Austin Briefs

I had to laugh when I received an email from Joe with this as the headline:

Rolling Stone “surprise find” My Education to give off Bad Vibrations on new album to be released in June.

I will withhold my opinion of RS for this post. Original mention in the mag was in 2005, but not much since then. I caught wind of this band back in 2006. Of course, I was living in Austin and immersing myself in the scene, but anyone who knows instrumental rock recognizes Austin area as a breeding ground for the genre. With groups like Explosions in The Sky and This Will Destroy You gaining popularity and exposure, My Education was bound to get noticed. ?No surprise there. And yes, they have a new album, Bad Vibrations, out yesterday (6/10). Unfortunately, no East Coast tour dates as of yet.

mp3: Arch

The Black Angels have released a new album, Directions to See A Ghost. If you enjoyed the neo-psychedelic sound of Passover, expect more of the same. This may well be in my Top Ten for 2008. Catch them in the IA area the end of June and beginning of July with The Warlocks.

6/30: Philly @ Johnny Brenda's
7/2: DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

mp3: Science Killer

It's a year after Okkervil River released an album, so that means it is time for a new Shearwater disc. Shearwater and the new release Rook is the antithesis of their Okkervil counterpart, more hushed, haunting, and brooding. It is a more polished outing than previous works, but does not lose or change the bands identity as associated with former releases. They are also on tour, coming through the IA area very soon.

6/15: DC @ Black Cat
6/17: Philly @ Johnny Brenda's /w Centro-Matic

mp3: Rooks

Speaking of Centro-Matic, they released a new double disc, Dual Hawks. Actually, it's one disc of Centro-matic and another of South San Gabriel songs. For those uninformed, both groups are composed of the same core members, but have some unshared musicians and each has a distinct sound. Centro-matic are on tour as well, sharing the Philly date with Shearwater, then going their separate ways.

6/17: Philly @ Johnny Brenda's w/ Shearwater
6/18: DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel

mp3: Centro-matic - I, The Kite
mp3: South San Garbiel - Trust To Lose

On the recording front, The Drawing Board are close to completing a new EP. Recorded in February, it is still going through some tweeks. Since the last album, Clear To The Far Side Way Over Yonder took almost four years to complete, they are ahead of the game.

mp3: The Writer

Austin Update

I haven't done much with my former stomping grounds lately, so I thought it would be a good time to catch up with the latest news from Austin.


My friends The Drawing Board have a new song up on their Myspace page. Stick Around is a haunting piano ballad with a definite Rufus Wainwright vibe. Hoepfully more will be coming soon. Check it out and buy their album, Clear to The Far Side of Way Over Yonder and read my review of the album.

A whole slew of bands have recently released or are releasing new CDs in the near future:

AM Syndicate has a CD release party for the new release Liberation December 20th. Take a listen to a track from the album: The Neighbor and His Wife (mp3)

The Boxing Lesson has some rough mixes of some songs from the upcoming Wild Streaks & Windy Days posted. Release party is scheduled for December 15th.

Ghost of the Russian Empire also has some new songs for your listening pleasure and being assembled is a forth-coming yet unnamed full-length album.

Peter and the Wolf released The Ivori Palms earlier this fall. Much like past ventures, this album is very experimental: Where Summer Goes(mp3)

In other news, Oh No! Oh My! song Walk In The Park(mp3) was featured on Showtime's Weeds back in September. Up next for ON!OM!, they are heading over to Europe for their first tour across the pond. After they return to the states, new songs will be written and an album coming thereafter.

Finally, something on the local front, sort of. The Mercers got some air time on WXPN over the summer. I must have missed it. These guys also put together a full-length album Pretty Things Walk this year: Sexy Youth(mp3)

The Drawing Board Revisited

A while back, I posted about the new album from my favorite Austin band The Drawing Board. Finally, this Saturday at the Mohawk on Red River, the CD release party happens. In honor of this momentous event, I want to reexplore Clear to the Far Side of Way Over Yonder as now I have had months to digest every little detail.

I want to start out by mentioning the cover art, although I have no idea who to credit with it. Directly linking with the title of the album, it shows a person hanging on a rope attached to a hot air balloon above a winter landscape (not really typical in Texas, except this winter). The inside is a drawing of a street grid for some unnamed city, detailed with hills, trees, churches and tiny houses, even little buggies riding on the named streets. The rear is a tunnel through large trees with their upper branches intertwining, creating other images. Cover and liner art is overlooked for the most part, but I want to congratulate the maker of these fine works.

Ok, enough about the artwork, its about the music, right? Now I am going to repeat myself (with some new blurbs throw in): The album kicks off with "Clear to the Far Side", a short (less than a minute) opening soundscape of feedback, pedal steel, and backing vocals underneath lead singer's Justin Tapp's ranging croon for some reason gives me images of Pink Floyd and The Beach Boys together in a lounge in Vegas (how's that for an image!). It fades into the glamish rocker "Something I Can't Have", well the title says it all. The guitars are soaring, as are Justin's vocals. More gleaming guitars riffs (complete with solo) and driving rhythms flow in "Haven't We Been Through This?", with a repeating tag line for a chorus and "What About Me?", the feel-sorry-for-me stories of the aged in show business, the common worker freshly laid-off, and those fleeced by the televangelists.

The rest of the album shows more of a mellow side. The musically upbeat, but absolute lyrical downer of "Happy With You" is bouncy, smile while you cry over someone music. It would be hard to stop tapping your foot to this song. The ballad "Opposite of Home" reminds one of coffeeshop troubadors telling a sing-song story over acoustic guitars (with some keys thrown in for good measure). "It's a Lie" gets overtly political. One is unlikely to notice though, as dream-like vocals and quiet strums of acoustic guitar will make you forget the world around you and get lost in the music. The capstone of the album is the ethereal final track, "Lose My Mind", drawing upon a definite later-era Beatles influence.

On the whole, Clear to the Far Side of Way Over Yonder is well put together musically. Every song has some hook to it that keeps you there and doesn't let you skip ahead to the next track. The use of different instruments that are not of the norm in rock today (pedal steel, glockenspiels) is a welcome addition. Lyrically, the strong storyish motifs as well as a wide range of vocal qualities and harmonies find their way into your mind and stick with you for days.

Usually we drop some links for you, but it is the CD release weekend. Ok, one that is not on the album. Listen on their myspace page and if you like what you hear, BUY (also on itunes) the album. Drop them a line, tell them you heard of them through us here at IA. If you are anywhere near Austin Saturday night, go to the Mohawk. Thanks again to Adam, Brandon, Dave, David, and Justin. It was a blast down in Austin. Now get up to the Northeast! Philly would love you!

I love this poster (check out the large image on myspace)

The Writer (non album track)