Candi & The Strangers latest, "Interference", comes out next week (2/5/13), but we get to give you the jump on the first music vid from the release.  Check it:

Got Boots?  You oughta – 

The latest EP from a previously-Deli-covered Dangeresque is surfingly-good fun; featuring the irresistible ("Winnie the Pooh"), the jam  ("#2 Hit Jam"), the perfectly-country-fied fit ("Ice Cubes and Alcohol") and the comfort-food folksy ("Noah’s Lullaby").  Though it contains bits and pieces of country-styled licks and conceits, this one is more Roots than Redneck.  And at 2 bucks, a steal.

–Scott Osborn

Release 1 – Creationists are having a full-on coming out party for their latest release, Ἁγία Σοφία, this Saturday, 1/26/13, at Trailer Space Records.  To be escorted by Dikes of Holland, Coma in Algiers, and Kingdom of Suicide Lovers.  Need more details??  Go here

Release 2 – David Thomas Jones is throwing down a release party for "Comfort Creatures" (which we called "…arguably, the best indie alt rock record of 2012.") at Holy Mountain next Thursday, 1/31/13.  To be accompanied by the three bands he performs with, Watch Out For Rockets, Les Rav, and Scan Hopper, with End Wave ending the soiree.  And as an added treat, the Austin Chapter of Dudeism will be abiding at a priest ordainment booth.  Or not.  More details here.

Catch – From the "You mighta missed this one" department – Perennial local favorites The Sour Notes went on tour last year, and all we got was this sweet mini-documentary.  Check it out:

Then they re-issued "Last Looks" and made a new music video for the title track.  Nice:

We mentioned the prolific RitchUAL (Ritchard Napierkowski) in an earlier post, and we’re happy to report the man has not lost his work ethic or his excellent compositional chops.  Find the proof in "iamanotheryou", the still-got-the-new-smell-on-it LP, released New Years Day of this year.

More complex, instrument-deep arrangements give this one an epic feel; with glitchy, dramatic, ambient numbers, followed up with danceable nu-groove trip hop or industrial-strength electro crunk.  Take a taste of the happily-trippy "Melatonin", the dramatic "Once I Thought I Knew The Truth", or the expertly-arranged "The Knock Down" if you want to just test drive.  

But we say just jump right in – Smart production with gleaming polish on another excellently-composed electronica release that, if it can be believed, is even better than the last time out.  Which is quite a feat.

–Scott Osborn

Dunno if you knew, but multi-skilled songwriter/composer/producer Christopher Tyng was mentored by film composer Basil Poledouris back in the day.  Which means that he’s now wanting to pay it forward to someone like you.

Yep – It’s called the Grow Music Project and it’s got your name on it – They’re picking 5 applicants to "have their most promising song professionally produced, recorded, and mixed in Songwriter/Composer/Producer Christopher Tyng’s world-class Santa Barbara recording facility over 3 days of studio sessions with accommodations and meals provided." 

"In addition…Tyng will also lend his knowledge of music placement in TV and film to help the winners’ songs receive the highest amount of exposure possible." 

Sound interesting?  Then check it out here.

Sure, Richard Garriott got to ride a rocket into outer space. And meanwhile, Candi and The Strangers were left the task of generating music appropriate for such a feat. And boy did they.

Psych-flavored, ethereal shoegaze pop; kissed lightly with the flavor of dusty forsaken towns; these numbers come close to fulfilling the promise of the highly-respected brain-trust that is Candi and The Strangers. With ties to local favorites The Black Angels, Voxtrot, and The Octopus Project; the Constants + the Roses + Erik Wofford have generated this entity’s third release with machinistic precision; successfully nailing the "Spaghetti Western Space Dream" they aimed for; and using some rather esoteric instrumentation (theremin, vibraphone, omnichord) and talent (the Tosca String Quartet) in the dealio.  

Though this one started off as a score (for the word-ily titled "Man On A Mission: Richard Garriott’s Road to the Stars"), it deserves it’s own screen. And headline.

It’ll land here in it’s entirety 2/5/13.  Make plans to go snatch it up.

Though they bow to Captain Beefheart (a.k.a. Don Van Vliet), The Vliets have graduated from their guru and are now generating their own brand of post-modernistic psych rock.  Check out "God’s Drug EP", a 4-track master class in cool groove construction.  Propelled by keys + guitar + Ty Bohrnstedt’s understated, 60-ish vox, this release’s confident, slow-gro compositions will lay claim to a spot on your heavy rotation list.  

There’s a reason these guys came in 1st in the 2012 Best of Austin poll – Check it out.

–Scott Osborn

Somebody thank the good folks over at Sonic Vault, who saved this year’s Free Week to celluloid for posterity (or maybe it’s just a hard drive somewheres in the cloud).  We’re talking performances from over 55 local bands.

So you wanna see something cool?  Go check out this set of pics they compiled and saved for ya.  It’s OK, go ahead, click through and take a stroll down foggy-memory lane.

But the best part?  Every page of this album also contains a link to free music from the pictured artist.

Free music from the vestiges of Free Week.  What’s not to like?

Nope, we don’t know how to pronounce the title of the latest release from Creationists either. But like the artist formally known as Prince, it doesn’t matter – The music makes the pronunciation moot.  

Rough and tumble rock-punk, cleanly-produced, rumbling with thick bass, glistening with verbed guitars and topped with excellently-bellowed vox.  And (though it might seem strange in this context, it works brilliantly) the occasional trumpet ("Saint Stephen", "Black Hands").  Extra marks for the belligerently brilliant "Mucho Macho", though "End of the Line", "Tunnel Rat", and "Southern Cross" get stars too.  

Harder rock, this, veering into the psyche side of the road at times, but all good and a worthy addition to the "produced in Austin" sticker.  Mark one up for Creationists – This unpronounceable LP is an excellent way to start 2013.

— Scott Osborn

Everyone likes an all-grrl band, and we’ll say from the get-go that these Foreign Mothers are no exception to that maxim, especially when post-punk is your flavor.  Hinting of The B-52s in both vox and guitar stroking, these gals push past that into more grungy environs, generating their own punk-rich sound.  

"DUH" crackles with stripped-down, ripped-t-shirt verve; powered with cleanly-produced, head-bobbingly-good riffs, dance-friendly bass lines, and topped with excellent lyrical chops.  Check out the blistering guitar thrash in "Orphan Crocodile", "Plan B", and "Like Our Parents Had", marvel at the verbage in "Love Song For Bill Paxton", and pogo-hop to the primitively-brilliant "Possesive/Plural".

But don’t take just our word for it – This one made AustinBloggyLimit‘s Best of 2012 List.  And there’s a reason for that.   

Go get it.  Duh.

–Scott Osborn

They say all good things must come to an end.  (We don’t really believe that, but for the sake of putting a metaphysical slant to a post, we’ll claim allegiance.)  And, sorry to say, Free Week is no exception.  Waah.

But instead of bawling, let’s go out with a BANG.  For tonight, we recommend going Holy Mountain or Red 7 –

Zorch, The Boxing Lesson, Boyfrndz, Tiger Waves, and Residual Kid will be doing the free thing at Holy Mountain tonight. 

And right next door at Red 7, on the inside you can find Troller, Marriage, The Sour Notes, Wet Lungs, and Spray Paint; whilest the outside stage will be taken over by White Walls, Cheap Curls, The Well, and Holy Wave.  

Saturday, we’d go:

The Mohawk has a huge going-out-of-Free-Week show with the outside stage hosting Silent Diane, FEATHERS, BOAN, and Rare Species.  Inside, we’ll have The Sour Notes, The Couch, Shivery Shakes, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, and The Plastic Habit.

And Red 7 will host TV Torso, Oh No Oh My, Hundred Visions, and Tiger Waves. 

Last and definitely not least, you could scoot over to Club DeVille and catch Oh Look Out, Friday Avenue, (one of our best of 2012) Borrisokane, Knifight, and Hydra Melody on the outside stage, whilest inside you can see Pop Pistol and Migrant Kids.

Borrisokane mixes a handful of styles to create something very notable, especially when dissecting its latestDisaster Face EP release. Take early 2000s British art-rock, something like The Long Blondes, impregnate it by a sunbathing orchestra, and you’ve got the artsy surf-rock sextet that is Borrisokane. – Brandi Lukas