Sunday, April 20, 2008


A Vindication of The Austin Music Scene, or Why Noah is Full of Himself
 

I was going to write a post about the risks and rewards of entering the indie-pop genre, but I've put that in the bag until next week, having read this, from Noah's post yesterday: "So there it is, another five reasons why Seattle, and, er, the surrounding area, kick ass.  But here’s what I want from you kids, tell me why your town/city/commune/bomb shelter is better than  Seattle.  What bands are making your loins quiver?  What live show is getting your love life working again?  I want answers!" After his blanket discount of all non-Seattle music, my first response to this blatantly loaded question, after catching my breath and getting back in my chair, was to write a scathing vindication of Austin's music scene. "Seattle," I gasped!  "The city God shat to the Earth to 'spice up' the depressingly boring northwest.  Now Austin, there's a town,"  I wrote, "there's a city where good music is born without having to ride the flannel shirt-tails of Curt Cobain."  I didn't actually write that last part, but I was equally irate and misguided. Now that I've had time to calm down, I realize Noah makes a very valid point, and Seattle does have one of the best music scenes in the country (if only because there's nothing else to do there).  I read Sound on the Sound like it's a national blog, which in about 3 years, as Noah says, it may as well be.  Seattle, in its long history of impressive music, is a machine, and an efficient one at that.  You need guaranteed good music in a hurry? Look no further than the rainy jewel of the northwest, pumping out good tunes hourly.  You can set your watch to it.  I have. But Austin is different.  It's not institutionalized like Seattle is.  We don't have Sub-Pop, Bazurk or K Recs, we've got startup labels with tiny rosters, putting out hundred CD runs that still require multiple life-savings to be expensed.  We don't have huge bands to point home to Austin (except maybe Spoon and some others) like Seattle has in Nirvana, Modest Mouse and Death Cab.  That's not to say Seattle doesn't have it's own "scene" native to the town, just like we do here in Austin, what I'm saying is that Austin doesn't quite have the "institutions" that Seattle does yet, and the adolescent years of our great city are a great thing to be a part of. Austin is a scene that's still very much figuring itself out, and that means there's hundreds and hundreds of great bands who are fighting for the top spots when the bubble finally burst and we go national.  The fact is, with so many people involved and focused locally, getting into the scene is like joining a group of friends, all united to promote Austin music. It's organic, it's personal, and it's very soon going to be a much bigger operation, so buy in while you can. Let's take a look at the top seeds:

:Mothfight! - Hopscotch:  Head over to Pitchfork and search for lead singer Kevin Adickes's name and you'll find old reviews he wrote back in 2002.  Does being an ex-Pitchfork writer give you an advantage over the competition?  I don't know, but it's safe to say this band sounds like nothing I've ever heard.  Somehow they manage to cram hundreds of sounds into their music, and still weave it together into catchy, entertaining songs. Hopscotch is one of the few recordings they've made yet (probably because it takes months to commit the sheer volume of instruments to tape).  They're working on their debut album right now, which will probably blow up your stereo.

:The Lovely Sparrows - Department Of Forseeable Outcomes:  If you didn't catch John's post on this the other day, here's your second chance. The Lovely Sparrows are hands down one of the best Austin-based bands, and they've been getting more national attention as of late.  They've got a bit of a southern-indie rock thing going on, and the songs tend to be a little saddening, if only because of their harshly accurate depiction of the world, but it's certainly not your average "My city's rainy, watch me cry"-sound (Lord knows where that originated). This song is from their upcoming album Bury The Cynics.

:Aliens - Stow Away:  I got this CD to review a few months ago, thinking I'd have to sharpen my critical teeth, but I ended up liking it quite a bit.  It shows a different side of Austin, specifically the side that sounds like R. E. M. and Dinosaur Jr. in a blender.  Aliens main-man Blake Sandberg runs Misc. Music here in Austin, which also carries Jad Fair (of Half-Japanese), so it's safe to say he knows a thing or two about making good original music.  While this song does sound like a toss back to a harder R. E. M., the rest of the album ventures into new areas of rock which will hopefully be expanded on soon.  Aliens are about to embark on a tour all over the US. I suggest you catch them if they come through your town.

:Brazos - Comatose:  I wrote a little bit about another Brazos song a while back in my first post.  And here they are again, representin' Austin. The EP A City Just As Tall from which this song came is but a short glimpse of my excitement for the full length, hopefully coming out soon.  To me, they sound like someone took all the empty space in A Ghost is Born, and filled it out with calming atmospheric tones, beautiful acoustic guitars, and Martin Crane's soothing vocals (and excellent lyrics). Comatose illustrates my point nicely.  I suggest fixing a gin before you hit play.

:Graham Weber - Field Of Marigolds:  I'm not sure if Graham Weber is ever going to "make it," but only because the market for this kind of music doesn't quite fit with the low-V-neck-sporting indie kid scene these days (I could write a whole post about how much I hate low-cut V-necks.  I don't want to see your chest hair, or lack thereof.).  Anyway, the point I'm making is that I'll go to my grave championing Graham Weber and the music he makes.  His lyrics alone steal the show: "Out past the spotlights of the fairground, out of range of the echoed auctioneers, there's a pageant winner waiting for a tango, with a yellow blossom tucked behind her ear."  Then of course, the music sounds like every album The Jayhawks should've made.  His third album Door To The Morning is a goldmine of more of these great tunes.

- John Michael Cassetta -



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