Like fellow Ohioans The Black Keys and Texas up-and-comers White Denim, Heartless Bastards, the garage all-stars from Cincinnati, are at the center of a return to rough rock, and provide an alternative to the unfuzzy rock of bands such as Vampire Weekend and Fleet Foxes. Sunday evening on the oft-underrated Austin Ventures Stage, megaphone-voiced singer Erika Wennerstrom led the set, with able assistance from the big bass rhythms of Jesse Ebaugh and the steady but hard-hitting drums of Dave Colvin. ...

The quickly setting sun and the dreamy background vocals of Neko Case provided the perfect environment for knitting up a little ditty on Sunday at the ACL Music Festival....

Playing on the coveted shady stage of AMD, Neko Case presented a romantic steady pulse....

With a stage decorated in silver flowers and red roses, Stars came onto the ACL scene looking cool and confident. While the heat was probably killing them (and everyone in the audience) it didn't stop the passion from ringing strong in their voices. ...

When bluegrass legend Alison Krauss took her place on stage right next to rock music icon Robert Plant the two seemed so naturally comfortable, cooperative and complementary that it was as if they'd been playing together and recording for several years....

After what seemed like an eternity of anticipation from a crowd chanting his name softly, Beck finally arose from his lair behind stage and began the night with an angsty classic, "Loser." Adorning his most recent look of long blond locks and cowboy hat, Beck gave a nostalgic performance realizing his audience grew up listening to albums like Mellow Gold and Odelay. He did up the pace a bit, playing "Gamma Ray" off his......

So the time is ripe for the 2008 SXSW Music Festival and what better way to lead into that madness than with a host of quality bands at Emo’s to kick off this weekend. Friday marks the CD Release show for local outfit What Made Milwaukee Famous. Officially released on March 4th, What Doesn’t Kill Us will be available for purchase during the show; the album finds the band maturing into a polished rock act while maintaining their keen ear for pop melodies, their expert arrangements of well-crafted tracks, and their penchant for catchy guitar hooks. Check out the video for “Sultan” off the new album via YouTube here....

Austinist is pleased to bring you the chance to win a pair of tickets to Saturday evening’s sold out Rodrigo y Gabriela show at La Zona Rosa. Astute guitarists both, Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero spent some time plying their trade in a metal band (Tierra Acida) in Mexico before striking the right chords under their current moniker. The duo’s discography consists of Foc (2001), re-Foc (2003), Live: Manchester and Dublin (2004), and 2006’s self-titled effort; their instrumental takes on Metallica’s “Orion” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven” are already semi-cult classics....

Local outfit Color & Light returns to saturate Stubb’s on Saturday with a ready supply of the soaring melodies and sizzling guitars that pace their inspirational crescendos....

Editor's note: My Ex-Boyfriend's Band is a reoccurring column that features the opinions and insight of the author, not necessarily reflective of the Ist network as a whole. Thank you for reading! For the times they are a-changin'. And the music festivals are a-changin' with them. Even Dylan, who declined to take the stage at Woodstock in 1969, evolved into the 2007 Austin City Limits headliner. With SXSW, Fun Fun Fun and the C3......

Photo courtesy My Guerrilla on Flickr[another wristband for the collection] Austin’s C3 Presents now has three major festivals to go along with their trio of Charlies. The producers of Lollapalooza and the Austin City Limits Festival will put on the Vineland Music Festival in rural New Jersey Aug. 8 to 10, 2008. Vineland is a joint venture with Melvin Benn’s Festival Republic. The U.K. event producer’s portfolio includes the Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury festivals. Set......

Image from Tom Brosseau’s MySpace Nickel Creek & Tom BrosseauSaturday, November 17Stubbs (801 Red River)$25 Advance; Doors 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets] Singer-songwriter Tom Brosseau brings heartfelt lyricism and mellow melodies to Stubb’s on Saturday. Hailing from Grand Forks, North Dakota, Brosseau’s high pitched voice and gentle guitar complement his sincere storytelling perfectly, and has found him at least one fan in a certain Natalie Portman. Portman picked Brosseau’s “Plaid Lined Jacket” (along with tracks by......

Image courtesy of Tegan and Sara’s MySpace Tegan and SaraWednesday, November 7Stubbs (801 Red River)$18 (Advance) / $20 (Day Of Show), 7 p.m.[info] | [tickets]It’s not the middle of SxSW, it’s not the weekend of Austin City Limits Music Festival, heck it’s not even Fun Fun Fun Fest anymore, but November 7th might just be one of those evenings where the stars align to bring our city a number of ridiculously appealing concerts. Symphonic rock......

If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump. Less than a week after the Austin City Limits Music Festival packed up its gear for another year, La Grave Field in Fort Worth hosted the 2007 Wall Of Sound Festival. Presented by Spune and co-sponsored by Coors Light, the Fort Worth Weekly, and yours truly (among others), the event kicked off bright n' early on the 22nd of......

So the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival has come and gone but you still haven’t had enough music. Thankfully, the 2007 Wall Of Sound Festival is just around the corner. Besides catching headliners such as Explosions In The Sky, Midlake, and Ghostland Observatory, be sure to check out Spectrum. The brainchild of Spacemen 3’s Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember), the act will be performing new songs while Spacemen 3 era tracks are also promised.......

With the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival set to take over the town shortly, it’s worthwhile to note that the music will naturally not be restricted to the fenced confines of Zilker Park. "Official" ACL-Fest after shows and sexy time aside, downtown should be bumping with a plethora of quality events. The wonderful folk from FactoryPeople and DFA Records present one such extravaganza on Friday at Red 7. The Outdoor Stage will feature quality......

It’s only fair that talented acts get an additional chance to be added to the killer line-up for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival. The Dell Lounge has presented one such contest that has captured the imagination of local artists and fans alike. Whittling down to 20 acts from hundreds of original submissions was the first step; The Sound And The Jury Contest has now arrived at its final five competitors, all thanks to......

Some of the biggest artists playing at next week's Austin City Limits Music Festival will also be taping episodes of KLRU's Austin City Limits, the wide-acclaimed PBS show that begat it all. Unfortunately, the demand for space-available tickets is so intense that they're only announcing them via the radio. Fortunately, we've got the scoop on when and where you should be listening: below are the stations and times that you'll need to tune into......

Trent Summar’s story-telling capabilities and straight-up country sound drive his latest album, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. His music has been covered by artists such as Jack Ingram (who scored a hit with his adaptation of Summar’s “Love You”) while Summar has also collaborated with country stars like Pat Green. (They co-wrote “Somewhere Between Texas And Mexico” off Green’s Lucky Ones record.) Summar fronted the band Hank Flamingo prior to working with The New Row Mob.......

Since 1975, Grammy Award winners BeauSoleil have charmed audiences as being one of the most heralded and esteemed Cajun groups in American music history. Band leader Michael Doucet artfully takes the rich traditions of Louisiana culture and blends other southern folk elements such as Zydeco, Jazz, Tejano, Country, Blues to astonishing effect. Beau Soleil have played The Grand Ole Opry, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Newport Folk Festival in the past.......

The 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival is only a week away, and sure you’ve got your 3-day pass worth who knows what, your personal schedule, and the promise of a wide variety of music. Well, do not let your passion for music or your stamina for festivals run out during ACL fest -- We are proudly co-sponsoring this year’s Wall Of Sound Festival in Fort Worth on the 22nd of September. That’s right, the......

Sylvia St. James leads the masses at the House Of Blues’ Gospel Brunch in California. The Sunday menu there features cornbread muffins, hickory smoked bacon and sausage links, and an omelet station, along with inspirational hymns, motivational music, and Miss Sylvia’s vocal prowess (and official title of “Chief Mistress of Ceremonies for House of Blues Entertainment.”) Us lucky Austinites get our chance to witness her magic on Saturday afternoon during the 2007 Austin City Limits......

Austinist guest correspondent Beth Bellanti, Director of Marketing at Tito's Vodka, was at last weekend's Lollapalooza Music Festival in Downtown Chicago. With Austin having such a large presence at this year's event— the lineup included Spoon, Ghostland Observatory, Roky Erickson, and Blue October—we thought it only fitting to invite her to share some photos from the fest. If you can't view the Flash slideshow above, an alternate version appears after the jump.......

Brooklyn based The National will grace our town with their presence at the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival. The band is comprised of Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Bryan Devendorf, and Scott Devendorf. (Yes, that’s two sets of siblings!) The National expertly combine catchy riffs and appropriate strings with affecting lyrics (sometimes poignant, while seemingly abstract on other occasions). Although we feel that their music is best suited for a late night,......

Chicago has been a hotspot all summer long, hosting the Pitchfork Music Festival and Wicker Park Fest recently, and now Lollapalooza this very weekend. However, Chicago’s own instrumental masterminds, Pelican, take a break from the windy city to play Emo’s Inside on Saturday night. Pelican’s detailed arrangements and song structures feature a shift towards more melodic soundscapes than before on their latest effort, City Of Echoes. According to guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec, "City of Echoes stands......

Earlier today, FactoryPeople made the stunning announcement that it will be closing its doors for good on July 15th. The website will continue to operate, along with several temporary "pop-up" stores placed in key cities around the country. The South Congress shop, which launched three and a half years ago, quickly established itself as world-class lifestyle store, garnering national recognition through various "Top Boutique" lists published by Daily News Record, GQ, Seventeen, and Lucky.......

FRIDAY [27] music • While You Were Out, presented by Bueno Music Bureau, with The Unbearables, She Sir, The Scripts, Friday After Dark at Club de Ville ($5) books • Anita Gonzalez, Ph.D., presents Dancing Between Myth and Reality at CAAAS (UT - Jester A232) (3:00pm) comedy • Tig Notaro and Steve Burr at Cap City Comedy Club comedy • Punchline, open mic stand up comedy at ColdTowne Theater (10pm) dance • Fetish and Other......

Confusing imagery aside (see above, from ACL's website), "earlybird" passes for this fall's Austin City Limits Music Festival are now available. They'll run you $120 apiece, which is inclusive of all service fees. You also have the option to go with PrintPass, where you can print out the tickets on your computer and avoid any mailing hassles. A word of advice from ACL: "This quantity sold out in less than 24 hours last year,......

If you tried out in last week's ACL Fest presale ticket raffle, your odds of "winning" a pair of bargain $50 passes are considerably worse than we initially anticipated. According to one of our B-School buddies over at UT, the head of Capital Sports & Entertainment reportedly announced during a lecture yesterday that an astounding 90,000 people had entered the contest. No headliners have been announced for the fall festival, but the good folks......

The following is a letter written by Le and Thomas Popov, owners of South Congress boutique FactoryPeople. As life-long independent music lovers and long-time Austinites (at least one of has lived here since 1989), we have come to love mid-March when the SXSW Music Festival brings Austin to life. After the events of this year's fest, it’s unlikely we’ll ever feel the same affection for SXSW. On Thursday, March 15th, an inspector of the City......