Free Week is in full swing. The cold weather has been unsuccessful in deterring Austin music lovers from taking in some of Austin’s finest young bands. Check our Music section for all of our recos, reviews, and photos and our Free Week page for all the shows! Here’s four picks from our Music staff for this weekend.
Los Coast, Emily Wolfe, Otis the Destroyer, Palo Duro
Fri., Jan. 5, Mohawk
Psych-soul outfit Los Coast continues its ascension, recently signing to Americana-centric indie New West Records for new music in 2018. Emily Wolfe’s blues-rock rumble pitches empowerment on her latest single, “Holy Roller,” which dropped in November. Otis the Destroyer released the punishing Keep Bashing in September, a raucous and randy ball of pure rock energy. – Kahron Spearman
Annabelle Chairlegs, Deep Time, Caroline Says, Why Bonnie?, Robby
Sat., Jan. 6, 9pm, Hotel Vegas
Glitzy ragers Annabelle Chairlegs come off a growth-spurt year of festival performances carried by songwriter Lindsey Mackin’s shattering refrains. Local post-punk fixture Deep Time have kept tight-lipped since its 2012 Hardly Art-handled debut, while Caroline Says’ first cassette experienced a 2017 resurgence via Western Vinyl re-release. Spacey rock newbies Why Bonnie? and Robby start. No acts are boys-only. – Rachel Rascoe
Knife in the Water, Croy & the Boys, Sun June
Sat., Jan. 6, 7pm, Volstead Lounge
On the heels of Reproduction early last year, Knife in the Water’s first LP since a quiet hiatus unfolded in 2006, frontman/founder Aaron Blount hoped the local noir-country outfit’s return would occur thoughtfully and deliberately.
“Doing it a little more patiently and intelligently is a motivating thing to try to get it right, to try to not fuck it up and give in to some of the pitfalls of what being a band is,” mused Blount.
Reproduction simmers the same explicit unease and brooding intensity of the Austinites’ earlier catalog, dark and intellectual, built on country twang and muted rock, with eerie vocal harmonies and storytelling. It’s also imbued with a hopefulness, indebted to Blount’s love of gospel and a fixation on making music that moves through suffering.
“The terrain is kind of like, you’re gonna get it or you’re not,” explains Blount, summarizing the slow-burn tenacity of the revamped group. “It’s about words a little more. It’s not about guitars. As a male, it’s not my place to say, but it’s not about a lot of this more accepted male expression. I can’t say, [but] I think our new thing has a lot more to it than some of the old stuff.
“People could take a little more time with things, and I think that’s something hopefully, inadvertently, that our music says, that you kind of have to go into its world with some patience.”
– Libby WebsterMoving Panoramas, Löwin, Go Fever, Vonne
Sat., Jan. 6, 8:30pm, Valhalla
Fresh off channeling Blondie for NYE, atmospheric pop acrobats Moving Panoramas enjoyed a busy 2017. Leslie Sisson’s songwriting and stage command continued to blossom, portending promise for the follow-up to 2015 breakout One. Löwin leader Sara Houser marshaled pop smarts on the quartet’s summer sizzler, “Sloop.” Australian transplant Acey Monaro delivers refurbed Brit-pop-punk with Go Fever, and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Vonne excavates remarkable subtlety with her singular indie pop. – Greg Beets
This article appears in January 5 • 2018.