Digitalism at the Parish

It's been emeffin' cold in Austin this week. You know the best way to cure those cold weather blues? If you answered, dancing your ass off to German electronic music played through Austin's best sound-system over at the Parish then we are on the same wavelength. You can find me and the rest of Austin's coolest people sweating through our Threadless T-Shirts on the hardwood floors of the Parish tomorrow night. If you'd care to join us in seeing Digitalism then you should grab yourself some tickets while they're still available. Something tells me even if there are a few tickets left at the door Friday night they'll be gone early. The latest release from Digitalism is, I Love You, Dude and it's filled with big, industrial beats, edgy keyboard sounds and just the right amount of indie-minded live instrumentation. If you went to the Alamo Drafthouse this summer then you probably already heard the song Two Hearts, which was featured in one of their monthly trailers.

Digitalism - 2 Hearts video via YouTube

Taking opening band duties tomorrow night is up-and-coming electronic duo, Data Romance. They hail from Vancouver and have been compared to The XX and Bat for Lashes so you know I'm sold. Also, the fact that they are coming out of the Vancouver scene speaks very highly of them, they've been churning out some amazing electronic music in the great, white North lately. I mean, have you heard Blood Diamonds? It's tiiiiight! Anyway, if you get to the Parish around 10p you shouldn't have any problem catching all or most of Data Romance's set. I expect it will be one of those, I'm glad I was here for this moments, like when Warpaint opened for Akron/Family. Remember that?

Data Romance - The Deep video via YouTube

Damn, that Data Romance video was creepy y'all! Even though it's, mostly, unrelated I'm going to include this jam from Blood Diamonds too. Vancouver represent!

Blood Diamonds - Grins video via YouTube

Best of 2011: Locals Only

Alright, I'm going to start this list with the usual disclaimers about how art is subjective and ranking one piece of art above another is just silly. However, as a music nerd I love lists, which is why this is my favorite time of year. You can look forward to my albums of the year list next week along with Shivvy's. For now, I thought I'd shine a light on some Austin and/or Austin-area artists who had enjoyable music releases this year. Click the name of the artist to go to their homepage, click the name of the release to go to a purchase page. I'm sure there are lots that I will leave out, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy that band, it just means I didn't include it in this list. In other words, you can save your gripes for Oprah's return 'cause I ain't even interested grrrl! In the spirit of, "oh shit I forgot about that one" I present to you the Bloggy Top 11 Austin releases of 2011:

• 11: Equals - Equals EP

  
  
  





• 10: Frank Smith - Monsters

  
  
  Frank Smith's record, Before You Were Born actually comes out in January but he released Monsters and A Decline THIS year so, I'm including it.
  
  
  Frank Smith - Monsters video via YouTube




• 9: Pure X - Pleasure

  
  
  I'm also including Pure X's You're In It Now EP, as part of this entry. Although, the video below is from the LP, Pleasure.
  
  
  Pure X - Surface video via YouTube




• 8: The Calm Blue Sea - The Calm Blue Sea

  
  
  
  The Calm Blue Sea - Literal video via YouTube




• 7: The Strange Boys - Live Music

  
  
  The album title uses the short "i" sound, as in "living the music."
  
  
  The Strange Boys - Me and You video via YouTube




• 6: Sleep ∞ Over - Forever

  
  
  




• 5: Wild Child - Pillow Talk

  
  
  




• 4: Quiet Company - We Are All Where We Belong

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




• 3: The Wooden Birds - Two Matchsticks

  
  
  
  The Wooden Birds - Criminals Win video via YouTube




• 2: Ume - Phantoms




Ume - Captive video via YouTube



• 1: White Denim - D

  
  
  Just like I did with the Pure X entry, I'm including White Denim's Takes Place In Your Work Space EP because it's an extension of D and features one of my favorite White Denim songs to date, Handwriting.
  
  
  White Denim - Street Joy video via YouTube

You can find most of these artists if you're a Spotify user and want to hear more. Frank Smith has his previous releases on Spotify but, the songs I posted above are from an album due out in 2012 so you won't find them there. For the other 10, I've made a little playlist for you to enjoy. So, there you have Best of Austin 2011. Feel free to leave your thoughts, concerns, etc in the comments or tweet @AustinBloggy.

The Sea and Cake Thursday

Living in Austin, it seems that every few months a band comes along that I adored in college but never really thought I'd be seeing perform live. Well, this Thursday one such band is gracing the Mohawk's outside stage and I am very excited. The Sea and Cake are one part jazz band, one part indie-rock group and when I was in college radio I had never heard anything like it. Their latest release is called Moonlight Butterfly, it was released this year to little fanfare but I recommend you check it out. With 6 tracks it's not quite an LP and more than an EP but regardless of how it's classified it's great music and you can expect Thursday night's show at the Mohawk to be excellent. Tickets are only $15 and given that this is an outdoor show you can expect it to start and end fairly early. I really have no idea how popular The Sea and Cake are in Austin but something tells me that this show will be sold-out before the doors open at 7pm. In other words, you should probably grab some tickets while you still can.

The Sea and Cake - Weekend video via YouTube

Like I said, Thursday night's show is going to start and end early so you should arrive before 8p if you want to catch local band, My Education's, opening set. Their sound is more shoe-gaze than jazz but they don't really fit into either of those categories. I think they're a great fit for The Sea and Cake show even though they don't just like them, their music should still appeal to the same audience. You can listen to My Education's music, which is streaming over on their bandcamp page.

My Education - Sunrise video via YouTube