"Baltimore four-piece Ponytail is gearing up to release their third full-length, Do Whatever You Want All the Time, due for release on April 12 on We Are Free. In the meantime, Ponytail member Dustin Wong has compiled yet another fantastic music video of various mash-up clips that go along with portions of each song on the album. Sort of like an album appetizer. The video complements the colorful cover art that was designed by EYE of the Japanese rock band Boredoms." -Courtesy of Big Hassle Media.

Do Whatever You Want All The Time from WEAREFREE on Vimeo.

Technically the second day of SXSW 2011’s music week was my first day (although Tuesday is kind of a half Music day realy), and I certainly made up for lost time. My third SXSW, the festival’s 25th anniversary, I celebrated with eleven bands and a huge dose of venue hopping.

After being rejected by NYC’s Shilpa Ray’s show at the Austin Convention Center (“badges only, no bracelets!” – "WTF?!?"), I meandered down 6th Street to the “British Embassy,” where a Welsh showcase was beginning, and I was privileged to see synth-rockers, We//Are//Animal (top picture ), and dance-y electro-pop trio, Bright Light Bright Light. Only steps away at The Parish were Brooklyn’s quirky alt rock quartet, Black Taxi, and Austin’s synth rockers, The Frontier Brothers, and wacky dance-rockers, Bright Light Social Hour. A long walk to the Buzzbands LA Party and an extended sound check ended in a short sample of orchestral Other Lives.

A coffee break and pedicab ride were followed by Washington D.C.’s indie-pop Jukebox the Ghost at the Empire Automotive Shop. Back to back, I explored LA’s alternative electro-pop/rock foursome, Hell & Lula (picture above), at Emo’s Annex, New York’s retro-rock outfit, Blackbells, at Fado’s, and my favorite new band of the day, Oklahoma City’s hard rock showmen, The Pretty Black Chains (picture below), at the Oklahoma showcase at Friends.

The day came full circle as I was denied entry to The Black Angels and Queens of the Stone Age at La Zona Rosa, but I closed my first Austin night right with the soulful sounds of NY’s Kendra Morris (pictured below, who also played the Deli sponsored Music Tech Mashup Party earlier in the afternoon) at the Scoot Inn before heading home to prepare for an even bigger second day!

Here are 3 reviews from a selection of CDs that were recently submitted here.

“I could spend all night singing this song/I’m searching for reasons to tell you that you should still be mine" are lyrics from Bird Dog’s self-titled EP. They hail from Brooklyn, and their EP is a delicious mix of rock, roots and soul, the kind of music that your ears have been searching for. The music will strike a chord with your soul and the lyrics are intelligently relatable. Bird Dog’s tracks will brighten any rainy day or sustain the light of a sunny day; make no mistake, this is music you do not want to deny yourself the chance to listen to. Bird Dog’s self-titled EP is streaming and available for download here.

Electro-pop power team Jonka’s album "Slow and Steady Wins The Race" (the follow-up album, Pinks and Blues, has yet to be released) is overflowing with fresh synth beats and brilliant vocal harmonies. Jonka’s music mixes together 80s pop and hip-hop, coming up with a nostalgic yet strikingly modern content. The lyrics are stirringly heartfelt; consider these lyrics from the song "Guided By Light," "Get a little bit older, now you think for yourself/Instead of waiting your turn, it’s time to get off the shelf/ Get a little bit wiser, you’ve been kicking around/Instead of kicking your can, you’ve got your feet on the ground." Jonka’s music will make you think, it will make you want to dance, and it somehow makes you want to live a better life, all at the same time.

Medals, with their album "Dancing in Ceremony", are reinventing indie pop. The album began as a new Jaguar Club record (former Jaguar Club members Will Popadic and Yoi Fujita are now Medals) and was inspired by the two’s mutual love for 90s electronica and Blur’s later works. Dancing in Ceremony settled itself somewhere between being a dance floor record and one inspired by the techno giants of the 90s. The album, most of which was recorded in one 10-hour session with Nick Stumpf (of French Kicks), is full of acoustic strumming, bass hooks, distinctive lyrics and scattered beats. Live, Medals is composed of Popadic singing, playing guitar, triggering samples and playing harmonica; Fujita playing bass and playing some keyboards; and longtime friend Nadia Brittingham playing keyboards, singing and playing drums. As they write in their bio, "We’d like to think we are fun but serious, loud and good." Couldn’t have put it better myself. – Leah Tribbett

09 TURN TO GOLD by Medals