FunFunFun Fest Preview: Purity Ring

One of the greatest things about FunFunFun Fest is the fest's knack for booking artists on the brink of success. Sure, there are names you recognize, there are the re-united legends and the buzzy, indie-artists but there are also artists like Purity Ring. If you go to the store to buy anything from, Canadian band, Purity Ring, all you will find are a couple of 7" singles floating around but I have yet to see one in the wild. When I saw the band's name as part of Fun Fest's line-up reveal I did not recognize it. Well, subsequently the name has been popping up all over the place. Apparently, Gorilla Vs. Bear has been writing about Purity Ring all year and I hadn't paid attention. Well guess what? I've been listening to Belispeak a lot at this point and I'm certainly paying attention now. You can hear 3 songs from Purity Ring over on their Soundcloud page and each song is killer. Also, if you check out their Tumblr linked above you can even download an Mp3 or two.

Purity Ring - Belispeak video via YouTube

So far all I really know about Purity Ring is that it's a Canadian project and they are signed to Fat Possum Records. They are, obviously, fans of vintage keyboards and seem to have a female vocalist. I can also tell you that on October 11th you can comb through the 7" bins at your local record shop and find a split release with fellow Canadians, Braids. One side with have Belispeak by Purity Ring and the Braids song included is, Peach Wedding.

Purity Ring - Ungirthed video via YouTube

Purity Ring will take to the Blue stage early on the Saturday of FunFunFun Fest so make sure you arrive early enough to catch their set. If, for some reason, you STILL don't have tickets to this year's FunFunFun Fest, you have roughly a month to get your shit together and buy tickets. Actually, you have a month until the fest starts, the tickets themselves WILL SELL-OUT before the fest, so get your shit together yo! You can also, take your chances at winning passes tomorrow at the Scavenger Hunt(s). Trust me though, you don't want to be at home during the first week of November reading everyone's tweets about Fun Fest you will be eating a huge regret hoagie and no one wants that.

Purity Ring - Lofricries video via YouTube

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Start Planning Your Weekend Now

I mentioned a few weeks ago that shows in September and October will make up for the show-drought of summer. It won't make up for the actual drought, or the fact that today is the 90th day of 2011 that it's been at least 100 degrees outside but let's get back to the matter at hand. Whatchu doin this weekend grrrrl? I only ask because you've got a butt-load of options. As I mentioned yesterday there are the Mohawk anniversary shows happening all weekend, starting tonight. However, there are lots of other options ranging in location and genre. Let's focus on Friday night first. You can yacht-rock it out with your dad at ACL Live where Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonals will be performing. Or you could ditch dad and head a couple of blocks north to Antone's for some bad-ass underground hip-hop featuring Murs and Tabi Bonney. Tickets for that Murs/Tabi Bonney show are still available and will only set you back about $15.

Tabi Bonney - Sunlight video via YouTube

You can head, slightly east for the Quiet Company album-release celebration show at the ND as well Friday night.

One last show to mention for Friday night. It looks like Meshell Ndegeocello is actually playing two sets at the One World Theater tomorrow night. Tickets for this venue range from $20-$95, the higher-end price includes dinner and possibly a hand-job? I'm not entirely sure though as I have never been to the One World Theatre.

Meshell Ndegeocello - Fool of Me video via YouTube

Moving on to Saturday night, it's all about Emo's for me. We, as a music community, only have about 6 months longer to enjoy shows at Emo's Red River location. The outside stage was shuttered a couple of weeks ago but the intimate, inside stage lives on through post-SXSW 2012. Saturday night, the members of Cymbals Eat Guitars cram themselves onto the tiny corner stage to perform tunes from their sprawling new record Lenses Alien. Tickets WILL sell-out before Saturday so grab yours now!

Cymbals Eat Guitars - Definite Darkness video via YouTube

The other show I want to mention Saturday night is taking place over at Red 7. It's a Disastronauts benefit show to help those, whose lives were affected by the Bastrop wildfires. The show features Her Space Holiday, Bangaar, Reaganometry, Party Wizard and will be headlined by The Octopus Project.

The Octopus Project - Hallucinists video via YouTube

You can watch the REAL video for The Octopus Project's Hallucinists over at Vimeo. I just posted the above one for the sake of format consistency. There you have it, lots of options for your weekend, starting tonight. Snatch up tickets to the things that interest you because most of what I've mentioned isn't sold-out yet but most-assuredly will be by the time the doors open.

Oh snap! I almost forgot to remind y'all about the FunFunFun Fest scavenger hunts! I posted all of the deets already but they take place Saturday afternoon!!!

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The Mohawk Turns 5

Tomorrow the festivities for the Mohawk's 5 year anniversary begin. It's going to be a 4 day celebration with Sunday's show being a free one. You can and should get yourself a 4-day pass though because it includes tickets to all 3 paid shows and guarantees entry into Sunday night's free show. Also, it's less expensive than buying tickets to Thursday, Friday and Saturday night's shows individually.

Like I said, the whole thing kicks off tomorrow night with The Arm, Canoe, Christian Bland & the Revelators, Shapes Have Fangs, The Vitamins and Les Savy Fav.

Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends video via YouTube

Friday night's Mohawk anniversary show features local Grammy award winners, Grupo Fantasma headlining the outside stage. They'll be joined on the line-up by Soul Happening, Master Blaster Sound System and Peligrosa Allstars.

Grupo Fantasma - Montañozo video via YouTube

Day 3 of the Mohawk anniversary shows will be headlined by Lucero along with Moonlight Towers, Frank Smith, Mike & the Moonpies and East Cameron Folkcore.

Lucero - Indispensable video via YouTube

The final, official, day of celebration is Sunday night's free show headlined by, My Education. Sunday night will also find other local talents Transmography, Marriage, Golden Bear and Lean Hounds.

My Education - Sunrise video via YouTube

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Quiet Company Shows and Album-Release

Local piano-popsters Quiet Company have a new album and there are many ways to hear and/or acquire it. Tomorrow night at the ND they are hosting a VIP party where they'll perform an acoustic set. If you grab tickets to the VIP party you will get yourself a copy of the We Are All Where We Belong on vinyl or CD formats. Thursday night's VIP show also includes performances by other, great, Austin musicians: The Wealthy West (Brandon Kinder of the Rocketboys solo project), Nakia, Michael Kingcaid of What Made Milwaukee Famous, Saints of Valory, Ram Vela of Whitman, Patty Drew of Soldier Thread, Joe Reyes of Buttercup and last but not least Stoney.

In addition to all of these great performances and a copy of the new album, purchasers of tickets to Thursday night's VIP show at the ND will also receive tickets to Friday night's, official, Quiet Company non-acoustic show at the ND.

Quiet Company - Fear & Fallacy, Sitting in a Tree video via YouTube

If you can't make it out to the shows tomorrow and/or Friday night, you can still pick-up the new album digitally or physically next Tuesday, October 4th. Or, if you just can't wait that long, the whole thing is streaming now over at Paste. If you are going to both shows, the below video will probably give you a sense of what you can expect from Quiet Company's acoustic set on Thursday night:

Quiet Company - Hold My Head Above the Water video via YouTube

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Junior Boys at the Mohawk

Canadian, electro-dance dudes, Junior Boys will rock your pants off before 10:30pm at the Mohawk tonight. I know it's only Tuesday but what that really means is you can park downtown without feeding the stupid parking meters and most of the brainless, pre-alcoholic neanderthals who roam downtown on the weekends are stuck on campus. In other words, it's your town baby and Junior Boys are providing the soundtrack. Their latest album, out on Domino is called It's All True and it's full of the big, fun, hooky, undeniable beats you've come to expect from Junior Boys. The first (9+ minute) single from the album, Banana Ripple has had Mr. S. dancing at his desk for months and if you're reading this at work it will have you doing the same. If you want to desk-dance away from the office, you can still get tickets to tonight's show for less than $15.

Junior Boys - Banana Ripple video via YouTube

As I mentioned above, since tonight's show at the Mohawk takes place on the outside stage, Junior Boys have to be done around 10:00pm. The doors open at 6:30pm so, make sure you arrive early. Toronto-based producer, Egyptrixx will be starting things off and if those crazy kids over at XLR8R magazine have their way, you'll be there with bells on.

Egyptrixx - Chrysalis Records featuring Trust video via YouTube

Oh, and since you're already going to be downtown with a parking space and all that and since the Junior Boys are done around 10pm, you might as well head down the street to Barbarella and keep the party going at Tuezgayz. It's a total fabrication on my part but I bet the Junior Boys will be there to dance!

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