I live in Austin, where house shows are rare. Basements are nearly non-existent due to the limestone bedrock that extends below central Texas and neighborhoods are tightly packed with one-story bungalows. Cops are often called and parties broken up. From the cacophony that the music industry cluster-fuck of SXSW wreaks on our city, however, blooms a resigned willingness in its residents to make a few concessions about noise pollution. Background noise becomes a fact of life for a week. Last week, my roommates and I capitalized on our neighbors’ willingness to accept some extra clitter-clatter and we threw a house show in our residential East Side neighborhood away from the jumble of crowds, marketing culture and glitz of SXSW downtown. We got in touch with Dan Shay from Exploding In Sound records and ended putting together a bill featuring a few acts on that label with some other friends from Arkansas and Canada. The bill featured Bad History Month (MA), Teenagers (AK), Grass Is Green (MA), S/MM/NG (AK), Each Other (Montreal), and Palehound (NY), all of whom have material out on bandcamp for your listening pleasure. Thanks to all the bands who played, it was a most glorious occasion.

Bad History Month:

Teenagers:

Grass Is Green:

SW/MM/NG:

Each Other: