This is the time of year when, as a graduate student, I do a lot of complaining about being a graduate student. Final exams, papers, deadlines – everything is coming to a head and keeping me pretty busy. And yet, great local music waits for no man. To that end, I made my way last night to the Swan Dive to catch a killer local bill headlined by OVRLD favorites The Boxing Lesson and featuring other bands we like, such as the Preservation and Waldo and the Naturals. Yet, I had never heard of one band on the bill. A band with one of the best names in town: Magnificent Snails.
The Magnificent Snails - Decisions Decisions
Magnificent Snails released their debut EP, Baby Acid Trips, earlier this year. It features some lo-fi sugary goodness. The melodies are catchy and the songs are happy but they maintain a chill vibe throughout. There are a lot of mid-tempo songs. “Decisions Decisions” stood out to me thanks to my love for horns, and the rest of the EP is certainly enjoyable (I’ve listened to it on repeat several times through now), but nothing prepared me for the material I heard at their show last night. The band rocked a lot of new material that really impressed me. Lead singer Rusty Galis told me that, sadly, they aren’t planning to record any of it until the end of their summer tour in 2012, but they will be touring constantly before that, so there should be plenty of chances to catch them both in, out and around Austin. I highly recommend them, and can’t wait for their next release to come out. Which we will definitely be telling the OVRLD audience about.
-Carter