Brains is the first track on Crooked Bangs’ Bandcamp, and is one of only two songs which can be played. The rest of the album remains a mystery. To find the rest of Crooked Bangs’ material I had to equip my Indiana Jones whip and hat and enter the jungle of low quality YouTube. But the choice of their flagship track could not have been better.

Brains’ head banging energy never falters. Guitarist Samantha’s (last name unknown; the mystery thickens) tone is fantastic. It smeaks, in a good way, of Sleater Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein, as she plays with the song’s deceptively straightforward, not to mention sexy, 1960s beat by hitting delicious off rhythms. Simultaneously, Leda Ginestra’s vocals sound like Corin Tucker beat up Danzig and then made out with Brian Ferry. Her voice effortlessly moves from a growl to chill inducing. – Taylor Browne

Upcoming Shows

Bands often reflect their environment. So far, Austin has been defined very heavily by its Psychedelic garage rock scene, but this has never completely captured the Texan Capitol. Austin’s old college-town feel still lingers here, despite the immensely huge and annoying immigration of people from L.A., NYC, and, well, everywhere (except Baltimore. Those guys are staying put it seems. What’s Baltimore doing right I wonder?), and no band seems to be filling that void.

Mirror Travel (formerly Follow That Bird) is coming straight out of that old Austin ethos. The music is simultaneously relaxing and powerful, giving us an intelligent spin on indie rock. Lauren Green’s ethereal vocal melodies are matched perfectly with the solid rhythm section. Mirror Travel seems to always know where a song should go. So, if you want to know what Austin sounds like, don’t move here, just listen to Mirror Travel. Seriously, don’t move here. There are cancer bats. – Taylor Browne

Led by front man and blind rebel TJ Wade, Foot Patrol’s sexy and very healthy obsession with your feet is a breath of fresh air (not that The Foot Patrol would like that; they prefer your digits being a bit gnarly in terms of smell). The Foot Patrol’s album Pussyfooting is up-tempo, insanely solid in terms of rhythm, and the melodies are simply fantastic. On top of this, their live acts will knock you off your feet (there are so many opportunities for puns here). On stage, The Foot Patrol’s costume choices look like Roxy Music got bitch slapped by the goblins from “Labyrinth.” Everything about this band is perfect. With just one listen to The Foot Patrol you’ll break down and need a tow truck (concluding pun courtesy of Don Denham). – Taylor Browne

Holy Wave is grounded well within the Austin psychedelic scene, but they take many interesting side steps into other trains of thought. A crutch of some psychedelic rock bands is to fall into a strung out and trudging groove that would be cool if you were stoned. Holy Wave never falls into this defect of their genre. Mixed in with cool surf licks, the band has incorporated a crescendo style into their act. Any time the boys seem to be cruising along in one groove, it isn’t long before one of the members shoots the rest of the band into a jaw-dropping climax. Holy Wave’s intelligent take on psychedelic surf rock is engaging and will make you feel like you’re at a 1950’s beach party.- Taylor Browne

As if in an attempt to mirror the eclectic and ever changing Austin music scene, The Baker Family is hard to pin down in any single genre. At the offset you’d think they’re a Liars influenced dance punk band, but on their recordings the band jumps genre from track to track. Haunting folk music with intelligent electronic touches gives way to visceral bass and keg drum beating tracks. They’re hard to put in a category, which is one of the many reasons The Baker Family is one of the greatest additions to Austin. The band is wonderfully misleading even in their lyrics. A song which at one moment might be heartwarming will turn horrifying at the drop of a hat.

We haven’t even begun to touch on their live performances which are, frankly, incandescent. Their dance punk style is executed perfectly. Each member is a pure joy to watch perform. Too often indie bands don’t convey any sense of energy or, when they try to convey it, they do so by jumping around. But by this very action they seem to force the energy and come across as insincere. The Baker Family may be the epitome of the untrustworthy narrator, but you will get nothing but an honest and enthralling experience from seeing them live. – Taylor Browne

It would be a sin not to see Whiskey Shivers play live. The last I saw the band (not a week or so ago) they had arrived in Austin at about 7AM after a month long tour through the North West. Unfazed by this long trek, the five piece yeehawin’ bluegrass punks put on one of the most incendiary shows I have ever seen. The only bad part of their performance was that they were only allowed to play for forty minutes.

After opening with a couple of foot stompin’ hoedown suited songs, the band played some new material. “We’re gonna slow it down now,” said front man and fiddle player Bobby Fitzgerald, “Don’t freak out now. We’re just slowin’ it down.” The song that followed was heartbreakingly brilliant. If tears weren’t shed, they should have been. The moment the song ended, the crowd erupted into applause, hoots, and hollers. The crowd was made up of the Whiskey Shiver punks who danced the night away in overalls and flannel while downing Lonestar like it was water.

Whiskey Shivers don’t seem to play their instruments. Each listens to their instruments, waiting for that magic spark to come through. And when the moment hits (and it always does for these boys) the band and the audience have the biggest grins on their faces. – Taylor Browne

Austin based Indie/Alt band Language Room self-released their newest EP, Skin & Heart & Lungs, earlier this year. With the help of their fans on Kickstarter, they raised enough money to go into the studio with mega-producer Dwight Baker and I think the results show for themselves. With another successful Kickstarter campaign, they raised enough money to get a tour underway and they will be coming back home to Austin, Texas on 8/4 for a set at ND. These guys have worked hard and done it the right way. They deserve all your support on that night. Plus, why wouldn’t you want to see this live?

The Rocketboys have released their first music video and it is surely worth the anticipation. With the overlying theme of the distance traveled in life, whether it be the tour the Rocketboys are chronicling on screen or the song’s lyrics, about coming to terms with the distance that grows in between people, these guys really hit the head on the nail with this one. It is never a bad thing in a music video when the song is good enough to stay interesting for 4 minutes with no video, and the same goes for the video without the song…when combined though, they expertly complement each other. Check this one out!

 I am extremely interested in the combining of the unordinary recently. Headdress does it for me. Blues as traditional as it’s served with a twist of experimental on the top. They kind of sound like Radiohead covering John Lee Hooker but it is done about as smoothly as it possibly could be. About as smooth as the drink Thom Yorke and the late Mr. Hooker would deserve for pulling something like this off. On Saturday August 4^th, come to Red 7 to hear the tune posted bellow, on top of everything else Headdress has to offer, and maybe even that cover of The Doors’ hit The End they have been known to rock from time to time.

Yes, I am aware they are from Houston. Yes, I am aware that this song came out in 2010. Now that we got that out of the way, let me take my remaining 67-ish words to praise one of my favorite Texas indie-pop acts around, Wild Moccasins. It seems less and less frequent these days that bands are willing to touch the line between eclectic and a good time. Self-indulgent 7 minute tracks featuring a banjo, a bongo and a soprano cover one, the other is taken care of by trying to relive the ‘70s. Wild Moccasins do neither, but make you want to dance to artistically interesting music. And that should be enough to come check them out here in Austin on July 31^st at Mohawk.

 Rarely do you find two singers whose voices complement each other like those of Alexander Beggins and Kelsey Wilson. I could now write a rambling list of metaphors comparing their vocals in Wild Child to about 1500 other things that go well together, but I could also not do that. No metaphors needed, listen to one of their tracks and you will get exactly what I’m talking about. Voices like those backed by some of the folkiest indie rock or indiest folk rock (can’t quite figure it out) around are worth checking out on August 8^th at Zilker Park (w/ The Eastern Sea), August 10^th at The Black Heart (w/ Shakey Graves) or trucking it over to Houston on the 17^th (w/ New York City Queens and Sour Notes) for.

 Do you know any bass players? If so, please tell them I found their new favorite song. On “Escape From the Sun”,the latest from Deli Artist of the Month Nominee Tin Can Phone, the bass is driving, it is catchy, it is funky, and it is front and center. Any bass player who wants the satisfaction of making their frontman or lead guitarist take a backseat for once just found their next cover song. Merry Christmas-in-July, bass players. On top of that wicked bass line, TCP brings us some of the coolest guitar and percussion sounds around and a vocal line truly complimentary of the music. And some how they squeeze a couple of larger-than-life choruses in there too….This isn’t your mom and dad’s reggae-infused experimental psycadelic rock, folks.