Dinosaur Jr. with Shearwater

Well kiddos, as expected, tomorrow night's Dinosaur Jr. show at the Mohawk is sold-out. Their latest record I Bet on the Sky was released last month and it's the first new record from the band in 3 years. For better or for worse, the newest record still sounds like 90's college rock. Don't get that confused with the complete and total bullshit 90's "alt rock" you'll here on 101x. Dinosaur Jr. helped define a genre for a generation, they played louder, they melded styles and influences and they managed to excite audiences while sounding bored. In other words, they are your prototypical 90's-era college rockers. They're a bit aged now but they haven't compromised their aesthetic and rumor has it that their as loud as ever. If you missed out on your chance to see Dinosaur Jr. at the Mohawk Thursday, you should at least listen to their latest LP.


Dinosaur Jr. - Watch the Corners video via YouTube

It's sort of a strange pairing to have Shearwater open for Dinosaur Jr.. One band plays grinding, visceral guitar music, the other band features a dulcimer. I'm a big fan of Shearwater and I think their 2012 release Animal Life is one of their best to date. However, when you consider that Shearwater started as a side-project to feature the songs that were too quiet for Okkervil River it does seem like maybe Dinosaur Jr. + Shearwater might be a bit strange. I will say that Animal Life is much more rollicking than their previous releases. I also imagine this new song cycle takes on an even more energetic tone in the live setting. Although, I suppose any doubts I had about this pairing were quelled when I remembered how fucking balls-to-the-wall the song Immaculate is.



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Band Vs. Band at ACL Fest

A festival like ACL, which takes place in a central location won't have as many tough choices as say, SXSW but there are multiple stages so you're still going to have to make some tough decisions every now and again. I'll be posting my picks for each day of the fest the day before each day...does that make sense? Firstly though I want to highlight some of the tougher choices when making your picks this year. For me, Saturday has the most conflicts but I'll try to go chronologically.

The first hipster music conflict I notice of the festival is the pitting of Miike Snow against Girls. For me, I definitely am leaning towards Girls since I'm such a big fan of theirs HOWEVER I have already seen them play before whereas Miike Snow I have not seen. Miike Snow played several times during SXSW, even at some events I attended but they were never playing while I was in attendance. So, I guess it comes down to whether you want to rock out or electro out? Dance out? Pop out? Not really sure how I would classify the Snow sound.


Miike Snow - Silvia video via YouTube


The next major conflict for Friday is, Beach House Vs. local metal heroes, The Sword. These artists are on complete opposite ends of the musical spectrum and while I adore Beach House especially their latest LP, Teen Dream, the Austinite in me says I have to support The Sword. Besides, I really don't think the Nyquil-pop of Beach House is well-suited for the festival experience.


The Sword - Tres Brujas video via YouTube

The final conflict of Saturday pits the old-guard of alt--rock against the new guard of blog-rock. The legendary, Sonic Youth are playing the same time as Vampire Weekend. Do you want to rock or do you want to twee-rock? Personally, I had the chance to see VW before their first LP on the Mohawk's inside stage and I don't see anything topping that. However, I will (hopefully(*fingers crossed)) be in attendance when Sonic Youth tapes their Austin City Limits Television performance Thursday night. In otherwords by Saturday I will have seen both artists. In either case, you have to pick the legends simply because you can. Sorry, vee dubs, maybe next year?


Sonic Youth - Sacred Trickster video via YouTube

Saturday has lots of conflicts so I'm going to keep it more brief. The conflicts start early (12:15p) when First Aid Kit and the Very Best take stage simultaneously. I vote the Very Best based on having fun at a festival. Also, it's quite likely we'll see Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend at the Very Best's set as he lends vocals to the title track from their LP.


the Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa video via YouTube

The always handsome, Pete Yorn will be playing while BOTH Ninjasonik and Two Door Cinema Club perform. I'll probably skip Ninjasonik despite really enjoying them, simply because I caught them at SXSW this year.


Ninjasonik - Negative Thinking in Tight Pants video via YouTube

4:30p-5:30p on Saturday is going to be the toughest hour of the whole festival. I literally like EVERY artists playing at that time. Silversun Pickups, Broken Bells, Local Natives, AND Dan Black are all playing at the same time?!?! Damn, that's going to be a tough decision. I have actually seen all of those artists already this year but that doesn't mean I don't want to see them all again?!?! I want Local Natives to get a good crowd, but SSPU were soooo effing good and a festival is really where they shine. I'm not going to pick a horse in this race, I'm going to just let the fest lead me.


Dan Black - U + Me = video via YouTube

That's not the end of Saturday's conflicts though, not even close. We've got, Gogol Bordello playing at the same time as LCD Soundsytem.


LCD Soundsytem - I Can Change video via YouTube

Then at 7:30p on Saturday both Matt & Kim and Deadmau5 will take to their respective stages.


Matt and Kim - Silver Tiles video via YouTube

Finally M.I.A. and Muse are playing at the same time. Personally, I have seen M.I.A. twice (on here first tour(natch)) and I have never seen Muse so I'll most likely be checking out Muse. For you, who knows? Might be a tougher call to make. On the bright side, Muse's set time is 30 minutes longer than M.I.A.'s, also her new material pretty much sucks soooo...


Muse - Sunburn video via YouTube

On to Sunday, the Lord's day, lucky for us there are far fewer conflicts on the fest's final day. Unfortunately (or fortunately) MOST of the conflicts are early in the day when it SHOULD be easier to move from stage to stage. There are THREE Bloggy favs all playing at the same time between 11:30a-12:30p on Saturday. Two local favs, TV Torso and Shearwater will both be performing while Warpaint performs at another stage.


Shearwater - Hidden Lakes video via YouTube

A little later you'll have to choose between Ted Leo or White Rabbits.


Ted Leo - A Bottle of Buckie video via YouTube

Finally the toughest VS. of the day, will you choose Band of Horses? Or would you rather see the Flaming Lips? I did hear a nasty little rumor that the Lips and Spoon swapped slots, which would mean Spoon and BOH would be playing at the same time. To either scenario I say, dang.


the Flaming Lips - The Sparrow Looks Up at the Machine video via YouTube

So those are the time conflicts as I see them, stay tuned for the next few days and I'll break down who you should see and/or where you might see me at the fest.

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ABL's Rambling Re-Launch-ish

You may, or may not have noticed that AustinBloggyLimits has been short on updates the last two weeks. Well there are several reasons for that. First and foremost being hey it looks different now. I thought the old look was a bit dark so I went with this weird banana pudding look. You like?

Man, I have so many things to tell y'all so this isn't going to be a typical AustinBloggyLimits post. I'm going to be a bit scatter-brained trying to relay two weeks worth of somewhat interesting stories.

I'm going to start by saying congratulations to one of AustinBloggyLimits' favorite local bands, Harlem as they were signed to an international record deal with Matador Records. That's a pretty big deal if you ask me. Hopefully it means there will be more free, promotional Harlem material from now on. *fingers crossed*


Harlem - Witchgreens video via YouTube


Part of me wants to split these stories across a few posts but instead I'm just going to quickly vomit out some highlights of my music life in the past two weeks.

Ok, I'm going to start with the sold-out Animal Collective show at Stubb's. I really wanted to go but didn't have tickets and refused to pay the outrageous scalper prices. At the last minute my Twitter tweeps hooked it up. Austin Kleon offered me a set of tickets "Radiohead Model" pay what you want. I ended up taking 1 ticket for $20 and giving Austin a ride to the show, but for the record he would have flat-out given me 2 tickets so, take that scalper d-bags!

As far as the show itself? I was entertained and inspired/intrigued by Animal Collective. They are doing something completely different with music. The show was more like performance art than a straight-up concert. Was it totally entertaining/engaging the whole time? No. Was it worth the $20? Hell yes! My personal highlight was hearing Lion in a Coma I like that song so much more now. I think Summertime Clothes got the biggest response from the crowd though.


Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes video via YouTube

The week after AC was somewhat uneventful other than dealing with day to day non-music bull and trying to straighten out/gay-up my site. Then THIS week I saw Grizzly Bear crossing the street in front of my car, later that night I saw them perform at the Parish Room. Here We Go Magic was the opening band and they did an excellent job.


Grizzly Bear - Fine For Now "video" via YouTube

For me the job of an opening band is to play a 30-45 minute set, in which time you should remind us the name of your band and latest album at least twice. This may seem awkward but a lot of people are showing up throughout the opening slot so.. self-promote opening bands! The other key factor for a "good opener" is that their music is similar or complimentary to the headlining band. Here We Go Magic covered all of these bases. They also saved their most-well-known songs for the end of the set. There is nothing worse than an opener that starts with their hit and then makes you listen to 40 more minutes of songs you don't know.


Here We Go Magic - Tunnelvision video via YouTube

Grizzly Bear was outstanding/beautiful/powerful. When I listen to the albums it's easy to get caught up in the most obvious elements, the singing/songwriting. In person though I was totally engrossed in the rhythm parts. Grizzly Bear has some amazingly thoughtful, soulful, powerful drum parts in their songs. It's like Sigur Ros where it's less about precision and more about mood, tone, feeling. Personal highlight for that show was hearing the, "Chin up, cheer up" crescendo/explosion from the song Lullaby, that was a transcendental moment for me. Oh yeah, and the sound at the Parish can only be out done by the sound at the next venue I went to.


Grizzly Bear - Lullaby video via YouTube

Last night I had the pleasure of attending my first live taping of Austin City Limits the TV show. Before I moved to Austin ACL was pretty much all any of my friends/family knew about Austin so it was quite moving to be on the set in real life. It is a lot smaller than I imagined it to be, and they give out free beer. Not enough to get drunk but enough to taste beer you didn't pay for. Austin locals Okkervil River performed in the KLRU studios and they played a career-spanning set. Touching upon songs from all of their albums from the last 8ish years. The crowd was very reverent, hanging on every note and leaving a space of silence before erupting into applause after each song.


Will Sheff & AC Newman - Lost Coastlines video via YouTube

In the above video AC Newman is singing Will Sheff's part. Okkervil played this twice for the ACL taping. Oh the magic of television. The sound on the Austin City Limits stage is impeccable. I promise you I have never attended a live performance with better sound in my life! I was worried because I forgot my earplugs but they were not needed. I could understand every word that was sung, I heard every bass note clearly and every pluck of every stringed instrument was full and rich. I was so used to muddy bass tones and washed out vocals I sort of forgot what a live performance SHOULD sound like. You hear that downtown?!?! Louder doesn't mean better, and when the bass is so loud it effs up my breathing I'm not entertained. The other super-pleasant thing about the ACL taping was the air conditioning. I haven't been to a concert that was so temperate since I lived in New England.


Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines video via YouTube

Get it? They played Lost Coastlines twice so I posted it twice. The truly crazy thing about the ACL taping is I have tried to get into that show for three years and somehow this week I'm going twice. Like that old expression says, "When it rains, it pours." Oh, and for those who don't know, that other guy singing on Lost Coastlines is the lead singer of Shearwater and he used to be in Okkervil River but now he is just a "guest" and he performed at the taping too.


Shearwater - the Snow Leopard video via YouTube

So, that's what I've been up to. I wonder if anyone will read this I haven't updated in so long y'all probably gave up on me. I'm back though, so come and see me and tell your friend(s) too.

Before I sign off I forgot to mention, I had a spare ticket to see Grizzly Bear and ended up selling it to, Toto, the drummer from the Octopus Project. How Austin is that?


the Octopus Project - Truck video via YouTube

Oh and when I was at the Animal Collective show I was standing amongst members of Harlem and Electric Touch. It was such a "scene" environment complete with dude-bras and uber-hipsters who just show up to chat and make fun of people/places/things/nouns.


Electric Touch - Love in Our Hearts video via YouTube

Speaking of chatting, if you happen to have the chance to see Grizzly Bear in concert do you think you could shut the eff up while they're performing? That was so annoying I wanted to collectively slap people. I don't get spending money to try and talk OVER a band? There's like 1.3billion bars in Austin pick one without an amazing band if you feel like getting your chat on. Oh, and could the dude-bras lay off the Axe body spray PULEASE!?!?

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Shearwater and Neko Case at Stubb's Tonight

Well dear reader, as of this moment you can still get yourself some tickets to see Neko Case with local boys, Shearwater at Stubb's tonight.

On a totally unrelated note, did you know there's a Stubb's BBQ at Six Flags in San Antonio? Is it me or does that just seem weird/wrong somehow? Anyway, if you're not really familiar with Neko Case you should know she is a member of the New Pornographers, although she rarely tours with them. However, if, like me, you saw the New Pornographers at FunFunFun Fest a couple of years ago...then you have already seen Neko do her thing.

Mp3 courtesy of Matador Records, thanks. The other Mp3 is courtesty of Anti- Records, thanks.

Free Mp3 ---> Shearwater - The Snow Leopoard

Free Mp3 ---> Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve

Find some video after the jump...


Holy Crap, I've heard this song on KGSR but I totally didn't even realize it was Neko Case.


Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve video via YouTube

This tornado loves you?


Neko Case - Middle Cyclone promo video via YouTube


the New Pornographers - All the Old Show Stoppers video via YouTube


Shearwater - Rooks video via YouTube

The lead singer of Shearwater took me some getting used to. He reminds me of the minstrel from Monty Python's Holy Grail. I don't know why, he just does.


Monty Python - Brave Sir Robin video via YouTube

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Los Campesinos and Shearwater

Los Campesinos - You! Me! Dancing! video via YouTube

It's Friday in Austin, which means it's show time kids. That's right there are many shows going on tonight but there are two that I want you to know about. First were gonna keep it Canadian and let you know that Los Campesinos are in town. In case you're not familiar they are on Arts & Crafts records so automatically they make pretty pop music. You can catch them at the Parish with Titus Andronicus.

Meanwhile just a few blocks away at the Mohawk you can catch local heroes Shearwater. I'm not sure if they will be playing inside or outside. Chances are it's gonna be the outside stage, so if you find yourself downtown around midnight tonight mosey on over to 10th street and listen to the beautiful renaissance-fair sounds of Shearwater.

Shearwater - The Snow Leopard (remastered)


Shearwater - Seventy Four, Seventy Five video via YouTube

I didn't mean that renaissance fair remark to be rude, it's just something about Shearwater reminds of minstrels. Don't ask.

So, if you're up for it you can still get tickets for both shows. Shearwater tix are only $8. Tickets for Los Campesinos are $14.

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Rook(s)

Local band Shearwater will be playing an in-store at Waterloo Records in a few hours. Their newest disc is called Rook and if you ask me that's some of the best cover art I've seen in years. It's such a disturbing image isn't it?

Shearwater is a side-project band of Okkervil River, intended to be the more folky, dramatic, serious off-shoot. Rook is the bands 5th full length release and only the second on Matador Records. Their last album, Palo Santo saw a deluxe re-issue when the band was picked up by Matador last year.

If you've never heard Shearwater, some of the words I might use to describe their sound: haunting, evocative, dramatic, sorrowful. I'd say they sound somewhat like The National, or maybe Bruce Springsteen when he is using lots of piano. They also have a bit of a post-glam Bowie thing going on. In any case, check them out before the critics eat this up and spit it out. And if you're in Austin, check 'em out for free at Waterloo @ 5pm.

Listen to the first single from Rook:
Shearwater - Rooks

Link courtesy Matador Records.

Video after the jump:


Shearwater - Rooks via YouTube

Shearwater - Seventy Four, Seventy Five via YouTube

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