Fun Fun Fun Fest may be over and we may have written approximately several million words on the event and shared just as many photos, but we still got a little misty eyed at the recap video the FFF team posted. Take a look for yourself, and be sure to pay attention at the very end for a special callout.
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Videos: Check Out These Weird City Hip Hop Festival Recaps
As you hopefully already know, this weekend was the debut of Austin’s first hip hop festival Weird City, and the combination of badass local talent and must see national acts made Red River the place to be on Friday and Saturday. In case you missed out on all of the action, though, the Weird City team has been releasing quick recap videos of the festivities, with a slew of awesome local videographers (including our own Carlos J. Matos) aiding in getting the shows documented. Check them out and keep an eye on Ovrld for more Weird City recaps.
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Thursday Night Pick: Bear in Heaven, Weeknight and Young Magic at the Parish
Bear in Heaven are a pretty good little electro-rock outfit but what really has us excited for their show tonight at the Parish is the inclusion of NYC dark synth duo Weeknight, whose video “Dark Light” is one of my favorites this year. Several months back I said “Dark Light” features “the best synchronized group dancing this side of the xx’s “Islands”,” as well as “forties and baseball bats and ample booty shots,” which should be enough to get you to hit the play button above. I’ve yet to see the duo live but their casual visual flair and macabre yet engaging sound has me eager to see them in person, and I’d urge you to get on board too before Robert Rodriguez steals them away to star in Sin City 3: Everybody is Just Naked All the Time.
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Video: Austin Mic Exchange Stands in Solidarity with Ferguson
Austin Mic Exchange, the weekly hip-hop open mic night that takes place at Spider House Ballroom on Tuesdays at 11 pm, got some of its emcees together last night to make a video showing their support for the people of Ferguson. The video features a diverse array of new and established artists, including Austin hip-hop vets Zeale, Pojo the Idealist and AMX co-founder P-Tek himself. Check it out, and don’t forget Weird City, the hip-hop festival AMX has been building, kicks off in about a month.
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Friday Night Pick: BLSHS, Sip Sip, Sphynx and Electric Attitude at Holy Mountain
I’ve been a fan of Houston dream pop trio BLSHS since their sly immersion into the Houston music scene last summer and their consequential explosion with their fantastic debut release in January. BLSHS captures and entrances with their synth-leaning concoctions backing front lady Michelle Miears’s dazzling and alluring vocals that hit the right notes across the board from 80s themed dance anthems to southern-tinged 808s driven soulful melodies. They’ll be making the journey to Austin with fellow Houston standouts Electric Attitude who bring a down and dirty funkiness with a dash of disco dance and more foot stomping old fashioned rock n’ roll influence than they give themselves credit for. Joining them for the night is Sip Sip, a group you have to see to believe as they lure you in with a funky soul big band sound then drop effortlessly integrated rhymes mid song. All of this leading up to the tour kickoff of Sphynx, the self-described “Queen but with two Freddie Mercurys…and also a Phil Collins” indie glam pop-rockers will be hitting the road, but before they do they’re determined for one more night to force you to hit the dance floor. DJ Darth Vena will be kicking the night off with a blast so show up early! Doors are at 9pm at Holy Mountain for $6, all ages!
– Nate Abernethy
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Time Capsule: Check out an older Austin in The Pool’s “Dance It Down”
As well as being a sterling example of how long Austin has been keeping it weird, The Pool’s lost classic “Dance It Down” video also provides a great snap shot of how Austin looked in the ’80s, opening with shots of a relatively small but clearly expanding downtown before moving on to shots of scenesters on roller blades shuffling around what I’m thinking are Channel Austin soundstages. There’s also a “dance off” in a corridor of UT and plenty of shots of pre-gentrified Austin areas and some “Dance It Down” tagging of alleyways. How could you possibly resist dancing it down?
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Video: The Young’s “Cry of Tin”
It’s always great to see a local band get some attention at a national outlet, especially when it’s an outlet on the level of the AV Club, which premiered The Young’s new video for “Cry of Tin” today. If you haven’t heard it yet, “Cry of Tin” is slight step away from the more classic rock oriented sounds of the band’s Matador Records debut Dub Egg, featuring a motorik rhythm and forboding guitars screeching out noisy, delay-drenched riffs. The video itself is a riff on the standard broke band practice of taking over a storage unit and making it a DIY practice space, but since these are especially bleak economic times, the band is surrounded by lawyers, massage therapists and other professionals who agree commercial real estate rent is too damn high. But then some amoral locksmiths get involved and everything goes to hell. Go see for yourself.
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Ovrld Fave Meenk Shares a Charming New Video
We raved about Meenk a little while ago in our From Our Living Room to Yours column and she e-mailed us this week to share a video she made of her new song “Firefly.” On her Facebook page, Meenk describes “Firefly” as her “first love song,” but to our ears it’s more of an anti-love song, detailing some one way affection gone wrong. Without other instrumentation supporting Meenk’s voice and guitar work, “Firefly” is almost uncomfortably vulnerable, like an entry in the diary of a dead friend, your fingers turning the pages without consulting you first. Give it a listen and be sure to check out Meenk’s debut EP, too.