Nu Rave Brain Wave

Check out this new Jack Coleman directed video for the Growlers‘ Record Store Day exclusive 7″, Gay Thoughts/Good Feelings. Proving all at once how ridiculous they are, and why they are ever so deserving of being my favorite band in the world.

Speaking of the best things to ever happen, they’re finally coming to the UK, with a date at the End of the Road Festival, and a my-new-hometown date September 9th at Green Door Store. Get yr party frocks on, Brighton, we’re going HAM on this one.

mp3: The Growlers – Gay Thoughts

I kind of wanted to title this post ‘Introducing: The Growlers‘, but I think that would be a little misleading since I’ve probably (definitely) written more words about them than I have in every essay in my university career. But it got me thinking… Doesn’t everyone kind of wish they could go back in time and revisit the exact moments when they were falling irrevocably in love with their favorite band? I do. Noisey‘s introduction of the Growlers, and subsequent videos of a racuous show in Nashville, made me miss that time so hard. There are a million reasons why this is my favorite band, and I’m not going to go into them now (there’s probably 10,000 words at least on this blog about it for you to find, anyway) but watch this video — it will either make them your favorite band, or remind you why you love them so much in the first place.

mp3: The Growlers – Gay Thoughts

The great people over at The Reverberation Appreciation Society & The Black Angels are bringing Psych Fest to Austin, Texas the fourth year in a row. This year the festival will take place at the Seaholm Power Plant (214 West Avenue, Austin, Texas) from April 29th to May 1st. They’ve gotten one of the sickest lineups for a festival that I have seen in SO LONG. So many props to them for getting together a sonic smorgasboard of bands who are amazing, aren’t at every single festival ever, are a good mix between underrated and legendary, and include a buttload of NRBW-longtime favorites including The Growlers, Bass Drum of Death, Lower Heaven, The Meek, Spectrum and tons more.

We’re lucky to have a pair of tickets to each day of the festival for y’all to win. All you need to do is email NURAVEBRAINWAVE@GMAIL.COM with PSYCH FEST in the subject & in the body include yr full name, which day you’d like to go to, band you’d like to see and bonus points to pictures of cute pugs. Like this, this or this. (Contest Deadline: April 26th)

Check out the lineup below, featuring our picks in bold for the day, and pick up tickets in case you don’t win! There’s also a ton of mp3s at the bottom. I wish I could be there, seeing as I had such a fun/dangerous time at the Psych Fest 2 back in 2009, so you’ll have to go in our honor and rock the fuck out.

Friday April 29th, 2011 :: Get Tickets

Stage One
6.30 ZaZa
7:30 Beach Fossils
8:30 Night Beats
9:30 Atlas Sound
10:30 Crystal Stilts
11:30 A Place To Bury Strangers
12:30 Omar A Roderiguez

Stage Two
5:30 Christian Bland (from Black Angels)
6:00 Sky Drops
7:00 Zechs Marquis
8:00 Blue Angel Lounge
9:00 Radio Moscow
10:00 Quarter After
11:00 Shapes Have Fangs
12:00 No Joy
01:00 Tobacco
02:00 This Will Destroy You

Saturday April 30th 2011 :: Get Tickets

Stage One
2:30 Ghost Box Orchestra
3:30 Woodsman
4:30 Shine Brothers
5:30 Beaches
6:30 The Black Ryder
7:30 Sleepy Sun
8:30 Fresh & Onlys
9:30 Crocodiles
10:30 Prefuse 73
11:30 Black Moth Super Rainbow
12:30 Spectrum

Stage Two
2:00 Holy Wave
3:00 Weird Owl
4:00 Vacant Lots
5:00 Cloudland Canyon
6:00 Pontiak
7:00 White Hills
8:00 Lumerians
9:00 Young Prisms
10:00 Indian Jewelry
11:00 Soft Moon
12:00 Lower Heaven
01:00 Bass Drum of Death
02:00 The Meek

Sunday May 1st 2011 :: Get Tickets

Stage One
3:30 Diamond Center
4:30 Fungi Girls
5:30 Black Hollies
6:30 Dirty Beaches
7:30 Pete International Airport
8:30 The Growlers
9:30 Roky Erickson
10:45 The Black Angels

Stage Two
3:00 Hellfire Social
3:30 Chris Catalena
4:00 Tjutjuna
5:00 ST37
6:00 Daughters of the Sun
7:00 The Cult of Dom Keller
8:00 Wall of Death
9:00 Cold Sun
12:00 My Education/Theta Naught: Sound Mass

mp3: Beach Fossils – Sometimes
mp3: The Black Ryder – Sweet Come Down
mp3: The Fresh & Onlys – Waterfall
mp3: Lower Heaven – Fire Engine
mp3: Bass Drum of Death – Spare Room
mp3: Fungi Girls – Doldrums
mp3: The Growlers – What It Is

Our perennial favorites, The Growlers, have announced that they’ll play a FREE show at Origami Vinyl on April 16th for Record Store Day. They play about 8pm. They’ll be joined by the amazing (and buzz-central) Hanni El Khatib and Nick T from Islands. Origami Vinyl will have 50 copies of the RSD exclusive new 7″ from the Growlers, Gay Thoughts/Good Feelings. Having heard both sides of this 7″, I can tell you, this shit is worth lining up for. The Growlers add new components (horns?!) into their winning mix of swamp stomp, psychedelia with choruses that will refuse to leave your head with ‘Gay Thoughts‘. ‘Good Feelings‘ is also a step-forward, there’s new noises here too, of the keyboard (and like, xylophone?!) variety but it meshes really well with the Growlers strengths. They’re so subtle sometimes, it’s a thing of beauty and a step forward. They’re the best. Get your hands on a copy of this come April 16th.

Our brother in Growlers-adoration Jack Coleman just released a new video of one of our favorites cuts from 2009′s Are You In Or Out?‘s Empty Bones Check it out:

mp3 | The Growlers – My Forehead’s Dripping Ocean

SXSW 2k11 was a crazy blur of wildness, great and loud music, and $1 wells. This is the best and brightest of what ensued:

The Vaccines @ AOL’s Pop-Up Show Series at the First Baptist Church :: Damn the Vaccines look tired. Kind of seems like maybe entering into the major label circuit was a bit of an oversight. Having done two UK tours, a small US tour and a Europe tour back-to-back-to-back prior to SXSW was a bad idea. This was for some kind of stream that you could watch online (hope you saw me!) so they made us do some fake clapping and stuff which was pretty lame. They played well compared to the ill-fated Spaceland show in January. Their four big singles are damn good (that would be ‘Blow It Up‘, ‘Wrecking Bar‘, ‘If You Wanna‘, and ‘Post Break Up Sex‘), and Justin’s voice was booming (although towards the end of the Festival it went out — and now he has to have surgery – we wish you well Justin!) but the rest kind of fell flat. We did get treated to the longest set of the festival and I had ‘Post Break Up Sex‘ in my head the whole time so there’s that….

The Vaccines – Wolf Pack @ SXSW 2011 :: AOL Popup Thingie from Brianna Saraceno on Vimeo.

mp3 | The Vaccines – Norgaard (Marc Riley Session)

Bass Drum of Death @ I’m An Alcoholic And I Hate You at Club Deville :: I had been extremely, extremely excited to see BDOD. I had gotten a copy of their debut LP, GB City, and so I wanted to see how much they could rock my face off live. Let me just say, they totally fucking did. It’s kind of amazing how loud they are for just two dudes, but John and Colin were blasting — and the fact that they let the songs speak (read: no banter, but lots of presence) for themselves just added to their fucking incredibleness. If I was a guitarist, I would headthrash just like they did. Highlights (from the set AND the album) include the impossibly catchy, eponymous ‘GB City‘, the rough and tumble ‘Heart Attack Kid’ and the incredibly accurate and jangly ‘Young Pros‘. Check out some really great video below. And if you don’t already have your copy of GB City you should head to Fat Possum and get that shit.

Bass Drum of Death – Heart Attack Kid @ Fat Possum Party SXSW from Brianna Saraceno on Vimeo.

mp3 | Bass Drum of Death – The Ballad of Bandit X

Mellowhype @ I’m An Alcoholic And I Hate You at Club Deville :: So, I would probably classify myself as a pretty big OFWGKTA fan. Just ask the Boys whose house I play them in for about 10 hours a day. Consequently, they’re all fans. So I was really excited to see Mellowhype at the Fat Possum party. I was super surprised to see that it wasn’t that packed, but amongst the chants of “Swag!”, renditions of “FUCK THE POLICE” (joined by Tyler, The Creator! SWAG!) and tweets about Aziz Ansari, Mellowhype (Hodgy Beats + Left Brain) left the crowd with no doubt that Tyler, The Creator is not the only member of OFWGTKA destined for greatness. Playing the hits from their forthcoming reuisse on Fat Possum, BLACKENDWHITE, but the most special moment was when they played Earl Sweatshirt’s soon to be classic ‘Earl‘. It was fucking SWAGGED OUT. Can’t wait for more.

Mellowhype @ Fat Possum SXSW Party from Brianna Saraceno on Vimeo.

mp3 | Mellowhype – Fuck The Police Featuring Tyler, The Creator

Hunx & His Punx @ Waterloo Records :: Big time Hunx and His Punx fan, first time seeing them live. Although I would’ve much preferred to see them in a small venue, the Waterloo Records stage looked and sounded amazing. Hunx is the consummate entertainer, wearing a man thong, tights and a see through sort of tuxedo shirt and Russian style hat. He intermingled hitting on men in the crowd (‘Hey sexy gay man in the beard, stop talking about me!’), giving people who left the set the finger, and rocking it the fuck out. They played lots of new songs from their forthcoming second album, including the great ‘Lovers Lane‘. I thought it was a really great set, but it just made me want to see them in a tiny venue where Hunx was way more drunk, stripping way more, and being 1,000x crazier. But I can’t really complain, they’re coming to the Echo in the beginning of April. Best be there.

Hunx & His Punx – Lovers Lane @ Waterloo Records SXSW 2011 from Brianna Saraceno on Vimeo.

mp3 | Hunx & His Punx – Lovers Lane

Davila 666 @ Nuevo’s :: I don’t really know what to say about Davilla 666 other than that they ripped so fucking hard. Having been told to listen to them like, at least a thousand times, and not really knowing where to start, I figured this would be it. They played to a really small crowd at 8pm at Neuvo’s which was a shame but they did NOT hold anything back. The entire group looked a little squeezed onto the stage but it worked really well as their sweat was flying, angry Spanish was shouted and they fucking ruled. Time Magazine even agreed that they ruled super hard, so you can’t really argue with them and us, right?

mp3 | Davila 666 – Hanging on the Telephone (Nerves Cover)

The Growlers @ BD Rileys :: I’m pretty sure this was my 25th time seeing the Growlers (no shame whatsoever) and it was just as good as it always was — maybe even better. Having gone 4 months between seeing them, I rejoiced when I saw their laid-back swagger and their ridiculous spectacle (covering themselves in tin foil), I was reminded of exactly why I adore them so much. Every single song they have is a definitive classic, as you well know if you read this regularly, so I was happy to jump around to ‘Old Cold River‘, ‘Sea Lion Goth Blues‘, and ‘What It Is‘ — it’s hard to keep writing the same things about them — they’re always good live, I never get tired of seeing them (obviously), they always bring something new and endearing and compelling to the table, even if it’s just ridiculous outfits or wigs — but it never overshadows the fact that they write incredible songs and love what they do. If it makes any difference, two Brits that I took to see them loved them, even though one was gonna make $15 bucks if he didn’t. That’s a damn good band.

mp3 | The Growlers – What It Is

WAH! Austin Psych Fest 4 curated by the great Reverberation Appreciation Society will be returning to Austin on Friday April 29 and 30th and May 1st. They’ve finally announced the rest of the lineup and it is INCREDIBALLS. Weekend tix are running for $100 and daily tickets are going to be $40 per day.  Get your tickets while they are still hot.The obvious answer is to go to all 3 days. Check the lineup below and some mp3 highlights from some of our longtime favorite bands playing this festival.

FRIDAY APRIL 29
Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Crystal Stilts
Atlas Sound
Beach Fossils
indian Jewelry
Radio Moscow
No Joy
Zaza
The Quarter After
Blue Angel Lounge
Cult of Dom Keller
Zechs Marquis

SATURDAY APRIL 30
Spectrum
Black Moth Super Rainbow
Prefuse 73
Crocodiles
Fresh & Onlys
Black Ryder
Tobacco
Lumerians
The Soft Moon
Cloudland Canyon
Young Prisms
Beaches
White Hills
Pontiak
Woodsmen
Weird Owl
Vacant Lots
Tjutjuana
Ghost Box Orchestra

SUNDAY MAY 1
Roky Erickson
The Black Angels
The Growlers
Cold Sun
Dirty Beaches
The Night Beats
Wall of Death
The Black Hollies
Daughts of the Sun
Lower Heaven
ST37
The Meek
Hellfire Social

mp3 | The Growlers – Drinkin’ the Juice Blues
mp3 | The Fresh and Onlys – Waterfall
mp3 | Beach Fossils – Sometimes
mp3 | Atlas Sound – Walkabout (With Noah Lennox)

Our favorite people, The Growlers, just announced their biggest show I think probably of ever. They’ll be cruising into Pomona’s Glasshouse & Aladdin’s Jr on Friday, March 11th for a show featuring Crystal Antlers, Tijuana Panthers & Audacity all of whom we love. For only $12 you can get into both venues. Don’t snooze on these tickets, looks like this will be these dude’s last show around LA for a hot minute.

The Growlers @ The Glasshouse/Aladdin’s Jr., Pomona
with Crystal Antlers, Tijuana Panthers, Audacity
Friday, March 11, 2011 7:00 PM
BUY ADVANCE TIX FOR $12

mp3 | The Growlers – Mean People Suck

Our uber-ultra-total favorites the Growlers have released info about their forthcoming 7″ single Gay Thoughts/Good Feelings which will hit your ears (and mine, too, hopefully) on Apri 16th via Everloving Records as a special Record Store Day 2011 pickup. Needless to say, this bitch is limited edition. Get it.

mp3 | The Growlers – What It Is

There’s not much that I don’t love about SXSW. I revel in the pre-festival stressing, the insanity, the planning, the $2.50 Lonestars, the Frost Bank Building, street dogs at 1am, falling down dead of exhaustion after a long day, and so on and so forth. It’s the best week of my year and 2011 is going to be better than the previous three. Is It March Yet? is our preview of some of the bands we’ll be catching at this year’s festival for sure. We recommend you do so as well.

01 Spectrals :: Okay, I’ve waxed poetic about how much I adore Spectrals quite a lot on this blog, so I’m going to take the opportunity to talk about how well his songs work live. Although it started off as a bedroom project, Spectrals is a full-live band (well, has been for a while) and they slay.  Not in a headbanging kind of jump around way (trust, I love that too) but in kind of a mellow, perfect pop song played really well kind of way. Maybe Spectrals won’t get the party jumping immediately, but they’ll show you a great way to turn your 50s/60s pop influences into something modern and great.

mp3 | Spectrals - Leave Me Be

02 King Tuff :: Again, another band that I literally refuse to stop talking about. King Tuff’s Was Dead was absolutely hands down the most underrated album of 2009, that’s a fact. I love the dirty glam garage rock dance party caterwaul that King Tuff brings every time. It’s also well documented that my biggest music regret of SXSW ’09 was not seeing this band. So do not make the same mistake I did, and check him out immediately.

mp3 | King Tuff - Freak When I\'m Dead

03 The Growlers :: There is no other live band that has ever lived up to the Growlers live. Every single time they are on point – they bring the dance party, Brook’s dance moves are always amusing, the stage decor/costumes are always ridiculous (and sometimes hideous) and their songs are just incredible. Lately, I’ve noticed that the Growlers have been making little adjustments to the tempo and arrangements of certain songs and that experimentation is just proof that if you write a good song (ie: Bob Dylan, hello), you can tweak it and have it still be ridiculously amazing. They’re the best. If you miss them, you’re a fool.

mp3 | The Growlers - Average Man

04 tUnE-yArDs :: Back in February of 2010, I went to see tUnE-yArDs never hearing a single song or knowing anything about her. I left with her songs permeating my thoughts, grinning wildly like a maniac, walking in all the wrong directions. Her live show is stunning, modest, moving, powerful, amazing. I cannot recommend seeing her enough — it’s all so homegrown and evocative. Do not miss seeing this talented Merrill Garbus before/during/after the release of her surely incredible 2nd album.

mp3 | tUnE-yArDs - News

05 Dead Ghosts :: I’m extremely excited that Vancouver’s Dead Ghosts are venturing down South (where everyone is rude — Weeds joke, anyone?) for some shows. Ever since the middle of 2010 I’ve been enchanted by their self-titled debut album and their 12″ live record. Everything they touch seems to be a mix of my favorite kind of garage rock, 60s/50s influence, catchy as fuck choruses and even though this will be my first time seeing them too: I’m just going to assume they slay asses live. I will keep you updated, but a SXSW without any Dead Ghosts seems kind of like a fool’s errand.

mp3 | Dead Ghosts - When It Comes To You

It’s kind of weird to keep writing about the Growlers now, although I’m not going to lie, I have an essay planned about why I think they’re the greatest band, but you know, full disclosure, this was my 21st time seeing the Growlers. They always have new tricks up their sleeve, something to thrill and delight — even after all this time. I was so excited when I heard about this show approx. six months ago, especially since we saw them on NYE 2009 last year, and had just the best time ever.

And it seems almost every time I write about them, I just say that there’s nothing that I haven’t said yet, and there’s nothing I can say that would come close to how great they are live but I keep writing about them (constantly, I know). However, something I don’t say which, is often true of Growlers shows, is that the crowds usually suck. I have seen them with plenty of good crowds, but usually they suck. And this time was no different. The crowd was either way too fucking wasted or way too sober and NOBODY was dancing besides like the first two rows of people of the completely packed Echo. But, this was such a homecoming of sorts for the Growlers, so it was really special to watch them sell out a venue that I saw them play to, you know, 10 people at before.

A super suprise was the opener, ‘The Graveyard’s Full’, which was re-recorded from its previous condition on Couples Vol. 6 and released on this past October’s Hot Tropics EP and is so much of a fun like, gypsy stomp although it was a little bare to how it sounds on record. The highlight was undoubtedly the second to last one, “People Don’t Change Blues” which was written by and is sung by Matt Taylor. Now they play this live all the time but it’s always with the vocals turned so far down you can barely hear — but this time he used Brook’s full volume mic and we got to actually hear it and it was INCREDIBLE. Not only is it one of my favorite Gs songs, but I think that it’s incredibly well written, straight to the point, and extremely astute. It was a thing of beauty when you could hear Matt Taylor and then heard Brooks doing some motherfucking wailing backing vocals.

But the real biggest surprise of all was ‘Wet Dreams’ which they actually NEVER have played not once when I’ve seen them. Although it’s not my favorite Gs song on record, it really worked live and was more upbeat than the versions that appear on Couples Vol. 5 and Are You In Or Out? Then the Gs do what they always do, which is play their “last song” and then play one more, and one more, and then one final one. This time the actual set-closer was the ridiculous Barnacle Beat which if you’ve listened to, is one of the classic Growlers-sound songs and is a one song dance party.

You know they also played the classics: Acid Rain, Sea Lion Goth Blues, What It Is, Badlands, etc and they were all amazing as per usual. Personally, I though they were great although I did hear some people think otherwise. I think it was the perfect send off to a year that has seen so much great stuff for the Growlers (including filming what has been deemed one of the worst interviews of all time, by us) and we all know 2011 is only going to bring better stuff (I have heard whispers of a new LP soon!). We love you, Gs.

mp3 | The Growlers - Mean People Suck