Banks & Steelz - Giant

Fuck CNN, this is ghetto editorial
See me like milk and Oreos
Dipped inside the audio
Platinum plaques in my portfolio
My lines are fine as wine
And blow your mind like coco

I know yesterday I disregarded a fairly cool collaboration of alt rock and rap, but I'm making up for that with a much cooler one today. Paul Banks, from Interpol, and RZA, leader and emcee in the Wu Tang Clan - also filmmaker and actor - who hang out and play chess (!) one day decided "If we put our [musical] sandwich together, it will be great" and it is.  I'm really looking forward to the full album, out in August, especially the track that features Florence Welch, and to seeing this surely intense act perform live at ACL in October.

Upcoming Shows

Phantogram - You Don't Get Me High Anymore

Running through emergency rooms
Spinning wheels and ceiling fans
My hand shake, cellophane landscape
Mannequin, faking it the best that I can
Cadillac, Cadillac red
No hands on the steering wheel
I’m crashing this UFO save-a-ho puppet show
Obliterate the way I feel

Really liking this brand new release from Phantogram. A few years ago I met their (then) manager while we were both watching a Seahawks game in the sports bar tent at ACL and that cemented the band on my radar. I'm not a huge fan of the collab with Outkast's Big Boi (his 2012 album and 2015's Big Grams) so I'm relieved that this feels like a return to, or touching base with, what I love about them (I mean, in addition to having a manager who is a huge fan of my 'Hawks).  Looks like I'll get the chance to see them again in November at the new Sound on Sound Fest!

Upcoming Shows

The Moth & The Flame - Wishing Well

Everyone you know
Flip their hopes to you
Wishing for a life
That you can't offer them

Couldn't resist following up yesterday's song with this band. Another fav from SXSW '16, Keith and I saw The Moth & The Flame perform right after Aurora and I was blown away. Reminded me of early Imagine Dragons. And then I read about TM&TF and felt a combination of smart and stupid, as both bands (as well as Neon Trees) hail at least partially from Utah, are made up of former Mormons, and tour together. Well then. 

Upcoming Shows

The Boxer Rebellion - Big Ideas

You're the shadow stealing light against the wall
You're the dream I had just before I woke up
Am I running through that mind of yours at all

Love, love this song. It has a gorgeous, swirly, emotional sound that I recognize from all-time favorites of my youth, like by The Cure and U2, which also caused me to listen obsessively to The National and Bastille in 2013-14. I hope to catch The Boxer Rebellion's show at The Parish this November.

Upcoming Shows

Atlas Genius - Molecules

We've been dressed as humans
We've been kings and homeless
Still we're just fragments of a great collide

Alt rockers from Adelaide, Australia taking on a big philosophical idea with a lighthearted sound. They're playing a lot of festivals this summer, and coming to ACL for weekend two in October. I'm going weekend one. If it turns out they play the same day as The Wombats, I'll return to Zilker to see them.

Upcoming Shows