Flanfire

The Audiophiles feature Ethan Banner on keyboards, Curtis McMurtry on lead guitar (and sometimes sax), and Stefan Peierls on drums -- plus rapper Franklin Ngbaragbor and bassist April Inez (Kaplowitz). Every member of this band is a real talent -- here's hoping they will be playing LOTS more gigs. Sea Fields of Elephants features Max Tolleson and Henry Gillespie (of Max and Henry) playing lots of different stuff along with "Manic Mike" and "Gentle Joseph" -- this is surreal stuff akin to the Yellow Submarine era (and yes, they did do a song about finding a burial spot for a dearly deceased canine, and yes, they do paint their faces). Music, art, and social commentary all rolled into one big fun-seeking quartet of young geniuses.

Team NEXT put on an amazing show -- so good they got to keep on going (largely because the entire afternoon's program was way ahead of schedule) -- and wowing the crowd with choreographed rap songs and crooner ballads. This band is really an extended family of kids who make up in hope and joy and high energy what they have lacked in material goods. The Diving Captain -- Jake "Snow White" Laughterstein, Colin "Sleeping Beauty" Jenkins, Erin "Belle" Teasdale, and Wells "Shaqueefa" Barber (per their own website) -- just flat out ROCK! High energy -- on and off the stage.

The El Guapos (see CD review below) are another family band -- two members [Todd and Jonathan Harris] are brothers, two others are brother and sister. Their music is infectious -- joy, adventure, and pure theater (the band opened their set with a choreographed dance ending with the opening of umbrellas announcing their new CD, "Birds. Birds! Birds?" You just cannot hear this music without dancing! Neither can the band!

Finally, Blues Mafia hopped up on stage with lead singer Sasha Ortiz wearing a brand-new dress which a friend had gotten for her in New York City. Maybe it WAS the dress, but the woman just owned the stage. [Maybe it was opening the night before for Malford Milligan and Pinetop Perkins up at Nunos on MOPAC; maybe it was the two great songs written especially for her by guitarist bandmate Max Frost; or maybe it was the fact that Max and bassist Kai Roach executed (for the very first time ever on stage) a perfect double leap!]

Blastbeat founder and CEO Robert Stephenson (unaccustomed to the heat here, to be sure) was nevertheless as cool as a cucumber - NOT! He was so excited by these great young bands that he was trying already to figure out how to take ALL of them across the POND! And that was before The Daze (featuring Evan Butts, Aaron Lemke, and Chris Ritchie) had closed out the afternoon with an absolutely SMOKIN' set! The entire show, thankfully, was filmed by the fabulous Infynit Media Group from Community Channel 10 under the direction of Mixtank's Brian Conway -- and, yes, we know about lots of other teenagers in Austin making exciting and creative music. And soon so will many many more folks.

Birds. Birds! Birds? -- the new El Guapos eight-song CD -- is just pure joy. The opening "Move to Antarctica" through "Get Some Sleep" [lots of woh oh oh's and la la's with some falsetto thrown in] showcase the imaginativeness of this music. "Snow Blankets" is one of those songs that gets into your head and sticks around -- "cut away, cut away cut my chains away..." leading into "Who" power chord and some anthemic melodies and ending with some "la la's" and "I can feel my heart beating like a drum."

Next up are "Strange Dreams" and "Time Machines" (poetic, eh?) and then the song that grabs my heart -- "A Cathedral for the Sun." This is a flat out BEAUTIFUL song that opens with Amber Harris on keyboards and then some tender guitar and a glockenspiel that lead into even tenderer lyrics -- "my heart it aches for someone to sing to, and there you were just as heaven sent you," and the amazing chorus, "you are the one who has stolen my heart left a hole in my chest when I was in need of a heart, so you gave, you gave me yours ...." The song ends with the promise that "I'll cry for you when you're crying." Yeah -- there are two more songs -- "Shooting Flares from Ships" and "Hungry Ghosts" -- and some artwork by the versatile Amber on the front and back cover and even inside. Cory and Aaron engineered at the Indie Fort.

Rocketboys, Quiet Company -- from Antone's to Stubbs!

Indeed, it was with the El Guapos in mind that I strolled over to Antone's on Sunday night (after catching a bit of Phoebe Hunt -- hot black and white dress -- and her band, the Belleville Outfit) to catch sets from Austin's Quiet Company and Abilene's Homer Hiccolm and the Rocketboys. I well remember my first visit with these two bands on a quiet Sunday evening at Room 710 -- and a near-empty house.

No more. They packed out Antone's on a Sunday night this time. Taylor Muse (standing on his keyboard seat) is a dedicated rock star, complete with lots of slides, jumps and hot licks on both keyboard and guitar. Brandon Kinder (wearing the hat) fronts the Rocketboys, who barely beat out their longtime pals Quiet Company for a slot on last year's Austin City Limits Music Festival. Both bands just completed a lengthy tour and yet will be back in Austin at Stubbs on June 19th.

The Rocketboys also have a CD entitled "Sing Bird Sing," and that of course brought the El Guapos to mind. If you like power rock (Explosions in the Sky or Austin's own Summer Wardrobe, whom I caught at the Hole in the Wall earlier tonight), you would love these bands.

Phoebe sure has grown up since I first saw her at Alice's Restaurant "sitting in" with the Hudsons. Meanwhile, there's good news, bad (well, deferred good) news to report. Landry McMeans and that Rich Russell guy from the Lonesome Heroes are off on tour for most of the summer (they DO play the Hole on August 9th) -- we will miss their joy. But every Tuesday (at 7 pm) at Momo's Austin folks can get to hear the wonderful Canadian women (Alli Russell and Awna Teixeira of Po' Girl), who are in town making a record with Bukka Allen down in pest-free Buda, together with drummer Austin Cooper and his cohort from Olympia, Washington, Benny Sidelinger, who brought along one of his hand-made dobros (and one of his guitars) to play. The fortunate few got to see Po' Girl and Chicago-based special guests JT and the Clouds (in town for the recording, but back with their full crew not too far away in the future we hope. I also got to catch a set from the fabulous Charlie Faye at the Saxon, with Matt Mollica, Joe Humel, Will Taylor, Erika Maassen, and the wonderful David Holt on lead guitar -- and Betty Soo (fresh from her New Folk win at Kerrville) sang harmoniees too!