most entertaining MySpace pages I've ever seen, not to mention killer song names ("Psychedelic Tits", "I'm On Drugs", in particular). Oh yeah, their album is called free drugs;-). If your not gonna make it to the Charleston (pizza+beer, mmm), you can grab free drugs;-) on vinyl (or cd) HERE.
"He's got old, cold hands" Sunday Brunch is a recurring feature where we explore some music related ish that we find enjoyable. In this edition we highlight live music documenteer's SwitchBurn.TV. While, there is no shortage of unique live performance videos competing on the web these days (La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, The Black Cab Sessions, etc), what makes SwitchBurn.TV so great is that they take us to the most familiar place but provide a unique angle makes viewing a regular gig seem utterly fresh. Like Wallace Steven's "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" (my favorite poem), it's all about perspective.
The concept is simple: the SwitchBurn guys capture a show, like the Black Lips show at Austin's Emo's (above), by using multiple cameras to document different angles. But rather than editing the different angles into a single shot, instead they present all three angles at one time, giving you the feeling of being in the middle of the pit, center stage and on stage all at the same time. Unless you're a total schizo, you've never seen a show the way SwitchBurn.TV presents it. Essentially, they make it possible for you to be in the bathroom, at the bar and raging the front row at the same time. Pretty cool if you ask me. So far these guys have done videos of ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Dan Deacon, Dead Confederate, {{{Sunset}}}, and the aforementioned Black Lips. Expect more in the near future.
Dan Deacon "Crystal Cat" at Emo's, Austin, Texas 1/11/2008
"The World Ain't So Sweet or So Tender" New Hampshire born, Austin bred Okkervil River recently released their fifth full length, Stage Names. While the record continues to build on the melodramatic epic-ness of Black Sheep Boy and Down the River Of Golden Dream, I find myself revisiting the Australia only Tour Ep Overboard & Down. Two tracks in particular keep drawing me to this EP, which conveniently fits into the 25 minute constraint of my bike ride to work. Quite lovely. "The President's Dead," the opening track of the EP, is a nostalgic history lesson, which functions as a meaningful portrait of the thoughts running through ones head during a catastrophic historical event, for example the assassination of a President. Nothing political here, rather a character study of what one "small, quiet man" felt the day the president was shot and killed. He was in his bed with his girlfriend, the presidents dead. His memories lead to an array of emotive sentiments, dreaming of the future and recreating the past in sweeping poetics.
"Love to a Monster" is an over-dramatic jangler about trying to hate an EX when it's near impossible to do, regardless of what he or she did and includes the line "I Hope You get Angry and Get Hurt and Have the Hardest of Landings." Melodrama, nostalgia and poetry, just the thing we've come to expect from Will Sheff and company.
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