Photos courtesy Austinist.com contributing photographer Briana Purser ...

AustinSurreal’s Matt Sonzala continues his '08 rolling rap show with two big gigs over the next seven days. Despite the bevy of contacts he brings with him from Houston, Sonzala balances between the gimme shows (Bun-B a day after II Trill dropped) and freewheeling, throwing his clout behind acts that wouldn’t normally come to or draw a crowd in Austin, like the Palestinian rappers who played here in May. The first show – Saturday night at the Whiskey bar – is more the latter. Ice Mike is far from a household name in rap, but the New Orleans bounce sound that he helped to cement some 15 years ago has resonated in the mainstream since, from that platinum late 90’s Cash Money sound to the Baton Rouge scene that is just now hitting nationally. Largely, though, N.O. bounce remains a strictly regional sound, as no big names ever resurrected it to the same degree as Baltimore club....

An Austin group in the earliest stages, Ideal Soul Mart are full of potential and DIY attitude. They’re an indie pop duo of multi-instrumentalists who have a tendency to work out the songs as they’re playing live, helping give them an experimental flare as the guitar, drums and keyboard rage on and frolicsome melodies dance about in the atmosphere. They’ve got pounding drums, jangly guitars and arm fulls of catchy vocals....

The Warlocks’ bring their psychedelic rock variety to Emo’s (Lounge) on Friday night in support of last year’s Heavy Deavy Skull Lover. (Buy it here.) Singer and guitarist Bobby Hecksher’s brainchild, the California act’s music has morphed within the (broad) confines of psychedelia throughout the course of its career, with inherent melody, plentiful reverb, and Hecksher’s distinct vocal contributions tying it all together expertly. The Warlocks’ line-up has adjusted over time as well and the band is no longer the eight-piece creature it once massacred live audiences as. Instead, the band currently pillages on with fewer members and has just recently wrapped up a tour with Austin’s The Black Angels. Tonight, New York outfit The Vandelles and local space-rockers The Boxing Lesson get things rolling at Emo’s Lounge as a part of 101X FM's Next Big Thing series. The rest of Emo’s stays busy this evening as well, with RX Bandits and Portugal The Man on the outside main stage and Marked Men and The Hex Dispensers inside....

Todd Rundgren is the Costco of Rock'n'Roll. Every genre is represented. You want sweet ballads? '70s love songs so marrow-deep you know them unconsciously like you know Christmas carols? You need man-cock rock tight enough to split your spandex? Some Eastern Intrigue-chakra rockin' prog synth that makes Coheed and Cambria sound like the Jonas Brothers? So much psychedelia you can actually see Fantasia in your mind?...

Bury the Cynics the first full-length from Austin-based the Lovely Sparrows is either indie pop music for people who'd rather listen to a country album, or alt country for people who'd rather listen to a pop album. The record is at turns haunting and hopeful, managing to make refrains like "You be the bayonet, I'll be the rope" sound less menacing than they should -- hints more of John Darnielle than Nick Cave. ...

When Park Ave. (featuring a certain Conor Oberst) broke up in 2001, Jamie Williams and Neely Jenkinks formed Tilly and the Wall, releasing Wild Like Children on Oberst’s Team Love label in 2004. Bottom of Barrels followed two years later, and this June, the band dropped their third full-length, O. (Buy it here.) O is actually untitled; it goes by the letter of the alphabet that best describes the frame of its artwork, and the revolving images within that “O” will be fan provided artwork! Tilly and the Wall’s video for the first single “Pot Kettle Black” premiered on Stereogum last month, and the band also garnered an Artist of the Day merit from SPIN in June....

A brief glance at Charles Attal's calendar reveals some Austin City Limits festival after-shows and ticket information. Several shows are on the books, including performances by Jaime Lidell and Heartless Bastards on Friday night (Parish, Emo's, respectively) and a huge triple ticket featuring Conor Oberst, M Ward and Jenny Lewis on Sunday night at La Zona Rosa. Saturday night is mysteriously quiet aside from a Car Stereo (Wars) performance that indicates an inter/national name will be filling the venue (Emo's) later in the evening. Local DJ Car Stereo (Wars) will also be at Emo's Friday night, warming the crowd for Drive By Truckers and many more. ...

Sit at the bar with a Lucero fan and you’ll hear a lot about Ben Nichols, and rightly so. In the quiet war of big personalities under the alt-country big-tent, Nichols holds his own; as the Memphis band’s creative hub and lead singer, he’s more brash and less deliberately poetic than Tweedy, and he’s held closer to his punk rock roots than Ryan Adams. If any other big name comes close to Nichols, it’s Patterson Hood careening off the edge. Regardless, he plays in that league. But for a guy to garner such constant comparisons to The Boss, The Replacements, and all of the above – and to stick out from every other singer who mythologizes Darkness On The Edge of Town – he needs a band. Nichols’s crew pulls all sorts of weight, but their sound isn’t gussied up or overly technical or bursting with embellishments. Even more than Nichols’s grating growl, this is where the punk starts to show – the band just puts in work, shoulder-to-wheel, fast and loose, and the songs (and Nichols) benefit as a result. ...

British R&B crooner James Hunter brings timeless, soulful ditties to Antone’s this Wednesday. Hunter recently released The Hard Way, while 2006’s People Gonna Talk record did indeed catch the attention of many and perked up listeners’ ears both sides of the Atlantic, eventually garnering a Grammy nomination in the “Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year” category for Hunter. But this talented singer is no one-album-wonder -- he fronted Howling Wolf and the Vee-Jays in the '80s; the band had a fairly prolific even if somewhat brief career. Hunter has also collaborated with Van Morrison in the past....

Back in October of last year, Nas announced at a concert in New York that the titled of his upcoming album (originally slated for release in February '08) was "Nigger." Since that time, the release date has been pushed back, the title has changed, and various members of the black community as well as his label have had plenty to say....

Stephin Merritt's Magnetic Fields don't get out much tour-wise, but they will be supporting their latest, Distortion, this fall with a short tour. The Paramount will hose NYC's favorite gloomy lovers on October 14, and tickets ($33-36) go on sale July 23. Buy them through gettix.net.......

Today it was announced that Willie Nelson and "very special guests" will perform the venue's final celebration concert on Sunday, October 26, after sixteen years of operating near the intersection of FM-2244 and Highway 71....

The dog days of summer are setting in, but we're already looking forward to the fall: Fun Fest is confirming that the Dead Milkmen will reunite to headline an evening during the Fun Fun Fun Festival being held November 8 and 9 at Waterloo Park. The Dead Milkmen are a legendary punk outfit known for their snotty, satirical lyrics and jangly, jagged punk rock guitar sound. ...

The sugary sweet pop harmonies of Calamity Magnet permeate Emo’s Lounge this Monday with support from local outfits Built By Snow, Hollywood Gossip, and Household Names. A former member of The Rentals and native Texan, Sara Radle heads up the L.A. based Calamity Magnet; the band released their first EP in March of this year. It’s worth noting that Radle was still a part of The Rentals up until last month when the allure of full time duties with Calamity Magnet dragged her away. You can stream an a capella version of The Rentals classic “Getting By” on her solo MySpace page -- she calls it her goodbye to the band but warns that it’s only a demo!...

In the years following Will Courtney's return from L.A. to play music with his sister Lily, Brothers & Sisters have left a significant footprint on the Austin music scene. Their style, a pop-folk sound untarnished by passing trends in indie rock, garnered national recognition by way of their first album, a self-titled record on Calla Lily. Though their vast array of players might obscure this, Brothers & Sisters are at their best when using a variety of voices and instruments to focus on the small things: a great harmony, an elegant melody or a joyful unison of multiple layers. Their new record carries on in this tradition, but as Will Courtney explained to us in a recent interview, Fortunately is significantly bigger than previous efforts....

As ever, the Daytrotter.com crew acknowledges all Austin has to offer in the way of incredible music. This week, they're featuring a session by Bill Baird's {{{Sunset}}}, featuring an unreleased tune called "Loveshines, Part II"....

Our new East Austin arthouse/bookstore neighbor, Domy Books, is linking up with Monofonus Press for an evening of the visual and written arts. As you may or may not know, Monofonus is a new-ish multimedia imprint with the big goal of pairing new writing, music and the visual arts into some pretty neat packages. Past releases in their “If” series have included the writing and music of Monofonus co-founder Morgan Coy and his band Over the Hill, and future projects will include releases by Diagonals, The Pillow Queens, and other music, visual art, fiction and more....

Trae’s impeccable (and free!) Diary of the Truth mixtape opens with an Avril Lavigne sample, layered over some simple kick-cymbal action without any hint of irony: “I wake up in the morning, put on my face / The one that's gonna get me through another day / Doesn't really matter how I feel inside / 'Cause life is like a game sometimes.” Over the top, singer L-Boogie lilts in and out with chants like “Wake-up shorty.” Those who already know Trae will find the sample both amusing and extremely fitting. Improve the cadence a bit and you could easily slide those lyrics into one of the Houston rapper’s raspy verses. Effectively, this already happened countless times, because Avril’s lyrics approximate Trae’s own mantra. ...

If you don’t think girls can rock as hard as boys then maybe you should go all the way back to the 1970s and start with the feminist folk scene and trace that all the way back stopping on artists like Joan Baez, Joan Jett, the Go-Go’s, Karen O and Beth Ditto. You should also check out Girls Rock Camp Austin, and if you’re a girl between the ages of 10 and 17, you can take part. However, it may be a little too late to sign up this year because the first session (July 7 - 11) is just ending and the second session (July 21 - 25) begins so soon. But don't fret, you can witness the fruits of their rock and roll labor at the showcase at the Parish Saturday at noon and Saturday, July 26 (for the second session) and watch the girls perform the songs they created in camp. ...

This unassuming-looking man on the right is Nels Cline, an extraordinarily talented guitarist who seemed destined to drift in and out of pop music's subconscious with avant jazz's finest and punk rock's most legendary. A couple years ago, however, Cline made the leap into the relative mainstream, joining Jeff Tweedy and Wilco. ...

In this morning's NYTimes article about Senator Barack Obama's year-long cross-country tour, the Democratic presidential candidate confesses to being surprised by Austin and its music scene. "A place that I’ve come to love, which I did not expect until this campaign, is Texas," he goes on to say. "I ended up loving Texas!" [NYTimes] via [Austin Soundcheck]......

When we caught up with Ian Orth in April, we discovered that he had big plans going forward for his Learning Secrets entity. True to his word, Orth and Learning Secrets deliver a blockbuster party this Saturday in conjunction with Transmission Entertainment at The Mohawk. Besides having a stint at the DJ booth himself this evening, Orth also welcomes fellow local DJ Abominatron to take a stab at the beats. But the ace up the sleeve is British DJ and producer Riton (pronounced Ree-ton) who has wrought dance parties all across the globe and collaborated with artists such as Erol Alkan and Soulwax....

Philadelphia’s mewithoutYou will grace the stage at the Parish Room tonight, serving up experimental indie-rock with some weighty lyrics. The band signed with top indie-Christian label Tooth & Nail for their 2006 release Brother Sister. Expect some spoken-word style vocals and plenty of screamo from singer Aaron Weiss, backed by shockwaves of frenzied electric guitar from his brother Michael. This may not be one to inspire a jovial evening of partying, but for those who tune in to lyrics at shows, it could prove to be a reflective - and loud - night at the Parish. (Think whiskey on the rocks, not Jaeger bombs.)...

A weekend night at Beauty Bar is never without dance floor mayhem; the unending beats are usually provided either by a top notch DJ or an exhilarating electro-pop act....

A month or so ago I was hanging out with an old friend I hadn’t seen in awhile. It wasn’t awkward at all, but we aren't terribly close so the conversation was hopping from one thing to another in that rudderless, silence-avoiding way it goes when you've gone through all the gossip and most of the whiskey. At some point I remember him saying “So have you heard this band Wildildlife?” and me shrugging noncommittally, thinking, neat, another indie buzz band with a shitty name I’ll have to contend with in the future. ...

It's Beck's birthday, and this future Austin City Limits festival headliner is celebrating with the release of his latest, Modern Guilt. Produced by Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley), featuring none other than Chan Marshall (Cat Power), Guilt oozes pop noir. ...

Is a music festival really a festival if no one shows up? Dreary attendance numbers for Saturday's Exit Fest. A man from Pearland drowned over the weekend after an attempt to untangle the anchor of a friend's boat in Lake Travis. Inmate escaped from Gillespie County Jail on Saturday; the outdated facilities may be partly to blame. Roxanne Paltauf has been missing for two years since she walked out of a Budget Inn in North Austin after a fight with her boyfriend. Neighbors feel out of the loop on the purchase of land off Braker for a new Northeast Austin Health Center....

Everything about local psych-pop outfit The Bubbles is adorable. From the drawings that adorn their debut full-length Super Psychedelic Sound Explosion, to the delightful ditties it contains, from those bubble wands (or is it bubble blowers) they utilize at concerts, to their bubbly vivacious performances, The Bubbles epitomize unending joy through music. The sugary pop of “Like A Rocket” kicks off the record; the melodic hooks, the “la-la-la’s,” and the “doo-doo-doo-doo’s” grab you instantly as you realize this is going to be one of those albums that has your head bobbing in unison all the way through....

A veteran of the local music scene, Captain Jim has made a name for himself as well as his Heart & Soul Soundsystem DJ crew, filling in the gaps between live sets at shows around Austin, but primarily with a couple of stellar residencies in town. Every Sunday, Heart & Soul Soundsystem enlivens Lovejoy's with an array of genres including reggae, ska, soul, and dub. Tonight (and every Monday night), Captain Jim and his team take over Room 710, easing our case of the Mondays with a healthy dose of punk, garage, hardcore, and more. Guest DJs are also a part of the shenanigans so a wide variety of classics can be expected. Free pool to boot!...