Your humble Austin Music Minute host was struck by a strange mix of flattery and a certain level of discomfort over recent tweets in the Twitterverse about yours truly “geeking out” on the air over music during my evening show. The thing is, I make no apologies for it, and it will most likely happen again. I’m abhorrently against the “too cool for school” persona because that doesn’t really help when sharing music. At all. And the recent tweets were referring to one such geek-out moment, over my tremendous admiration for The Both.
This is coming from someone who’s been a fan of Aimee Mann and Ted Leo for awhile, including their work with ‘Til Tuesday and Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, respectively. So one can easily imagine my brain exploding in sheer joy when Mann and Leo teamed up to do something together. Their self-titled debut has exactly the superb kind of vocal harmonizing one would expect from these two talents, not to mention songwriting with a brilliant sense of humor that sometimes reminds me of friends completing each other’s sentences. Rather puzzled as to why some reviewers are surprised at the duo’s musical pairing; oftentimes, the most seemingly disparate styles can result in the most intriguing work.
After you enjoy their performance in KUTX’s Studio 1A, make plans to see The Both at the Mohawk, 912 Red River. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Afterward, make your way to the inside stage for Jack Wilson‘s residency show on the inside stage, with performances by The Painted Redstarts and Some Say Leland. This will be a damn fine night altogether. Take advantage of it. Recommended.
– Photography by Christian Lantry Photography.
