New Music, Emerging from your Local Scene
Gramps The Vamp is releasing their fantastic self-titled debut EP on vinyl. The "doom funk" filled EP was released digitally back in September and has been receiving well due praise ever since.
You can picked up the vinyl at the release event at Schubas on Feb 3rd and catch the funk in person along with performances by What It Do and Velvet Jimis.
A Flourish And A Spoil, The Districts‘ sophomore LP and full-length debut on Fat Possum Records will be officially released on February 10. However, for those who can’t wait any longer, it is currently available for streaming via NPR’s First Listen. The Lititz natives turned locals continue delivering the goods unleashing songs that work the ebb and flow of emotion while capturing the highs and lows in a jarring blend of intense vocals and instrumentation. Take a listen, and catch the band in person February 14 at Union Transfer with Pine Barons and newly added to the bill, The Lawsuits.
Wordsmith/emcee Dewey Decibel teamed up with producer Zilla Rocca for his latest EP A Different Drum (a titled inspired by La Colombe’s latest venture into the rum-running world). Available via World Around Records, the results speak for themselves. Fun, tongue-twisting, coffee-brewed rhymes with arched beats that loosen you up with their beatnik/jazz stemming points. You can stream and download the album below.
We’re charmed by The Harmaleighs. They got their claws into us somewhere between their fresh interpretation of traditional folk and impeccably-timed stage banter. Their debut album, "Pretty Picture, Dirty Brush" is due out February 3rd, but we’ve got it a day early to share with you fine folks. We dug this album so much that we made it our CD of the Month (check out the left hand column!) Stream "Pretty Picture…" in it’s entirety below, and keep up with The Harmaleighs at www.theharmaleighs.com. -Terra James-Jura
Three Man Cannon‘s Matt Schimelfenig had his hands in the production of some of our favorite albums last year like Cayetana‘s Nervous Like Me and Cave People‘s Older. Tonight, his band’s own music will be on display in the upstairs of Kung Fu Necktie. Three Man Cannon also impressed with their own LP, the emotive and introspective Pretty Many People (Lame-O Records). It’s been a moment since we’ve heard new material from the Scranton transplants so hopefully they’ve been hiding out in the studio taking advantage of their bandmate’s multi-faceted skills. Joining them on the bill this evening will be local shoegazers Ghost Gum and NYC’s Painted Zeros and Bethlehem Steel. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $6, 21+ – H.M. Kauffman
San Francisco based experimental pop band Talk of Shamans will be playing an East Bay show tomorrow night at The Night Light. Oakland based experimental garage band, Repeater Pan will be headlining the evening while Zip Zilch Nada will start the night off with their debut live performance.
The Night Light hosts some of the best up and coming East Bay bands and Bay Area line ups. This show is a great example of a coherent, genre-centric line up that will flow super well. Be sure to head out to the show tomorrow night!
Empire Machines is Austin indie that came in fourth in our 2012 Best of Austin reader’s poll, and it looks like they’re preparing to put a new EP into the world early this year. To get the word out, they’ve released a fresh-out-of-the-oven single, "The Plan," which has a distinct British-rock sound that we quite dig.
In fact, "The Plan" almost sounds like The Beatles doing Bloc Party, coming in on a big toms beat and then dropping some foggy-night appropriate rhythm guitar as (what I assume is) lead singer Matt Blackwell does his best to convince me that John Lennon had another son who got his voice. It’s pure indie rock that actually does focus on the rock part, with distorted guitars featuring prominently, and it’s a sign that this band that released their last EP back in 2011 has matured their sound nicely in the in-between years. Look for Empire Machines to put out the full EP soon, and in the meantime, get at a quality Austin indie track (that makes for quite good driving music, if I do say so) with the player below.
