[on repeat] BLOOD CASTLE by Crooked Bangs

(buy)

The 'holy shit' reaction I get when listening to new music is very few and far between these days given the incredible access to a vast number of bands via the internet (that's not a complaint).  Well, it happened to me a couple weeks ago... the new self-titled Crooked Bangs LP is a mind blowing

[on repeat] MAKE IT GO AWAY by The Zoltars

Make It Go Away
If It Were Up To Me

The journey taken with The Zoltars out of Austin is a slow one that's quite a departure from the raucous rockin' stuff that seems to be everywhere at the moment, but you need to remember what they say about smelling the flowers along the way.  Their debut LP, Should I Try Once More, was released April 10 from Sundae Records (buy).  The LP's 10 tracks tell the progressive story about someone falling in love all over

DREAM GIRLZ by Grape St.

Dream Girlz

A Date With You

There seems to be no clear confirmation of the dissolution of Austin's wonderfully fun trio Harlem, but what does seem to be true is that at least one of the members clearly left the confines of Austin for the bright lights of Brooklyn.  We can only hope that the distance between members doesn't mean that their days of recording together are over, but we have the side project of Grape St. from the Austin remnants of Curtis

[on repeat/giveaway] AIRPLANE WITH TITS by Rayon Beach

Airplane With Tits
Staring Out Of An Apartment (previously on CWR)

Hozac Records is gearing up for another round of releases later this month.  The first of the batch I'm sharing is the debut LP, This Looks Serious, from the Austin trio Rayon Beach.  The record consistently delivers a scuzzy, spacey blend of dizzying rock that will charge you with its steady throbbing of high voltage sounds.  Some might say that they have been searching for their sound on the previous two 7"'s

STARING OUT OF AN APARTMENT by Rayon Beach

I Have No Body

Rayon Beach are out of Austin and released their debut EP on HoZac Records in 2010 (buy) and a single for 'Death Rides A

STUCK IN A DREAM by Black Gum

Stuck In A Dream
Single Life

Black Gum are from New York (via Austin, TX) and they put out a self-titled, 5-song cassette EP from Monofonus Press Records this past August.  As you can expect from a small cassette release like this the quality of sound is lacking a bit, but the catchiness of their raw, sludgy, surf inspired sounds still manage to do their trick on you.  Listen to the first two tracks off the EP above to get an idea of what I'm talking

ME AND YOU by The Strange Boys

Me And You
This Girls Taught Me A Dance

Austin, TX's The Strange Boys have been providing us with their wonderful bluesy inspired garage rock with two LPs since 2008.  'Me and You' is a preview of their upcoming LP, Live, to be released October 25 from Rough Trade Records (buy).  It's not a live album (think rhyming with give instead of five), and very well could finally be their well-deserved coming out party.  Theres' a new label, the fuzz has lessened, the

BLACKEYE by Love Inks

Blackeye
Skeleton Key

Today's songs come from an Austin three-piece called Love Inks.  The first song, 'Blackeye,' is their first 7" and came out on March 7 (buy).  It suffers from some severe lyrical repetitiveness, but the catchiness and pure joy factor more than make up for it and will probably steal your heart.  The second song, 'Skeleton Key,' is a wonderful, moody, mellow

DRUG by White Denim

Drug
Anvil Everything

After giving away the free, exceptional record, Last Days of Summer, last year, Austin's masterful golden boys, White Denim continued at it to finish their fourth album, D, and take SXSW by storm a couple weeks ago.  Now all we have to do is wait for D to come out on May 24 from Downtown Records.  These guys are amazing at their craft and I don't

TONY FATTI by white denim

texas' white denim have been busily working on their third lp, but have still managed to put together a group of 12 songs as 'a little summer retreat from our ongoing work.'  it's titled 'last days of summer' and is far from being just a casual release.  a couple of tracks are featured below.  you can download the whole thing for free here.  the band is graciously requesting donations if you feel inclined.

tony fatti

through your windows
by white denim (official)

MOOD RING by harlem

i accidentally came across this little find yesterday (via sd) to discover that the fun live act harlem released a single earlier this year to surprisingly very little fanfare.  the single, 'lsd saves,' was released in 2/10 (buy), which preceded the release of their second lp, hippies, in april.  hippies was released on matador records  and is the record that brought the band much wider recognition (at least it did for me).  anyways, no news of them coming back to LA anytime soon, but below is the b-side from the single entitled 'moon ring,' and another favorite from hippies. 

mood ring

someday soon
by harlem (myspace | matador)