While we Austinites may have been lamenting the start of 2010 with the University of Texas’ loss to ‘Bama in the BCS Championship, down at the coolest venue in town, the Mohawk, local indie-rock titans Ume were ringing in the new year with burst eardrums and blood-curdling guitar-squalls, reaffirming their presence at the best rock group the capital city has to offer. The trio of Lauren, Eric, and Jake hiss and pound like a well-oiled deathmachine, trading off the pulsating forward momentum from instrument to instrument – from the propelling bass crashes, to the whip-crack guitar wails, to the careening drumlines, all add up to an equation of mayhem and fury that’s as much indebted to hardcore punk sentiments as shoegaze, pedal-happy antics. The group pounded through an all-too-short set that seemed to flow seamlessly from one song to the next, the silences in-between only serving as an opportunity for the audience to take a breath and empty the blood from their ears. Definitely watch out for these guys in 2010.

Ume will be on tour this summer and are busy recording a full-length LP, due this year. Tune in to Cannibal Cheerleader for an upcoming video interview we did with the band. Much more to come so stay hungry…

More Ume pics below…

Ume – “Sunshower”

White Lies – Death (Crystal Castles Remix) from eeebee on Vimeo.

Crystal Castles – “Death (White Lies Remix)”
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WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM LIVE IN AUSTIN
A night of black metal mayhem and mind-blowing muscianship (check for Norwegian in-jokes there) last night at Emo’s here in Austin with Wolves in the Throne Room leading a killer lineup that also included Neurosis’ heir apparent A Storm of Light and Atx’s own the Roller.
The Roller kicked off the night with a banshee-screaming bang, pummeling through several barn-burning odes to blackened death metal with a Southern edge, screaming of equal parts Eyehategod and Venom, with drone-infusions bleeding into inflections of guitar-shredding classicism. Featuring a brand new bassist, the Roller seem poised to explode outside the Austin scene and onto the black metal market.
A Storm of Light followed, featuring a sound-mix loud enough to seep between one’s ribs and rip the air out of the lungs within. As visuals of a giant sea-creatures and wrecked vessels sinking into the black ocean projected behind the three-piece, the massive boom of the band, coupled with their extreme stage presence and fierce instrumentation, recalled images of noise-era Swans or early Neurosis, unrelenting in its massive, morose spectacle. Indeed, the band featured female vocal stylings (care of a laptop) from none other than Jarboe of Swans fame, and when the lead guitarist of Wolves in the Throne Room hopped onstage for a song, the collaborative nature of the band became even more apparent. Overall, an incredibly tough act to follow.
Wolves in the Throne Room took to the stage next very slowly, lighting candles around the drum kit and tinkering with their tuning all in full view of a near-capacity crowd. Not known for their low-register bass work, WITTR sounded unbelievably shrill and fierce in their mid-range pitch after the heavy doom inflections of ASOF. Nonetheless, after a few songs the band truly stepped into their own, allowing subtle melodies and shocking changeups to carry the churning swell of their music to their darkest heights. Halfway through their set the band, absolutely soaked with sweat, found a transcendant chord in their guitar-work, combining a shoegaze atmosphere with a deep and dreadful sense of horror, the acidic lead vocals slicing a bloody path through the middle of the cloud of thunderous sound. Collapsing in a literal heap as their set wound to a close, the band did not play an encore, their reign already cemented over the room full of adoring fans. These guys will be playing again in Austin in July – you can count on Cannibal Cheerleader being there with bells on.
Wolves in the Throne Room – “Vastness and Sorrow”
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NEW BAND CHEER: THE AXONS
Lots of great finds this week at Cannibal Cheerleader, beginning with the Axons, a Zombies-infused bedroom pop trio right here out of Austin, Texas who boast a signature sound that’s equal parts fresh cuts of psychedelia and classic-rock British invasion. Discovering this group at a recent art-gallery after party at a sleezy downtown bar, the band seemed poised to blow every other act out of the water with their simple template and pitch-perfect execution. What the Strokes did to the Velvet Underground and Vampire Weekend did to Graceland, the Axons, led by the inimitable Merritt Fields does to the Kinks. Check out the mp3 and a few videos from the show below!


The Axons – “A Falconer’s Lament”
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UME KICK OFF MASSIVE TOUR
Cannibal Cheerleader local-faves Ume are beginning a trek across the the Northeast, winding back down to the Southern states all this June. Check out the rad poster above for this completely rad and underappreicated fuzz-rock trio. Definitely pick up their Sunshowers EP if you haven’t already, it’s one of our favorites of the year so far!

Ume – “Sunshower”
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NEW JEMINA PEARL TRACKS
Seems as if all that posting on Puke Til You Punk wasn’t just blowing (puking) steam – Jemina Pearl of the inimitable and sadly departed Be Your Own Pet has been busy and she’s got a trio of new tracks that’re just begging to be eaten alive. Featuring the same tried and true vocal stylings that propelled BYOP through today’s punk rock muck and mire, the new solo material seems cleaner and more headphone-oriented, with sing-songy lyrics and a summery, care-free vibe. A different approach to the solo career than we expected Pearl to take (less blood and guts, more dance parties and bedroom casettes) but we can’t help but be excited for a Jemina pop album. Anyone got the mp3s? We ask because for now the tracks are only streaming over at the JP Myspace. Check it out!

Jemina Pearl – “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (feat. Thurston Moore)”
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NEW BAND CHEER: DIAL
Another awesome find, this time care of the cats of Brooklyn Vegan – DIAL, a trio from New Zealand, pack a wallop of a grindcore-influenced, experimentally edged, female vocalizing hardcore with a nod towards the more math-rock side of the metal music scene. With the recent announcement of personal favorite Robotic Empire rereleasing the band’s self-titled EP, interest has skyrocketed in a band whose main hook include a woman screaming ‘THE MASS GRAVE!’ at the top of her lungs. More power to this completely wicked, shrill, and venomous rock act. Makes us want to revisit our grindcore days in force.

DIAL – “Always at the Border”
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MARS VOLTA REVEAL OCTAHEDRON
When Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, lead guitarist of prog-rock powerhouse and wildly imaginative musical extravaganza the Mars Volta, stated that the band’s new album Octahedron would be their “acoustic” album, one must’ve realized the news had to be taken with a grain of salt. Sure the album contains some slower, more ‘Pink Floyd/Yes’-influenced sweeps of grandeur, though from the band who crafted “Televators” and “The Widow” this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The novelty instead exists in the undercurrent of serenity to the album, a psychedelic dip into a sensory-deprivation chamber rather than a furiously frightening acid trip gone wonderfully wrong like in the Bedlam in Goliath. Which isn’t to say the album doesn’t have its rockers – tracks like “Cotopaxi” would give even the likes of “Drunkship of Lanterns” a run for their money as a soon-to-be fan favorite and even “Luciforms” has a level of monstrous energy that propels its melody along. On the whole however, the flow of the songs from one into the next create an air of purpose and message, not the disparateness of past works by the Volta, and in doing so the band has created without a doubt their most accessible, and in some ways one of their most enjoyable works yet. Awesome stuff, check it below.

The Mars Volta – “Desperate Graves”
The Mars Volta – “Teflon”
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NEW BAND CHEER: IWRESTLEDABEARONCE
Our grindcore itch has been getting out of hand recently, and seeing as this group was recently reviewed in our favorite magazine ever – we’re of course talking about Fangoria – we had to check Iwrestledabearonce out (if only for their completely awesome name). With a blazingly original sound that combines electronic-experimentation, guitar-shredding breakdowns, and equal-part shriek/sing female vocals, IWABO meets all the prerequisites for being one of Cannibal Cheerleader’s favorite new bands. To hear it is to understand it so we recommend you click the video below and download some of the following tracks with great haste – warning, may melt face. PS. Avoid the hipster accusations; nobody likes a scenester and frankly, if you’re a grindcore scenester I think that means we can legally kill you.

Iwrestledabearonce – “Danger in the Manger”
Iwrestledabearonce – “See You In Shell”
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NEW AGENT RIBBONS INTERVIEW VIDEO
Here’s a wonderful little interview video from the ladies in Agent Ribbons that we had to plug if only for their adorable red hair color. The ladies are reveal their upcoming work on their second album and what the future holds for the band. Oh ladies, steal me away…

Agent Ribbons – “Obituary”
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(OLD) BAND CHEER: AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED
Sometimes we here at Cannibal Cheerleader get to the party late, and that’s certainly the case when it comes to one of our favorite new (i.e. new to us) acts, the monolithic, infamous grindcore band Agoraphobic Nosebleed. This fearsome foursome has been around for quite some time apparently in different forms though the band’s newest release Agorapocalypse includes Kat from personal favorite Salome, which is how we stumbled across this band to begin with. If you haven’t heard of this absolutely pummeling grindcore act you owe it to yourself to check it out – and if you’re a longtime fan, the new LP deserves a re-listen immediately. This band kills indiscriminately, employing three different vocalists and a blazing cavalcade of guitars and drum machines behind the haunting wails and spitfire vocal assault. Seriously, get on this n-o-w.

Agoraphobic Nosebleed – “First National Stem Cell and Clone”
Agoraphobic Nosebleed – “Trauma Queen”
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BUSDRIVER REVEALS JHELLI BEAM
We here at Cannibal Cheerleader fondly remember our halcyon days of underground rap obsession, backpacker allegiance and Cannibal Ox worship, and one of our top acts of yesteryear Busdriver has just burst back onto the scene with his latest opus, Jhelli Beam, a return to form for an artist whose Roadkill Overcoat, while containing superior wordplay sacrificed his more abstract tendencies for pop listenability. The fourteen tracks that make up the motor-mouth rapper’s newest LP not only delight in experimentation but embrace it with force, with bizarre feed-back loops darting behind the fever-dream lyricism Busdriver has become known for. One of our favorite releases of the year so far, bar none. Definitely check out a few of the mp3s below and let us know what you think!

Busdriver – “Handfuls of Sky”
Busdriver – “Least Favorite Rapper (feat. Nocando)”
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STREAM NOUVELLE VAGUE’S NV3
To wrap up this massive update head on over to Nouvelle Vague’s Myspace page and give a listen to their excellent third collection of French-noir-film inspired covers. This time the list of covered artists seems even more far-reaching, including Depeche Mode, the Sex Pistols, and even the Violent Femmes. Definitely shoot on over.

Nouvelle Vague – “The Killing Moon”

Comments? Have a great week!