I don’t like playing favorites.  Really.  I don’t.  But early on in my time here at The Deli, Quiet Company wowed me with a live showing and has done well to keep a band-sized section of my heart occupied.  QC has been busy lately, recording and mixing their new EP, Songs for Staying In.  Though it debuts officially May 11^th, for the last few weeks they’ve been releasing a song and a documentary-style video every Monday, gearing up for the official release.  On top of that, preorders of the EP give you an instant-download of the album with a physical copy of the CD mailed to you on or before release day. 

Magical.

The EP is a solid release, and if you’re familiar with the band—and my earlier review of them—the ground tread here is similar to what they’ve tread before, that is, a strong and smooth sound that dabbles in both the realms of good rock and good pop.  The world where Elton John’s cover of “Pinball Wizard”  happily frolics.  The difference from their earlier work, however, comes from what the band refers to, in the earlier mentioned documentary style videos, as their “Sergeant Pepper phase.”  Bringing in friends and family to round out an extra choir and employing a slew of random instruments from glockenspiels and stylophones to good old fashion whistling, Songs for Staying Inis a release of Quiet Company’s familiar stylings with a bunch of new, exciting and fun stuff you’ve never heard them do before. 

As for the songs themselves, the first track, “How Do You Do It” literally had me singing along with it on my first play through.  It’s hooks are catchy and of all the songs on the album it’s the least experimental, which is good, because it ends up being an all-around solid rock tune.  From there, the style of the album eases up more and more until you get to the end, offering a good variety—a steady shift from solid rock to smoother ballads, think of the album as the downward slope of a rollercoaster—for an EP release, which is refreshing, and gives you something to listen to regardless of what mood you’re in.  The only drawback here is that pulls back on the tonal consistency, though that’s hardly what an EP should be trying to achieve.  All the songs exhibit the excellent crescendo style of song that Quiet Company has always been so good out—songs often starting out small or slow and then building up to a massive wall of sound.  The most frequent recurring instrumentals outside of Quiet Company’s norm is a horn section, which is a welcome compliment to the already piano-heavy music that QC displays.  And perhaps the most exciting surprise is a kazoo breakdown in “Things You Already Know.”  Yes, kazoo breakdown.  It’s as great and fun as you can imagine. 

The message behind the release, like the band itself, is love, and it definitely comes through well. Even in the song “Jezebel or ‘A Song About My Friend and That Whore He Dated.’”  And a band that can make a title like that about love, well that should be a band you want to listen to.  Basically, if you like what Quiet Company’s been doing for the last two albums, you should really enjoy this, and if what they’ve been putting out hasn’t really done it for you, there might be something on here to sway your mind.

All in all, Songs for Staying In is a solid EP release from a great band.  It takes a lot of fun chances with its self and offers a wide variety of music for the money, and while it doesn’t reinvent the band, it certainly treads some new territory and gives a lot of stuff we haven’t heard from them before while refining and sharpening what they already have.  Quiet Company is celebrating the EP release May 7^th at Encore alongside The Black and White Years and The Rocketboys.  611 Red River. Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 9pm.  Songs for Staying In available for ‘preorder’ now with official release May 11^th.

–Mitchell Mazurek

 

 

Ok, as I recall, we had to skip class to see stuff like this in my day, but the non profit writing center Austin Bat Cave is bringing Ghostland Observatory to Anderson High School May 14th to give a songwriting workshop. That’s just badass. 

Our current band of the month poll has evolved into a close one between My Empty Phantom and Baron Grod – we thought we’d take a moment, before polls close in two days, to familiarize any of the unfamiliar with our two frontrunners. And so…

Baron Grod’s tentacle-adorned self-titled debut traffics in the epic, seismic, apocalyptic and many other words for big heavy sounds – grab a thesaurus and have at it. They regularly finish in the money in the Austin Music Award categories for Metal, Experimental, and Instrumental…so they’ll rock you and you may have to think while they’re doing it. You can get acquainted May 1st at Beerland. 

My Empty Phantom is the creation of Jesse Beamon; his work gets named ambient, classical, minimalist…and won’t be at all out of place on a bill with Balmorhea. He’s headed out on tour in July & August, but you can catch him the night before you go see Baron Grod, at Emo’s, Friday, April 30th, along with DOSH, Mono, and the aforementioned Balmorhea. 

Now cast your vote! 

 

"As Crude as Watercolor" Live From a Venue Under Construction from The Sour Notes on Vimeo.

New vid from the Sour Notes…they’ll be performing for your enjoyment at the Midgetmen bash (along with The Mercers, Ringo Deathstarr, and of course the Midgetmen themselves) coming up on May 8th at the Mohawk. 

 

Austin’s own DJ Car Stereo (Wars) is bringing out his second full length, Explains It All, at the Beauty Bar tomorrow night (Friday 4/23). Free hand-decorated copies go out to all attendees, plus those arriving early will be treated to gratis beer and vodka. Neiliyo and Hot Britches! will also be performing sets after everyone’s good and loose.   

 

We’re in the middle of a fierce argument with Burlington over whether they’re a Texas band or a Vermont band; meanwhile, undistracted and undeterred, The Cush released this vid, their new album (Between the Leaves), and this single ("The Vigilant Ones"). 

Lemurs, New Song – "Go On Fools," front porch, crazy homeless guy from The Lemurs on Vimeo.

 

According to The Lemurs, who attribute their band name to a Pixies song, a bumper sticker, and the lack of thinking of something better, the band has a laid back attitude toward their writing process. “Our music is a combination of everyone in the band just being creative, while collaborating and compromising. Whatever comes out, that’s our sound. What that is, we don’t really know.”

 

The Texan natives all agreed that they share common influences in the pop and indie rock genres, while also sharing common dislikes. “We don’t listen to disingenuous country (typically the Nashville contemporary pop stuff gets left out, but there are exceptions), not much rap/hip-hop (with some notable exceptions there too), no ‘Alt’ Rock (Matchbox 20, Creed, Sublime, and the like (can’t think of any exceptions in this genre)).”

 

The band did admit to one area in which they do not share common ground. “We disagree on whether or not Brad Pitt is a good actor,” they joked.

 

 

It has been two years since their last release, but they’re back with a new video and more material on the way soon. Their infectiously catchy synth-pop sound has made them a respectable band in the Austin indie scene for the past few years, and new material means upcoming chances to catch them live.

 

The indie pop band, who has shared the stage with bands including The Silversun Pickups, Stars, and Octopus Project, first got together in 2002 while attending school together. Though band members have changed throughout the years, the current lineup of Justin Mosley (bass, vocals), Mitch Billeaud (vocals, guitar), Michael Kingkaid (vocals, guitar, keys), Josh King (synth, sounds) and Danny Reisch (drums) makes for a determined crew of indie rockers who plan on recording all year.

 

 

The Lemurs are continuing to work on their new album and are hoping to release a few songs in the next couple of months. Until then, be sure to check out their video for their new acoustic song “Go On Fools.”

 

And, you can check out The Lemurs live tomorrow night (4/16) at The Parish at 214 E. 6^th Street, where they will be headlining the Frontier Brothers’ Official EP release. Doors are at 9pm and tickets are $8.00.

 

–Melanie Wolfson Gardiner

 

 

Face facts, get a grip, clear your head. It’s a good weekend coming up here. Our current poll winners The Frontier Brothers, who hail from a single frontier, despite recent signs to the contrary, will shake things down at their EP release party Friday at the Parish along with The Lemurs (pic above by Chris Carson) + Bright Light Social Hour…and up against that you’ve got Matt the Electrician & Drew Smith at the Ghost Room. Saturday you’ve got your Heartless Bastards, your Hacienda, and your Leatherbag all playing Antone’s, with Hacienda kicking off their tour in support of their release Big Red & Barbacoa, out now. Bad news for the indecisive supporter of local music because that same night Monahans & The Low Lows are at the Ghost Room, plus Ruby James & Suzanna Choffel at Flipnotics. And so it goes.   

A country band in the original and truest sense of the term, you won’€™t find Crooks trafficking in piano bar anthems or boot scoot boogies. Not content to further clog CMT with radio-ready schmaltz, rural sentimentality, or nostalgia for a simpler time, these hounds are out to tree a different animal altogether. If you play a Crooks song backwards, you won’€™t get your dog, truck, and woman back. Though you might get your morality, humanity and sobriety. The good geologist, like the musicologist, knows that to unearth the best rock, one must look underground. And this holds just as true for outlaw country. So if you’€™re looking to wet your whistle in an undiscovered watering hole, give Crooks country a try. It’€™s just down the road apiece, off the well-worn path.

(this post taken from Crooks’ post on our DIY Open Blog, check out other Open Blog posts in the Deli Kitchen. As for Crooks – check them out at Mohawk with James ‘Slim’ Hand, Friday, April 16th. Pic above by Davis Ayer)

 

Smoke & Feathers and Headdress are trading punch for punch in our current all-psychedelic poll, created in anticipation of the third annual installment of Austin Psych Fest – happening at Mohawk April 23-25. Only two more days to vote…

Coming up sooner on the calendar is the Giant Steps/Versatile Syndicate shindig, featuring Maneja Beto, Red Leaves, Hotel Hotel, Petals (above), Prayer for Animals and more, this coming Saturday the 17th also at Mohawk. I am told there will be free beer from 9-10, and that the beer will be of the Lone Star variety. 

Experimental rock duo Zorch has been making a name for themselves since they hit the Austin scene last year. And the buzz is only going to grow with their first full-length due out in the next month or so. Originating in Boston where Zac Traeger and Sam Chown attended school together at Berklee College of Music, the band started off as a couple of friends who would just rent practice space and rock out.

“We’d play for four hours straight, record it all, and then make little improvisational mixtapes. And then I moved back to Wisconsin where I’m from, Sam stayed here, and then after about a year we met up again in Austin,” Traeger said.

 

After some time, the two decided to take years of practice and friendship and form a band. They also decided that Austin was their city of choice.

 

“We didn’t necessarily want t live in New York or LA. At the time, my mom was telling me I should move to Austin, and I was getting a similar vibe from Zac, so it just happened,” Chown said.

 

With influences including Dirty Projectors and Animal Collective, Zorch’s self-described “experimental psychedelic electronic noise rock” is created with drums, percussion, omnichord, vocals, keyboards, knobs, computer, and vocals- making for an eclectic mix of tracks.

 

As far as their release, Traeger noted that the band is taking their time in order to create the best product possible and that they already have a number of songs to choose from. 

 

“Our latest songs are more vocal based. They’re not necessarily pop, but they’re coming from a more palatable place for everyone. And, we’re finding a good place musically to have seven to ten songs on an album that range from somewhere that anyone can appreciate, to somewhere that’s like this really crazy noise space adventure,” Traeger said.

 

Traeger and Chown, who both teach private music lessons outside of creating their own music, described their creative process behind their music as mostly improvisational.

 

“We’ll just play for extended amounts of time on end. And we record everything. Then we’ll make mixtapes out of them, and what these mixtapes are is that Sam goes and he makes up 10 to 20 three minute to ten minute tracks. We go and we listen to that. Some of the material we want to just recreate in a live setting, and some become very concrete ideas that turn into songs,” Traeger said. “A different way we go about it sometimes is since I use my computer in sampling a lot live, Sam or I will have certain ideas about ‘Okay, let’s sample this thing, this thing and this thing,’ and then create a world around it.”

 

Having just wrapped up their busiest month to date, including quite a few shows during SXSW, Zorch is only going to begin playing even more. 

 

“March has definitely been most intense month of our lives. It was a lot of fun; I loved it. We did New Orleans, San Antonio and Denton, and then it was SXSW. We played like 12 shows in a row in six or seven days,” Traeger said.

 

Zorch is also involved in a number of side projects, including a Rod Stewart cover band. Both Traeger and Chown said that they will release an additional eight to ten albums this year of side project material.

 

Check out what all the buzz is about. Catch Zorch this Friday (4/9) at Karibu Ethippian Restaurant & Bar at 1209 E. 7^th Street.

 

–Melanie Wolfson

 

 

 

Logan is the full length from Austin trio The Gary & it emerges blinking into the light today. The Gary will kick out their jams on the inside stage during the The Midgetmen’s 8th Birthday/Anniversorry Party May 8th at the Mohawk…but don’t worry, we’ll remind you.