Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > November > 11
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Strange Boys debut new song, announce album
Well, that was fast.
Less than a year after the release of fuzzed-out, passionate garage rock treasure ” …And Girls Club,” Austin’s the Strange Boys have announced their follow-up album, “Be Brave” and released its title track to the masses. The youthfully fierce — or is that fiercely youthful? — band recently signed to London’s Rough Trade record label for territories outside the U.S. (here in the States, they’ll remain on In The Red). They’ve also added vocalist and saxophonist Jenna Thornhill of Mika Miko, the Los Angeles noise punk band that took its final bow this weekend at the Fun Fun Fun Fest.
Appropriately for the band’s energetic ethos, “Be Brave” was recorded in two weeks in Costa Mesa, California. It should be out in February 2010, preceded by a limited edition 7-inch single of the title track. The U.S. and U.K. editions will have different b-sides.
Listen to the charming “Be Brave,” with its AM-radio-quality production and infectious chorus, below.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
The times they are a-changin’: vinyl and digital downloads set sales records
The latest set of data from Nielsen SoundScan, the information system that tracks sales of music in the United States and Canada, is out, and paints an interesting picture of a music industry in flux.
As reported by Billboard, digital sales of music are unsurprisingly on the rise — four artists so far this year (Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift) have broken the digital track sales record of 9.9 million, set last year by Rihanna. Jackson, both predictably and justly, is in the lead with 11.3 million. Digital full album sales this year, meanwhile, are on track to beat last year’s record of 65 million sometime next week.
There’s little shock there — the narrative that digital sales are the future of the music industry has spread far and wide. More interesting is that vinyl, the little format that could, continues its slow-but-steady ascendancy up the sales ranks. More than 2 million vinyl albums have been sold this year, breaking last year’s record of 1.9 million — though it’s worth noting that SoundScan’s data extends only back to 1991, the year the service started. Still, vinyl sales are showing 37 percent growth year-to-date over 2008, an impressive boost. There’s no telling how long that kind of growth will last, but if nothing else it looks like the vinyl resurgence is here to stay. That’s good news for Austin’s assorted vinyl-specializing record stores, such as Backspin Records, Antone’s Records, End of an Ear and Breakaway.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Get ready to catch Yellow Fever
Smack-dab in the midst of a tour of the West Coast and the Southwest that kicked off last week in San Diego, minimalist Austin art pop duo Yellow Fever have announced they’ll release their self-titled debut full-length Dec. 1.
Jennifer Moore and Adam Jones have been kicking around Austin since 2006. The understated band marries Moore’s subtly psychedelic vocals with catchy bass lines and imagery-rich lyrics.
The album appears to be a compilation of two previous EPs, “Cats and Rats” and a self-titled effort, and the duo’s “Culver City” 7-inch. It’ll drop on Wild World, which the particularly savvy might recognize as the boutique label launched by Brooklyn garage rock trio and SXSW workaholics the Vivian Girls last year.
You can take a listen to track nine, “Hellfire,” below, and surf on over to the MySpace for more.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Live review: Jay-Z at Erwin Center
Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN
- Photos: Jay-Z at the Frank Erwin Center
It’s safe to say Jay-Z doesn’t want for self confidence.
Over the course of a world-conquering 90 minutes Tuesday at the Erwin Center the world’s most charismatic CEO compared himself favorably to Julius Caesar, Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley and probably could’ve lyrically worked over Jesus Christ and Czar Nicholas II if he’d decided to dip into his mix tape reservoir.
As the old saying goes, though, it ain’t bragging if it’s true and in the space of two dozen songs the man born Shawn Carter made a pretty airtight argument for why his name should one day belong amongst history’s greats.
He had help; a 10-piece band gave different touches throughout like “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and its hot jazz vibe or the hard rock feel of “Empire State of Mind,” and Memphis Bleek served as both hype man and utility verse trader when needed while openers Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D.), Bridget Kelly and J. Cole made deserving cameos.
But the show in total was a confirmation of Jay-Z as singular force of nature, the guy who can make an arena pretty much combust at the first notes of “U Don’t Know,” pull 87 lyrical swerves over the course of “Jigga What, Jigga Who” or get away with cramming some of his best or best-known songs (“On to the Next One,” “‘03 Bonnie & Clyde,” “Can I Get A?”) into a medley during the encore.
The scale of achievement going on Tuesday was even more stark compared to a weekend of good-to-great performances at Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest by the likes of The Cool Kids, GZA and The Pharcyde, all of them enjoyable and praiseworthy but together not containing one-tenth the ability to keep an audience locked in and riveted on their every word and motion.
For Jay-Z, though, owning the spotlight and the microphone is a way of life akin to breathing or eating. So it’s no surprise he could get audience members in every section of the arena whipping around jackets, towels or whatever they had handy as visual decoration for “Big Pimpin’,” or that he stopped the song when crowd participation wasn’t quite to his liking.
To help the cause, he decided to count down from 10 before starting again. When he reached zero the place was covered-ears loud, imposing another smile on the face of the man who near show’s end claimed he invented the move of wearing a New York Yankees hat turned to the side.
Whether he did or not was irrelevant. On this night every word the man delivered was gospel to the thirsty faithful.
Set List: Run This Town, D.O.A., U Don’t Know, 99 Problems, Show Me What You Got, Give It To Me, Diamond Is Forever, Jigga My N——, Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Jigga What Jigga Who, P.S.A., Heart of the City, Already Home, Empire State of Mind, A Star Is Born, So Ambitious, Dirt Off Ya Shoulder
(encore break)
Thank U, medley (On to the Next One, Excuse Me Miss, Venus Vs. Mars, ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde, Lucifer, Swagga Like Us, Can I Get A?), Big Pimpin’, Hard Knock Life, Numb/Encore, Young Forever
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment Categories: Reviews
