New Music: Half Dream – “Too Much”
This song is bigger than Half Dream seemed to have in them. It might not be dancy but on the slide-scale of their sound, it might as well be disco. What a jam. No one is surprised. This being the first song to feature the new lineup with Jake Ames, Bryan Dalle Molle, and Vanessa Jollay could factor into that.
Artist Spotlight: Sean Sczepanik
Fun horror inspired by rock n roll; kindred art of the purest form; sums up all of what strikes us as notably memorable about the work of Sean Sczepanik. We love it.
Premier: Sweetfeed – “Highway of Hearts”
"Highway of Hearts" continues the can't-get-the-volume-high-enough excitement. These songs hype themselves. There is a rhythmically layered catchiness as each line dances on its own as though an entire chorus plays out with every five words that pass.
New Music – Blue Jean Queen Explodes Our Hearts With “Wild Wild Woman”
Between Stevie Nicks on "Edge of Seventeen" and Deana Carter with "Strawberry Wine," now there is an equal which somehow manages to draw comparisons to both at the same time. "Wild Wild Woman" is powerful, perfect, and rises into the realm of greatness by transcending forever beyond the person who created it to represent a moment forever speaking to whoever hears it as one of the great beacons of the realized rare potential music has the heights of reaching.
New Video(s): Lord Friday the 13th – “Bigots Beware”
Marking the first single from their Irrational Anthem EP, Lord Friday the 13th are celebrating with the release of THREE(!) videos for "Bigots Beware." Hey, with this extra time on our collective hands, at least they are putting it to good use. All we have been doing is refusing to put on pants while watching the Phantasm series with the sound off and Negativeland records blasting over it. Way to make us all feel ineffectually worthless. Geez.
New Video: Loteria – “Rhythm Revue”
For those who might be unfamiliar; when someone says "Austin music," either with acute awareness or down on the collective subconscious level, they are talking about Loteria.
New Video: Calliope Musicals – “Color/Sweat”
As with the 2019 album in which this is the title track from, we witness here yet another moment where Calliope Musicals prove to us they have an acute grasp on their collective output; stunning us by their growth and intriguing us along with their familiarity. Truly the band, their music, and this Jerry Sparkman directed video are impressively memorable.
Mixtape Monday: Incorruptible Deconstruction
Mixtape Monday: Incorruptible Deconstruction Comet Gain | Baby Jesus | The Schizophrenics | Meat Belt | The Lindas | The Milkshakes | Special Interest | Empty Markets | Liquids | Boing Boing | Lyres | Skegss | The Premonitions | Shadow Show | Spice | Les Posters | The Naysayers | Fossil Arm
New Video: Flower Graves – “Ociin”
I see Sheila Vand in that scene of perfection; all stylized and rhythmic, imagining had A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night been made six years later. She places the record on to fill the silence and space, love is precarious after all, possibly this could have been the song washing over the uncertainty between her and Arash Marandi. Would it have felt more dangerous? We should probably listen to "Ociin" another fifteen times to know for sure.
New Music: Blue Jean Queen
Is anyone else over completely the perpetual reminders that Rockyanne Bullwinkle is perfect?
Artist Spotlight: Virginia (Vajaja) Meza
Meza's paintings are centered on familiarity while bathing the viewer in invoked emotion. One piece can be heavy, another whimsically optimistic; all are alive and memorable in a naturalistic expression of the best kind.
New Music: Kay Odyssey – “No Birds Sing”
So maybe you were thinking this mood to put on some Mazzy Star in your search for self-motivation while floating across the sea of emotional confusion called for something more of the moment; escapist memories made attached to something of your own. Kay Odyssey cries out from the wilderness for you to do just that—near verbatim. Anyone else missing the days when Kay Odyssey seemed to be playing like a million shows and you couldn't wait to make it out to them all? We gotta shine on a little longer little diamonds. In the meantime, grab up a notebook, set "New Birds Sing" on repeat, and fill those pages with…
New Music Video: The Sour Notes – “Peak”
The Sour Notes continue earning believers with their heads down and hearts full. Their latest single"Peak" has a warmly fitting video directed by everyone's favorite familiar face Matzoh Ball to go with it, sending home completely the Slanted and Enchanted post-Go-Betweens aesthetic they have embodied since moment one. For all those thirsty for the beautifully broken early-nineties; drink up.
Album Review: Andrew Cashen – Guava Jazz
This album is about as jazzy as Morrisey's personality is tolerable but on the scale of listenable it leans decidedly more towards "highly" than it does "Jethro Tull." We recommend putting it on repeat while going toes up in some sunshine for a few hours, it was meant for being stuck at home looking for help tapping into the optimistic side of life.
New Video: Louisianna Purchase – “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
Fresh, inventive, inspiring; no one has hit the fashion world with the passionate, affecting, force of Jackson Montgomery (JXNART) in as long as our eyes have been looking to its lighthouse to keep us from crashing onto the tired shores of ανιαρός.
New Video: Dry Guy – “Something To Do”
Disaffected. Restless. Malcontent. If the collective unconscious had a talent beyond stoking the coals beneath our neurosis and honing in on the malaise of our be-here-now reality—learning bass perhaps, possibly figuring out how to structure a few minutes of noise—then no doubt in this foul-year-of-our-lord-Lemmy, "Something To Do," the quarantine inspired video from Dry Guy, is what it would come up with.
New Music: Billy King and the Bad Bad Bad – “Tiger’s Den”
Billy King and the Bad Bad Bad are not a band solely hyping us on where they are, nor is it the unexpected notable progress we feel from them at every show played, it is where they are going getting us excited to be in proximity of what they are doing.
New Music: Country Legend Roky Moon – “Choo Choo”
It seemed impossible to love Roky Moon any more than we already did. We were wrong.
Mixtape Monday: SXSW SPIRIT
"Don't ask me why I obsessively look to rock 'n' roll bands for some kind of model for a better society... I guess I glimpsed something beautiful in a flashbulb moment once, and perhaps mistaking it for a prophecy have been seeking its fulfillment ever since. And perhaps that nothing else in the world ever seemed to hold even this much promise." - Lester Bangs
Album Review: Attic Ted – “Kafka Dreaming”
Kafka Dreaming is a love letter to the possibilities of defining one's own boundaries over succumbing to expectations; even if those expectations are self-imposed. This album is a testament of the distance covered and growth felt on their journey.
Video Premier: Pelican Johnny – “Givin’ Up On You”
Shot straight to tape by Andy Gately, the new video for Pelican Johnny's "Givin' Up On You" is a visceral slice of hot n ready nineties reverence. The single itself is a solid balance between the sounds he often finds himself swaying between making it as good of song as any at allowing those new to Pelican Johnny to figure out what he is about while those whose radar he has floated on for years will hear just enough progress to note his growth gained through experience along the way.
Album Review: Schwein – Easy Does It
....a John Cale broken boldness sort of journey from open to close all swept over with a thousand hushed mystic ohms weaving the ride along. To break down the album track by track would be an injustice to its cohesive nature. Each song shakes hands with the next, peaks and valleys reflecting the same orgiastic light, the only disappointing moment coming as the album closes feeling full yet wanting more.
Video Premiere: Crocodile Tears – “Tuned Out”
Crocodile Tears make date music for the blank generation, cruising music for the down and outs, and are about as safe as good rock n roll can get. If this were 1980 they would rule the world.
Album Review: Warish – Down In Flames
Everything about Warish is off the cuff and hazy; they are equal parts walking through the horror section in the glory days of mom and pop video stores coupled with that experience felt playing the mixtapes your cool uncle or cousin snuck into your hands from time to time to show you a world far above the small town filled with small people with small dreams in which you were born shackled to, cramming headphones constantly in ears drowning your nonconforming alienation with the gentle track by track realization you are not alone.
New Music Video: The Sun Machine – “Cumbia de Lagrimas”
Austin's teen sensation hearthrobs The Sun Machine are out to prove there is more to junior high than homework and sleepovers. They do a damn fine job at doing just that on their latest grindcore/dreampop hit "Cumbia la Lagrimas."
Artist Spotlight: Austin Armstrong
Through the photographs of Austin Armstrong we feel the bridge from our place in this moment to the past. There is an ideology to every single shot, a line running through the all of appreciation, understanding, a therapeutic closeness holding hands with time eternal.
Beerland: Unpaid Staff Strikes Deep in the Heart of Our Community
Whatever happens, however things go forward, we can only hope these employees get paid what they are due with interest and that whether Beerland remains or not we can at least see this chapter coming to an end with the warm belief that despite the worst our community came together once more to protect what defines our love which is not an address or a fading painted wall in a claustrophobic space, no our love has never had an address attached to it, our love is about each other and despite every cheap shot thrown our way we continue to pick each other up to carry our collective dreams safely…
New Video: Teenage Cavegirl – “Space Girl”
Jesus Christ, someone send this video to every confused twelve year old before they mistakenly subscribe to Guitar World and start off down that disappointing path of Incubus respect which somehow leads to Steve Vai. There is room in this town for every facet of cool but if you are going to try, you better be going all in like these guys or you might as well head back to Alabama or wherever you were born to be forgotten in.
New Video: Attic Ted – “Skip to the Lulu”
Calling all fans of straight-to-video, filmed on videocassette horror; Attic Ted have something special lined up for you. "Skip to the Lulu" is directed by Jeffrey Garcia who kicks up nostalgic dust of Cannibal Cookout, The Video Dead, and Video Violence. Without leaning towards schlock humor the way Scott Barber did on Roky Moon's memorable "Creatures of the Night," this video embodies the weird yet serious methodos of Attic Ted– a notable balance to say the least. This is the first look at their new album Kafka Dreaming which will be out later this week.
BEST of SXSW 2019: Show Photos (part 2)
BEST of SXSW 2019: Show Photos (part 2) Banditos | Thelma and the Sleaze | Muther | Surfbort | Annabelle Chairlegs | John Wesley Coleman III | Pscience
Steven’s Visions: Vol. 1
Steven's Visions: Volume 1 Show photography by Steven Gonzalez
Album Review: Harlem Puts Us To Sleep With Oh Boy
Had this been their first album it would have been fine, a stepping stone not so much listened to by anyone but still exists in the background, a reminder of where they came from. As an album this far into the game, as something they have arrived at, Oh Boy sounds about as good as that Lou Reed/Metallica joint Lulu and barely more listenable.
Fanclub: All The Same EP and Instagram Takeover!
Fanclub: All The Same EP and Instagram Takeover! By Jay Armstrong I meant every word I said back in August gushing over Fanclub. What I did not know then, even in the light of such positive feelings, is how much getting their latest six songs would hit when playing it. This All The Same EP is a great step for the band. For the strength of their first two singles hearing their songs blend forming who they are and what shape they are proving to be is powerful beyond expectations. “Stranger” comes in like a John Hughes film; all four/four time and catch-me-if-you-can wanton synths, guitar lingering in the…
Artist Spotlight: Samantha Wendel
As with the often cryptic dimensions of her most ambitious pieces, Wendel's being hides there secretly to be seen only if one feels driven to invest the energy to stare passionately into the abyss of her creativity.
Artist Spotlight: I.S Mancha
Photographer I.S. Mancha captures ideological American optimism through nostalgic romantic eyes. Carl Jung once wrote, “who looks outside dreams; who looks inside awakes,” Mancha does both.
Artist Spotlight: Annalise Natasha Gratovich
Artist Spotlight: Annalise Natasha Gratovich One tends to be captured by art either through the unique immersive process by which it is created or the work itself has an inexplicably captivating sense of wonder in completion. The greatest of artists– those who become catalysts for the aspiring seeking motivations in those striving to create beauty on their own– stand out through their ability to do both. Annalise Natasha Gratovich not only finds her work significant in exemplifying both cornerstones of greatness, she goes a step further through the lens of heritage and tradition to challenge social mores. Her woodcuts advocate for positive present change giving voice to the devastating reality…
Willy Vanilla – “American Neck”
Willy Vanilla – “American Neck” By Jay Armstrong Willy Vanilla’s American Neck is lighthearted as hell. If only talent were allowed to speak in a space devoid of ego-maniacal ambitions more often. Every song has its own spine, its own strut. These guys aren’t trying to force an angle or end result. They don’t fall in the boring Black Angels rut of being one-sided or even yaaawwwwnnn worse psychedelic. There’s no concern of protecting their pretension, there’s no wall being built song by song to define their cool. Precisely this is what makes the album great. The time other bands spend selling you something, these dudes spend splitting beers and…
Lake of Fire Music Video Premiere: Crater
Bandcamp || Facebook || Instagram Delving deep into experimental territory with rock and psych influences, Austin’s very own Lake of Fire have crafted an amalgam of sounds into one solid debut LP, Crater, released today on Fishbum Records. Their official video (citing the same title as their LP) was shot in Texas’ expansive landscape during a recent trip to the Marfa Myths Music Festival. Their visuals for “Crater” come inspired by the track’s conjuring of directors Jodorowsky and Sergio Leone, juxtaposing Marfa’s endless skies and vast freedom with stifling, intense heat and shallow graves. The band’s layered and enveloping swarm of pulsing instrumentals combined with Potter and Madrid’s soaring…
Bustin’ Loose – Trouble Boys Video Premiere and Tour Kickoff
Trouble Boys – Bustin’ Loose By Jay Armstrong Video Premiere and Tour Dates Last month when we said “Trouble Boys make the best goddamn rock and roll Austin has felt this side of The Skunks,” you can believe we meant it. As they head out on tour this week here is your chance to see for yourself why our word is worth its weight in gold. This video shot by Andy Ray Lemon should be enough to get those pants just tight enough to fire ya up to catch them in the wild. They kick things off tomorrow night at Hotel Vegas alongside America’s favorite sleazy good time The…
Trouble Boys: Bigger Than The Both Of Us
Trouble Boys Bigger Than the Both of Us By Jay Armstrong In my own living room, as I’m hitting stride on some puffed chest ego stroking story about kicking dust with Cheetah Chrome and Bobby Liebling on some otherwise forgettable night of recent past, a friend interrupts asking “who are they? Should I know them?” With such a harsh truth about reality in mind one is left with only one valid question; what kind of chance do the Trouble Boys (or any other band we give a shit about for that matter) have at all? In the end all of this amounts to nothing, all of it. On a long…
ANON Premiere: The Sour Notes Cover The Ronettes’ “When I Saw You”
Website || Facebook || Instagram || Twitter Known for their contagious indie pop and rock sensibilities, Austin’s very own The Sour Notes are paying tribute to songs they hold near and dear to their heart. Their premiere for the next single off their covers’ album, This Is Not Our Music, is a stunning rendition of the 60’s girl group The Ronettes “When I Saw You”. With a growing roster of guest vocalists featured on their prior work (including A Giant Dog and Sweet Spirit’s Sabrina Ellis), “When I Saw You” highlights Singer Mayberry from Bitter Birds doing harmonies, contributing to a moody and soulful take on The Ronettes’ classic…
Welcome To Our Hearts Haze County
Welcome To Our Hearts Haze County by Jay Armstrong I am in love with Haze County. These first songs are a selfish organic release of compounded layered expression yet speak to the ALL our individual spirits gravitate towards. Haze County breathes through frantic frenzied technique blurred beneath a rare sensitivity towards the bigger cohesive whole. Certainly this is yet another band on the path of Bryan Leslie Roberts creativity yet the stand alone, above, beyond, nature of this project’s first few songs overshadow all which he had his hands in before. What is the point in reflecting on each band and step leading Roberts here when such reflection would take…
The Face Plant that Woke a Bus
The Face Plant That Woke a Bus The Number 5 bus brings together students, shoppers, seniors and the blind, normally quietly. But on Sunday afternoon, one face plant got everyone talking. “Oh shit!” the man yelled as he tripped onto the bus stopped at 45th and Guadalupe. A ponytailed man in the back woke up. He had fallen asleep reading the book now in his lap. The woman next to him took out one of her headphones and looked up. “I’m not normally a slip and fall guy,” the man said as he picked himself and his sunglasses off the ground. He placed them on his head, combing…
Crypt Trip Get Back To Their Roots
Crypt Trip Get Back To Their Roots By: Jay Armstrong Sure I’ve written warmly about them before, sure seeing them on a bill raises the quality standard of an excuse I need to stay under a blanket reading for the night, yet there has always been an underlying intangible which kept me from fully subscribing to Crypt Trip. There were sporadic notable flashes certainly but where were they truly at in all of it? Where was their voice and what the hell did it have to say? Their latest album Rootstock does well to make sense of the rift previously unbridgeable between respect and fandom. We now see a…
SASS
SASS By Jay Armstrong In a world of sham and plastic, where the view of the future optimistic finds itself walled by new condos and business park skyscrapers, knowing we can’t go back, what we have now and what we choose to do with it is detrimental. The importance lies in counting our allies, valuing the real, holding tight to that which is valid, which reflects back upon us the truth expected in youth to find eternal yet found not. Passion! What else matters now? And where does one look to tell it from the paint by numbers invalid sheep in wolf’s clothing all? It’s not who you are.…
Hyperreal Film Club VHS Zine Release Party
Website || Instagram || Facebook Keeping the DIY scene thriving in Austin, Texas, collective Hyperreal Film Club prides itself on embracing more than just the film medium. Immersing themselves in art installations, electronic music, experimental collage, and tearing apart constraints on structures and expectations of art, founders David McMichael, Jenni Kaye and Tanner Hadfield jump full-force into diverse forms of media. Successfully producing fashion shows, re-scores of films, benefit events, and live art installations, Hyperreal Film Club is bubbling with immersive and passionate ideas, taking their audience out of the realm of preconceived notions of what art is supposed to be. For those of you in Austin, Texas,…
Photography: Fleet Foxes at ACL Live by Ismael Quintanilla III
Photographer: Ismael Quintanilla III ( Instagram ) Fleet Foxes at ACL Live in Austin, Texas
Artists On Our Radar: Luis Roa
Artist: Luis Roa ( Instagram ) Based in Austin, TX, Luis Roa’s inspiration for his artwork stems from his interest in nature and old religious worlds. Coyona Deathmask Flowerhead Totem
Review: Of Montreal Live at The Mohawk by Troy Gonzales and Raphael Umscheid
Writer: Troy Gonzales ( Instagram ) Photographer: Raphael Umscheid ( Instagram ) It was a deliciously cool Thursday night in Austin and the devoted gathered at the Mohawk once again for the return of of Montreal and its psychedelic glam rock/electronic dance party. The opening band Christina Schneider’s Jepeto Solutions from New York City proved the perfect appetizer for the night’s headliners; the dynamic juxtaposition of Ms. Schneider’s folkish vocal delivery and Quentin Moore’s frenzied guitar work marks them as band to keep an eye on in the future. While the release of each new of Montreal album, with their kaleidoscope of changing musical styles, allows the listener…
Shopping Local This Holiday Season
With Christmas and New Years right around the corner, the staff at ANON Magazine wanted to highlight our top choices for keeping it local this holiday season. Helping our Austin, TX economy and shops to thrive helps keep our community alive, paves the way for more jobs in the city, reduces environmental waste and keeps our community unique! Plus there’s so much ATX has to offer whether you’re buying for your parents, your bestie, your significant other, or a coworker/acquaintance. Take a look at some of our favorite spots in town: Blue Velvet Vintage – Located on the North Loop strip, sandwiched in between Epoch Coffee and Breakaway Records…
