gorilla vs. bear's austin mixtape
We're heading to Austin tomorrow for the ACL Music Festival, as well as a couple tapings of the ACL TV show (Sufjan, Jack White, and Cat Power, oh my). Anyway, we got to thinking, "Goddamn, Austin is awesome." I know I post on an Austin band seemingly every other day, but I honestly feel like Austin's current independent music scene is better than any other in the U.S. (for sure), and possibly the world.
Don't take my word for it though: I've compiled 20 of my favorite songs from some of the best lesser-known Austin bands (no Spoon, Voxtrot, Sound Team, Black Angels, Explosions in the Sky, Trail of Dead, etc. on this one) that I think might convince you. Thanks to Garrison Reid for the great cover art:
gorilla vs. bear's
Here's the track list, with the individual mp3 files, if you prefer:
1. White Denim Let's Talk About It
2. Maya Bond Cute Papa
3. Belaire Through The Wire (Kanye West cover)
4. The Early Tapes Betty & Thomas
5. Jana Hunter A Bright Ass Light
6. Bill Baird Dear Friend (Collapsing Dominoes)
7. Sparrow House When I Am Gone
8. Peter & The Wolf The Fall
9. The Black Wasn't It A Good Year
10. Zykos Keep It Light
11. Martin Crane On An Evening
12. Mark David Ashworth eggslkjgdfasdlevel
13. Tacks, The Boy Disaster Paris
14. Ola Podrida Jordanna
15. Brothers and Sisters Going South
16. Pink Nasty What the Fuck
17. Yellow Fever Donovan
18. The Octopus Project Spiracle
19. Jracula Carpopolis
20. Ghostland Observatory Silver City
Okay, I'll admit, being from Texas, I may be a bit biased. I'd love to hear what cities you guys think have music scenes as good as or better than Austin's...
57 comments:
thanks for this; austin has a great scene. brooklyn is still home to the most talent (cliche, i know), followed by austin, and then it's a toss up b/w portland, southern california (as a whole) and seattle.
mr. anonymous
Given that I live in Toronto, I too am biased.
While I'm not certain it's better, I think it's way up there in quality (and quantity) of good bands...tokyo police club, australopithecine, broken social scene, spiral beach, apostle of hustle, (the lovely) emily haines, cancer bats, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
and good things have come out of the toronto region, too: Sea Snakes, King Cobb Steelie, The Rheostatics, Deadly Snakes, Grade, etc. etc. etc...
Granted there's a lot of crossbreeding and intermingling between bands, but on a weekly (and nearly nightly) basis you can catch amazing bands or bands that aren't necessarily amazing, but damn fun to watch...
how the hell did you score tickets to the sufjan taping? Huh please tell me.
just want to give a shout out to the woefully underrated scene in the twin cities of minneapolis and saint paul. While not as lively as the big guns (Bklyn, Austin, Seattle...), we still keep it poppin.
montreal
Yo Johnsy,
The Austinist is all over ACL tapings. Check it out, be at the spot and cross your fingers.
Austin has a great scene, it's the live music capital of the world. It's kind of expected that the scenes from SoCal or NY are absolutes, they are always going to have good music scenes. That said, I would have to agree with the Toronto scene. I am actually seeing Tokyo Police Club tommorow at Emos w/Enon, Octopus Project and Poly Spree.... and Chris, pretty good mix for the austin unknowns...
Boston...awesome local bands, supportive community where people come out to support a multitude of local acts.
Gotta agree with Anon. from the twin cities. If you throw Chicago and the Twin Cities together I wouldn't mind living in the Midwest... music wise.
Texas is the place, Texas is the reason.
Denton!
what??? no weird weeds?!?!?! tsk-tsk!
Chris, you left out one of Austin's best bands (and recent dentonites) Cartright. They are new to Austin and are incredible. I put Denton / Dallas / Ft Worth scene up against Austin any day of the week too. Strange Boys, tree wave, Teenage Symphony, Voot Cha Index, Prayer for Animals, Silk Stocking, Current Leaves, Red Monroe, Midlake, Pilotdrift, Theater Fire etc etc many many others
Doug Burr, Happy Bullets...
Bloomington, Indiana...home to Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar records, the Impossible Shapes (possibly the best kept secret in indie..wait, you didn't hear that), Magnolia Electric Co. (sort of), the Coke Dares, Horns of Happiness...Okay, so a few members of these bands are interchangable. Isn't that awesome?
montreal and that cover is cool.
thank you for the lovely selections.
you always offer up some quality samples from some of the best artists out there right now.
mm...living in nyc i am really bais.
but i would have to say, most of what i am in love with is either coming out of montreal or austin at the moment.
Um, Athens!? Especially as of late: Whigs, of Montreal, (Me-:)), 1000 other blogger favorites... Maybe not as many great acts, numbers-wise, but per capita, I think Athens may be the best. Austin, Brooklyn, Montreal, etc are all huge cities, compared to tiny Athens, where it seems like everybody is in a band.
don't forget the SAN FRANCISCO YAY area. we've got gris gris, still flyin, kelley stoltz, seventeen evergreen, thee more shallows, birdmonster, anticon collective, black fiction, two gallants, elephone, the curtains, the papercuts, brightblack morninglight, comets on fire, assemble head in sunburst sound, ad infinitum!
portland's scene is far superior to austin's. just my opinion.
did you put zykos on there as filler, or do you really like them, chris?
also, i guess you are not spinning at the cavern friday, then?
jamie - athens' scene is fantastic, i've got to agree with you. was recently there for a festival and got to see lots of local talent i'd not heard before. the only downside is they only seem to have two, maybe three sounds going. could have been the bands i saw or the booking for the festival, but it was a little repetitive.
edeines - impossible shapes. hell yeah.
Sweden! think about it. Austin wins for the states but the Swedes win the international prize in my eyes.
good mix, but isn't jana from houston? got to give us houstonians credit for something.
this has turned into a big pissing match to see whos dick is bigger/whos scene is better.
anyone got a scope on good afterparties in austin this weekend that DONT involve Gheyjhan Stevens? Chris? Anyone?
I want to go see Alejandro but good luck getting into that.
I think the Twin cities are underated as well. Motion City Soundtrack, Tapes n Tapes, plus Jayhawks and Semisonic back in the day. There is ton of exciting stuff going on here....
Austin's scene is quite impressive. But no city in America can touch Portland, Oregon in terms of the quality and quantity of rock bands.
Northwest Represent!
p.s. to the athens girl.. austin isn't huge.
nice. this is a great austin mix...but no Visitors?? For shaaame.
Rhodes-tastic song here here
How could you say that DFW's music scene is as good as Austin's? Certainly there is some good stuff going on here (especially in Denton, for it's size), but come on...
I'm with Harvey... Montreal rocks. But NYC'll always have it too.
while maybe not as strong as those mentioned, i think the Raleigh/Chapel Hill region gets overlooked all the time. Whiskeytown anyone? Not to mention The Rosebuds, Goner and the Cherry Valence
Where's Single Frame? Possibly the "best lesser-known Austin bands".
Is What Made Milwaukee Famous now too big to be lesser-know? Have they reached Spoon, Voxtrot, Sound Team, etc status?
yeah, no single frame? no experimental aircraft? no sparkwood? no my education? and no weird weeds?!?!
okay, okay, so it seems like i'm h8ing, and indeed those are some good bands that are missing, but i've enjoyed this mix.
As a New Yorker going to school in Georgia I'd have to say NYC and Athens, GA are both great places for music. With Drive By Truckers, The Whigs, Of Montreal, The Modern Skirts, you can't go wrong...
Someone tell BotY that Whiskeytown hasn't made music together for six years. Therefore, Raleigh-Durham can't be counted.
Detroit still has a decent scene, but Chicago, NYC, and Seattle have got to be the top three.
[rant] dallas would be just as good without the two people controlling the booking around here surpressing some really good bands, endlessly booking black tie dynasty, and leaving local acts off every single national show worth going to see. [/rant]
as far as bay area goes... don't forget john vanderslice, rogue wave, vetiver, joanna newsom, jolie holland, the speakers, mark kozelek/sun kil moon, the velvet teen, film school, every move a picture, and on and on. regardless of quantity, there's just such a distinct vibe and a corresponding close-knit community.
otherwise i vote for iceland.
Austin isn't huge? It's a city of over 700,000 people with one of the top two biggest universities in the world. I'm sorry, but that's pretty big--16th largest city in the country. Not to get in a pissing contest, but Athens has more than 3 sounds...how's this?
REM
B-52s
Widespread Panic
Olivia Tremor Control
Neutral Milk Hotel
Guadalcanal Diary
Elf Power
Of Montreal
Macha
Danger Mouse
Jucifer
Azure Ray
Five Eight
Pylon
Kevn Kinney
The Music Tapes
Masters of the Hemisphere
Sugar
Vic Chesnutt
Jack Logan
The Whigs
Modern Skirts
The Squalls
Man, I could keep going: 63 Crayons, Casper and the Cookies, Col. Knowledge and the Lickety-Splits, Cinemechanica, We Versus The Shark, Iron Hero, Venice is Sinking (plug!), Dark Meat, New Sound of Numbers, Circulatory System, Sunshine Fix...
I think we're doing alright. Not that Portland, Austin, et al. aren't good. I'm just sticking up for my town.
What about the Lovely Sparrows from Austin?
Still going for Athens: Japancakes, Maserati, Drive By Truckers, Phosphorescent, Liz Durrett....
Tell em, Lucas! Austin is the fucking Texas state capital! And look at that list of Athens' classics. Athens wins!
And to the anonymous Athens-disser. Don't call me a girl, homie.
it is possible for more than one city to have great music, you know.
Chicago. I know I probably say that becuase I'm from there, but there are so many great bands. I'll take this as a challenge.
anon 10:04: wow, really? you should start a blog. moron.
I have agree that Austin is the best place for music right now. I live in Iowa City, but am down for ACL and am blown away by the local talent. All the rest of you mention towns with scenes that include all of these bands that either suck, have broken up or are too big to be included in the "local" scene. i used to live in Portland and Athens. Both towns had a whole bunch of "ok" bands, but very limited and would never see them unless it was free. I lived in San Francisco, too. Some really nice people, but boring, generic bands.
Dallas. Dallas. Dallas.
over Austin any day.
of the week.
london or sheffield.
i'm kinda disappointed you dont throw enough props the DETROIT way. . . i too grew up there(now live in brooklyn) and there are a ton of up and coming bands out of the motorcity. i dont see enough of them on gorilla and that makes me sad. wheres your roots man?
Land of the mystic beaver....PORTLAND
"Dallas. Dallas. Dallas.
over Austin any day.
of the week."
Bwahahahaha...haha
Portland, Oregon definately has the best music scene. Every good band stops here and we house the shins, the decemberists, stephen malkmus, quasi, modest mouse, and all three members of the broken up sleater-kinney.
In light of lucas jensen's list; It's only fair to post my chicago list.
Styx
Chicago
Enuff Z Nuff
Smashing Pumpkins
Ministry
Wilco
Common
Liz Phair
Urge Overkill
KMFDM
Jesus Lizard
Howard and the White boys
Allright enough being annoying. In all honesty there is a strong case for Austin, but didn't SXSW grant that whole scene an inordinant amount of exposure.
how about San Diego? one of the most under-rated scenes in the country! The Black Heart Proccession, Album Leaf, Pinback, Castanets, The Plot To Blow Up The Eifle Tower, Hot Snakes, Mr. Tube and the Flying Objects, No Knife, Kite Flying Society... the list goes on.
Boulder,CO
Denton of course
Denton is OK, but most of their bands have to come to Austin to get anyone else to notice. It's a very supportive scene that is probably a little too insular for its own good.
Austin is awesome - If you know where to look and you have a wide range of musical tastes, you can see an incredible band every night of the week. My favorite Austin bands are Grand Champeen, Centro-Matic/South San Gabriel/Will Johnson (Will moved to Austin from Denton), and L'il Cap'n Travis.
We also have: (No Depression type bands) Alejandro Escovedo, Ian MacLagen, Jon Dee Graham, Kelly Willis, Michelle Anthony, The Resentments (Pop bands) Voxtrot, Future Clouds and Radar/Cotton Mather, Moonlight Towers, Golden Apples, Nagel (Heavy Rock) Riverboat Gamblers, The Sword (Indie Rockers) Okkervil River, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Zykos, Spoon, Militant Babies (Punk) The Ends, The Crack Pipes, The Transgressors, Flametrick Submarines (Ska) The Stingers (Blues & Jazz) Check the Antone's listings, (Singer/Songwriters (Check The Cactus Cafe's listings...and of course WILLIE NELSON.
I missed about 100 other bands that I love.
Post a Comment
<< Home