Ever since Austra's debut album, Feel It Break, came out in 2011, I have barely stopped listening to it long enough to, you know, do my job of listening to other music. At a New Year's Eve party earlier this year, I got in trouble with some strangers because I kept commandeering the iPod to play "The Beat and the Pulse" so my friend and I could have a dance-off. It was that friend's apartment, so we won that battle, but not without getting ... Read More

  Austra (Toronto-based singer/songwriter Katie Stelmanis) took the stage at Brooklyn's tiny, Glasslands Gallery in a fairly undramatic fashion, yet conjured up some dark drama during an hour-long set that was moody, broody, and beautiful. Recently signing to Domino records, she was accompanied by several others on stage, compared to Austra's typical line-up of Stelmanis, drummer Maya Postepski, and bassist Dorian Wolf.  "Young ... Read More

I am stressed to the bone, trying to organize a cross-country move while balancing two jobs and a million projects. It's freezing outside, AND I'm running late with turning in the music section for the next issue (hehe, sorry, Lisa) and yet I folded all of this up and shoved it to the back of my brain wagon the other night to see Austra perform an early show at Mercury Lounge.  Austra is a Canadian based band fronted and fed by Katie ... Read More

Katie Stelmanis has the voice of an angel. Aside from having a Facebook fan page that says it in print, with hundreds of followers who agree, it's just true. It is. Katie and her band, which is Carmen Elle on guitar and back ground vocals, and Maya Postepski on drums, opened for Fucked Up at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Thursday and were able to turn a crowd of ruffians into instant new fans.  The setting for the show was dreamy in ... Read More