Free Week is Here: Part the Third

You didn't think I'd leave you hanging on what to do Saturday did you? Alright, I'll be honest I considered it. I changed my mind though, geez get over it already. I like the way Part the Third looked so I'm going to do a similar thing here. Rather than recommend one show or one band, I'm just going to highlight some artists and tell you when (roughly) and where (actually) they'll be performing. In my opinion Saturday isn't AS jammed with bad-ass can't miss acts but it's certainly a solid evening of music nonetheless. Listen to this jam and then find my highlights after the break.


Mirror Travel (Formerly Follow That Bird!) - The Ghosts That Wake You video via YouTube

Starting around 8:30ish - 9:30ish:

• Little Lo at Mohawk (Inside)
• Residual Kid at Red 7 (Inside)
• LZ Love at Flamingo Cantina

Starting around 9:30ish - 10:30ish:

• Mirror Travel at Holy Mountain
• The Gents at Club DeVille
• Foot Patrol at Flamingo Cantina

Starting around 10:30ish - 11:30ish

• Flesh Lights at Red 7 (Outside)
• East Cameron Folkcore at Holy Mountain
• Stereo Is a Lie at Frank
• Dikes of Holland at Beerland

Starting around Midnight or later-ish:

• The Crack Pipes at Beerland
• Left Over Crack at Beauty Ballroom
• My Education at Red 7 (Inside)
• Marmalakes at Mohawk (Inside)
• Whitman at Frank

So, there you have it. My Saturday Free Week highlights. If you're in a band playing Free Week (or anytime really) and you're reading this. SAY YOUR BANDS NAME SEVERAL TIMES DURING YOUR PERFORMANCE!!! Most people don't know who you are, they are just wandering in to free shows and wandering out at random points. Make an effort to say, your bands name and if you have purchase-able things available at least THREE times during your set. It would really help all of us.




Read more!

Free Week is Here: Part the Second

As previously discussed, Free Week is in full swing and in 2013 a week is actually 12 days! As one might expect, since tonight is a weekend evening it's heavily stacked with great acts spread throughout downtown and downtown-annex-zones (E. Riverside, E. 6th). My top choice for tonight is the Modern Outsider showcase, which features the best of what the local label/management team has to offer right now. The evening with kick-off with The Soft Swells, followed by My Jerusalem, The Black and White Years, The Calm Blue Sea with a headlining set from Ume. In other words, it's a sold line-up from start to finish and since it's at Emo's there is free on-site parking and the line for a drink will move swiftly.


Ume - Run Wild video via YouTube

There are so many great bands playing tonight that outside of the Modern Outsider showcase, I'm going to recommend you jump around. I know that's sort of a pain in the ass but think of it is a mini-SXSW for locals-only and suck it up. So, rather than highlight a specific event, I'm going to give you time guestimates and locales. I don't have specific set-time information I'm just giving you ballpark numbers based on experience. So, here we go:

Starting around 9ish - 10ish:

• The Laughing at Mohawk (Outside)
• FEATHERS at Holy Mountain

FEATHERS - Land of the Innocent video via YouTube

Starting around 10:30ish - 11ish:

• Emily Bell at Parish
• Mixed Use Media at Mohawk (Outside)

Mixed Use Media - Trap video via YouTube

Starting around 11:00 - 11:30ish:

• Orthy at Holy Mountain
• Politics at Black Heart

Orthy - Sueños video via YouTube

Starting around Midnight or later:

• Golden Boys at Red 7 (Outside)
• A Giant Dog at Hotel Vegas
• Halaska at Lustre Pearl
• The Couch at Swan Dive
• Boyfrndz at Scoot Inn

Boyfrndz - TV video via YouTube

So there are my suggestions for this evening. Shit get's a little crazy around midnight if you want to hop around. I'm most likely just going to stick to Emo's myself but I know people like options.



Read more!

Free Week is Here: Part the First

The weather is grey and chilly, the presents have all been wrapped and returned and we've watched the time-delayed ball drop from Times Square that can only mean one thing. It's Free Week!! That's right, it's that time of year when we can converge on downtown in mass and waltz into Austin's best music venues to experiences some of Austin's best bands. It's like a scaled-down locals-only SXSW. Alright, that's kind of a stretch but it's still cool and this year the week is 10 days and it includes more venues than ever before. There are lots of great shows every night with a cluster of some of the best happening on Friday. Here are some of my recommendations to help guide you in your free-spirited, Free Week meanderings. Let's go chronologically shall we?

My first recommendation for this evening is over at Cheer-Up Charlies. Regardless, Harlem spin-off band Grape St. headlines tonight and that's my top pick. They make quirky, spastic indie-rock and their album is only available on casette so you know they're legit.



My number 2 pick for this evening is a close second. Tiger Waves is headlining Holy Mountain tonight along with Holy Wave, Grandfather Child, Politics, Borrisokane. It's a very solid line-up from start to finish but I'm most excited about the indie-pop of Tiger Waves.



Let's move onto Thursday. My top pick for Thursday night involves a trip to Beerland for Foreign Mothers. They play the middle set between Ghetto Ghouls and The Dead Space so expect them to go on around 10:30 or so.



This Friday has the most heavily stacked line-up of good bands to see. In fact, I'm just going to end this post here and pick it up with Friday recommendations tomorrow. #CoitusInterruptus

Read more!