Handsome Furs at the 'Hawk

As I've mentioned in the past, there are roughly 500 bands affiliated with Canadian indie-rockers, Wolf Parade. Handsome Furs is one such band. The Furs, is Wolf Parader, Dan Boeckner and his wife as a 2-piece electronic outfit. When I'm not touring with my other bands, I like to hit the road with my significant other and some Casios, so I can totally identify with Handsome Furs. Their latest album Sound Kapital is a thing of fun and beauty, I look forward to hearing them performed on the Mohawk's outside stage tonight. If you want to get down with the Handsome Furs and I tonight, you best snag yourself some tickets. Sure, tickets are available now but if you wait until 10 o'clock tonight and try to pay at the door the other hipsters will just laugh at you because the show will be sold-out by then bro.


Handsome Furs - What About Us (Censored Version) video via YouTube

You can download some free MP3's from Handsome Furs over at the official SubPop site if you wish. I really wanted to "deep-link" some but I won't.

I have to go back to this touring with your significant other point for a moment and let you know that Handsome Furs actually shot an episode of a web-series for CNN called Indie Asia in which they share their experiences touring Asia as an indie-rock group. If you have not seen it before it's definitely worth watching. It's about a year old at this point but I only recently found out it exists and I had fun checking it out.


Handsome Furs - Rapatriated video via YouTube

Also, I wanted to mention that if you can't make it out to the Mohawk tonight you can catch a free performance from Handsome Furs at Waterloo Records at 5pm. I noticed that Waterloo actually streamed a recent performance from their shop, so if you're reading this from afar, move closer. So, feel free to skip out of work early and check out some Canadians in a record shop, I like to do that even if they aren't a performing band. #Hosers

Equals EP Release Party at Emo's

Austin is really turning out some great instrumental rock bands lately. Last Friday The Calm Blue Sea played a fantastic show at Emo's and tonight it's Equals. The band is celebrating the release of their latest EP, which you can download two tracks from, for free at their bandcamp page (linked back there). You can also check one of them out on Soundcloud if that's your preferred method of song preview. Their songs are melodic, with lyrical guitar inter-play, tight percussion and bursts of fury. This should be a great show for your Thursday night. If you're interested in checking this out tonight, you can still grab yourself some tickets for the, bargain price, of $5.


Equals - False Light video via YouTube


Sharing this Thursday night bill with Equals are three other local bands of note. If you arrive by 9:30 you can catch Sleep Good, Tactics, as well as, Wild Child. These may not be names you're familiar with yet but these are all quality, area bands who deserve your attention and you'll be hearing a lot more about them in the future. Just a little side-note from a blogger's point of view. I really wish all of these bands had names that were easier to google. Here I am trying to blog about bands I want to support and it's nearly impossibly to find good info about them. So, if you're forming a band please come up with a name that's easy to search. All you have to do is spell one of the words a little differently. That's all it take.


Sleep Good - Schlitterbahn video via YouTube

Dawes in Austin Today/Tonight

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of the band Dawes, however I recognize that those of you who read this site might be. There is nothing specifically negative that I would say about the band and I don't DISLIKE them, they're just not my favorite. So, I wanted to make sure that those of you who ARE fans of Dawes were aware that they are playing two sets in our fair-city on this date. You can catch a brief, gratis set over at Waterloo Records at 5pm today but arrive early as I expect this will be popular. You can also catch them over at La Zona Rosa tonight with Robert Ellis playing the support slot. As far as I know, the show has not sold-out yet but you can click this link for tickets if you really want to know.


Dawes - When My Time Comes video via YouTube


In other Dawes news, it looks like the band will be passing through Texas again in October, although not making a stop in Austin, as part of a co-headlining tour with Blitzen Trapper. The tour will be hitting Dallas and I would expect there to be lots of collaboration as these two bands seem to get along musically as well as personally.


Blitzen Trapper - video via YouTube

Dntel at Emo's TONIGHT!

Remember in the early aughts how in love you were with The Postal Service album, then by the mid-aughts you were kind of over it but still wished they would release another album? Well, kids guess what? That's not going to happen but the good news is the half of The Postal Service responsible for the cool beats and most of the production is still making music without that whine-ass Ben Gibbard. Dntel was making cool music BEFORE The Postal Service and after as well. The latest release is titled, After Parties it's a pair of EPs, which you can grab separately or as a combo. If you're a fan of electronic compositions that aren't endlessly generic house-music then tonight's show at Emo's is for you. You can still buy will-call tickets or you can roll the dice on the chance of paying $10 at the door. To be honest, I really don't have a gage for whether or not this show will sell-out. Personally, I love Dntel and I feel like a lot of other people would too but you may not realize it until you are at the show.


Dntel - video via YouTube


You can keep the party going before and after Dntel's set, by dancing your ass a couple of doors down to Barbarella where our friends with The Glitoris are hosting their wildly successful, weekly Tuezgayz event. I know it's only Tuesday night but I figure, if you're going to be downtown for a show, you might as well get sloppy and stay out until 2am right?


Dntel - Rock My Boat video via YouTube

ACL Festival Preview: The Head and the Heart

Well folks, Austin City Limits festival is less than a month away and this blogger is getting pretty excited. Can you believe I have never seen Arcade Fire perform live?!?!? I've loved them since before they were a band! No, but seriously there are a ton of great bands playing this, the 10th anniversary, of Austin City Limits Fesitval. I am specifically mentioning Arcade Fire as they are the headlining band on the final night of the festival, for which tickets are still available.

I also want to highlight a lesser-known band playing Sunday, September 18th at Austin City Limits Festival. The Head and the Heart are based in Seattle, their debut album was remastered and re-released this year by SubPop records and they have been touring with Dr. Dog, Vampire Weekend, The Decemberists and many other fantastic indie-mind artists this year. Their music is beautiful, honest, and pastoral with multi-part harmonies, string flourishes and intimate vocals. They have passed through Austin a few times in 2011 and ACL Fest promises to be their biggest audience yet. Make sure you are at Zilker Park by 1:00pm the final day of the fest, as The Head and The Heart will be taking to the Google+ stage at 1:30pm that day.


The Head and the Heart - Lost In My Mind video via YouTube


I was intending to mention that The Head and the Heart have an aftershow scheduled at Antone's but it appears to have sold-out. Sorry, about that folks but that should just further your resolve to check out the band's festival performance. If you haven't heard their LP yet, I encourage you to buy it, or at least check it out on Spotify.


The Head and the Heart - Rivers and Roads video via YouTube