Pure X at Red 7

One of the many things that brought many of you to Austin is the city's tradition of having a great music scene. Lots of us bloggers, including myself, tend to focus on the touring acts who play one-off shows in small venues here. There's nothing wrong with that except that it ignores the many fantastic local bands who play our city on a regular, or at least semi-regular basis. Pure X is one such band. Some of you may remember them when they were called Pure Ecstasy but that was many moons ago, so I'm presuming that you all know and love Pure X already.


Pure X - Surface video via YouTube


For those of you, who are NOT familiar with Pure X, they put out two of the best local releases last year. Their sound is cold, disaffected, minimalist shoe-gaze with a dash of dream-pop. Is that enough meaningless blog descriptors to convince you to listen to their music? If so, you can listen to their 2011 full-length, Pleasure on Spotify. It's the perfect soundtrack for reading Bret Easton Ellis novels. I mention all of this because I want you to see Pure X at Red 7 tomorrow night. Sure, going downtown on a Friday night is a pain in the ass but it's worth it! Tickets for tomorrow night's show are only $8. That's less than what it cost you to bring your girlfriend to see The Hunger Games last weekend.



Pure X - Easy video via YouTube

Doors open at 9pm at Red 7 and Pure X are headlining with two support acts.

Bowerbirds at the Parish

As you may recall from my ticket round-up post a couple of weeks ago, there are a lot of really great shows coming to Austin in the next few months. Many of them happen on the same day at separate venues, which means you're going to have to play a little indie-rock Sophie's Choice. Next Wednesday is one of those days in which there are several shows worth enjoying. I'll probably end up highlighting all of them before the 11th but today I'm focused on Bowerbirds. Their latest album The Clearing is another beautiful, textured, intimate song cycle of tunes from the Bowerbirds. With beautiful, catchy melodies, haunting string arrangements and anthemic crescendos, The Clearing has already won me over. I can not think of a better venue in Austin to showcase the Bowerbirds' sound than the Parish. Tickets are still available and since the show is on a Wednesday you won't have to feed the parking meters downtown! Isn't that exciting?


Bowerbirds - Tuck the Darkness In video via YouTube

English folk band, Dry the River will be the support act for the Bowerbirds show next Wednesday so make sure you are there by 9p if you want to catch their set. They did travel to Austin all the way from England so, chances are you won't have a bunch of chances to see Dry the River later this year. Their album, Shallow Bed will be released in the U.S. on April 17th. However, it has already earned them lots of critical praise overseas. They've been compared to, Mumford & Sons, Fleet Foxes and Noah & the Whale so if you like any of those bands, you're probably going to enjoy Dry the River.


Dry the River - New Ceremony video via YouTube