Think male/female indie harmonies, and what comes to mind? Mates of State? Well, try letting your lips get comfortable with Arthur & Yu. They are the childhood nicknames of Seattle multi-instrumentalists Grant Olsen (Arthur) and Sonya Westcott (Yu), and their debut, In Camera, is an organic, acoustic folk delight. Flute sounds, wood blocks, glockenspiel and plenty of tambourine along with conventional rock elements create a sound that’s minimal yet layered. In Camera is not only......

Emo’s has built a reputation as one of the city’s most identifiable and prolific venues over the last decade or so. In fact, it has been fifteen years since the infamous live music spot opened its doors. This weekend, the club kicks off a celebration with events spanning eight hot and sweaty summer evenings. In between opening night festivities featuring The Riverboat Gamblers and 2nd weekend reunions like Glorium comes a Saturday night line-up fit......

Great Lake Swimmers Ongiara (Nettwerk) Ongiara sees Great Lake Swimmers move a little further into country with prominent banjo strums and unforgiving Nashville-esque male/female harmonies. The themes are still dark, open and intimidating, never belying the band's daunting name. Production-wise, the songs are gorgeous: layers of acoustic guitars over a banjo and reverberating snare never sounded better. Tony Dekker's voice is straight out of the old dance hall and as slide guitars subtly make......

Photo of Okkervil River sound check courtesy Kevin Schneider Peter & The Wolf's Daytrotter Session was recorded here in Austin at Big Orange Studio during SXSW, which Hunter notes was marked by highlights like "Dirty Projectors, this one rad chick, and blacking out onstage at our showcase," and lowlights such as, "This one guy, that lame dude, and blacking out onstage at our showcase.” He recorded a handful of songs, including the previously unreleased......

Do Make Say Think You, You're a History In Rust (Constellation) It might just be a coincidence that Do Make Say Think release their latest full length just one week after local favorites Explosions in the Sky, but even without the timing to consider, both albums (and their eager fans) confirm the post-rock instrumental movement's throbbing heart. At the core of this kind of thing must be a conscious effort to avoid the trappings......

FRIDAY [14] [music] The Arm CD Release, with Single Frame, Faceless Werewolves and Lomita at Emo's (link) [music] Sound Tribe Sector Nine with Govinda at Stubb's Austin (link) [music] Matt Nathanson at Waterloo Records (Free, 5pm) (link) [music] Til We're Blue or Destroy at Beerland (link) [music] The Weary Boys Release Show at Continental Club (12:15am) (link) [party] Car Stereo (Wars) at Plush (10pm-2am, $2 Lone Stars) (link) [music] Loxsly and The Lemurs at Blue......

We've already told you about The Arm's CD release show on Friday, but we think it deserves another mention: they'll be playing with Single Frame, Faceless Werewolves and Lomita over at Emo's. We've also just found out that Super!Alright! has been tapped to provide visuals, which kinda makes sense considering they've already done a bunch of videos for Single Frame. The Arm's promised to bring some "special guests" onstage throughout their set, as well as......

SXSW.com released an updated lineup for this year's SXSW Music Festival earlier today, and it's one hell of a list. The SXSW committee hastens to note that "This is a partial list of performers confirmed to appear at the 2006 SXSW Music Festival. This list is current as of 1/13/06. All of this information is subject to change." International acts include: Masahiro Nitta, DMBQ, Ellegarden, Tsu Shi Ma Mi Re, PE'Z, The Emeralds (Japan)......

While scores of wonderful albums from already well-established indie acts like Broken Social Scene, Of Montreal and The Decemberists were all but predestined for greatness this year, others seemed to appear from nowhere. Case in point: Sup Pop phenoms Wolf Parade, emerging from Montreal with a series of cameos in various compilation albums that left American fans in a rabid frenzy before finally dazzling us with their debut LP, Apologies to the Queen Mary;......

: : FRIDAY : : [music] The Zippo Hot Tour Semi-Finals featuring Fractious, 9pm @ The Backroom - FREE! [film] A Bunch of New Movies Open! @ your local theater [film] QT6, 7pm & 9:30pm @ Drafthouse Downtown: Grindhouse Triple Feature also Saturday [music] Mike Graff, 8pm @ End of an Ear [dance] Refraction Arts presents "Shish-ka-bob! An Inventory of Works by Amy Cone," 8pm @ The Blue Theatre [music] Palaxy Tracks, The Glass......

We know its hard to get through the work week grind sometimes. Hopefully these new jams will make it more enjoyable. Here are our picks for the week... The Books – Lost and Safe British Sea Power - Open Season Fantomas - Suspended Animation Fischerspooner – Odyssey Great Lake Swimmers – Great Lake Swimmers Hot Hot Heat – Elevator Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After the Blues Okkervil River – Black Sheep Boy......