It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for Nick Courtright’s weekly
first glance at music discovered in the last seven days, whether it be
just-released, just-leaked, or some long-lost gem that has remained
under the radar. Click here for
other recent editions of Hot Off the Press, featuring acts such as
Deerhunter, TV on the Radio, Deerhoof, Juana Molina, Crystal Stilts,
White Denim, and Grizzly Bear.
Dent May – The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele
to be released February 3rd on Paw Tracks
Report Card: A-
Okay, there’s definitely an element of the terrible here. I mean, look at that album cover. Just look at it. Seriously.
But once you get past that, and listen to the album a dozen times or
so, bigger issues start coming up: this Dent May, this
straight-from-Mississippi scoundrel, just how serious is he? How much
irony is there to his lounge-lizardly, microphone-hanging, bad suit
wearing persona? Is all his crooning like an inebriated and
discernibly less talented Jens Lekman, all his singing about a
formidable cast of losers ranging from college town hangers-on to the
unimpeachably woman-rejected to the despondently intoxicated, just part
of a master plan to make people smile when listening to music, rather
than wallow in the effluvious well of their own bourbonized misery?
Local live footage for Til We're Blue Or Destroy's "Don't Ever Let the Bastards Win" off the record This Train.
Til We're Blue Or Destroy are playing Mohawk on Tuesday, December 9. Tickets will be available at the door.
Pontiak
RIYL: The Black Angels, Dead Meadow, Brightblack Morning Light
Performing: December 2 @ Mohawk
Pontiak
are three brothers from Virginia, who play “post-stoner,” psychedelic
sludge rock that’s been compared to a Sabbath, the Doors, Floyd and
Harvey Milk. Their latest full-length, Sun on Sun was recorded
in a log cabin in their Blue Ridge home state in four days and later
released on Thrill Jockey Records (home to free jazz icon Fred Anderson
and post-rock pioneers Tortoise and The Sea and Cake).
“Sun on Sun” is like a nightmarish reimagining of Cooder’s Paris, Texas soundtrack, a hellish trek through a psilocybin desert where the heat
makes you hallucinate. Largely instrumental, the track unfolds with
workman like precision, Van Carney’s vocals disaffected and
uninterested. Churning bass tones, acid rock organs and reverb heavy
guitars fill out the rest of Sun on Sun.
Shot by Miguel Delgado
Live performance of Whispertown 2000's "Old Times" from their Swim LP filmed live at the Epiphany Theater in Chicago, Il on Sept 19th, 2008.
Music video for Pontiak's "White Hands" off the album Sun On Sun. Released in 2008 by Thrill Jockey Records.
See Pontiak play Mohawk on Tuesday, December 2. Get your tickets at the door.
As I mentioned in my Day One recap, the 2008 Fun Fun Fun Fest brought some incredible punk, hip hop, indie, electronica, and comedy acts to Waterloo Park in Austin in early November. The result was a mouthwatering buffet of an assortment of musical genres to satisfy our appetites. The stellar lineup had a fair balance of local and national talent and I was lucky enough to have the honor of interviewing a number of the artists in the Austinist media tent at the fest. The Austinist and Roxwel teamed up with Transmission Entertainment to conduct 54 (has to be some sort of record!) interviews in two days – most of the individual interviews are still being edited and will be available on Roxwel's site in due time, but we can offer a couple of early, sneak-peak recaps -- Day One and Day Two. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy some action from my Day Two at Fun Fest below!
On Sunday, our initial afternoon interview schedule was light so the Austinist and Roxwel early birds decided to take a walk to the Indie Stage. Til We're Blue Or Destroy really seem to be finding its feet of late and although I wasn't able to stick around for the set, I did watch them investigate a few songs during their soundcheck (pictured above). I have seen this band live quite a few times on Red River St. and the multi-faceted collective and its novel compositions seem to be getting better and better with time. Ume has been receiving rave reviews as well and Lauren Larson is a true rock star on stage. I took in quite few of Ume's crunching rock ditties before making my way back to the media tent.
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