Columns, Featured Post, Humor, Leader, Music, Sports
Posted by Andrew Darden on December 10, 2008 – 12:50 pm
We’re going on extended vacation here at Big Diction, but you’re welcomed to still send us media for review, and it will be considered for the other publications we write for.
Local Music
All local music submissions will be considered for review or mention on Austin Sound and Side One Track One.
National Music
I have weekly mentions at Side One Track One about national bands, usually ones that are “under the radar,” or whatever that means.
Live Music / Show Announcements
First, if anyone wants to invite us to a show, we’re there.
Second, I run the “Weekend Preview” section on Austin Sound, so if you’d like a show previewed, let me know.
Finally, don’t forget that Rob writes about sports the Austinist, so go leave some deranged comments.
All the archived material will be left up if you’d like to browse. See you next year perhaps.
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On Friday night, in an effort to warm up the crowd from the main event this weekend, the Austinist (sometimes home of Big Diction’s Rob “Don’t Call Me Gay” Stiller hosts their sixth “Local Music Is Sexy” at the Mohawk and, if I may say so, I think this one may be the sexiest yet. How do I know? Let’s count the reasons:
1. Brothers and Sisters
photo by Courtney Chavanell
With the release of their second album Fortunately earlier this year, this Austin super-group headed by “Brother Will” built on the wild alt-country successes of their ‘06 eponymous debut with stunning efficiency. The new album stands on the same folk foundations that drew them comparisons to bands like the Jayhawks, but it also sees the band expanding their horizons, incorporating its fair-share of guitars that are more prone to crunch than they are to twang. Brothers and Sisters put on one helluva show, and you’d be hard pressed to find a better representative of sexy local music than “Brother Will” (a strictly platonic observation I might add).
Brothers and Sisters - You’re Gone”
Brothers and Sisters - The Air Is Getting Thicker”
2. Foot Patrol
The sometimes-comical Hung Nguyen and TJ Wade comprise this foot-fetish driven hip-hop group who fill the number 2 spot on the lineup. With album titles like Smellabration and Toetry In Motion, this band speaks for themselves, and I dare not try to match their wits.
Trample Me Intro
Trample Me
3. The Lovely Sparrows
It’s safe to say Bury The Cynics was one of Austin’s best releases this year. Finally with the opportunity to expand on the short but stunning EP Pulling Up Floors, Pouring on (New) Paint, Sparrows‘ leader Shawn Jones has outdone himself lyrically and musically - even if it did take him nearly two years to do it. Though the band is essentially Jones, they come to us Friday as a six-piece, which may be one of a few occasions you’ll have to hear the album performed live as it was written.
The Lovely Sparrows - Department Of Foreseeable Outcomes
4. Leatherbag
Photo by: Dena De La Paz
Whether Leatherbag’s fantastic new album Love and Harm is the sleeper-hit of the year or the century, I doubt Leatherbag (aka Randy Reynolds) could care less. The man has, over the course of multiple albums, been refining and redefining his sound, mixing and matching between bands as famous as Richard Buckner and The Velvet Underground and, more recently, bands from Austin’s mid-80’s “New Sincerity” movement. We caught Leatherbag with his new backing band (which consists mainly of players from Jude Ross’s band) last week and, needless to say, we’re itchin’ for more.
Tennessee
5. The Eastern Sea
The Eastern Sea were recently featured on Austin Sound’s Sound Off. Here’s what they had to say:
“Though the Eastern Sea has gone through several variations in the past few years, both in lineup and sound, Matthew Hines has finally developed a quartet that gorgeously explores the contours of his songwriting. Their recently released self-titled debut EP is beautifully subtle but rich in harmonies and delicate unwinding textures, with touches of Iron and Wine or Seven Swans-era Sufjan Stevens. Yet there is also a mesmerizing force underlying the songs, hypnotic in Hines’ deft guitar work as he rolls through oblique personal narratives that suggest the Microphones and Mountain Goats.”
The Menu
Sexy enough? Thought so. Progress Coffee will be on site serving up drinks and rumor has it there will be food on hand as well. The show starts Friday at 8pm and is 21 and up, so get them ID’s ready.
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Well proud Americans, if you hadn’t noticed already tomorrow is Election Day. So as with all other major events in your life, it would be unnatural to not go with a hearty hangover. That’s why Do512 is throwing an election-themed party tonight called Red State Blues - A Concert for Change at La Zona Rosa. Unless you intend to cast your ballet sober, I highly suggest being in attendance tonight.
Now it probably goes without saying that, since this party takes place in Austin, you’re going to find the whole show slanting more than slightly leftward. But if you’re reading this website at all (you know how to use the internet), chance are your leanings are liberal already (unless of course, you’re on this website).
Looking at the lineup, the music at this show could draw a serious crowd election or not. Headlining the show is the amazing Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, whose timeless contributions to funk and soul are hardly worthy of my descriptions - suffice it to say, missing a chance to see Sharon Jones is a serous mistake. Have a listen to “100 Days, 100 Nights” below if you really need any convincing.
Sharon Jones - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Local mainstay James McMurtry, who is no stranger to singing about politics, also plays tonight. His fantastic new album Just Us Kids, which dropped earlier this year, may well be one of the best local albums of the year, and it draws heavily on the failures of the current administration (can you say wealth of material?). After nine releases McMurtry remains a beacon of Austin music, capturing the laid-back southern vibe and political left-leaning/common sense that has made our city famous.
Oh it keeps getting better: Brownout!, winners of the Best Latin Contemporary category at this year’s Austin Music Awards, open the show.
But wait, here’s where it gets really good. Do512 are also offering a VIP package ($75) which includes a number of sweet perks. You’ve got your typical VIP things (free food and drinks), but also something a bit more enticing: a exclusive performance by Chrysta Bell and Paris 49. Rumors are abound that this might be a 8 1/2 Souvenirs reunion show, but don’t hold me to it.
So remember, voting is just about standing in long lines because you procrastinated about early voting, and it’s not just about scrolling through 10 pages of judges who’s names you don’t know to get to “Barack Obama,” it’s also about good music and good people. Need I say more?
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Music, Show Previews, The Daily Dic
Posted by Andrew Darden on October 25, 2008 – 8:38 am
If you’re in the market for a great show this Saturday night (as you should be), may I humbly recommend checking out Jaguar Love at Emo’s with Polysics tonight.
Jaguar Love, who hail from Portland, just released their debut LP, Take Me To The See, on Matador Recs. The band’s lineup is a combination of remnants of bands past, including Johnny Whitney and Cody Votolato of The Blood Brothers (whose demise came only last fall) and Jay Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves.
It’s no surprise then that the band retains some of the punk sound that characterized these earlier projects, but I can’t help but notice a pop attitude in some of the new songs. The music is slightly more, shall we say “wholesome,” than most of the Blood Brothers releases. To some extent that’s a good thing, as while the band may loose some of the cult appeal drawn by the searing riffs of Blood Brothers, Jaguar Love is more universal: there’s still the same driving, energetic angst behind Jaguar Love, but there’s also catchy riffs and howling synths, all combined into a strange hard-core-glam-rock that’s highly enjoyable. It’s successful on the album, and my bet is that the live show will only get better.
All that plus Polysics’s Japanese New Wave. Seriously, nothing says Saturday like weird pop music. Tracks from Jaguar Love below, and check out Polysics myspace for tunes (I suggest “Arigatou” and skip to like 1:40). See you tonight.
Jaguar Love - Highways of Gold
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Music, The Daily Dic
Posted by Andrew Darden on October 23, 2008 – 11:25 am
If you’ve got your finger on the local pulse, you may have noticed a band called Frantic Clam on Austin Sound this week. And if you went so far as to listen to the demos, you already know most of what I’m about to tell you about relative newcomers Frantic Clam and “Richard Cory”: they’re a band to seriously watch (and listen to, for that matter).
The originality, or probably more appropriately, the honesty in their music is aggressively refreshing. Instead of a band caught up in the pride of their record collection, desperately trying to define their “unique place in music” without straying too far from Papa-Westerberg’s sight, Frantic Clam are a band that’s unique from the get-go, though not in that gimmicky sideshow-instrumentation way that we’ve come to associate with “unique.” No, Frantic Clam immediately sound of familiarity, like you’ve been listening to them for years, but unlike anything you can put your finger on. Influences? Sure: Bowie, The Stones, low-fi Velvet Underground or early Modest Mouse even. But a knock-off they are not.
This song, from their current EP Celebrity, takes its name and theme from the Edwin Arlington Robinson’s famous poem by the same name:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
“Good-morning,” and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich, richer than a king—
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
The band formed under the direction of Zack Hadley and Joe Sparks (who has since left the lineup) while in Iraq, compliments of the US Army, an environment which seems to be reflected in some of the darker themes of the music. I won’t presume to infer the meaning of lines like “Bang bang bang Richard Cory’s dead, a thirty-eight revolver emptied in his head” or even “…fought a war you didn’t care about” (in “Amnesty”), but it’s obvious that these lyrics draw more from the hard realities of life than those of the average indie rock band whose, if we’re going to stretch the stereotype to the extreme, trust-fund-bought lyrics (and gear) are probably more related to how the tight squeeze those pants are putting on their testicles.
Though their history is brief, it’s already apparent even from these 5 short songs that Frantic Clam have a strong sense of direction, and the upcoming release of Anatomica (due out on January 15th, 2009 on Exemplary Records) will hopefully build on these solid foundations. If the music community is even partially fair in its judgment of Frantic Clam, we should expect to hear only more good things about this band — and thank God for it, if I get one more press release about how you and your band put a computer mic up to your shoddy washing machine and found the true meaning of “meaningful,” I’m moving to Ulan Bataar and never looking back.
The band are playing Friday at Trophy’s, check em out (poster after the jump). Here’s a tune from Celebrity:
Frantic Clam - Richard Cory
Tags: Frantic Clam | 1 Comment »
Bangers and Mash, Columns, Music
Posted by Dan Cwikla on October 22, 2008 – 10:58 am
[Note: Bangers and Mash is a column about Brit-pop by Big Diction's arch-nemesis, and chief Welsh corespondent, Dan Cwikla. He also writes a short column in the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery- chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Gazette. -Ed.]
It’s the best album you’ll ever listen to! Well, maybe not. Still, Super Furry Animals’ disc MWNG (Welsh: MANE) is certainly the best Welsh language album you’ll ever listen to. Written and performed in the native tongue of the Cardiff quintet, as expected, the 2000 release throws a bit of everything at its audience. Ranging from lounging ballads to accordion heavy pop, MWNG is both completely delightful and, for most of the world, completely unintelligible.
Emerging from the burgeoning Welsh music scene of the early 1990’s which produced Manic Street Preachers and Catatonia among others, the Furries had consistently offered their fans a unique blend of electronica and pyschedelia served with a heaping dose of pop rock sensibilities. After achieving early success with Alan McGee’s legendary label Creation Records with increasingly experimental offerings, MWNG marked a sudden return to the basics, showcasing the group’s songwriting skills rather than their outward thinking.
Despite a noticeable cohesiveness, the album is in fact something of a deliberate collection. Bassist Guto Pryce said of MWNG, “We had some Welsh songs when we did Guerrilla but we thought it would be better if we put them all together instead of a token Welsh song here and there, on a b-side and maybe one or two on an album. We thought it would be nice to put them all together.”
Recommended Tracks:
“Ymaelodi Â’r Ymylon” (”Banished to the Periphery”), “Dacw Hi” (”There She Is”), “Pan Ddaw’r Wawr” (”When Dawn Breaks”)
Super Furry Animals - Ymaelodi ‘R Ymylon
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