Austin is the Live Music Capital of the World.
Every single night of the week, all over town, Austin reverberates with the sweet sounds of local music. To highlight some of the great local acts you should support, we frequently share a list of five bands you need to hear. Welcome to Volume 25! To check out Volume 24, featuring Summer Swells, Honey Son, Bill Converse, and more, click here.
Contributed by Ryan Ricks
Photo Credit: Sometimes a Legend Facebook
Composed of members from local acts Mother Falcon and Sip Sip, Sometimes a Legend makes clean-cut indie pop colored with echoes of baroque, electro pop, and funk. The band's latest release—a slew of Soundcloud uploads—careens from genre to genre, blending 808s with saxophone and vibraphone, strings and grand piano. On "Who Cares / Sleep Tight," Sometimes a Legend places a fitful piano loop within a canvas of lush, moody strings, eventually ascending to a sullen climax anchored by frontman Bowman Maze's delicate croon: "It's not the same without you." Fresh and ambitious, Sometimes a Legend stretches convention to its farthest corners while maintaining naive optimism and romance; this is pop music that lands just left-of-the-dial.
Photo Credit: Weak Flesh Facebook
Weak Flesh's self-description on their Facebook pretty much says it all: "grinding, spastic pepper spray from ATX." Loyal soldiers to Austin's underrated grindcore and powerviolence scene—see Mothman and Chest Pain —Weak Flesh makes abrasive, crushing grind. Blood Mouth, the four piece's most recent offering, is a collection of 30 to 60-second blitzes, a crushing punk document indebted to the gods of drop tuning and blast beat. Like a nuclear explosion, the album incinerates and decimates those stuck in its backdraft of caustic guitars and incendiary percussion. Weak Flesh puts Austin on the powerviolence map, proving the city is not just a haven for angelheaded hipsters and techies. A true combat boot to the teeth.
Photo Credit: CArpe Diem Austin
Billy King & the Bad Bad Bad, like their name suggests, have a fascination with 50s grease and teenage lawlessness. Pegged as "surf rock from hell" by Austin Deli, the local trio's songbook is certainly populated with chthonic monsters: werewolves, reapers, and demons all make appearances. Like a band lifted from the screen of a malt shop horror, Billy King is a carnival of fun, evoking a bygone era of rebellion, Marlon Brando, and beach parties. While their acid-baked garage rock undoubtedly recalls bands like The Oh Sees and Ty Segall, Billy King & the Bad Bad Bad manage to emerge from the deluge of reverb n' overdrive as luminaries, using their unabashed appreciation of 50s kitsch to forge new pathways.
When: Saturday, Oct. 7th @ Swan Dive
Photo Credit: The Midgetmen Facebook
For the past fourteen years, The Midgetmen have delighted Austin with their unique blend of wry irony and punk rock. With a discography that spans an impressive fourteen years, The Midgetmen are Austin's little-band-that-could, a shit-talking four-piece whose infectious blend of loud guitars and clever, knowing lyrics have earned them a spot on the local greats list. From their salad days as self-referential troublemakers (2004's High Life) to their elder years as touch-of-grey Mascis worshippers (2011's Loud Enough), The Midgetmen always provide one hell of an experience. They are undoubtedly one of the best bands Austin has to offer.
Photo Credit: This Cold Night Facebook
Clicking through photos of This Cold Night is like flipping through the pages of a Trouser Press magazine: chiaroscuro, tucked-in oxfords, boyish haircuts. Not only does This Cold Night nail the Factory Records aesthetic, they also craft moody dark wave that could easily sit alongside Cabaret Voltaire or Joy Division in a Spotfiy playlist. On their eponymous 2014 debut, This Cold Night cleverly employs every trick in the post-punk songbook: syncopated drums, frigid bass lines, vocal delivery, etc. While some listeners may dismiss This Cold Night as nothing more than vintage stylists, the band does manage to explore new territory through experimentation in texture and instrumentation. This Cold Night may be indebted to goth projects of the 80s, but they're certainly one of the more head-turning acts in Austin.
When: Friday, October 6th @ The Sidewinder
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