Austin’s indie rock circle and other groups are grieving over the loss of 29-year-old Esme Barrera, a much-loved figure in the Texas city’s music scene. The Waterloo Records employee, dedicated Girls Rock Austin volunteer, and special-needs teacher at Casis Elementary School was found murdered in her home on New Year’s Day. A suspect has yet to be detained.
Members of Okkervil River, YACHT, as well as Matador Record’s Gerard Cosloy have all spoken out about the tragic loss of Barrera. Ted Leo of The Pharmacists and Citizens Arrest fame recently Tweeted, “I was privileged to briefly know an inspirational person from Austin … she’ll be missed.” Portland electronic outfit YACHT shared, ” The world’s lost a shining light, music cheerleader, and great human.” Former At the Drive-In member Jim Ward has cancelled his tour after hearing the bad news. “We need to get home to be with family, friends and have the support of our gang,” he explained in a press release.
Everyone has been banding together to support Barrera’s family by setting up a donation page, which will help them pay for services and other expenses. Meanwhile, a Brooklyn benefit is being planned by art collective Permanent Wave on January 12. Visit Cosloy’s blog to read a touching post about the music figure. “If you’re reading this, didn’t know this woman and you’re saying to yourself, ‘Big deal, I know someone just like that,’ tell them. Today,” Cosloy writes. Sage advice.
Ah, the golden age of music videos: when the “M” in MTV was still a dominant force and people like Axl Rose nonchalantly swam with dolphins in thematically insane three-part epics. Of course, there are still some awesome music videos being released, from lo-fi budget-minded productions to those with a glossy, high profile sheen (Hello, “Telephone”). This batch of the best music videos of the past week falls somewhere in between, from the fuzzy camera work documenting a clearly insane Jamie Lidell and the modern dance routines of These New Puritans to the ambitious Wu-Massacre project. Trust us on this: it’s a good week for music videos when Raekwon the Chef is being framed for murder. After the jump, watch Flavorpill’s other choices for best videos of the week, and let us know which ones we left out.
When we put out a call for artists who had been professionally inspired by their travels in Australia, our former guest bloggersYacht were among the first to respond. It turns out that they became obsessed with photographing Utes (an Aussie version of a pickup truck) while touring through the country just last year. Check out some of their photos, and discover a few more of their country-specific obsessions, after the jump.
French website Grandcrew.com provides a growing archive of exclusive, professionally filmed concert videos, with artists ranging from Roots Manuva to the XX.
All of the site’s videos are available to stream instantly for free, with the option to skip from track to track making the interface even more user-friendly. Covering nearly every genre of modern music, Grandcrew offers a wide variety of the best performances to hit France, with plans to expand to cover all of Europe in the near future.
Day 3 of YACHT‘s guest-blogging. On Day 1, the band delved into the high-style of Freemason Fashion Week. After revealing Cults You Didn’t Know Were Cults yesterday, YACHT’s Jona and Claire have prepared their Five Favorite Secret Cult Rituals for today.
Time was, you could start a cult, pump it full of esoteric rituals and hush-hush regalia, and — barring any squealers — keep it totally secret. In this day and age, however, secret rituals are secret no more. The cumulative effect of conspiracy theorists, surreptitious camcorder-toters, and YouTube self-publishing has pierced almost all the veils of obfuscation, and we can now peer into the darkness. To boot, the Internet has brought us not only the top-secret rituals, but also those that are simply far-flung, from tribal hero’s trials to pagan circles. Here, we expose our own favorite human rituals. Read More »
Day 2 of YACHT‘s guest blogging commences. Yesterday, YACHT’s Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evens treated us to an insider look into Freemason Fashion Week. Today, Jona and Claire have prepared a roundup of cults you didn’t know were cults.
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First rule of a secret society: exclusivity. You can’t institute a New World Order if you spend all your time handling new recruits, let alone mediocre ones. To maximize secrecy and success, only the best and the brightest can be involved. What’s more exclusive than the most intelligent top two percent of the population? Think about it. Read More »
As the great Devendra Banhart once mused, “YACHT = megaphysical.” This, alongside a number of contributing factors, is why we have chosen the band YACHT as our first-ever, week-long guest bloggers. The psychedelic dance fever we get from their latest album, See Mystery Lights, is another reason for our selection. With a foreword by YACHT’s own Claire L. Evans, this is Freemason Fashion Week.
We met Boaz Abraham at the abandoned Masonic lodge in Marfa, Texas — deep in the far west Texas desert, which inches towards Mexico and is littered with optical phenomena and crashing meteorites. When we commented on his dapper 33rd degree apron, he offered to be our secret society fashion consultant. How could we refuse?
Today’s mix will give you a taste of what music will sound like in the near future a.k.a. September. So give your fingers a little warm-up stretch and get ready to “Right Click, Save Link As,” because after the jump we present 10 essential downloads from our latest Viva Radio show that we consider required listening at Flavorpill HQ. Enjoy! Read More »
