Emerged from the Austin trenches, the battle-worn Tegan and Sara relaxed their SXSW-weary bones at Warehouse Live to a grateful Houston crowd. Continue reading…
Tag Archives: SXSW
Little Hurricane Hit the Road
San Diego’s favorite blues-rocking duo Little Hurricane will head out on tour next month. Stops are planned up the West Coast and across the South, and a mid-tour San Diego gig will be added in the coming weeks. The tour will culminate in March with a to-be-announced showcase at a little festival called South by Southwest, where they’ll be joined by one or two other bands. You can check out the full list of dates below. Continue reading…
Maren Parusel: Summer 2011 Tour Diary
After a decidedly eventful U.S. tour that included a van breakdown, a robbery, a police stop, and many colorful characters, Maren Parusel and her band will finally return to the West Coast tonight at the Casbah. According to Mario, the band’s manager,
30 shows in 35 days, a Vitamin Water commercial with Foster The People, a van breakdown in Texas, 100 degrees on the East Coast, stolen guitars and gear in NYC, a live performance on Sirius Radio with legendary rock critic Dave Marsh, a bar fight in D.C. It’s been one hell of a five weeks, and not your average tour for an indie pop band, but these four have survived, thrived, and won over audiences around the country.
Please welcome Maren, Eric, Kyle, and Ariel back from tour with a return show at The Casbah.
The set starts at 9pm; the band’s tour diary is below. Continue reading…
Album Review: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Belong”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart — who were named after an unpublished children’s story written by a friend of lead singer Kip Berman — return today with their second full-length, Belong. The record was produced by Flood and mixed by Alan Moulder of Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine fame, respectively.
Title track “Belong” opens the album with 12 seconds of unobtrusive musical pleasantry, followed by an eruption of hard distortion that will encourage immediate air-guitar strummage from anyone who suffered through their teens in the 1990s. Cue Berman’s sexy vocals and some I’m-bored-so-let’s-just-do-it lyrics (“If you’re mine / I don’t mind / we tried another / let’s try each other”) and you have the recipe for a PoBPaH grilled chicken sandwich (but clearly not a PoBPaH coq au vin).
There’s no musical rocket science here. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart simply make music that is easy to listen to: catchy guitar+keyboard melodies, four-by-four bass plucking and drum beating, guy/girl harmonies that make it easy to sing along with your significant other in the car, and lyrics that inspire self-inflicted, diminutive mysterioso (see the lyric “Held my breath / thought of death / and things I’d like to do ’til then” on “Girls of 1000 Dreams”). Continue reading…
Smith Westerns Announce Massive Tour, Yeasayer Date at Belly Up
After a whirlwind week at SXSW and the recent release of their O&B-anticipated sophomore record Dye it Blonde, Smith Westerns are hitting the road again. This time, the band has planned a massive world tour, including a stop with Yeasayer at the Belly Up on May 21. In addition to its California dates, the group will swing by Europe and Canada, and play a slew of Southern shows with a little band named Wilco.
Smith Westerns also recently recorded a live in-studio session for Pitchfork TV (see above). In the video, the band sets up shop in a foggy studio to perform Dye it Blonde songs “Weekend,” “Imagine Pt. 3,” and “Dye the World.” Two more videos and the full list of Smith Westerns tour dates are below. Continue reading…