Natural Child release silky smooth “Out in the Country” single today

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With influences like J.J. Cale, Canned Heat and Waylon Jennings, Nashville’s Natural Child create a sound that is a cross of classic country, southern soul R&B and psych rock. Today they released my favorite track off their new album, “Out in the Country”, a smooth as silk song layered with gorgeous swirling guitar lines and delicately funky keys. They just announced a tour with the Black Lips after their SXSW performances, listen to the new song below and check out their tour dates for a show near you. Their new album Dancin’ With Wolves comes out Feb. 25th on Burger Records:

Mon. April 14 – Richmond, VA @ The National *
Tue. April 15 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat *
Thu. April 17 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
Fri. April 18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer *
Sat. April 19 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *
Mon. April 21 – Montreal, QC @ Corona Theatre *
Tue. April 22 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre *
Thu. April 24 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick *
Fri. April 25 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom *
Sat. April 26 – Chicago, IL @ Logan Square Auditorium *
Sun. April 27 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club *
Mon. April 28 – Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room *
Tue. April 29 – St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird *
Wed. April 30 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room *
Sat. May 3 – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia *

* w/ Black Lips

Tweens “Be Mean” is a perfect mix of bratty and sweet

Tweens

Cincinatti’s Tweens got a sweet break when Shake It Records owner Jim Blaze recommended them to Kim Deal of The Breeders as an opening act, and their perfect bratty garage pop sound influenced by Bay Area punks ended up keeping them around for the whole tour. Bridget Battle has a clarity in both her voice and lyrics that makes their music so easy to listen to, and the rough garage production is a nice yin to her Juliana Hatfield-crossed-with-The-Donnas like vocals’ yang. This spring they will be touring with Waxahatchee and Murder City Devils, but I’m most pumped to check them out at SXSW. Listen to “Be Mean” below, love the last little push of awesomeness at the end.

Feb. 03 MOTR Pub – Cincinnati, OH*
Feb. 07 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA^
Feb. 08 Webster Hall New York, NY^
Feb. 09 The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD^
Mar. 06 The End – Freakin’ Weekend V Nashville, TN
Mar. 07 Savannah Stopover – Savannah, GA
Mar. 10 LogOn Cafe – Beaumont, TX
Mar. 12-15 SXSW – Austin, TX
Mar. 17 Low Key Arts – Hot Springs, AR
Mar. 29-Jun. 1 Nelsonville Music Festival – Nelsonville, OH

* w/ Waxahatchee
^ w/ Murder City Devils

Bands to check out at SXSW p.1

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Since I am a detailed person and a bit of a nut, I enjoy listening to every single band that is being showcased at SXSW before I attend (if you’d like a link to the detailed spreadsheet, follow the blog and I will put up a post when it’s ready close to three weeks prior with calendar). I’ve picked out the best for those that just don’t have the time for this daunting task, and will continue to through the festival, got my flights and vrbo booked, just need new ankle boots. These are my favorite groups out of Group 2 (with Group 1 to come because I accidentally did it backwards).

The Apache Relay- Nashville- Americana folk rock with mano and harp and Edward Sharpeish melodies and singalongs

Black Pistol Fire- Austin- TX rock/garage/blues goodness

Bobby Jealousy- Austin- big, bright happy pop

Brass Bed- Lafayette- reverbed out indie rock

Bully- Nashville- Juliana Hatfield-esque indie rock

Crying Nut- S. Korea- loud, crashing melodic pop punk done right

The Growl- Perth, Australia- sexy garage rock

Hurray for the RiffRaff- New Orleans- gorgeous female vocals, zydeco folk

La Femme- France- plain hot stuff

The Parrots- Spain- garage rock

Quiet Company- Austin- upbeat indie pop

Rey Pila- Mexico City- Scissor Sisters-like disco pop

September Girls- Dublin- grungy but pretty garage pop

So So Glos- Brooklyn- power pop twangy guitar goods

Spires- Brooklyn- jangly psych pop

Streets of Laredo- Brooklyn- fast paced folk rock

Troker- Mexico- funk with some killer organ and horns

Want to see a video of a song about crop circles that should be viral?

Thanks to a wonderful poster at the witty and always-friendly Phish messageboard Phantasy Tour, this video was brought to our attention when the original poster ran into this guy at a recent Railroad Earth show. The musician, Gregg Brown had a cardboard sign that said “youtube: Crop Circle Song”, and when you do exactly that you get this precious treat from the internet. At first it comes off as something you would see on public access; I didn’t know if it was a joke or someone being completely sincere, this repetitive droning sound under lyrics about the meaning of crop circles (aren’t they hoaxes?). I kept listening because the music is trancey and pleasing, and his voice is actually nice and melodious, pleasantly asking “Are they harbingers of world change? These secrets in the fieeeeeeelds”. Eventually I realized I was on my fifth listen in a row and took a break. You tell me. Is this greatness? Is this horrible? Kinda leaning on the former. Whatever it, this man deserves to be seen, and if anyone has more information of him, I would love to hear it. I don’t know what to call this other than “something else”. Get this man to sxsw, this is exactly what people want there:

He definitely read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Crop-Circles-Harbingers-World-Change/dp/0946551898

And buy the single for a dollar here. I have already listened to this five time today, it’s worth the dollar:

http://www.amazon.com/Crop-Circle-Song/dp/B001NG9Y4S

Habibi- “I Got the Moves”

habibi

Brooklyn girl group Habibi‘s new single is a little cloudpuff of a song, the smooth 60’s garagepop sound sweet but not too syrupy. Their name means “my love” in Arabic, and their sound is feminine and sexy. Hope they make it out to SXSW again this year. Listen here:

My All Time Favorite Austin Musicians Have a New Single!

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Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears are my favorite Austin-based band, as well as one of my favorite bands ever. With a full horn section and the best scream in the business, Black Joe can tear the roof off a venue. My husband pretty much only likes Talking Heads and the Grateful Dead, and even he never misses their shows, it’s like going to the funkiest church built. He has a new album coming out and just dropped the first single, and it’s quite a departure from the old sound. Like a punk rock James Brown, he commands the stage while giving his fantastic band time to shine, and I can’t WAIT to hear the new album. Bummer there are no Denver dates on this tour. Maybe next year!

New single “Electric Slave”

And for comparison, Black Joe’s former sound that is still there at his live shows (and also a ridiculously catchy song): Sugarfoot

Shakey Graves Concert Review- He’ll get in your SOUL

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Shakey Graves is a one man band to be reckoned with. Just when you think there are enough folk/blues singer/songwriters, someone like Shakey Graves fires through proving you wrong. Hailing from Austin, he’s recently finished a residence at The Parish and went on to become a big buzzed about musician during sxsw. When he walked up to the Denver show in his cowboy hat and leather jacket, fans were stopping him to shake hands, take pictures and tell him thank you. The word has really gotten out! The venue was packed clear back to the soundboard at Hi Dive, filled with people who had heard about this guy and his drum suitcase. He didn’t disappoint. Playing with ease and singing with conviction, he had the audience clapping and in awe, leaving them yelling for an encore, which he gladly played. Next time he comes through town, he’s going to have a big show, and it definitely won’t be free.

On a personal note, when reading his bio, I came across his old headshot. I knew Alejandro instantly from old castings and working on Spy Kids 3. Small world! I’m glad the ghost of Shakey Graves decided to haunt him, guy has talent galore, and I’ve gotta say, the ladies LOVE him, I saw y’all all swooning at the front last night!

listen to his album free here

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Cactus Feathers- Johnny Pfirman’s new collaborative

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Johnny Pfirman was in one of my favorite Austin bands (well, two), Til We’re Blue or Destroy and Radar Radar. He moved home to El Paso, built a house with a recording studio with his own hands, and created the soon to be released album Beach Fire. Isolation sounds good on Pfirman, for his new album he’s incorporated bass and drum parts (not that bass and drum) with long time friends Scott Lindsey and Aaron Grossberg, familiar partners in crime who were former bandmates of Johnny’s in Boulder’s The Leprechauns. Sending each other their parts from state to state, they have uniquely created the collaborative Cactus Feathers. These lo-fi recordings of yearning, dreaming and escaping with lyrics that give me that nice melancholy feeling of home hit the heart, subtly making me miss Austin. Check out the song “Stuck in Tallahassee and a Gunshot” I’ve uploaded to soundcloud below. Hopefully we get this former Boulder citizen back to the Front Range soon.

“Stuck in Tallahassee…” by John Pfirman

New Black Angels Album Streaming Now

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When I moved back to Austin in 2009, an old college friend introduced me to Christian Bland the very first day. All I knew was that he was a tall, sweet guy who could really rock a striped shirt. 20 something The Black Angels shows later, I am a total fangirl. These guys caused the resurgence of psych rock in Austin and run Austin Psych Fest, now 6 years running. Couldn’t be more proud or more excited about their success and only see them getting bigger. The new album is streaming today, and it’s wonderful as expected. Root for these guys, they work hard and are kind people.

free stream of the new album

link to Austin Psych Fest