The Black Angels

The Black Angels remind me a lot of the Black Keys and a little of the Beatles combined. They're SOO good, they have a lot of variety with their songs. Their most recent album, "Indigo Meadow", I discovered from looking on the Waterloo Records website and seeing what music the people working there were listening to. The band is going to ACL and I cannot wait to see them live. If people aren't listening to them now, they will be for sure after they see them at ACL. They really know how to rock.

"Indigo Meadow" is the first song on the album and it's my favorite. It starts off with a retro beat and a really cool sound, then about 2 minutes into the song the electric guitar comes out and they totally rock.

Echotone

I love it when movies are filmed in Austin, let alone a documentary.  It's so cool to see places that you've been to in a movie. But Echotone was really cool to me because the bands in it were straight up Austinites. Especially the band Belaire, they were the definition of hipster. I thought it was so funny how they wanted to design all the t-shirts and CD covers rather them getting them electronically done. It's really depressing to see bands that try so hard not get the result they want. They put so much heart into their music but they just can't get exposed big.  Austin is a perfect place for people who want to play music, and they definitely shouldn't be replacing music venues with condos or apartments. Maybe in some places, but not all around Austin, there's enough already. But as the population increases, I hope they don't get rid of what our city is famous for.

Indicud

Indicud is Kid Cudi's new album, which came out a couple months ago. All of Kid Cudi's albums are good, except for one, and this one definitely meets its standards. I really like Kid Cudi's voice, it definitely stands out compared to other artists. My favorite songs on the album are "King Wizard", "Immortal", and "Red Eye". Another thing that is interesting about this album is that he dedicated it to Ben Breedlove who was a kid who went to Westlake and died last year.  Kid Cudi has really good beats in his songs which makes them fun to drive to (plus you look cool).

The Strokes

I'd only heard the song "Last Night" by The Strokes because they play it quite a bit on the radio.
Their song "Is This It" is absolutely AMAZING. I loved the beginning of the song, it really got me hooked and is one of the reasons I like it so much. (I already bought it on iTunes even though we listened to it today). Probably one of the main reasons I liked them was because I listen to Indie music and I can definitely see the influence they had in some bands.  Another song I really like by them is "Someday". "Is This It" has such a different sound to it compared to the other songs on the album.  I love the way the vocalist makes his voice sound in it.

Alt-J

Alt-J is a techo/ alternative/ weird band and I honestly am not quite sure what genre they fit in. Some of their songs have more of a techno sound to them but then there's others that sound more rockish. The guy who sings has a really unique voice and in a few of their songs you can't really understand what he's saying but the lyrics are really freaky good. I've never known what he was saying, or if he was saying real words at all, in a few of his songs but the lyrics are amazing, and i'm not that big of a lyric person. Here's some lyrics from their song "Tessallate":
Chunks of you will sink down to seals
Blubber rich in the mourning, they'll nosh you up
Yes, they'll nosh your love away but it's fair to say
You will still haunt me

Radiohead

Thom Yorke has an absolute gorgeous voice. Like all of Radiohead's songs have so much emotion in them which is why I enjoyed them so much. I've only heard a couple of their songs before, and Creep wasn't one of them (surprisingly). I can understand why people didn't like their album, The Bends, that came out after Creep but I loved it. I liked how much variety they had with their songs yet Yorke's voice was still as passionate as ever. My favorite songs on the album were "Planet Telex", "High and Dry", "Fake Plastic Trees", and "Street Spirit (Fade Out)". Their next album, Ok Computer, I liked basically every song.

Guards

My friend told me about this band called Guards, who I had never heard of before. She told me that they were pretty good, but when I listened to them, I didn't only think they were pretty good, I thought they were REALLY GOOD. On their album, "In Guards We Trust", each song has a different sound to it. The album is really well balanced with slow songs and faster songs, which is how the album is so easy to listen to. I really like the drums in their songs, I know drums normally sound the same except when there's a drum solo but drums are probably my favorite instrument in bands. My favorite songs by them are "Silver Lining" and "Coming True". But overall the album is a fantastic alternative rock album.