Now that the New Year has sprouted, official developments of the South by Southwest Music Conference are being announced with more regularity given its a mere two months away. Just today, the festival's monthly listserv confirmed a handful of scheduled acts as well as keynote speaker and veteran rocker Lou Reed.
The name caught my eye first and foremost—I expected some kind of dark, goth-like industrial rock, but no, evidently a vampire lives a calm, slightly preppy weekend life with a significant amount of West African influence. In all truthfulness, the New York-based band, all of whom met while attending Columbia University, got their name from guitarist/singer Ezra Koenig's 2005 movie of the same name (check out the trailer here.)
Although the spunky indie rockers haven't yet released a full-length album, fans don't have to wait too much longer; their self-titled debut on XL Recordings, full of Afrobeat-infused guitar pop, is scheduled to hit shelves January 29. The super-intelligent quartet who are currently mid-tour will celebrate the album's release with a two-night run at the Bowery Ballroom.
The video above, entitled "Mansard Roof," is the first single off the impending album. Check out a couple older tracks below, as well as their October Daytrotter Session.
With a penchant for slightly gawdy, cinematic videos like "Mr. Brightside" and "Smile Like You Mean It," the Killers added a touch of creepy to the video for "Tranquilize," a track from their recently released collection of B-sides entitled "Sawdust." Featuring Velvet Underground icon Lou Reed, the single's deep, loping sound matches the haunting, fairly colorless video directed by Anthony Mandler, the former fashion photographer responsible for another Killers video, "When You Were Young."
And, somewhat surprisingly, Lou Reed's smooth, bassy voice pairs up pretty well with Brandon Flowers' higher pitch, melding into a catchy, climactic tune. An extra creepy touch: a snippet of children singing along, enforcing Flowers' words--"I still hear the children playing"-- and generating an instant "Children of the Corn" flashback.
I'm such a sucker for songs that make me feel the anger, heartache or giddy excitement contained, like a little present, within the melody, the lyrics, and, if I'm watching a live performance or video, the artist's personal expressions. That natural connection makes discovering new music so fulfilling.
In my typical self-defeating way of keeping myself surrounded by distraction when I'm trying very hard to get some work done, I kept Austin's local music television station, ME, playing quietly in the background not too long ago and was quickly distracted by the passionate piano-playing of Jon McLaughlin, a name and face I didn't recognize.
For me the word 'buttercup' brings to mind a handful of cutesy images like the vibrant yellow flower or the green-dressed Powerpuff Girl, not so much a four-man band based in San Antonio that's known for bizarre live performances. The quirky quartet are bringing their custom guerilla art to Austin's Mohawk every Tuesday night from 9pm to 11pm through December 18; all ages welcome.
It was early summer when I first wrote about Lavender Diamond and lead chanteuse Becky Stark. The indie pop quartet was finishing up a club tour in support of their full-length release on Matador Records, "Imagine Our Love." As it turns out, Stark went from performing live music to acting in front of the camera for Tom Hanks' latest production, "City of Ember," which just finished filming last month.
As of late, I've been on a mid-'90s music kick, reliving my artsy, fun-filled high school days that were inspired by the alt-rock dominating the not-so-corporate airwaves back then. Green Day's "Dookie" and Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged in New York" have been in heavy rotation, dotted with occasional tracks from Nine Inch Nails' "The Downward Spiral," Bush's "Sixteen Stone" and Soundgarden's "Superunknown," all released in 1994.
John Davis, the former drummer of the now-disbanded Q And Not U, coaxed sweet-sounding singer/songwriter Laura Burhenn to join him in Georgie James in 2005 --a fantastic choice really. Their vocals are beyond complementary in their thoughtful pop pieces. Recently signed to Conor Oberst's Saddle Creek Records, the duo's debut album, "Places," dropped in late September. They've already hit the road, canvasing the US through mid-November before taking off for the U.K.
The Seattle-based Cave Singers, recently signed to Matador Records, are celebrating the September 25 release of their debut album, "Invitation Songs." Singer/guitarist Pete Quirk's warbles a type of indie folk that, although mellow, stays in your head while bandmates Derek Fudesco (guitar, bass pedals) and Marty Lund (drums, guitar) spice up the melody with thoughtful contributions that add emotion to each track.
If you're not anal-retentive like me and don't have your hundreds of discs in alphabetical order by artist last name or band first name but by category, you could easily file Jessie Baylin in "Soulful Chick Rock." That category would be HUGE in my collection.
Emerson Hart is a name that might ring a bell for fans of mid-'90s radio pop. Once the lead singer and co-founder of the powerful pop rock group Tonic, Hart left the band a few years ago to focus on his solo career which has recently sprung to life with the July 17 release of his debut solo album, "Cigarettes & Gasoline."
