More Ray at Your Church

Is there anything cooler than a experimental acoustic band from Austin playing in a church? Balmorhea, pronounced Bal-more-ray, is set to release their new LP 'Constellations' at the Central Presbyterian Church in Austin on February 19th. Damien Jurado is on board to accompany, so it promises to be lush enough to shatter some stained glass.

The band is busy. Along with a fat US tour, the band has a Daytrotter session to be released Feb. 23rd, a SXSW stint for Western Vinyl in March, and then it's off to the Netherlands. If all that's boring to you, listen to the brooding song, "Bowsprit," from the new album. You can practically hear the ship's bow dipping into the silvery sea, or of a flag going up a post, or the Master and Commander crew drinking grog quietly in bed.

It's all very serious, but it's still very good. For your art kicks, check out Balmorhea's newly revamped website. It's possibly the most haunting band site ever.

Balmorhea - Bowsprit

The Sword

Heavy metal, like killing, is an acquired taste. In my whole life, I've listened to 2, maybe 3 heavy metal songs all the way through. Then there's the Austin band The Sword, with their song titles like "Maiden, Mother & Crone," "How Heavy this Axe," and "Iron Swan": how is a mortal human not supposed to fully enjoy that? For crying out loud, their website url is "swordofdoom.com"! My understanding of heavy metal and bands like Gwar and Motorhead is they have an undercurrent of humor to it; that you're supposed to laugh a little bit at the excess, dripping intensity. The Austin Sound illuminated The Sword beyond the normal cock rock and bad hair in a recent interview:

"JDC [J.D. Cronise] : One thing people always seem to be amused by is the fact that as a band we listen to a lot of hip-hop. They seem to assume we listen to nothing but Black Sabbath. I actually owned a Run-DMC record before I owned a Led Zeppelin record...

...I try to draw inspiration from archetypal mythological forms and look for the commonalities among various stories and traditions. One such archetypal story is the hero’s journey, which is illustrated in countless myths, legends, books, movies, etc. I’ve always been fascinated by tales of a lone hero on a quest, and that plays prominently into the themes of the songs for our next album."

The themes are nothing new in the family of bands with names like Alabama Thunderpussy, but the Sword stands out musically. For me, heavy metal is something you just have to do with a deep breath, and simply plunge your face into the ice. Not that you should stop thinking about its potency or its storyline (as The Sword said above), but if you're into Neil Young's greatest hits--it requires some acoustic sacrifice. The Sword, however, is one of those bands that hits the hammer harder then most. More like the feeling you get when you listen to Dinosaur Jr. over Gwar, The Sword makes you think: this is great.

The Sword - Mother, Maiden and Crone

Review: The Soft Pack, The Cavern Dallas (A Note to Concert Apologizers)

Distractions at a concert are common. Hopefully the band is good enough to reign in your attention away from the drunk people in the back speaking so loud they cut through the cymbals, or the really drunk people who are dancing sloppily in the front. In this case, for me, it was the obnoxious, orange bearded dude next to me who couldn't stop apologizing to the band:

"Sorry Dallas sucks man, Austin is way better," repeated this dude, perhaps so drunk on the hipster notion that the current city he was standing in sucks that he missed some of the show. To keep things kosher and pleasant, this dude bought the entirety of The Soft Pack a round of whiskey shots. The band was so full of mirth and excitement from the prospect of shots, they continued to play their instruments!

So, The Soft Pack played uncaring, having a California blast. Their mix of surfer garage rock and macabre punk sounded good in the Cavern. It was hard and crisp and loud, like biting into a big damn apple: Matt Lamkin tossed his microphone about, a cocktail in one hand, Matty McLoughlin's guitar was sharp. I normally try to get lost in the lyrics, but I was transfixed by the bassist and drummer - David Lantzman and Brian Hill had some serious fun game.

It was a good rock show. At times, I found myself lost in the distractions, as can be a drawback with post-punk that some of The Soft Pack songs drone on in the same dark riff. They really stood out when the mood changed - A high pitched electric guitar riff indicated they were going to play "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," but then blended it with The Doors "Mojo Rising." The mood shifted to songs about love :"Beside Myself" showed their more-fun, Strokes side, and had some killer drums. They got into it, danced, and the bassist unleashed some John-Paul- Jones stuff. The annoying dude who wouldn't shut up, the one who got massive friend approval from buying the band a round of shots, kept apologizing for some reason, and The Soft Pack played on.

After the show, I asked the guitarist, Matt McLoughlin about playing live in Texas: "It's really fun man, we had a great time." Note to that dude & crowd apologizers - if you're going to apologize to the band for the crowd, don't have you, your friends, and your beard in it. It just kills the fun man.

The Soft Pack, previously known as The Muslims, are on to Austin, TX to play with Wavves.

The Soft Pack - Beside Myself

Forget the Alamo Streaming

Honest-to-goodness streaming of Austin City Limits is going on here, here, and here.

Right now 2:37 PM CST - The Avett Brothers roaring banjos and shame, shame, shame. (here)

Right now 4:00PM CST - Dr. Dog's nostalgic, bright rock.

Andrew Bird tonight!