Red River Noise

Imagine this scenario: A guy walks into his usual hangout one night and notices a cute girl he's never seen there before. What better way to get her attention than by performing one of his swoon-inducing piano ballads?

That's exactly what frontman Michael Grubbs of Wakey!Wakey! did when he walked into Bar 4 in Brooklyn, New York, and saw a girl who grabbed his attention. He asked his friend who was running the open mic night to put him on the list. After impressing the girl with his song, he found out she was a writer for the CW TV show, One Tree Hill. The writer then recommended Grubbs to One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn.

Schwahn became so impressed with Grubbs that not only did he use Wakey!Wakey!'s song "War Sweater" during the season six finale, but he also wrote the loosely-based reoccurring character "Grubbs" for season seven. Since then, season seven's last episode aired in May and Wakey!Wakey! released their latest album Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said The Last Time I Saw You... in February.

Grubbs sat down with Red River Noise before his show at Mohawk to discuss how One Tree Hill helped his music career and also shared the unexpected music genre Grubbs has a sweet spot for.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

It just needs to be said: American Hi-Fi knows how to write some pop hits. And that comes as no surprise. This is the same band that gave us the always catchy "Flavor of the Weak" back in 2001. And for the past five years, frontman Stacy Jones and guitarist Jamie Arentzen have worked with Miley Cryus. Jones has produced other artists such as Plain White T's, Meg and Dia, and the list of their accomplishments just goes on.

Their newest album, Fight the Frequency, is filled with catchy powerpop song after catchy powerpop song. And the guys present them flawlessly and shamelessly in every way that they can. "Lookout for Hope" brings the feel-good rock anthem that reassures people that yes, "It can only get better," while on the flipside, the more aggressive guitar-driven "Frat Clump" is great for those moments when you just want to rock that attitude out.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

"An epic of epic epicness." That tagline pretty much sums up the geeky action film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Based on the Bryan Lee O'Malley comic book series, the story centers on 23-year-old Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) who, in order to win the heart of Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends and one ex-girlfriend (from her "sexy phase").

From the moment the Universal Studios logo appears in 8-bit to an 8-bit Pilgrim beating up "The End" (gotta stay for the credits for that one), the movie uses old school references to the 1980s Nintendo console with today's movie magic to really make it pop. Additional effects like floating text biographies to introduce each character and a "pee bar" that's just like a health bar but monitors Pilgrim's bladder that makes it more than just a movie adaptation. This is a live action comic book/video game.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

With an earlier-than-normal start time for the show, the Emo's outside stage was a bit slow to fill up. But hardcore Thrice fans were there early, keenly aware of vocalist/guitarist Dustin Kensrue's promise that the band would be playing older material on this tour, including "a couple shredders." These fans were smart to claim their front-row spots after doors opened, though they may not have expected three young indie acts—The Dig, Bad Veins and Kevin Devine—to be opening for these post-hardcore veterans. By the crowd reactions, no one seemed disappointed. Those who just wanted to see Thrice stuck it out or hung out in the back.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

Frank and Derol is an adorable indie electro-pop duo often described as Wilson Phillips meets the Postal Service. After a quick glance at the band's roster, one name sticks out: that of guitarist Brandi Cyrus. In case you're wondering, yes she is the sister of Disney queen Miley Cyrus. It's no secret that the Cryus family is musical: father Billy Ray's had a '90s hit single with "Achy Breaky Heart," Miley reached huge success with Hannah Montana and brother Trace has his own band Metro Station, it only seemed natural that Brandi had a band of her own.

However, the first time you meet Frank and Derol, Codi Caraco and Ms. Cyrus both are friendly and approachable, never once namedropping the famous connections nor expecting the red carpet to be rolled out for them. The duo sat down with me to discuss their band as well as the upcoming album they are working on.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

Stubb's Bar-B-Q's outdoor amphitheater is notorious for insanely humid, sweaty summer concerts, so I was relieved when I found out the Athlete and Carney show would take place on the inside stage. But it turns out it wasn't all that refreshing inside either, so I was sweating anyway. While the two bands were enjoyable, it would have been a better experience if I wasn't constantly wiping sweat off me and desperately wanting some AC.

Opening act Carney (photo below) more than just warmed up the audience with it's '60s-inspired blues-rock. Singer Reeve Carney and his brother guitarist Zane took turns letting each other shine. Doesn't mean bassist Aiden Moore and drummer Jon Epcar are only there to fill the beat, though. They were also provided their time as the Carney brothers took a step back and let them have their own flashy parts. The guys performed big-top-inspired songs as a play on words from the Carneys' last name.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

Here are some more posts/articles/whatever to read that have grabbed my attention.

My masculinity led a vigorous life that included frequent discussions of hot swimsuit models, defending the honor of my friends and having their back in fights, semifrequent uses of the words bro and bitch, some heavy weightlifting when softness occurred, and the occasional fist pump.
Shameful Obituaries of 2010: My Masculinity

This year's Coachella felt like that cousin had lost control of their problem and was completely off the rails the entire time you were together.
An Open Letter To Coachella

Stuff Journalists Like is one of my new favorite blogs. We've been reading this religiously in the newsroom. I linked to their April Fool's post about PR reps. Pure gold.
One of the things journalists like best about PR reps is when one tells a journalist how to do his or her job. For any PR folks out there that want to build a better relationship with their local journalist, recommend to a journalist how to write a story, who to talk to and especially what to leave out of a story.
#123 PR reps

A new website has been formed called Red River Noise as a response to Austin's poor quality music coverage. I could write a rant about this, but I think my editors Ian and Ajay got it covered. However, I'm completely honored to be a part of the writing team.
Our "alternative" newspaper mostly covers music that people under 40 don't care about, while the alternative radio station won't stop playing the same five Pearl Jam songs its been playing since 1992. And our blog scene is mostly concerned with nightlife and see-and-be-seen parties.
Red River Noise is here.

You all talk about the same parties or shows, but I get some are worth talking about. That and the lack of effort or quality of your work tell me that you blog to escape your crappy day time life so you can get into the cool kid parties or shows for free at night. You're not fooling anyone, especially not me.
The State of Austin Music Media Brings "Red River Noise"

This isn't an article but a really awesome interview you need to watch.
A lot of punk rock fans and stuff are really narrow-minded and really, it's like everything has to be in a certain... there's a lot of rules. For a type of music that was created to break rules and to not follow boundaries, it's like the most rules specific and like rigid structure of what you're supposed to can and can't do.

My apprehension before White Rabbits hit the stage at The Independent was with the recent album It's Frightening. It sounded too much like a Spoon album. But being produced by Spoon's main songwriter Britt Daniel, this was not a surprise. Anyway, my point is that I had low standards for the newer material. I was worried that there would be a disappointing contrast between both albums in a live setting. And I was wrong. So so wrong.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

If you're going to include in your press release that someone "has a beautiful voice, her vocal range is amazing, her songs are dreamy and magical...," I'm expecting to be wowed by the music in question. Unfortunately, in Holly Miranda's debut album The Magician's Private Library, her "amazing" range was never proven to me.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.

A blogosphere favorite, Brooklyn's White Rabbits have parlayed their reputation for high-energy performances into airplay on NPR and slots on the Late Show with David Letterman.

The band's debut, 2007's Fort Nightly, garnered high praise from tastemakers like Pitchfork and the A.V. Club, which lead to tours with more veteran indie bands (The Walkmen, Kaiser Chiefs). It was a month-long tour with Spoon that motivated the band to ask uber-cool-guy Britt Daniel to produce White Rabbits' follow up, 2009's It's Frightening.

The band is currently on tour with Here We Go Magic. Drummer Matt Clark took a break from the grind to answer some questions about playing live, making a music video and bleeding profusely from the nose.

Click here to read the rest at Red River Noise.