13 Apr 12

"...Come on, House of Blues, get rowdy..."

Hey, blogspot readers, no superstitious happenings around town on this rockin' Friday the 13th! SouthSide's feeling very lucky as she kicks off a long party weekend at the legendary House of Blues to see her long time friend, How Far To Austin perform. But first, she was getting her neo-soul/R&B/funk groove on with her other friend Animate Objects (http://www.animate-objects.com) during the last few songs of their opening set. This reviewer highly suggests checking out this local band's funkified smooth sound and lively tempo of their modernized throwback soul groove. Though they wouldn't say more in detail, be on the lookout for something BIG and rockin' to happen in the future by this band, blogspot readers.

If you haven't experienced the rockin' soulful blues/alternative rock of How Far To Austin, SouthSide highly suggests checking out her friend at their next performance. Blogspot readers, this local band didn't simply rock the legendary venue's stage on Friday night ...each member revitalized the crowd with such electrifying momentum of hot bluesy rock and strong female vocals that it brought the roof down. Despite not being the HFTA band this reviewer remembers seeing a couple of years ago, she thoroughly enjoyed the "new" band set up and rockin' sound. After popping the stage with a firecracker of a song which featured Katie fronting the bnad within a dynmaic vocal stance amidst the band's energetic pop/alternative rock, HTFA displayed a wide variety of music genres to easily please the ears. From a downtempo melody of a soulful sound to upbeat dance/pop tempo, the band offered the crowd a little of something for every particular music taste to enjoy as well as dance to. For example during the 3rd song of the performance, HFTA had this crowd jammin' to the twitterpating riffs at the bridge with a few bars of Madonna's Material Girl in five-part harmony towards the end of the song. Or get your funk groove on amidst a blues/rock sound during another song which kept the crowd basking in the glow of more five-part harmony after Katie wowed the ears with her soulfully dynamic voice. SouthSide couldn't get enough of how Katie's voice and HFTA's music wonderfully complimented each other, blogspot readers. This reviewer was awestruck as well as getting warm shivers when Katie not only dynamically wowed but also emitted some heartfelt emotions and chateneuse-like soul to pop the lyrics to life. This vocalist was truly breaking hearts with her voice especially while in a downtempo blues/rock sound as heard in songs like Little Too Late and Morn' After Blues. SouthSide does suggests listening to other songs like Tonight, Goodnight Madison and Dry Gin yet the real highlight of the night was Katie's powerful vocals on the band's cover version of Proud Mary - HFTA took the beginning of the song nice and slow (so reminiscient of the Ike and Tina version) before exploding with a hot fast upbeat blues tempo. What a fantastic way to end their set on one electrifying jam, blogspot readers.

For more information about How Far To Austin, visit http://www.howfartoaustin.com and check out their videos on YouTube.


Until next time, support your local scene,
SouthSide