Said the Whale are making a video for each song on their new album. Here’s the one for “Big Wave Goodbye.”

This year I’ve made a South By Southwest “hit list” of bands that I have to catch. It ranges from smaller groups that aren’t likely to tour through Kentucky any time soon and larger groups that I might never have the chance to see (for free) again. Though I had a moderately lazy first day of SXSW, I did manage to check off one of my top “must see” acts early on.

Even though I spent all of last year loving Yellow Ostrich, I never got to catch the group. From what I’ve heard, that might be a good thing given how much they’ve improved recently. I have no idea how they were when they first started touring, but the current three-piece lineup is fantastic. Since I spent about half their set up against their amps, I can tell you that their live harmonies are completely on-point. I don’t know how well it came through in the mix to those sitting on the hill, but I was treated to some Fleet Foxes, Avett Brothers level harmonies. When you’re looking to duplicate or even improve upon the songs on The Mistress and Strange Land, you’re going to need some great singers.

Similarly, the guy Alex recruited as his bassist/saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist is absolutely perfect. He reminded me of the crazy talented guys in Menomena with how much he brought to the live show. Their standout live tracks “The Shakedown,” “Marathon Runner,” and “Daughter” and just as much texture as they do on the well-produced album.

More photos after the break

(more…)

MOKB just shared this new video from Cincinnati’s Bad Veins. The Mess We’ve Made is out next month.

After missing out last year, I’m back in Austin for South By Southwest 2012. I’ll be taking photos and doing concert reviews through the week, so check back here for daily recaps.

Shearwater and Sharon Van Etten turned in a great contribution to the Onion’s AV Undercover series. This great pairing chose to cover the Tom Petty / Stevie Nicks song “Stop Draggin My Heart Around.”

Here’s the fairly indecent video for Diplo’s “Express Yourself” featuring Nicky Da B. It features even more rump shaking than you might expect from a bounce artist like Nicky.

Not long ago I photographed Oh My Me recording a song for 10 in 20. The song’s finished, the video’s polished and it’s all fantastic. Watch the video below and buy the song if you feel like it.

Los Angeles’ NO have a great new video for their song “Stay With Me.” This track perfectly shows why they’ve become one of my favorite new groups.

You can download NO’s EP for free at their site or through the widget at the end of the post.

MP3: NO – Stay With Me

Dream Brother is the new project from Ian from One For the Team. He’s enlisted the help of John Vanderslice on “Pretty Eyes” and Paul Sprangers on “Haunted Heart.”

MP3: Dream Brother – Pretty Eyes (featuring John Vanderslice)
MP3: Dream Brother – Haunted Heart (featuring Paul Sprangers)
This is another case where the word “simple” is a huge compliment. Dream Brothers sound as if they’ve tapped into the wellspring of pop music, thrown a little bit of their production fingerprint on the tracks and served up some great songs. I could believe that you aren’t absolutely in love with “Pretty Eyes,” but I doubt I could swallow the idea that you don’t like it at all.

Dream Brother’s website