Catch Ximena Sarinana and Avalanche City tonight at The Parish

Ximena Sarinana is a Mexican artist who's Spanish language album, Mediocre, which was released back in 2008, was hailed by Rolling Stone as “one of the strongest debuts from a female singer-songwriter since Norah Jones’ Come Away With Me.” She released her first English language album this past July. She does a great job of crossing over with her fun pop sound. She is delightful to listen to.




Avalanche City will be opening and is the group I am most excited to see. They remind me of Owl City, but not quite as word clever. They will be playing SXSW this year and I've already color coded them on my SXSW spreadsheet (Which will be posted for y'all soon) as a band to be sure to catch!.


(I know I posted this video already this week, but it's so delightful that I'm posting it again!)

These two delightful groups will be playing tonight at The Parish here in Austin.

(not really a secret) Surprise Green Day Concert at Red 7

I'm not really sure if you can call it secret if it's buzzed all over twitter, announced, and then tickets sold, but if that's what Green Day is calling it, all right. Still, whether they call it a secret or not, I love that I live in a city where Green Day shows up to play a random surprise show. The magic is going down tonight at Red 7. If you are one of the lucky enough to score one of the $20 tickets, please flood my comments with all of the details. If you send me photos from your phone I will post them.

Concerts and Happenings This week in Austin

Just as their new album, Divine Providence is set to drop, Deer Tick will be performing at Emo's east on Tuesday, October 25. Their album has a much grittier, raw sound than their previous albums and their show promises to be as fun, loud, and "we don't give a shit" awesome as I hope they will be. Be sure to check them out.

Next weekend is Halloween and here in Austin, planning your outrageous outfit is equally as important as deciding what band you'll be dancing in it to. Or maybe those are just my priorities (and should be yours too). The Zombie Ball (which was AMAZING last year) will be rocking out with The Bright Light Social Hour at ACL Live. It will be hard to live up to last years venue at the power plant, but the sound is great in the new theater and the boys of TBLSH know how to party. Also, who doesn't love an excuse to dress as a zombie.

On Halloween night you can time travel on over to Mohawk where White Ghost Shivers will  have you busting out the charleston in your Halloween fancy. It is sure to be all kinds of awesome. Just look for me in my zombie flapper attire (because every costume is better when you're the undead).

A fall concert preview

I like buying printed tickets to concerts. I guess you could call it a weird quirk that I have and I keep all of them in an old box in my closet. They are the scrapbook that I am too lazy to ever craft. They tell my life's story in music, perhaps the best way to retell my life. Like a photo album I will often go through them and remember who I was with, favorite songs that were played, why that was the band I absolutely had to see at that moment in that concert.

Before there are memories made or set lists written, I keep my future tickets on my refrigerator, tucked safely behind a magnetic photo of my childhood. The stack is growing thick and I am filled with excitement every time I walk by or grab a snack.

Highlights this fall so far include:

ACL (obviously) (@aclfestival): I promise to write slightly drunken (or not so slightly) haiku's of all the acts that I see and as we get closer I will probably post the many drafts of the tentative schedule that I will probably only slightly follow because sometimes you just have to move with the spirit of a festival. That being said, I will not be seeing Kanye.

Adele (@officialadele): I once went to a concert with a friend who cried through the entire show in her excitement and love for the curly locks and sweet dance moves of Justin Timberlake. I didn't understand crying at a concert for love artist or love of music. JT is no Adele and thank goodness Adele is no JT, but after her recent performance at the VMA's, I can't help but think I will be a bit glossy eyed in the crowd. She is unreal amazing. I could be a concert cryer.

Friendly Fires: A favorite out of SXSW, I have enjoyed their new album, Pala, and will enjoy letting loose and dancing at their show.

Portugal. The Man (@portugaltheman): I don't have really strong opinions on this band. The one's I do have are generally positive, but I had a kick ass time seeing him at SX and when I saw he was coming through again I figured that was a concert I wanted to be at. Also, a friend recently compared them to Oasis. Maybe it wasn't Oasis but it was a random comparison and I liked it and it further confirmed that I'd like to see him in concert again.

Utopia Fest (@utopiafest): Camping? Intimate concert setting in a Texas town that is actually called, Utopia? I'm in! Also, I'm excited to find Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, who I met randomly last year at ACL. I had no idea who he was, but Chris Chu, of Morning Benders (who I also randomly met) introduced me and told me his band was pretty awesome. I got a picture with the both of them and when I got home I felt bad that I had no idea who this Dawes guy was, but was proudly bragging on facebook that I'd met him, so I looked up his music and you know what? Damn good! I plan on telling him that entire story. I am also excited for The Wheeler Brothers, among a number of other great acts that are listed.

Moe. (moeperiod): I love Moe. They are fun, upbeat, birkenstock music (which is what I call anything that reminds me of the northeast), that will be a perfect reprieve from Indie music. They'll jam, I'll dance (maybe while wearing birkenstocks), and it will be all kinds of fabulous. Get your tickets now. I promise you will love them.

There will be so many more as the fall progresses. What are you excited for?