By Travis
Published on August 9, 2009 at 1:41am
On their previous full-lengths The Sour Notes have bounced between open-hearted pop balladry, catchy boyfriend-rock, and fuzzy psychedelica, which often melded beautifully but sometimes came off as a band uncertain of their sound. Or at least that’s what I thought. This new seven-inch finally brings all sides of The Sour Notes together to a whole, and it turns out the band was pretty sure of what they were going after all along, it just hadn’t shone itself yet. It does now. The title track stomps and struts out its kiss-off lyrics, rushing through lots of quick bursts of wonderfulness before snapping shut surprisingly. It basically sounds like your last relationship in all its glory/sadness. But it’s the b-side, “Rose Puzzles”, that’s really something special. The song builds slowly, then suddenly it’s off hop-scotching the musical spectrum from Postal Service to TV On The Radio to Slowdive, but all while keeping something that’s distinctly The Sour Notes right out front. And that’s the thing; The Sour Notes are now throwing a million ideas into every song, and they finally sound like themselves. If they can keep towards this sort of forward motion, the future holds a million prizes that I’m already stoked about. Good going, dudes.
The record release party for this 7-inch is September 12th at The Parlor.
By Travis
Loco Nunca
Published on August 9, 2009 at 1:41am
By Adam Schragin
Published on August 7, 2009 at 1:41am
After some hullabaloo last summer regarding permits, noise, and all sort of innuendo, the U.S. Art Authority at 29th and Fruth closed its doors—only to later reopen and continue showcasing art and live music. Huh. Who’da thunk it?
While the locale has kept a somewhat lower profile in the intervening months, the KVRX Summer Special this Saturday night will no doubt turn out a crowd. The student radio station has wisely put together a fine bill of performers who represent some of this city’s most talented up and comers in regard to unconventional pop.
Notable experimental project Mothfight will perform, apparently after having shed the exclamation! points! from their name. Wild, continuous, and fragmented but stunning live sets are what we’ve come to expect from this band, who continue to impress us with tracks from what we can only hope is a forthcoming debut album (to be out sometime this century?). The fine, synth-laded Sour Notes will also perform, and are currently supporting a new 7″ single out this month entitled “Never Mix, Never Worry.” In January, the band is going out on their “It’s Not Gonna Be Pretty Tour” across parts of the States.
The notoriously prolific School Police also share the bill. This group, which includes members of about nineteen other projects (including Belaire, Way No Way, etc. etc.) are also the proud parents of a new EP, Circles.
And because no live music event is complete without someone DJing(?), DJ Dan Gentile will also be playing tunes.
Mothfight [myspace]
The Sour Notes [website] [myspace]
School Police [myspace]
By Rob
Published on August 1, 2009 at 1:41am
Live From SugarHill features electro-pop outfit, Glasnost and Austin pop quartet, The Sour Notes in August. The program includes short sets and candid interviews with Rosa Guerrero and award-winning record producer, Dan Workman. Community guest and ‘audience of one’ is freelance writer Chris Henderson, who covers Houston nightlife in http://29-95.com, Houston Press, Houston Magazine and Texas Music Magazine. Live from SugarHill, Episode VII airs on August 13, 2009 at 7p.m. CST and is a collaborative effort between Zenfilm, http://OutboundMusic.com and SugarHill Recording Studios.
Bands Das Automatic & DJ Cuba Gooding Jr. merged to form Glasnost. Fusing elements of bands such as New Order and Cut Copy while combining the energy of a live rock show, Glasnost has become known for their stellar live performances. Their sound is far from typical: driving dance beats, lush vocal arrangements and multi-layered instrumentation. Influences include MSTRKRFT, Midnight Juggernauts, Justice and Gang of Four. Their forthcoming EP, The Great Divide, is out soon.
The Sour Notes are a dreamy pop band hailing from Austin. Beginning in Houston as the solo project of songwriter Jared Boulanger, it wasn’t until moving to Austin that he transformed The Sour Notes into the full-fledged performance ensemble it is today. Since 2008, the band has released two full-length albums, The Meat of the Fruit and Received in Bitterness, as well as a 7″ single. They’ve toured nationally and appeared on Austin’s KVRX-FM program ‘Local Live’.
MORE: For more information contact Gina Miller at 713.926.4431 ext. 1102
For more on Glasnost visit: http://www.myspace.com…
For more on The Sour Notes visit: http://www.thesournote…
For more on Zenfilm visit: http://www.zenfilm.com
For more on Outbound Music visit: http://www.outboundmusic.com
