Sensitive Homeboyz Shake the Action out of Austin

Remember that party I told you about? The one that’s free and features something crazy like 40 of our favorite bands? Yeah, that’s still happening, and in case you weren’t excited enough already, the dudes from Woven Bones came through with this super official flyer to compliment this DOUBLE DISC mixtape put together by Friendship Bracelet that just happens to feature 35 freely shareable tracks from almost all of the acts we’re showcasing, including some tried and true jams, and of course a good dose of unrelease exclusives from Sleep Over, Rangers, Speculator, Coasting, Fergus & Geronimo.

So if you’re thinking about coming, download part 1 and part 2 of this mix, put your name on the list, and Shake some Fucking Action!

One more time for your mind, we’ll be invading Karibu Ethiopian Restaurant (1209 East 7th Street in Austin) next week from March 18-20 with bands playing from noon til 10PM each day. SEE YOU THERE.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Sometimes I Can Almost Feel the Power

Who’s in love with this girl? Me too. Okay, moving on.

So, the general consensus on Joanna Newsom’s latest album, Have One On Me is that, yes, it’s brilliant, but also a bit of an undertaking. To clarify, Have One On Me’s two hour sprawl can be a bit difficult to ingest, but well worth it. Her lyrics, her instrumentation, and her songwriting are all well beyond what we thought she, or any artist for that matter, was capable of creating. And, though her beauty and mystery may swallow the thought at this point, when we look back in twenty years, Joanna Newsom will be considered one of the greatest songwriters of this era.

Now, for those with short attention spans or, well, a life to live, soaking in this entire album is just not in the cards. Thus, I’ve created a shortlist of songs from Have One On Me that are essential.

“Good Intentions Paving Company” sounds like a soul version of an American pride song, sung in a dusty, Mid-Western saloon during the war. But, it’s a twisting love song that dodges the arrow virtually all the way through until we find her struck by love – “I only want you to pull over and hold me, ’til I can’t remember my own name.”

“In California” may be the greatest song she’s written. Her voice has never sounded more gorgeous, particularly because she has never sounded so endearingly vulnerable. You can hear it in her voice and you can hear it in her words. “But when you come and see me in California, you cross the border of my heart. Well I have sewn on tidy furroughs, cross my soul, but I am still a coward, content to see my garden grow so sweet and full of someone else’s flowers. Sometimes I can almost feel the power. Sometimes I am so in love with you, like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour, only ever calling out cuckoo.”

“Does Not Suffice”  is something of an “In California” reprise. But, it’s very much a song to take note of, simply for the twist. You see, “In California” is a song about falling hopelessly for someone. Despite attempts at shielding such vulnerability for the sake of preventing a broken heart, there is no barrier that can combat the strength of being in love. But, in “Does Not Suffice,” we find a girl that has built enough strength to walk away from a relationship in which her love is not reciprocated. And, musically, a gorgeous, somber tone hovers over the entire track, representing the pieces of a broken heart that lay on the floor. But, it also harnesses a tone that is indicative of the slightest amount of strength that is being used to pick up those pieces.

Also, listen to “Go Long” and “Baby Birch” – two more disarming tunes.

Get this album from Drag City.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Eastbound and Found

It’s an overwhelming honor to be co-presenting another party at SXSW this year, alongside our homies from Sweet Leaf Tea, My Old Kentucky Blog, Chromewaves, Dos Lunas, Knuckle Rumbler, Ultra8201, You Ain’t No Picasso, and Ziegenbock.

This party is free and all-ages, all you have to do is RSVP and in no time you’ll be sucking down sounds with this incredibly random/awesome lineup with the sun on your face and a buzz in your belly.

WHERE: 1001 E. 6th Street, Austin, TX 78702 (corner of E. 6th St. & San Marcos St.)

WHEN: Thursday, March 18th, 2010 12-9PM

THE LINEUP:

Stage One

12:15-12:50 Grillade
1:10-1:45 Freelance Whales
2:05-2:40 Ume
3:00-3:35 Warpaint
3:55-4:30 Morning Benders
4:50-5:25 Here We Go Magic
5:45-6:20 Maluca
7:00- 8:00 GZA

Stage Two

12:30-1:05 Burnt Ones
1:25 – 2:00 Diamond Rings
2:20-2:55 Kid Sister
3:15-3:50 Slow Club
4:10-4:45 Danielson
5:05-5:40 Delorean
6:00 – 7:00 [TBA]*

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in yours truly | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Set that Big Boi Free!


Dear The Music Industry,
What the fuck is wrong with you?! Big Boi’s album is done, it’s collecting dust on the shelf, everything we’ve heard from it has been hellfire and yet you can’t give the guy a fucking release date?! I’m about to quit this shit business and go be an accountant so I can make some fancy flow charts that prove why Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty is ready for public consumption TODAY! If that doesn’t work I’m going on a hunger strike, that’s right no more twinkies and grits until Big Boi’s album sees the light of day, I’m serious this time, you will rue the day you ever crossed Yours Truly.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in yours truly | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Got techniques drippin’ out my buttcheeks

13 years ago today, Biggie Smalls passed away. At age 12, Christopher Wallace started selling crack, working the area on Fulton Street between St. James Place and Washington Avenue. By 22, “Ready to Die” was on its way to becoming the single greatest display of lyrical ability in hip-hop history.

This isn’t my favorite song of Big’s but it shows how lethal he was with the lyrics, and that above all the party and the bullshit, should be his legacy.


“Smoking mad Newports cause I’m due in court for an assault, that I caught, in Bridgeport, New York”

More Big on this Best of B.I.G. mixtape and a bunch of demos, unreleased cuts and original sample versions of songs on this Ready to Die (O.G. Version) thanks to Weiss for that one.
Photo via

Read More »

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in yours truly | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Free Shit Friday: The Love Letters Edition

Today’s free shit friday follows a failed attempt at love in the information age

Dear anonymous free shit loving girl, I’ve been working up the courage to write you all week, and the truth is, I know this might seem sudden, but I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life, I love you. I love you like I love free pizza, free shows, and free pizza at good shows. If you could grow to love me too, meet me at the flagpole after school, I’ll be the one wearing your t-shirt and the look of unrequited love, because Baby I’m Yours, truly.

she never showed, so I tried tried again

Every second without your kisses, feels like a lifetime, and as I’ve grown to love you these past few days, I can’t shake the feeling of the first time I saw you, I tell my friends, “she was a vision,” but they don’t understand, they tell me, “Jesus dude, get over it, you’ve never even seen her face,” but I don’t care about that kinda stuff, some things are more important than looks; like loyalty, respect, companionship. Basically, I want somebody who understand what it means to be just  Me and My *itch.

Again, she never showed. Then, just this morning, she wrote me this letter…

Dear Yours Truly,

This song explains why I cannot and will not meet you at the flagpole. Please stop writing me.

Full info on this week’s picks when you Read More »

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

R Kelly Is My Homie

I’m still baffled that Yours Truly was given the opportunity to interview R. Kelly a few months ago. Still diggin’ his new single, “Echo,” and, like I said before, homie’s crazy. And I dig that about him! But, what’s really crazy is that he’s become my boy. He gave me a ring a few days after that interview and told me to give him a call if I was ever in LA, Chicago, The People’s Republic of China, or any Waffle House east of the Mississippi. I met up with him before in Chicago and we went to IKEA, ate some meatballs that were off the hook, got bored, called up his girls, kicked the help out, pulled all of the IKEA beds together, put on Jock Jams Volume 2 and danced to Coolio until noon the next day. He called it his very own “IKEA idea.” He wants to do them every year now. Then, when I was in LA, he gave me the address of a restaurant and told me to meet him there, 12am sharp, for the pre-party and a hot biscuit.

As I stood in front of the building, questioning the address he gave me, I pulled out my phone and dialed his number while double-checking the crumpled piece of paper I wrote the address on.

He picked up and started sing-yelling, “Tell me who this is! I said, I said, tell me who this is right now, girl!” I let him continue as he stretched his words into notes. “Cuz I just wanna know, yes I said I, I, I wanna know, I wanna know, who this is right now, girl.”

I pulled the phone back from my ear and snarled at it. “Dude, it’s me. Just chill, R.” I secretly thought it was funny to call him R.

“Oh what’s up girl!” He replied, as if he didn’t just write a song to me over the phone. “How you been?”

“I think you gave me the wrong address. I’m standing in front of a strip club right now.”

“Yeah, come on in, girl. We in the back. The big booooooooth!”

“I thought we were going to a restaurant?”

“Nah, dawg. We goin’ bowlin’!” he said, as if it all made sense now.

Dryly, I replied, “What, there’s a bowling alley in this strip club?”

“This is bowling night, girl! Get in here, man!”

Read More »

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Yours Etc. | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Morning Benders – Big Echo

Stoned, struggling against the harsh halogens in studio B, Chris Chu is hunched in a thick leather chair facing the computer. From my vantage point on the couch that’s now Nic Pope’s bed, all I can see is the top of his mop and from here he looks a lot like Doctor Claw-the villain from Inspector Gadget, except not as evil, with no sidekick cat in sight. The chair swivels round and Chris asks if I’d like to hear his new album, Big Echo. I bumble something stupid like, “How big is it?” With a humble chuckle he replies, “I don’t know, pretty big dude.”

This is one of my favorite albums of the year; it’s everything I could ask for: ten little gems, strung side-by-side like a necklace you hate to take off. Ten morning sun sing-alongs that read like pop-out picture books and cling to your insides like a home cooked meal.

Chris, thank you for this album, and for being a part of what has become a defining piece of yours truly’s history.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen, The Morning Benders | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

I got a filín

It’s one thing to discover some burgeoning indie band with 2 songs and <150 fans on their myspace, and it’s another to stumble upon
a band dating 50 years back and entering a gateway to a whole genre of music you never knew existed. Today, I’ve fallen in love and had my heart broken, all due to one 1960s Cuban close-harmony vocal group called Los Zafiros.

Thanks to Said the Gramophone for turning me on to
La Luna en Tur Mirada, a beautiful tune that sent me feverishly digging through YouTube for more. In those digital stacks I found the following gem of a video for “Y Sabes Bien,”
a song indicative of the Cuban filín (feeling) movement that weaves bolero and bossa nova with doo-wop and R&B.

Thanks to Andrea for the inspiration.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen, yours truly | Tagged | Leave a comment

All The Dead Girls Dance

It’s guys like Brad Oberhofer that James Murphy was singing about in I’m Losing My Edge. “The kids are coming up from behind,” says Murphy. At just 22, Oberhofer’s creating at a level far beyond his years, but he’s no prodigy,  he doesn’t have to be. It’s his effortless blend of  scream-sung lyrics, skip-along whistling, erratic percussion, and unexpected song dynamics that many bands attempt to pull off but can’t because, simply put, they sound forced. Oberhofer’s music feels effortless, his approach genuine, and that’s precisely what draws you in.

Oberhofer – I Could Go
Oberhofer – Dead Girls Dance

Much respect to my boy Phil for the tip.

  • email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • MySpace
  • Tumblr
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Google Bookmarks
Posted in Listen | Tagged | Leave a comment