(2/4) Lissie to perform on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

My favorite indie-folk singer if I ever had one is Lissie. I have followed her on YouTube ever since I saw one of her covers waaayyy back in 2009. Not only is her original music fantastic, her covers are some of the best and most diverse around. She covers everyone to Lady Gaga to Kid Kudi and everyone in between. Her latest album Catching A Tiger is out on Fat Possum Records now.

This Friday, Feb. 4, Lissie will perform "When I'm Alone" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. If you are not at Fashion Freakout or Stubb's this Friday, you should check her out. If you won't be home, set your DVR. It airs on NBC, 12:35am ET/11:35pm CT. Check her out. Lissie is awesome!

(10/2) Kina Grannis at Stubb's

Remember her from the Super Bowl commercials during 2007? I didn't until I saw her video on YouTube again for "Message From Your Heart" the other day. She is Kina Grannis and she will be performing at Stubb's tonight. Hear this fellas...

Grannis's poppy, singer-songwriter style is perfect for taking out your non-Red River girlfriends who shop at The Domain and like Hallmark Valentine's Day cards. It is not exactly a dude friendly genre or sound, but take the time out from being a bro or hipster douche and go with her to see something she will actually like.

Ladies hear this...

Your date, boyfriend, husband, etc will sit through this concert with you. Kina is gorgeous and can actually sing, despite the Hallmark card style content of the lyrics. She is what guys refer to as "attainably hot." I know that isn't even a word, but we use it to describe an above average girl next door type who we mistakingly believe would go out with us. Chances are, guys won't like her music but won't mind the show. Take advantage.

So, here is the video for her most recent single "Valentine" and link to ticket info:



Doors are at 9:00pm. This is an all ages show. Ticket and cost info HERE.

New video from Keegan DeWitt

Keegan DeWitt - "Hearts Beat Loud" (Official Video) from Keegan DeWitt on Vimeo.

Keegan DeWitt is probably known more for scoring movies then his own music, but that will soon change. His new EP, Nothing Shows, is available now from Daytrotter's Record Barn. The video you see above is for his song "Hearts Beat Loud". Although DeWitt's raspy vocals are better suited for his brilliant ballads on Nothing Shows, but there really isn't a bad track on the album. Indie lovers and folk minded music listeners would enjoy his EP. To check out more from Dewitt or purchase the EP, visit his official website here:

www.keegandewitt.com/

Royal Forest and Samantha Crain ticket give away

 

 Samantha Crain is one of my favorite new music discoveries. She is a singer-songwriter of the indie-folk persuasion. I'm not always in the mood for that sort of genre but when I'm at home relaxing late at night in I tend to get in those kind of moods. I'll throw on some J. Tillman, A.A. Bondy, Ola Podrida and now some Samantha Crain. She just released her sophomore album, You (Understood), in June and will be performing at The Parish this Saturday, July 24th.  Take a look and listen to Crain's music video for her single "Santa Fe" here:

Headlining will be indie-psych rockers, Royal Forest. If you like what you here or are fans of the either artist/band, Red River Noise is giving away a pair of tickets on their Facebook page. All you have to do is "like" Red River Noise on Facebook and you are eligible to win. It's that simple. Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/redrivernoise
 

New Justin Townes Earl album coming in September

Just a quick little bit for you here...

One of my favorite artists, Justin Townes Earle, is releasing a new album on September 14th. Titled Harlem River Blues, it will be available on Bloodshot Records. I hope they make this available in vinyl. His records are like warm , satisfying cup of coffee on a cool night. You''d be hard up to find a better Americana singer-songwriter these days. I can't wait to get my hands on it and see him in concert again in Austin.

Peter Gabriel covers 'In The Neighborhood' by Tom Waits

The legendary Peter Gabriel is featured on a live video put out by The Voice Project in which Gabriel covers one of my favorite Tom Waits songs, "In The Neighborhood". The Voice Project is an organization that raises awareness and support for war torn Central East African regions. They have a whole series of videos I have been following, but this one is the most beautiful cover thus far. After surfing around a little more, I learned that Peter Gabriel's daughter, Ana Gabriel, is one of the founders of The Voice Project. Anyways, be sure to check out their site and enjoy the video. 


Peter Gabriel » Tom Waits from The Voice Project on Vimeo.

New album from Lissie out on Fat Possum in August

Finally some news on a full length album from my darling Lissie. I've been in absolute love with her voice and music ever since I first heard her. I saw her live during SXSW this year and have been eagerly awaiting for her album, Catching A Tiger, to be released. The album comes out on indie tastemaker label, Fat Possum, and will be released on August 17th. For those of you in Austin, you will want to be sure and catch Lissie at this year's ACL Fest in October. Here is the track listing for Catching A Tiger:

1. Record Collector
2. When I'm Alone
3. In Sleep
4. Bully
5. Little Lovin'
6. Stranger
7. Loosen The Knot
8. Cuckoo
9. Everywhere I Go
10. Worried About
11. Look Away
12. Oh Mississippi

You can pre-order the album on Fat Possum's website here: Fat Possum store

Album Review: 'Live In Louisville' by Carrie Rodriguez

Anything and everything you read online about Austin singer-songwriter and violinist Carrie Rodriguez has the label “Americana” all over it. If there was such a genre called “post-Americana”, I think Carrie Rodriguez would be the poster child. In fact, she may have even invented the genre without meaning to or knowing it. For those non-music geeks, the label “post” usually refers to indie rock that is darker, has crunchy guitar riffs and typically lots of angst.

I didn’t really get that impression when I came across the first album I owned from Rodriguez, She Ain’t Me, about a year ago.  I started to hear hints of the darker “post” sound when I went back and bought 2006’s Seven Angels on a Bicycle. On that album it seemed she experimented a little less and stuck to one sound. It is the album I prefer out of the two.

Read the full review on Austin Vida here:

Carrie Rodriguez Review

Concert Review: J Tillman at Mohawk

 

photo by Mary Rehak

Friday night was yet another perfect night in Austin, Texas. The weather was cool, but not cold. With almost a full moon to light up the night sky and a few visible stars, the setting for a J. Tillman concert outdoors couldn’t have been any better if it were scripted in a Hollywood indie film. The drummer from Fleet Foxes was at the mic singing while playing guitar in front of a bunch of bearded hipsters wearing flannels and indie couples sitting down on the cold pavement floor of Mohawk.

In all my years of coming to see shows at Mohawk, I have never seen a show where most of the audience was sitting down in front of the outdoor stage. It was a nice change and appropriate for the type of live show Tillman and his backing band perform.  It isn’t like anyone is going to be starting a pit or crowd surfing at this show. My only qualm with sitting on the pavement to watch the show was getting stuck in front of the only drunk idiot trio of wannabe hipsters who couldn’t shut up there for a while. Still, not even they could have ruined a great performance by Tillman.

photo by Mary Rehak

That being said, even I was taken by surprise at how much I enjoyed Tillman’s set. He played a good mix of his singer song-writer, coffee house folk I came to expect along with some pretty angsty sounding, ambient indie rock. You should have seen Tillman’s wild Rick Rubin-esque beard blowing in the wind and waving around as he aggressively strummed his electric guitar. Simply put, Tillman and company put a lot of the young post rockers I’ve seen to shame. Again, I thought he was all coffee shop and had no idea he rocked like that.

The other surprise of the night was how funny Tillman could be. It wasn’t like stand up funny, but more like nerdy music guy funny. He shared his story about his Waterloo Records music purchase with the crowd, as he played an in store earlier in the day there. Apparently, Waterloo’s owner gives performers a discount on purchases while there at Waterloo. According to Tillman, the owner wanted to see what he had purchased with his discount. Tillman assumed it was probably in hopes of seeing what great album or obscure vinyl he may have picked out, but Tillman only had a Battlestar Galactica DVD in hand. He stopped the story there, but that’s all that needed to be said really.

Tillman also made reference to Robbie Williams of all people, when thanking the audience for cheering a minute before a song was over. He wasn’t being snarky, but rather trying to communicate how awesome he felt to have people cheering while he was playing music and singing the way people do when they see someone like Robbie Williams. It just took us all by surprise to hear the name “Robbie Williams” come out of this awesomely bearded rock star’s mouth. Did I mention his beard was awesome?

photo by Mary Rehak

Overall, the best part of the show was the music. Having performed songs mostly from his latest album, Year in the Kingdom, Tillman reminded me how much more I like his music in comparison to Fleet Foxes. If I wasn’t so close to the stage to clearly see and hear Tillman, I would have sworn I was listening to the CD itself. He was that spot on vocally Friday night, only with a much fuller sound given he had his whole band backing him. Too bad no one was recording this for a live video. This would have been the show to do it. The sound…the setting…everything was perfect.

Set List from Friday Night's concert:

All You See
When I Light Your Darkened Door
No Occasion
Firstborn
Vacilando Territory
Vessels
Howling Light
Crosswinds
Though I Have Wronged You
Barter Blues
Master's House
There Is No Good In Me
New Imperial Grand Blues

(Review written and published on www.DoubleStereo.com)

Two Great Latino Singer-Songwriters: Vicci Martinez & Arthur Yoria

This week on AustinVida my good friends Sarah Vasquez and Alysha Hernandez featured two great singer-songwriters, both Latino. I just wanted to share a little about these artists with you all and link you to the interviews. I do it to also show the wide variety of genres covered on Austin Vida, something I don't think anyone else really does in terms of Latino media based out of Austin.

The first interview is with Seattle based Vicci Martinez. She came through here last month sometime and performed at Momo's, a great venue for this type of genre. I got wind of her when I was reading something online one day and saw her name. Truth be told, I thought it was a friend of mine by the same name that I hadn't seen in years. I "Googled" her and came across a musician's MySpace page. Coincidentally, singer-songwriter Vicci had an Austin date on her tour schedule and the rest is history. She has a great voice, especially from someone who is so little. This girl has something. Give her a listen and check out Sarah's interview with Vicci Martinez.



Read the full interview here: Austin Vida interview with Vicci Martinez

Also on the singer-songwriter front this month on Austin Vida is Arthur Yoria. I have known about this dude for a while, but he hasn't blown up the spot like I think he's capable of. He is of Colombian descent but born and raised here in the U.S. He is a creative dude to say the least, but not in that weird sense where general audiences would be turned off. Some of my crew and I saw him at Momo's recently, at midnight on a Tuesday. It was the best Tuesday at midnight show I remember seeing. Yoria was like the Carrot Top of singer-songwriters, pulling out different instruments left and right.

Yoria uses some sort of music recorder mechanism that records sounds and loops that sound it records. He then creates another sound, records it and adds it to the loop. It makes him a one man band, literally. It is not something I haven't seen before, but it's been so long and the last time I saw someone do it live it didn't impress me like Yoria did. Watch this video all the way through to get the idea.



Click the link below to read the Arthur Yoria interview by Alysha Hernandez on Austin Vida:

Arhtur Yoria on Austin Vida

If you like what you hear, please check out the links on Austin Vida. While Vicci Martinez doesn't have anything on the books for Austin anytime soon, Yoria will be here again in December. See the article for details.

Ian's Indie Girl Crush, Volume Two: Ingrid Michaelson

Ingrid Michaelson (photo by Caleb Kuhl)

Tonight's Monday night show pick is also my second installment of Ian's Indie Girl Crush Series. Tonight at the Parish, Ingrid Michaelson takes the stage. It wasn't too long ago that I saw her on what I think was Jimmy Fallon, but I could be wrong. It was one of those late night talk shows that come on after Dave. Anyway, her voice wasn't the only thing that held my attention. She's super cute inthat singer-songwriter indie sort of way. She looks great in glasses and has that great girl next door approachability.

Michaelson is a New York based musician who got a lot of her early buzz from her songs being used in popular televison shows. Musically, she sings the kind of music you'd hear on KUT or while drinking a late night cup of coffee in your study. She is more singer song-writer than indie, but completely enjoyable either way to both crowds. For a Mondy Night, there is nothing better in town. If you are willing to drive to San Antonio then you can catch Metallica in San Antonio. If you're not the black t-shirt type, then Ingrid is the better choice and in town.

Check out a brief sampling of Ingrid Michaelson here with her video for her most famous single to date, "The Way I Am". It is from here album, Girls and Boys.

For more on tonight's show with Ingrid Michaelson, click here .

Wednesday Night Show Pick: Suzanna Choffel at Momo's

If you are in search of something to do tonight, then let me suggest you head down to Momo's to catch one of my absolute favorite artists. That artist is none other than Austin's own Suzanna Choffel. You may have seen her on M.E. Televison if you are here in Austin and have cable. Otherwise, I doubt you've heard of her unless you're live music junkie like myself.

Often compared to Nelly Furtado, Choffel is an RnB songstress posing as a singer songwriter. Perhaps it is because she's white that she shocks so many when she starts to sing. Ask anyone that was at the Solange Knowles concert at Antone's last spring, they'll tell you. Her music is amazing and she truly crosses boundaries within different audiences when given a chance.

Choffel has shared the stage with some of Austin's best, including the incredible David Garza. She is a often taken for granted I think, as she is a staple at Momo's. She seems to play regularly and is always around. The same can be said for September, as she has three shows at Momo's this month. After September, you will have to wait a bit to see her as she doesn't have anything in the books for Austin in October or November. Check your calendars and go see her perform. Take my word, you can thank me later.

She is scheduled to go on tonight at 8:30, but get there early and stay late as there are some other good bands on the bill with her. Momo's is right above Katz's on 618 W. 6th. For more info, check out the links I posted below. First, watch this live performance from M.E. Live of my favorite Suzanna Choffel track, "Hey Mister".



For more on Suzanna Choffel, visit the following links:

Suzanna Choffel on Myspace

Suzanna Choffel Website

Suzanna Choffel on YouTube