KNIFIGHT is a strange beast. Influences of 80s synth are potent but they maintain a modern indie rock backbeat. Think Depeche Mode mixed with a  strange Modest Mouse dance vibe. Hipster dance party for sure. The five piece band - Patrick Marshall, John Hetherington, John Gable, Nick Cogdill and Nick Garrison - know how to keep the 80s vibes alive. This past year they released, "Now We're Invisible Revisited," a remake of their 2010 debut EP. KNIFIGHT plays Holy Mountain this Friday Dec. 12 where a portion of the proceeds benefit local Austin charities. So go get your synth on…it’s for a good cause. 

Austin electro-pop group, Borrisokane, is in the process of curating a project that hopes to bring together our local music scene in an ambitious and, frankly, really darn cool way. They’re calling it the Versus Project: six Texas bands will cover a Borrisokane song and in addition contribute something new of their own. Borrisokane will return in kind, rounding out the total to 24 songs, with 12 covers and 6 new tracks from the host band. Look forward to tracks from MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR, Knifight, Yum, Pageantry, Young Tongue (formerly The Baker Family) and Home by Hovercraft.

The whole package will be split onto six disks and put into a lovely box-set with artwork from Shawn Magill. There’s a Kickstarter set up, and you have until early March to help it happen. If the campaign is successful, the full project will be released on Earth Day, April 22nd, through the homegrown Oscillation Records. Too much good music is being promised for us to let this go by the way-side! And now, for a taste of what’s (hopefully) to come; check out Borrisokane’s “Sinking Catalina” covered by Young Tongue (The Baker Family) below!  --Written by Marie Meyers

Keeping the arts alive in our public schools one collaborative album at a time, Attendance Records connects students and teachers with local artists, writers, and musicians. At the end of the program the 9th and 10th grade students have their poems, short stories, artwork, and lyrics published in an installation or recorded by a local band and pressed onto vinyl. This year they worked with local bands, Marmalakes and Belaire, to produce the album which they'll be debuting tomorrow night at Mohawk! 

Come out and support arts education. Loaded with sponsors and tons of awesome local bands, all you have to do is show up and enjoy the event to help keep music alive in our public schools. Doors open at 7:00pm. $5 for the 21+ crowd and $7 for minors to get in. All ages welcome! --Written by Charise Sowells

One month after its release, Knifight's first LP, Dark Voices, still dominates the heavy rotation list. From the preeminent dark wavers, these dance-fast, poppish numbers run through with fuzzily-verbed rhythm. Stabbed clean with synths, organs, and other forms of 80-ish digitalia, the album is finished with a solid skewering via John Gable's Voice of God, reverbed into near-psychedelic places.

Try "In The Fire", "Whisper Room", "Black Dagger", or the title track if you're looking for a faster, can't-get-enough-of-it number. If you favor a slow twist, give the deliciously-romantic "Cosmonaut", "Peace Cry", or "My Angels" a spin. I'm calling Dark Voices one of the best collections of dark wave rock to grace 2013. You should thrust this one into your iPod. Better yet, catch these guys in the act. Knifight will be ascending Holy Mountain tomorrow, 7/10/13 and then transfixing the Empire Control Room on 7/19/13. --Written by Scott Osborn 

They say all good things must come to an end.  (We don't really believe that, but for the sake of putting a metaphysical slant to a post, we'll claim allegiance.)  And, sorry to say, Free Week is no exception.  Waah.

But instead of bawling, let's go out with a BANG.  For tonight, we recommend going Holy Mountain or Red 7 -

Zorch, The Boxing Lesson, Boyfrndz, Tiger Waves, and Residual Kid will be doing the free thing at Holy Mountain tonight. 

And right next door at Red 7, on the inside you can find Troller, Marriage, The Sour Notes, Wet Lungs, and Spray Paint; whilest the outside stage will be taken over by White Walls, Cheap Curls, The Well, and Holy Wave.  

Saturday, we'd go:

The Mohawk has a huge going-out-of-Free-Week show with the outside stage hosting Silent Diane, FEATHERS, BOAN, and Rare Species.  Inside, we'll have The Sour Notes, The Couch, Shivery Shakes, Letting Up Despite Great Faults, and The Plastic Habit.

And Red 7 will host TV Torso, Oh No Oh My, Hundred Visions, and Tiger Waves. 

Last and definitely not least, you could scoot over to Club DeVille and catch Oh Look Out, Friday Avenue, (one of our best of 2012) Borrisokane, Knifight, and Hydra Melody on the outside stage, whilest inside you can see Pop Pistol and Migrant Kids.