Austin 2013: In Living Rooms And Porchsteps

These are the rough moments. The unofficial showcases that don't have lines around the block. There are no free tacos and the only beer you drink is handed to you by a friend. It's between smokey fires and smokey mouths, out accross farmland, and cooking up in borrowed kitchens. Chris Catalena and Jess Williamson star in this 10-minute mix, mostly composed of spur-of-the-moment field recordings and audio backdrops that color and fill in space. The local talent in Austin is an essential substrate when it comes to the SXSW festival and others like it, deserving of ample and careful celebration. Try to listen with headphones or at least with your eyes closed.

Listen To Ryan Hemsworth Remix Rhye

Had to share this remix from our favorite Nova Scotian--and shucks maybe our favorite Canadian--Ryan Hemsworth (I see you LS). He dropped his "Open" remix last week and it's been playing in our decks every day since. You've heard Hemsworth's work before, when we had a powwow at Greenovaland with Main Attrakionz last year, but with each sequential release his artistry magnifies. He's making his maiden voyage through San Francisco March 31st.

Mwahaha

Cloyne Court Hotel - Berkeley, CA

“I took your soul / like you’d never really know.”

An evil laugh; cruel humor. Think about that dichotomy for a second. There's definitely a whiff of it lacing their songs, but look at the members of Mwahaha on stage or in rehearsal and you'll say damn, they're serious. This is the final installment looking back on our festival at Cloyne Court last year, where we took the band down to the dungeon for a sober examination of the best tracks from their self-titled debut. "Sleep Deep" takes hold like Beelzebub's handshake, a lulling but epiphanal snapshot like flashing lights in a dream. Look out for Mwahaha's album on March 26th, and hear more from their self-titled debut over at Plug Research.

SAFE

Cloyne Court Hotel - Berkeley, CA

For Pt. II of our dispatches from CLOchella series, we nabbed Chris and Jesse, two of our favorite Oakland ex-pats, to share some new songs from their upcoming debut as SAFE. What you have here is a glimpse at two cuts at their most pure and embryonic. SAFE sat in the front garden at Cloyne Court, puffed and sipped, and delivered two baby-blue versions of "Eye To Arrow" and "Palisades." Their debut is out this February on Greedhead (also look for a 7" and EP reissue in the meantime), and SAFE's SF tour stop with Das Racist is October 12 at DNA Lounge.

1-up: Check out the excellent SAFE / Antwon collaboration from earlier this year, and stay tuned for more videos in this vein

Sharky Coast

Cloyne Court Hotel - Berkeley, CA

It's easy to lob dinky band clichés at Sharky Coast: a hiked up guitar, a girl drummer, a bowl cut. But this young duo from Santa Rosa is anything but tiresome or cutesy. Christine is a fearsome beatkeeper, and Nick is a sharp-tounged vocalist and torrential guitar picker, slithering through the murkiest and coolest waters this side of the Pacific. After they won over the coop crowd at CLOchella we met up with them in the murky dungeons bellow the Cloyne Court Hotel. Enjoy the medley, and check out the band on Facebook.

Watch Waterstrider Live at Cloyne Court

In the lead-up to our CLOchella series, this classy live video of Waterstrider just emerged, done by the nice folks over at Professional Fans. "Edge of the Light" is an unreleased track on a forthcoming, untitled album. Stay tuned for more of our own video portraits, all filmed in and around Berkeley's Cloyne Court Co-op at the massive event back in April.

Space Ghost's Debut LP Is Here

Don't know how Brooklyn label Astro Nautico first caught wind of our friend Space Ghost, but we're damn grateful. Today they put out what amounts to his first officai long-player, an enticing revue of new material, called You're There. It's Astro Nautico's second in a series of releases from West Coast beatmakers, and you can download the whole thing for free here.