Fun Fun Fun Fest Lineup Release and Vannin’ Screening Party Tomorrow
Tomorrow night, the good folks that organize Fun Fun Fun Fest will release the remaining lineup after giving us two teaser leaks of performing artists last month. The release will come at a…
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan to Re-issue Album on Suicide Squeeze
Sometimes Almost definitely too often, we have a tendency be professionally tactful and journalistic in our little blog posts over here at PPI. So let me break that trend for a moment and…
Kitten Forever Shares Video, Announces Album, Tours
Kitten Forever is a Minneapolis garage pop trio. The all-female band plans to release Pressure, their second full-length album in late July on Guilt Ridden Pop. The first single to emerge from the album,…
Justin Timberlake Shares NSFW Video for “Tunnel Vision”
Justin Timberlake has released a pretty consistently and overtly NSFW video for his song “Tunnel Vision.” I guess JT’s crooning, just makes the clothes fall right off the laides. But I guess we…
New Track: The Vaccinces – Melody Calling
In advance of their upcoming North American tour dates and following performances at Bonnaroo and Glastonbury, The Vaccines have released a new track entitled “Melody Calling.” Built on busy instrumentation of guitar, synths,…
Good Field Live at Lambert’s
We’re huge fans of Good Field, and we don’t keep it a secret. It felt like it had been too long since we’d seen the band, so it was great to catch them…
Soft Healer Live at Hotel Vegas
Distance isn’t keeping Soft Healer down. Though two members now reside in Ithaca, NY, the originally-Austin-based experimental pop group has just released a new EP and will be touring in the coming months….
Foxing Quarterly Lit Fest at Scoot Inn
Foxing Quarterly’s third issue is just around the corner, and this past week the crew teamed up with a slew of other indie publishing houses, literary journals, zines, and start-ups to host a…
Shivery Shakes Hold Kickstarter Ahead of Full-length
Austin indie-pop band Shivery Shakes is currently holding a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the recording and release of their first full-length album. The band, fronted by Will Glosup, is one of Austin’s…
Live Review: Joanna Barbera Album Release with The Couch at Holy Mountain
We were on double duty in Austin’s busy music scene last Thursday night, and after a great Mikal Cronin show at Mohawk, we almost jogged down to Holy Mountain to see Joanna Barbera’s…
Mikal Cronin with Shannon and the Clams and A Giant Dog Live Review
After falling in love with Mikal Cronin’s newest album MCII a couple months ago, I had been looking forward to his show at the Mohawk since its announcement. When openers Shannon and the…
The Pixies Release First Song in Almost a Decade
The Pixies were among three or four bands that got me through high school. I’ve probably listened to Doolittle as much or more than any other record in the history of music. Today’s release…
Soft Healer Releases New EP, Plays Hotel Vegas Sat. June 29
A reasonably assumed to be defunct Soft Healer is far from calling it quits it would seem. Although two band members still live and attend school in Ithaca, NY, the group has released…
Sisu (Sandra Vu of Dum Dum Girls) Releases “Two Thousand Hands” Video
Former Dum Dum Girl Sandra Vu’s new project Sisu has released a video for hazy, synth-tinged pop track “Two Thousand Hands.” The track is culled from the now available Light Eyes EP, released on…
Justin Vernon’s Chigliak Records Releases Sarah Siskind’s Covered
I didn’t know Justin Vernon curated a label until today. And if you didn’t either, now you do. Chigliak Records will issue their second release, Sarah Siskind’s 2003 debut record Covered. Of the album, Vernon…
Video: Hausu – “Kool Off”
Hardly Art Records artist Hausu has garnered high praise for their recently released album Total, which incorporates elements of post-hardcore and post punk into blistering eruptions of sound. The video for “Kool Off” exhibits…
Seattle’s Tea Cozies Share Trippy Video for Psych Pop Track “Cosmic Osmo”
Seattle rock band Tea Cozies have dropped an incredibly ambitious and visually stunning video for their song “Cosmic Osmo.” The band is at work on a new album, although details for the time…
Okkervil River Preps The Silver Gymnasium, Shares “It’s My Season”
When I moved to Austin in 2001, folk rock was exploding in the independent undercurrent. Okkervil River was one of the first bands I fell deeply in love with. I still remember the…
Fun Fun Fun Fest Leaks More Performers for 2013 Festival
Fun Fun Fun Fest has leaked an additional six artists that will be performing at this year’s installment of the event, which takes place November 8-10 at Auditorium Shores in Austin. The list…
Richard Buckner Shares New Experimental Folk
Merge Records artist Richard Buckner has released a new experimental folk track in advance of his forthcoming album Surrounded, which is due out on September 3rd. “When You Tell Me How It Is” utilizes…
Win Tickets to Mikal Cronin at Mohawk in Austin Tomorrow
Mikal Cronin has released one of the year’s best records with MCII. We’re seriously in love with it and we told you all about it right here. We also shared with you his…
Eleanor Friedberger with TEEN at the Parish Live Review
Eleanor Friedberger’s most recent album Personal Record, out this month on Merge Records, further eschewed the spastic and jarring tendencies of her former band Fiery Furnaces and sought to embrace breezy pop songs…
Album Review: Heliotropes – A Constant Sea
Heliotropes make their music in a Brooklyn studio, but the all-female band’s musicians originally hail from all over the nation. It’s no wonder then, that their music is a collaboration of many influences…
NXNE Part One: Street Cred
Our coverage of Toronto, Ontario’s NXNE music, comedy, film, interactive, and art festival will take place in three parts with each focusing on a different aspect of what gives the festival its identity…
Interview: Hardly Sound’s Chris Kim Talks Season Two and Storytelling
If you haven’t seen Hardly Sound yet, you’re mistreating yourself. The show is a documentary television series that airs on KLRU, Austin’s PBS channel. Hardly Sound claims to focus on Texas underground music, and it does….
New Track: The Julie Ruin – “Oh Come On”
Yesterday, Fun Fun Fun Fest announced The Julie Ruin as one of the performing artists for the 2013 installment of the festival. While all five of the announced acts offer something interesting and…
New Track: Royal Forest – “John Denver”
We’re big fans of experimental pop project Royal Forest. “John Denver” marks another track released from the upcoming album Spillway, which is due out July 9th via King Electric Record Company, as Royal…
Show Preview: Eleanor Friedberger and TEEN at The Parish Tonight
Eleanor Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces furthered her solo career by releasing Personal Record last week on Merge Records. Tonight, she will perform at The Parish and will be supported by TEEN, who recently…
Show Preview: Baths with Houses and D33J at Mohawk Tomorrow
Tomorrow night, the Mohawk will be filled with the hard hitting beats of electronic DJ Baths, who will be supported by electronic pop group Houses and the DJ act appropriately christened D33J. What’s…
Video: Majical Cloudz – “Bugs Don’t Buzz”
We gave Magical Cloudz new album Impersonator a great review, but we’ve fallen deeper and deeper in love with the band since then. Our upcoming review of their show at NXNE will certainly reflect…
Fun Fun Fun Fest Leaks Five Artists, Sells Out of 2nd Presale Tier
Last night, Fun Fun Fun Fest leaked via Twitter a Vimeo video revealing that Bonobo, Judge, The Julie Ruin (featuring Kathleen Hannah), The Walkmen, and Ice-T would all be among the performing artists…
Watch: Dana Falconberry’s Breakthru Radio Session
Dana Falconberry just turns us into mush. We’re completely enamored with the songwriter and her incredibly talented band. Breakthru Radio always puts together a solid studio session video, but few have sounded as…
Califone Releases Title Track from Forthcoming Album Stitches
Veteran experimental pop band Califone has released the dreamy new title track from their forthcoming album Stitches, which will see release through Dead Oceans on September 3rd. The album will further an extensive career…
Interview: Quiet Company Talks About Their Experiences at NXNE
Standing behind Toronto’s famous Horseshoe Tavern, minutes before Quiet Company would take a stage that has hosted performances by The Rolling Stones and Wilco, we were able to talk with them about their…
10 Must-see Bands at NXNE
Here’s our list of 10 of the bands we’re most excited about seeing at NXNE. Of course, we’re beside ourselves with excitement over seeing The National in Yonge-Dundas Square, and who can resist…
New Track from Smith Westerns – “Idol”
“Idol” is the third song to emerge from Smith Westerns’ new album Soft Will and follows the previously released songs “Varsity” and “3 AM Spiritual.” We previously reported the release date of the album as…
Royal Forest Shares New Video Filmed Inside Submarine
Holy shit, this is simply one of the best videos we’ve seen in a long time, along with Radiation City’s new video, making last week pretty profound in music video news. In true…
Radiation City Shares Awesome Video Filmed at Austin’s Cathedral of Junk
If you missed Radiation City’s recent show in Austin, that’s incredibly unfortunate for you. Luckily, you’ll be able to see them performing in Austin forever, as they recently released an amazing video recorded…
Radiation City with Feverbones and Hello Caller at Mohawk Live Review
When I reviewed Radiation City’s newest effort Animals in the Median, I really liked it. So, it’s a true testament to the excellence of their live show that these songs sound even better…
Video: Father John Misty – “Funtimes in Babylon”
We will say it for probably the 10th time: Father John Misty’s Fear Fun was our most listened to album of last year. So, even thought it has been a while since its release, we’re…
Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders Shares “The Heretical Physics,” Launches Kickstarter
Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders new video for “The Heretical Physics,” which is directed By John Valley and produced By Tyler Speicher, Cordelaine Kline, and Max Kruemcke, features delightfully whimsical stop-motion animation….
Black Moth Super Rainbow at The Mohawk
We know, we know, this show was so last week, but we wanted to share some photos and reminisce about Black Moth Super Rainbow’s recent show at the Mohawk in Austin. BMSR creates…
Photo Gallery: !!! (Chk Chk Chk) Dance Party at Mohawk
As expected, !!!’s show at Mohawk Austin a week or so back was an epic dance party with plenty of bumpin’ and grindin’. Check out the photo gallery below for photographic evidence of…
Show Preview: Win Tickets to Night Beds with Tristen and Reservations at Mohawk
At a time in music when the folk rock genre seems bloated with overly similar bands bottlenecked at the mouth of the mainstream, Night Beds manage to still craft excellent and interesting indie-folk…
FPSF Day Two with The Men, Cat Power, and TV on the Radio
Scattered overnight showers weren’t about to stop the second day of FPSF. Unfortunately, the ominous radar images had me moving sluggishly, foolishly procrastinating what I thought would be an early afternoon in the…
Show Preview: Win Tickets to Radiation City at Mohawk Tuesday June 4th
Last week, we reviewed (and greatly liked) Radiation City’s newest album Animals in the Median, which draws from a vast variety of musical influences and packs a ton of sound into songs both airy…
Interview: Radiation City Talks Musical Influences, Rattlesnakes, and Flat Tires
As soon as Radiation City’s Cameron Spies answers my call, the relaxed Pacific Northwest ethos is immediately apparent. The band is currently travelling across my home state, a good stretch from their own…
FPSF Day One with Iggy and the Stooges, Passion Pit, and Postal Service
Free Press Summer Festival, known verbally as “Free Press” and digitally as FPSF, held its fifth annual music festival this past weekend in Houston’s Eleanor Tinsley Park. The young festival appears to share…
Album Review: Radiation City – Animals in the Median
Radiation City’s Animals in the Median is an album of quirky, off-kilter little pop songs that owe as much to the Crystals and the Shangri La’s as they do the Pacific Northwest haven of creative…
The Lonely Wild at Holy Mountain Live Review
The Lonely Wild are an ambitious bunch of Californians. Eschewing the popular tendency of young bands to start a guitar-drums-bass trio that commits lo-fi songs to tape in a garage, The Lonely Wild…
Video: Good Field – “These Dreams”
If you read Pop Press International with any regularity, you likely know that we completely adore Austin band Good Field. We listen to their self-titled, debut LP constantly and had the band play…
Video: Caged Animals – “Cindy + Me”
We wrote previously about the 80s synthy goodness in Caged Animals’ new song “Cindy + Me.” Now, the electronic pop project has released a video for the track which appropriately spins the concept…
Nelsonville Music Festival Underway in Ohio
Nelsonville Music Festival takes place each year in the rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio each year, and boasts alumni such as Andrew Bird, Avett Brothers, and Flaming Lips. This year’s festival, which commenced…
New Track: Austra – “Painful Like”
We continue to be impressed with Austra. Their show opening for The xx in Austin was outstanding and frontwoman Katie Stelmanis can belt it out like no one else. The synthy art-pop group…
New Mellow Pop from Lovers Without Borders – “She Wants a Baby”
Lovers Without Borders is a project comprised of Karl Blau, Allen Peril, and Jessica Bonin and based in Anacortes, Washington. The group runs with K Records stalwarts and alumni and has been known…
EP Review: TEEN – Carolina
Carolina, the new EP from Brooklyn’s TEEN, features an impressively varied and divergent array of sounds across its five songs. The EP is a follow-up to last year’s well-received and buzzed about full…
Mount Eerie Shares New Cut of Track from Upcoming Live LP
We wrote previously about how deliriously happy we are over Mount Eerie’s upcoming album Live in Bloomington, September 30, 2011. Mount Eerie has a longstanding track record of both putting out small releases on…
FPSF Preview: A Place To Bury Strangers Discusses Desire to Fornicate with Texas
If you’re booking a festival, hell, if you’re booking a show anytime or anywhere, you should consider A Place to Bury Strangers. Few bands making music today come with a more talked about…
FPSF Preview: Interview with The Sour Notes
Before The Sour Notes were one of Austin’s most steadfast acts, some of its members called Houston home. This weekend they’ll return to the HTX for an appearance at FPSF alongside huge acts…
David Byrne & St. Vincent Share New EP for Free Download
David Byrne not only makes some the greatest music of all time but also continues to interact with the public and discuss ideas in a very human way, which makes him one of…
Best Coast at Mohawk with Lovely Bad Things and GALPALS Live Review
Best Coast’s performance at the Mohawk on Sunday night featured a lengthy setlist of upbeat pop songs and solid performances by opening acts. The sold out crowd seemed to agree; concertgoers bordered on…
Album Review: Brazos – Saltwater (Pop Press Pick)
A period of inexplicably silent years separates Brazos’s adored 2009 release Phosphorescent Blues and their new album Saltwater, out today on Dead Oceans. Not only years but also geographical distance separates the Brazos…
New Danceable Experimental Pop from Gold Panda – “We Work Nights”
Half of Where You Live, the new album from Gold Panda will be out in two short weeks on Ghostly International, but you can hear album track “We Work Nights” today. The track…
Show Preview: Win Tickets to Quiet Company May 31st at The Belmont
Austin’s Quiet Company has slowly but surely risen to being one of the city’s most lauded bands. Following a rapid expansion of their fanbase, fueled by appearances at festivals and on television, the…
New Track: Haerts – “All The Days” (Recommended)
In my last post about Haerts, I mentioned that the Brooklyn pop band reminded me of Fleetwood Mac, and although their new song “All The Days” takes them deeper into lush, modern production,…
Show Preview: Black Moth Super Rainbow at Mohawk Tuesday May 28th
In October of last year, experimental psych band Black Moth Super Rainbow dropped their fifth studio album Cobra Juicy. The band will bring their experiential live show to Mohawk on Tuesday night for a…
Album Review: Saturday Looks Good To Me – One Kiss Ends It All
Before indie pop and beachy lo-fi songs became entrenched as a major facet of independent music, before Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, Best Coast, of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart captured…
New Track: Sombear – “Love You In The Dark”
Electro-pop musician Somber, aka Brad Hale, creates tender pleas over beat oriented synth pop. “Love You In The Dark” recalls contemporaries such as Autre Ne Veut, but the track relies on indie-pop sensibilities…
Scout Niblett Announces Tour, New Album Out This Week
As a follow up to her new album It’s Up to Emma, released this week on Drag City Records, Scout Niblett has announced a string of stateside dates to follow a series of performances…
Washed Out Announce New Album, Share Trailer
Ernest Greene’s project Washed Out has announced a new album, Paracosm, set for release on August 13th in the US via Sub Pop Records. The album was produced in Georgia with Ben Allen, who…
Album Review: Majical Cloudz – Impersonator (Pop Press Pick)
Here’s the thing about Majical Cloudz’ new album Impersonator — I can’t figure out what makes is so irresistibly good. And it very much is. More often than not, my brain over analyzes what makes…
Crocodiles Announce New Album, Share Single “Cockroach”
If you needed a little blistering garage rock to wake you up this morning, you’re in luck; Crocodiles have got the cure for that lethargy. A swirling mass of guitars and growling vocals…
Lightning Dust Shares Video for “Diamond”
Synchronized swimmers do their watery dance to Lightning Dust’s song “Diamond” in the band’s new video, directed by Helen Reed. Although the video begins with a group of average, almost bored folks hanging…
Brazos Shares New Video for “Charm”
After an incredibly creepy introduction that I thought was taking viewers down an irrevocably disturbing path, the ensuing video for Brazos’ newly released song “Charm” is rather whimsical in moments, operating on the…
Eternal Summers at Mohawk Live Review
Saturday had to be one of the busiest show-packed weekends in a long time for an always busy live music city. Outstanding local bills took place at Beerland and Holy Mountain while touring…
Contest and Show Preview: Best Coast at Mohawk on Sunday May 26th
Could there be a better way to kick off the summer than taking in the beachy sounds of California indie pop group Best Coast. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno have become households names…
Show Preview: Win Tickets to !!! at Mohawk on Saturday May 25th
!!! (or Chk Chk Chk, if you prefer) has pretty consistently cranked out a danceable and irresistibly fun album every three years, but they remain lodged in my mind as a band that was at…
Show Preview: Win Tickets to The Lonely Wild at Holy Mountain 5/26
The Lonely Wild create acoustically driven, elaborate folk music angled toward celebrated bands such as The Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel, or Beirut. Epic, minor-key choral chants, claps, kick drums and tambourine punctuate pianos…
Album Review: The National – Trouble Will Find Me
The National’s High Violet was a near perfect assemblage of songs that utilized a distinct and arresting sonic palette of instrumentation that simultaneously sounded enormous while nearly vanishing into the darkness from whence it came….
Borrisokane EP Release Party at Scottish Rite Theater Live Review
Borrisokane weaves mutli-textured pop music, employing an unexpected blend of guitars electric and acoustic and sounds synthetic and organic. Though many of the bands with which Pop Press International has fallen in love…
Austin Offers Inarguable Reasons to See Live Music This Weekend
At the tail end of a Friday, when all statistics and web-traffic research say there’s almost no point in blogging, we’re throwing caution to the wind. Why, you ask? Because as is often…
New Track: The Books of Love – “Space Time”
The Books of Love is a newly announced project built on the collaboration of Katy Goodman of Vivian Girls/La Sera fame and the Hush Sound’s Greta Morgan. Plenty of bands have created saccharine…
New Track: Spectrals – “Sob Story”
Spectrals will release their sophomore album Sob Story on June 18th via Slumberland Records. The album follows a slew of singles for esteemed labels such as Captured Tracks and Moshi Moshi as well as…
Album Review: The Blank Tapes – Vacation
The Blank Tapes’ new album Vacation, out this week on Antenna Farm Records is the sound of falling in love with summer—a collection of eleven beachy pop songs featuring infectious melodies and relentlessly…
Video: The Blank Tapes Performing on Breakthru Radio
Breakthru Radio has put out a couple of great sessions by artists we really like lately. Eternal Summer, who will play the Mohawk on Saturday (win tickets here) are one, and Pop Press…
Tele Novella Launch Tour; Share Two Songs
Following the dissolution of long-time band Agent Ribbons, one half of that band, Natalie Ribbons formed Tele Novella with some of Austin’s most notable musicians–Cari Palazzolo of Belaire and Jason Chronis and Matt…
Show Preview: The Boxing Lesson Record Release Show Tonight at Mohawk
Two days ago, celebrated Austin band The Boxing Lesson dropped their new album, Big Hits! on Frenchie Smith records. Tonight, the band will celebrate the release with a show at Mohawk that includes support…
Show Preview: Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk with The Villettes and Jess Williamson
Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk will bring their folk pop to the Mohawk for a mid-week show, Tuesday May 21st, with Austin folk songstresses The Villettes and Jess Williamson. We decided…
Mountain Goats Prep Re-issue of Classic All Hail West Texas
The Mountain Goats are my favorite band. So, the announcement that the group will release a remastered, expanded edition of their cult classic All Hail West Texas, which will be available on vinyl for…
Julianna Barwick Shares Track “Forever” from Nepenthe in Album Trailer
A press release from label Dead Oceans explains that nepenthe was a magic drug of forgetfulness used to wipe out grief and sorrow in ancient Greek literature. The title is fitting for the newest record…
Mikal Cronin Releases Video for “Change”
If you read our review of MCII, you know that we are huge fans of Mikal Cronin’s recently released effort on Merge Records. The album is full of perfectly balanced and gorgeously distorted power…
Scout Niblett Shares “Gun” Video Ahead of Upcoming LP
Scout Niblett will release “It’s Up To Emma” on May 21st on the Drag City imprint. “Gun” is the opening cut from the album, featuring sparse and haunting guitar and vocals. Whimsical and…
Ty Segall Shares Trailer for New Album
The simple acoustic chords that eventually float forward over scenes of Ty Segall sleeping in various locations in the trailer for his newly announced and forthcoming album come as something of a surprise. Will Sleeper,…
Bouquet Shares Video for “Falling”
With every post we write about Bouquet, we have to say from the start that we’re superfans plain and simple. We first saw the band under the most perfect conditions imaginable, splayed out…
Show Preview: Eternal Summers Play Mohawk, Release New Song, Announce Album
Eternal Summers is an apt name for a group who creates upbeat indie-pop that could easily serve as a backdrop for your sunny seasonal vacations. And just in time for this summer, the…
Album Review: The Shivas – Whiteout
Shimmering guitar feedback splashes as an announcement of the onset of the Shivas’ Whiteout, released at the end of April on K Records. A piercing scream, a clear play on the song’s title…
Pageants Release Live Performance Videos for “Chai” and “Deep Ring”
It’s no secret that over here at Pop Press International we’re huge fans of Pageants, the indie-pop project fronted by Rebecca Coleman of Avi Buffalo fame. The trio performed at our SXSW day…
Midgetmen’s 11th Anniversary at Red 7 Live Review
What, you thought a little rain was gonna stop the Midgetmen from getting sloppy drunk and playing some sloppy punk after doing it for 11 years? Anyone who knows anything about the band…
Superchunk Announces New Album, Tour, Releases Teaser Trailer
Quintessential power pop band Superchunk has announced a new album and tour dates for the summer and fall. After a decade of inactivity, the band released Majesty Shredding in 2010 and will follow with I…
Video: Daft Punk Releases Album Teaser Preview
Secretive and mysterious electronic duo Daft Punk have released an album teaser preview video in advance of their forthcoming record Random Access Memories, due out on May 21st. As is common with the band,…
