Wimps Play Cheer Up Charlies Sunday 6/18
Masters of awkward pop. Purveyors of no-frills punk. Ambassadors of lo-fi rock. However you want to describe Seattle band Wimps, there’s a lot to love about this trio. Carrying the torch of the style…
RG Lowe Album Release and Pool Party at Austin Motel Tonight
I can’t imagine anything better you’re doing on the first Friday of a hot Texas June weekend than having a pool party with RG Lowe. The longtime member of Balmorhea celebrates his first solo…
Hear Jennifer O’Connor’s Buzzing Pop Track “It’s a Lie”
A decade ago, Jennifer O’Connor released a wonderful collection of indie pop songs called Over the Mountain, Across the Valley and Back to the Stars on Matador Records. The next year, I saw her…
Other Lives Bring Brooding Pop to Mohawk Tomorrow Night
Stillwater, Oklahoma band Other Lives arrive in Austin tomorrow night for a show at Mohawk. The group’s sound shatters any stereotypes you might hold about a band from a place called Stillwater in Oklahoma,…
Hear New Track “Cherry Picking” from Duo Girlpool
I caught Girlpool at this year’s Fader Fort during SXSW and was convinced by the duo’s plodding, simple, pop that blends elements of late 90’s punk with the aesthetic of lo-fi acoustic pop. “Cherry Picking,” the…
Worshiping with Prayher’s Minimalist Experimental Pop at Whip In
Phoebe Rayher was graced not only with an excellent voice but also with a first initial and last name that, when combined, work as a moniker that seems shockingly sensible in the current indie-rock…
Portland’s Cars & Trains Release New EP
Portland band Cars & Trains just released a new EP, “The Moon and the Earth,” comprised of three somber pop tunes created with acoustic guitars, synths, and toy instruments. The group’s folk and…
New Track: The Rosebuds – “In My Teeth”
The Rosebuds have announced the followup to their last release of original material, the Christmas themed album Christmas Tree Island. Western Vinyl will release Sand + Silence on August 5th. The new track features mellow…
Album Review: Nat Baldwin – In the Hollows
Nat Baldwin’s upcoming release, In the Hollows, is an avant-garde approach to the man meets acoustic tradition. The album remains saturated with emotional depth, but instead of concentrating all his sound into one…
Coathangers Release Track From Forthcoming Suicide Squeeze LP
On March 18th, The Coathangers will release Suck My Shirt on Suicide Squeeze. “Springfield Cannonball,” the first track to be release from the album, is a crunchy pop tune built around jilted female vocals. The…
Show Preview: Kate Nash, La Sera, and Galpals at Mohawk Saturday November 16th
Saturday night will be popstastic. And perhaps even more importantly, completely fueled by amazingly talented female musicians. British indie-pop songstress Kate Nash will take over the outdoor stage at the Mohawk and will…
Album Review: Ashley Eriksson – Colours
Perhaps it’s not limited to the Pacific Northwest, but the region does boast an impressive ability to capture a sense of place. That ability has differed over the years, from bands like Bikini…
La Luz at Hotel Vegas with GALPALS Live Review
Last Friday night, all-girl garage pop band La Luz made a stop in Austin at Hotel Vegas to perform a show with GALPALS. Despite being only vaguely familiar with the band, I was…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders Release Video for “Arcade”
Austin’s Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders have released their first video, a stylized, adorable, and absurdist walk through the mind of the band’s creative force. The video and song are both as…
Album Review: Dutch Uncles – Out of Touch in the Wild
The first thing necessitating mention about five-piece Manchester indie band Dutch Uncles is that they compose their music using multiple time signatures. I am always wary of bands whose publicity seems to revolve…
Album Review: Jim James – Regions of Light and Sound of God
After a couple of prolific decades and involvement in collaborative projects like Monsters of Folk and the New Multitudes Woody Guthrie album last year, it seemed almost impossible that My Morning Jacket frontman…
New Track: Pure X – “Things In My Head”
What happened after Pure X released their widely acclaimed debut album Pleasure? Did the Austin electronic pop group go into hiding for fear of unhinged bloggers attacking them in a crazed state of fandom?…
Pageants Live at Origami Vinyl in L.A.
Featuring Rebecca Coleman, a former member of Avi Buffalo, the Long Beach trio Pageants impressed me even before they took the stage to perform their engaging variety of beachy, garage-house indie rock Friday…
Outstanding New Pop from the Tontons: “Bones”
Houston’s Tontons have gained notoriety increasingly over the past two years, garnering various awards from the city’s “best of” poll and winning the approval and praise of notable rapper Bun B. This month,…
