Paul McCartney's Out There tour is currently in Austin, having played the first of two consecutive nights at the Frank Erwin Center last night (5/22). Macca played nearly 40 songs culled from over 50 years of songs, including "Eight Days a Week," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Blackbird," "Live and Let Die" and a show-ending Abbey Road trifecta of "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"/"The End." Setlist is below. Paul plays Erwin Center again tonight (5/22) and you can look forward to pictures from that here on BV Austin.

In other news, McCartney has written a letter to Russian officials in support of incarcerated Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina who is currently on a hunger strike:

My personal belief is that further incarceration for Maria will be harmful for her and the situation as a whole, which, of course, is being watched by people all over the world. In the great tradition of fair-mindedness which the Russian people (many of whom are my friends) are famous for, I believe that you granting this request would send a very positive message to all the people who have followed this case.

As mentioned on BrooklynVegan, Denton, TX vets The Baptist Generals released their fourth studio album, Jackleg Devotional to the Heart, this week (5/21) via Sub Pop. It's a catchy and smooth indie folk LP laden with blues sensibilities, and you can stream the entire album below.

They'll be heading out on a tour with The Mountain Goats, but before that, they'll celebrate the new album with a hometown record release show on June 1 at Dan's Silver Leaf in Denton, TX. Tickets to that show are available.

All tour dates are listed at BrooklynVegan. LP stream below...

As mentioned on BrooklynVegan, Ty Segall is releasing a new album, Sleeper, on August 20 via Drag City and he'll be touring this summer around the time of the release. That tour hits Austin on August 27 at Mohawk Outside. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (5/24).

All dates and more at BrooklynVegan.

Retox - 'YPLL'

Justin Pearson's (of The Locust) current project, Retox, who have been on tour this month, are releasing their new album, YPLL, next week (5/28) via Epitaph. It's a short (12 songs in under 22 minutes) blast of furious hardcore, and you can stream the entire thing below.

Retox will bring their tour through Austin this week to open for The Dillinger Escape Plan when DEP bring their previously announced tour with Royal Thunder and The Faceless to Mohawk on Friday (5/24). Tickets for that show are still available.

DEP's tour (without Retox) also hits El Paso the day before the Mohawk show, and Retox play their own show in Houston that day (5/23) too. Check out pictures of DEP's recent NYC show on BrooklynVegan.

All remaining dates are listed, along with the album stream, below...

As mentioned on BrooklynVegan, James Blake just announced a fall North American leg of his ongoing 2013 tour which will come through Texas for shows in Dallas on October 27 at House of Blues, Austin on October 28 at Emo's East, and Houston on October 29 at House of Blues. Tickets are not on sale yet but you can check Ticketmaster for the Dallas/Houston shows and Emo's site for the Austin show.

All dates are listed at BrooklynVegan.

The Austin edition of "Jambalaya Fest", happening on May 24, has moved from The Backyard to Austin Music Hall. All three dates of the Texas tour, which features Odd Future's Tyler the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt (also known as Earl Wolf), Big Boi, Araabmuzik, Zeds Dead, RL Grime, and G-Eazy, are still on sale in various prices.

Though their 2nd date together isn't until June 1st, we might as well call tonight (5/16) at Red 7 the first of a series of dates that producers oOoOO and Groundislava are playing together in Noth America this year. The poster and list of dates below agrees.

Groundislava is supporting a new collection of remixes called 'Treasure Chest' which you can buy, listen to and download at Bandcamp. Some oOoOO tracks are embedded below...

8-bit video game punk rockers Anamanaguchi, who were in Austin in March for SXSW (BrooklynVegan show included), just launched a tour in support of their long-awaited new album Endless Fantasy which also has a very successful-so-far companion Kickstarter that you should check out when you're done listening to the new songs from the album posted over at BrooklynVegan.

That tour includes a leg with Kitty Pryde aka Kitty that returns to Texas in July for three shows:

Anamanaguchi & Kitty Pryde take Texas
7/16 - Austin, TX - Red 7 (tickets)
7/17 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada
7/18 - Houston, TX - Fitzgeralds's

LA festival FYF Fest recently announced their amazing lineup of bands including My Bloody Valentine, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mac Demarco, METZ, MGMT, Mikal Cronin, Nosaj Thing, Omar Souleyman, Roky Erickson, Shlohmo, Antwon and many, many more. Tickets go on sale today, Thursday, 5/16, at noon California time.

Meanwhile, San Jose Rapper Antwon is returning to Austin for a show at Hotel Vegas with Lil Ugly Mane and Hard Stripes on June 2nd. UPDATE: Antwon also plays Holy Mountain earlier that same day.

The Austin shows are part of Chaos in Tejas which updated their lineup last week. You can see the whole thing below with all Antwon tour dates and a song.

Patti Smith @ Stubb's, Austin, 4/30/13

"Fresh from her visit with the new Pope Francis in Vatican City (yes, that happened), Patti Smith returned to Austin to play tracks off her new album, Banga. There are few acts in rock 'n roll today that elicit the warmth and adoration that the nearly sold-out Stubbs crowd delivered to Smith. In return, the original NYC punk girl gave that energy back in what could only be described as a triumphant performance." [Culture Map]

As mentioned on BV, John Hughes-era postpunks The Psychedelic Furs are going on a big summer tour and that will hit Texas for three shows, including Austin on July 18 at Antone's. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (5/17) at noon. The other TX shows are 7/17 at House of Blues in Dallas and 7/19 at House of Blues in Houston. All tour dates are here.

"At the Drive-In - which also includes singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, guitarist Jim Ward, bassist Paul Hinojos and drummer Tony Hajjar - have scattered to other projects, leaving the future unknown. The Mars Volta, the post-ATDI post-punk/prog act led by Rodriguez-Lopez and Bixler-Zavala, is officially broken up, too, but the guitarist is already deep into Bosnian Rainbows, his band with singer Teri Gender Bender of Le Butcherettes. Next week, Bosnian Rainbows begin a European tour with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (plus a few dates in Texas and California) and release a self-titled debut album on June 25th." [Rolling Stone]

May 25, 2013 - El Paso, TX @ Neon Desert Music Festival
May 28, 2013 - Dallas, TX @ Trees w/ Zorch
May 29, 2013 - Austin, TX @ Red 7 w/ Zorch (tickets)
May 30, 2013 - Houston, TX @ HOB - Bronze Peacock w/ Zorch

Turquoise Jeep @ Red 7 - 5/4/2013

Turquoise Jeep, who are no strangers for taking their show off YouTube and onto the road, brought their tour through Austin for a show at Red 7 on May 4 with Kosha Dillz. Pictures of all the smashin' and bangin' are in this post.

More below...

Jim James @ Stubb's - 5/6/2013

My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James brought his tour in support of his new solo LP, Regions of Light and Sound of God, to Austin for a show at Stubb's on May 6. For his pre-encore set, he relied entirely on that new album, and then during the encore, he played material from his other projects, including MMJ, Monsters of Folk, and New Multitudes. Support at the show came from his tourmate, Canadian singer/songwriter Cold Specks.

More pictures of both artists and Jim's setlist below...

Of Montreal @ The Mohawk - 5/6/2013

Pop weirdos Of Montreal brought their tour with Wild Moccasins to Austin earlier this week (5/6) for a show at Mohawk. They played a 19-song set hitting material from all over their career and also included a new song called "Middle Child," which Rebecca Cash and Kevin Barnes split the vocals on. That one will likely appear on their upcoming album, Lousy with Sylvianbriar.

More pictures from the show, a video of them playing the new song, and the setlist below...