Bazile’s Mississippi roots and a love of film music contribute to his unique style of songwriting that is both visceral and refined. Sometimes accompanied by drums and synthesizer but often relying strictly on his voice and a guitar, Bazile’s live performances offer stripped-down arrangements of his Ravel-inspired harmonies. In the studio, Bazile overdubs stringed and keyed parts until the track reaches a critical mass of melodic and ambient sounds. This sonic mass could be considered a second cousin to both Sufjan Stevens and Radiohead. Bazile simply calls it Space Folk. Though based in Austin for the last three years, Bazile’s recently released debut, The Sojourn of Professor Narducci, reflects his previously itinerant lifestyle. Living and visiting several continents motivated him to write about themes that cover just as much territory. On Professor Narducci, Bazile is equally comfortable singing about science, religion and romance. These themes are explored via his middle-aged, Italian alter-ego, who spends his sabbatical on a quixotic quest for women and wisdom. Bazile’s versatile vocals, which can produce both the smoothness of Bossa Nova and the grit of Honky Tonk, allow him to cover the narrator’s broad range of emotional rambles.

Ola Podrida officially launched its July tour in support of 2009’s Belly of the Lion at the Mohawk last Thursday night with a satisfying 12-song set.  It was raining outside when Ola Podrida took the stage in Mohawk’s cozy wood-flanked indoor space. David Wingo opened his mouth to pour out his first inciting words of the evening: “Let’s go raid your father’s basement.” The visceral images of prank calls and nudey mags set to blankety guitars were clean as ever as Wingo led us into his friend’s father’s basement with his soft somber nostalgia. The audience was full of people slowly nodding their heads to the lush music, adults indulging in memories from the narrator’s youth, who were unknowingly attesting to how evocative Wingo’s use of detail is, both musically and lyrically. 

Wingo playfully twanged into the stellar “The Closest We Will Ever Be,” and mounted steadily into the deadslung dare to “come cast one on me.” Perhaps the most poignant moment of the night was when the band performed “Donkey,” the title track from Belly of the Lion. Wingo’s drawl cracked with honesty as he confessed “in the belly of the lion, I’ve been tryin’ to breathe through his nose” and then the band broke into a series of anthemic, crushing lalalala’s. David Wingo seems to have an understanding of music so deeply felt, it can cause movies that don’t exist to happen in one’s mind. On “Jordanna,” Wingo practically burned a hole in his guitar from strumming so hard. His poetic sensibilities were undeniable as he crashed his voice into the microphone with rhythmic undulations of exaggerated middle syllables of each word. 

 

Between songs, Wingo was relateable, once prematurely switching to banjo and realizing it said, “fake-out banjo alert, just keeping you on your toes,” as he slung his guitar back on again. Wingo played guitar for 11 of the 12 tunes in gray new balances and a Cleveland Cavaliers t-shirt. He remained in the same outfit but switched to banjo for the closer “Cindy.” Backboning the stage in a cross-array of pearl snaps and rolled sleeves were David Hobizal on drums, Andrew Kenny (American Analog Set) on bass, and Colin Swietek (Corrina Corrina) on guitar. Other set standouts included the slide guitar landscaped “Sink or Swim” and the tenderly picked “Photo Booth” off of the band’s self-titled debut. 

 

Before Ola Podrida came on, Wingo stood amongst the audience and watched the vinyl-crackle-voiced Bosque Brown perform, one of the band’s openers. Dana Falconberry opened as well. An acoustic guitar, a drum, and the crinkling of a newspaper page complemented her performance. Ola Podrida heads to Houston tonight and from there will continue east. 

 

–Lauren Hardy (photo by Stephan Laackman)

Tomorrow (7/10) at the One World Theater the latest installment of The Sessions will take place, featuring the Black & White Years (above, looking somewhat perplexed), L.A.X., and the relatively new and much talked about Cowboy + Indian. Cowboy + Indian are one part Jazz Mills and one part either Jesse Plemons or Daniel James, depending on the evening. 

 

Ola Podrida (above) kick off their tour tonight at the Mohawk in the company of Bosque Brown + Dana Falconberry. Above is a celebratory remix of the Podrida track "Monday Morning" courtesy of Spencer Stephenson (of Sleep Whale). Below are tour dates. All around is a general sense of well-being. And rain.

 

7/24 – Denton, TX @ Hailey’s 

 

The Mercers don’t need pillow talk as foreplay or to supplement their sound.  Without pomp and circumstance, the four members took their positions and filled the Parish Saturday night with thrashing guitars and keening wails.  While two fans expressed their enthusiasm with manic turns and leaps, most showed their appreciation with gentle sways and bobbing heads. More joined the dance party (albeit not as extreme as the spinning duo monopolizing the dance floor) as the waves from the speakers grew stronger, climaxing around lucky number seven. 

 The Mercer’s sound is like contained liquid bubbling over itself: the only thing keeping it from spilling over is the tension and attraction between individual molecules. Peter Wagner’s voice—evocative and resonant; ethereal and redolent—is backed by driving beats from drummer Ethan Herr and bassist Bryan Ray while synthesist Erik Ray adds ornamental flourishes like the jangling of a tambourine in between sips of Lonestar beer.

The set was comprised of tracks from their full-length album Pretty Things Walk as well as their two EPs, Hovercraft and the recently released Giant. Their new song "Urgency" was welcomed by the crowd, though the two improv dancers were shown the door before the Mercers delivered their rendition of the Genesis song "Abacab".

–Resalin Rago

 

Texas country-punkers (and current poll nominees) The Golden Boys will bring their tangy flavor of rock up to the Salvage Vanguard Theater this Friday (7/9); SVT, up at 2803 Manor, is much more than a performance venue, it also holds classes, features art exhibits, and in general positions itself in the center of many things theatrical, musical, visual, and wonderful happening in Austin, and smiles upon them. Check it out.  

Red Falcon, The Sour Notes, and Pink Nasty join the Mercers at the Parish this Saturday (7/3) for an eclectic lineup of impressive local talents…The Mercers are enjoying many kind words about their recent EP Giant, and are dazzling their fans with a monthly single, which you’ll find here. As for the newly formed Red Falcon, you’ll recognize members from Built By Snow, Your Kisses Cause Crashes, Aster, and The Seas up on stage, and you’ll also be among the first to hear ’em all together. Pink Nasty forms one half of the irrepressible and entirely uncensored Nasty siblings, and really owes us a new album by now…maybe she’ll say where that stands if you ask. And finally the Sour Notes (above) will bring their recently delivered, much loved It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty up onto stage and make it live and breathe. All in all, we’re hyped. We’ve now hyped ourselves for this show. It’s simply four fascinating Austin bands. At the Parish. 

Just a quick round-up of some Friday of Fourth of July Weekend hap’nins: Built By Snow bring their brand of electro-geek rock to the Mohawk on Friday the 2nd; they’ll be accompanied by our most recent poll champions Guns of Navarone, along with Whitman and On After Dark. Meanwhile, Markov will celebrate the release of their album This Quiet over at the Beauty Bar with a stellar lineup including …and You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Girl in a Coma, Lights Go Out, and White Rhino. And that’ll do. (Above, On After Dark…well, sorta.) 

 

Austin dream pop/indie rock band Norushi Minx will record their second EP with new member Andy Bracht engineering the session at ACC Studios in North Austin in July 2010. Bracht and Norushi Minx bassist V. Marc Fort met during the early ’90s while playing together in the ambitious indie rock band bo bud greene. Look for the new Norushi Minx EP to receive a digital release in August 2010 and a physical release during the fall.

(Ed.: this post taken from Norushi Minx’s post on our DIY Open Blog, check out other Open Blog posts in the Deli Kitchen.)

 

 

[The subjects of today’s interview, Searching for Signal (photo above by Nicole Christians) will be part of the Ghost Room’s show this Saturday, 7/26, headlined by our earlier interview subject The Pons and also featuring Wiretree and STEREO IS A LIE…]

 

How did the band start? When did you get together?   What kind of factors led to your coming together?  Crazy cosmic destiny, the good, old friends-forever bit or just a lucky answer of some classifieds?

 

"This is like homework," says Matt Salois. "Did you see how long this interview is??"

 

We’re a band; we just decided to start playing. We started playing in freshman year of high school. Matt (guitar, lead vox) and I (Benny – drums), had been good friends since 7th grade and jammed occasionally. Freshman year, we met Michael (guitar) at a Super Bowl party and we started Searching for Signal, writing songs and jamming and eventually playing shows.  John (bass/vox) joined the band in junior year for the release of our full length self-titled LP and we recorded our EP Its So Bright… during senior year. 

 

What would you say you’re all about? Who your musical influences are, what you want your music to do/where do you want to take it/the genre/your audience?  What genre do you consider yourself, or would you rather try and stay genre-ly undefined?

 

Love. We are about music and getting it to the people.  We make music we like to hear and hope other people like to hear. 

 

"We’re in it for the sweat of our brow," says John.

 

We define ourselves as post-rock and are influenced by Explosions in the Sky, Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters, Beatles, Phoenix, Pilot Speed, Radiohead, Coldplay and local artists trying to do the same stuff we do.

John says he is personally influenced by Ronaldo and Journey.

We are post-rock but vary to indie rock and hard-pop-core.

We have been described as Explosions in the Sky meets Coldplay.

 

What is the best/favorite venue or show you’ve ever played?

 

The best venue we’ve ever played is probably House of Blues Houston or Emo’s Outdoors.

 

Our favorite venues personally are:

Walters on Washington (Houston) – John

The original Super Happy Fun Land in Houston – Matt.  "We started playing our first shows there and continued playing there all through high school. We went there to see bands we liked in high school, ended up playing there and setting up shows there. I like it for the memories."

Artmosphere in Lafayette, LA – Michael. "Best hookah bar/pizza cafe/drink bar/music venue on this side of the Mississippi. I love it when people get up to dance for us"

Emo’s Outdoors – Benny. 

 

How do you like to get ready for a show?  How do you like to perform a show, what’s it all about for y’all?

 

Trying not to sweat. Trying to comp drinks, and avoid getting x’s on our hands. 

Its about not messing up, not sweating, being energetic and getting the crowd involved by winning them over with our boyish good looks.

Sometimes we do themes (suits, sunglasses, hats, blazers, basketball jerseys, button-ups etc).

 

Is there a new album in the works?  Concept phase, recording? What’s the idea behind it? Tour plans?

 

Yes in fact.  We will be recording this summer and releasing 4 or 5 songs for free by the end of the summer.

We recently went on a week long tour through Austin, New Orleans, Lafayette, Baton Rouge and Houston and will probably tour again next summer. 

We tried to get a van but apparently you have to be 25 and responsible to rent one.  So we took two cars and managed to fit clothes, equipment and ourselves into a Ford Escape and a Chevy HHR.  We had a venture, but just to list a couple topics:

-Staying at a frat house with no running water (no bathroom aka craps in the Circle K)

-Michael getting patted down by a female LSU cop.

-Matt going on a 6 am bike ride around a lake in the clothes from a show

-and finding out John looked like Ben Linus from Lost 

 

What are your Top 5 Desert-Island Albums?

 

Instead of a top 5, we each gave one:

 

John – Blood Bank EP by Bon Iver

Benny- Into the West by Pilot Speed

Michael- Electric President by Electric President

Matt – All of the Sudden Everyone by Explosions in the Sky

All – our personal mix of favorite Annuals songs.

 

 

Let the yellow mellow or flush it down?

Flush it down. Gross. Unless you’re at a frat house with no running water and you don’t have a choice.

 

Guiltiest-Pleasure TV show?

 

The Hills – John

The OC – Matt (he owns two seasons)

Keeping Up with the Kardashians – Michael

Dog the Bounty Hunter – Benny

 

All-time favorite movie?

 

Aristocats – Michael

Aladdin  – John

Remember the Titans – Matt

Lord of the Rings trilogy – Benny

 

Do you consider Austin a part of your band?  Would you be the same without this city?

 

"Who’s Austin?" – Michael

 

Just kidding. We love Austin. We recently started playing here and it has a very receptive music community and enthusiastic audiences who love to support local bands.  We look forward to more interviews and more exposure in Austin for many years to come. Thank you for everyone’s support who is reading this and thanks to Deli Austin for doing this interview. 

 

Love,

The S4S boys

–Mitchell Mazurek 

 

 

YellowFever ("all one big-ol word" according to their site), they of the legendary, rarely seen Desert Chicken Dance, and the more frequently seen cat drawings, are headed out on tour…kicking off today at the Black Cat in D.C.

06/23 – Washington D.C. – Black Cat @
06/24 – Brooklyn, NY – Union Pool (Northside / Panache Showcase) #
06/25 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom @
06/26 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom @
07/01 – Houston, TX – Mango’s
07/02 – New York, NY – Seaport Music Festival $
07/03 – New Orleans, LA – No More Fiction
07/04 – Athens, GA – Farm 255
07/05 – Charlotte, NC – Snug Harbor
07/06 – Shepherdstown, WV – Blue Moon Saloon
07/07 – New Brunswick, NJ – Meat Town USA
07/08 – New York, NY – Cake Shop
07/09 – Brooklyn, NY – Monster Island Basement
07/10 – Providence, RI – As220
07/11 – Northampton, MA – Elevens
07/12 – Binghamton, NY – Bazooka / Bazooka
07/13 – Rochester, NY – The Bug Jar
07/14 – Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern %
07/16 – Columbus, OH – The Summit
07/17 – Carbondale, IL – Handsome Fest
07/18 – Lawrence, KS – Jackpot
07/19 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
07/20 – Madison, WI – Project Lodge
07/21 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle
07/22 – St Louis, MO – Antartica
07/23 – Nashville, TN – Little Hamilton
07/25 – Hot Springs, AR – The Exchange +
07/26 – Norman, OK – The Opolis
07/27 – Denton, TX – TBA
07/29 – San Antonio, TX – Korova Basement
07/30 – Laredo, TX – Old No. 2
07/31 – Austin, TX – Emo’s
08/01 – El Paso, TX – Hideaway Lounge
08/02 – Phoenix, AZ – Trunk Space
08/03 – San Diego, CA – Soda Bar
08/04 – Los Angeles, CA – The Smell ^
08/05 – Los Angeles, CA – Day Off – Going to Disneyland!
08/06 – Sacramento, CA – The Hub
08/07 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent !
08/08 – Klamath Falls, OR – Contemporary Arts Kitchen
08/09 – Portland, OR – East End
08/10 – Olympia, WA – Northern
08/12 – Vancouver, BC – Honey
08/13 – Seattle, WA – Cairo
08/14 – Provo, UT – The Compound
08/15 – Denver, CO – Rhinoceropolis
08/16 – Albuquerque, NM – Wunderkind
08/17 – Lubbock, TX – Bash Riprocks 

@ = w/ Voxtrot
# = w/ Airwaves, Aa
$ = w/ Woven Bones
% = w/ Titus Andronicus
+ = w/ Halloween Swim Team
^ = w/ Ty Segall, Royal Baths
! = w/ Thee Oh Sees

With a blow-out huge show at the Ghost Room on June 26th with STEREO IS A LIE, Wiretree, and Searching for Signal, we had to hear from the makers of high concept melodious harmonizers, The Pons. Thomas, Ruby, and Steven talk to us about getting together, playing music and bathroom behaviors. Killer photo above by Kaitlin Langdon. 

When did you get together? What kind of factors led to your coming together? Crazy cosmic destiny, the good, old friends-forever bit or just a lucky answer of some classifieds?

Tommy: Ruby and I started out as a two piece band called Lalaland in 2004. We didn’t have a drummer at the time, so we decided to create our own back-up band by recording drums and anything else that we wanted people to hear. We would record on a 4-track, then mix it down to two-track and play it on a DVD player while we played along. Our intentions were to sync-up video at some point. We didn’t make it that far.

While we were recording our first record (Ready? Ready!) in 2004, our producer & engineer Lou Guerrero recommended having his friend Steve Sanders come in and play drums on a few songs.

Steve was already in two bands – Ant Man Bee & Wan Santo Condo – and was under a recording contract with EverLoving who kept him on-call for over a year with the possibility of going on tour with Wan Santo Condo to support Tenacious D, which they did eventually.

However, Ruby and I knew he was our drummer. He knew it too. It was just a matter of time.

Here’s the cosmic part: If I played drums, I would play just like Steve. If I played bass, I would play just like Ruby. It seems like I spent my entire life preparing for this band. 

We played as Lalaland until 2007. We changed our name to The Pons when we released “In the Belly of a Giant” in Dec 2008. We needed a name we could own and one that would allow us to do anything we wanted musically. 

Ruby: Tommy and I have been in projects together for many years now. We initially met at a party in his back yard. Steve came in to help us record some drums for our last band, Lalaland, and we slowly brainwashed him to join us permanently. That took lots of Lone Star and patience, but it eventually paid off. 

What would you say you’re all about? Who your musical influences are, what you want your music to do/where do you want to take it/the genre/your audience?  What genre do you consider yourself, or would you rather try and stay genre-ly undefined?

Ruby: We are about playing music we like to play, and prefer to play that music together. We definitely come from varying musical backgrounds, but still have a lot of overlapping bands in common. I’m sure the guys will cite many artists, but I would have to say that Tommy and Steve are are my biggest influences musically. I want our music to do whatever it is that it’s supposed to do – whether that be to shake your ass, make you cry, stand up for something, shut up, make you think, make you laugh. Hopefully we accomplish a little of that. Even though we’re considered rock in the most general sense, I think we tie in a lot of influences within that. So sometimes it is a little difficult to define the genre, as the song usually determines the feel and style.

Steven: I’m influenced by so much from Tom Waits and Thelonious Monk to Talking Heads and too much more to mention.  I’m not good at defining genres so much but I would say we are a "dynamic alternative melodic rock"

Tommy: In short, we’re about writing great songs. Most everyone has had that moment standing in front of a band and listening to a song that is so good it makes you feel like nothing else matters. Everyone stops talking and the song takes over the room. I have experienced this many times, most recently while watching Cheap Trick play “Surrender” at Auditorium Shores. That song could start riots. Probably has.

Anyway, that’s what I want. To incite riots. 

Influences don’t play a big part in my writing anymore. My ship has drifted too far from the dock at this point. If I think I’ve written a great song, it’s because I feel that I have successfully used everything I know to get there and the song works. If the song sucks, I only have myself to blame.

Genres don’t mean anything to us. I’d play a hammer-on lead if the moment called for it.

Is there anything special about the Ghost Room show?  Will you be returning with the greats from your most recent album? Rocking some new stuff?

Tommy: We are hosting the Ghost Room show, so that’s really our big event for the summer, plus, we’re playing with STEREO IS A LIE and Wiretree. Two of my favorite bands. We will be playing mostly new material with a few songs from Giant. ATX Live will be on hand to film the show in HD and interview Austin Bloggers. This show was intended to be our only Austin appearance this summer so that we could focus on writing and finishing our new record “The Blackest Shine”, which is due for release right after the first of the year. However, we were recently asked to open for Everclear on July 2nd.

Ruby: It’s such a great venue, so we’ve been really excited to get back there. We recently took some time off to write and record, so this will be our first show in town following that. We’ll rock out with all the classic hits, and have a preview on what’s to come on the new album. 

How do you like to get ready for a show?  How do you like to perform a show, what’s it all about for y’all?

Ruby: Live shows are always great because you never know what you’re going to get. You just try to have as much control as possible, but you have to leave a lot up everything else around and go with it as best as you can and have fun. The best part is that the audience is very much a part of the show. I guess that can be the worst part too… 

Steven: A few beers and some cigarettes and some light stretching.

Tommy: Our best shows typically happen after being on the road for a while. So we really like to get in that frame of mind even if we’re only playing local shows. Occasionally we’ll invite friends to watch us rehearse.  

What’s the idea behind your upcoming album, The Blackest Shine?

Tommy: The Blackest Shine will be our second record, so we really want to release something that is more potent than In the Belly of a Giant and shows how much we have developed. But more importantly, we want this record to rank among the best in the grand scheme of things.

Most of our songs have very big, very dark themes, but with very swing-happy music. This record is to biggest, darkest, swingin-est one so far.

The Blackest Shine is about survival – still being able to see yourself even in the most distorted situations.

The CC Grady foreword to your LP is pretty great, high concept sort of stuff.  With talks of post-modernism and poetry, do you take literary influences in your work?  What kind of stuff do you all read? Favorite books/authors? 

Tommy: Grady’s foreword was entirely personal. We didn’t direct or edit him. He simply wrote what he thought after listening to Giant. He’s not the only one to arrive at that place. Many writers explain similar feelings about that record and how much it seems to deal with big issues. Big issue records get big issue reviews. 

I don’t read fiction very much. It’s probably because I like true stories and they seem to be more interesting to me. Unless it’s comedy. David Sedaris kills me. So does Kurt Vonnegut. I like to read about American History. Any time anyone wants to politicize something, I simply remind them pick up a history book.

What are your Top 5 Desert-Island Albums?

Steven: Tom Waits- Closing Time

Pixies- Doolittle

Talking Heads- Remain in Light

PJ Harvey- Dry

Beastie Boys- Paul’s Boutique

and anything Neil Finn

Tommy: Tom Waits – Rain Dogs

Leonard Cohen – Songs of Leonard Cohen

The Beatles – Revolver

Glenn Miller – all of it

Talking Heads – Fear of Music

Let the yellow mellow or flush it down?

Tommy: Flush it. If it looks like piss and smells like piss, it’s piss. 

Steven: Flush it.

Ruby: I always heard it was "if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down." If it rhymes, it must be right. Is it? Flush it down gets my vote. 

Guiltiest-Pleasure TV show?

Steven: American Idol

Tommy: Wipe-Out!!!

Ruby: Wipeout. 

All-time favorite movie?

Tommy: Grey Gardens – I’m gauging this question on the number of times I’ve seen the movie.

I think I’ve seen Grey Gardens 10 times. 5 Times in one day.

It’s a true story – one that’s happening in every neighborhood in the world every day.

Ruby: Sorry if it’s a cheesy girl movie, but maybe Amelie? It makes me happy. 

Steven: The Big Lebowski or Withnail and I

Do you consider Austin a part of your band?  Would you be the same without this city?

Steven: Yes, very much so.  Ruby and I are native Austinites.  I have been playing in clubs here since the late eighties.

Tommy: Yes and No.

Ruby: My Mom has said that she made sure her children were born in Austin, so this town is very much a part of me. Plus we all came together here – Austin has a way of doing that. Whether we would be the same without this city is yet to be determined, but it will always be a part of who we are.

 

–Mitchell Mazurek

 

[Ed.: One last reminder…the Pons are headlining the show at The Ghost Room in the very fine company of Wiretree and STEREO IS A LIE, Saturday, June 26th.]