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Thursday, May 15, 2008
CD reviews: T Bone Burnett, Nine Inch Nails
T Bone Burnett
‘Tooth of Crime’
(Nonesuch)
Though reportedly adapted from spare parts — some of its tunes were written for a production of an old Sam Shepard play, others grew years later out of the play’s discards — T Bone Burnett’s “Tooth of Crime” hangs together as a standalone work. Granted, it’s a work not everyone will relish: Grim and caustic, it introduces its worldview with a song announcing, “This is a story which is based on a true story which is based on a lie.”
The Texas-raised star producer (who has helped craft classics for everyone from Elvis Costello to the Coen brothers) knows what he wants when it comes to his own infrequent albums: strutting beats with a limp, echo-drenched guitar (often from gifted sideman Marc Ribot) and the occasional weirdo gesture you’d expect of an artist who subtitles one of his songs “Make the Metal Scream.”
How dark are the songs here? Put it this way: When Burnett wants to do a tune co-written by Roy Orbison, who’s known more for melancholy than menace, it’s a cheerful little ditty called “Kill Zone.” (You might swear you hear Michael Penn on that track as well, but according to the credits only his onetime collaborator Jon Brion is present.)
The album’s emotional range isn’t wholly apocalyptic; it offers a bit of comically surreal gallows humor here, a sincere recrimination or two there — the latter, perhaps not coincidentally, sung by Burnett’s ex-wife Sam Phillips. However dark things get, though, the record’s sound is richly layered enough to keep you digging through for shards of optimism.
Recommended: “Kill Zone,” “The Slowdown,” “Anything I Say Can And Will Be Used Against You” — John DeFore
Nine Inch Nails
‘The Slip’
(Self-released)
It’s been 14 years since Trent Reznor whispersang, “I hurt myself today to see if I still feel” on the album “The Downward Spiral.” It doesn’t sound like the intervening time has given him much improvement of the senses. “I don’t feel anything at all!” Reznor cries on “1,000,000,” a track on “The Slip,” the new Nine Inch Nails downloadable album that debuted this month at the low-low cost of absolutely free.
Reznor has of late embraced new-media ways to get his music out: He incorporated an alternate reality game in last year’s NIN album “Year Zero,” then put out a free preview of “Ghosts I-IV,” an instrumental album, in March (the whole 36-track shebang sold online for $5).
It’s not really clear if Reznor is just clearing the vaults like Prince or if the prospect of outdoing Radiohead in online price experimentation has recharged his musical batteries.
But, like Radiohead’s “In Rainbows,” “The Slip” feels like a summation of Nine Inch Nails’ whole catalog. It seems not like an experiment or a slipshod playlist of cheap-as-free B-sides. Instead, it’s a recalibration of Nine Inch Nails’ ideas, textures and grooves. There is, of course, quick-tempoed thrashing and wailing about nothingness, degenerating electronic bleats that eat at the edges of songs like a hard drive virus, the obligatory goth-creepy piano ballad and the disco-metal dance party song for demons. (Hey, weren’t they playing something like that during the ridiculous groove orgy in “The Matrix: Reloaded?” It sure sounds like it.)
It sounds exactly what you would have expected a Nine Inch Nails album to sound like before all the recent digital pricing experimentation. There’s a seven-minute wordless mind grind called “Corona Radiata” that could have been recorded inside Reznor’s central air and heating vents. But there’s also “Demon Seed,” a propulsive tantrum that ends the short 44-minute album defiantly.
There’s not much to grow on here, but only someone who hates Nine Inch Nails could argue with the price. Download it to your iPod and you’ll even get album art for each of the 10 songs as well as lyrics.
It’s appropriate that “The Slip” is being used as ammo in the war between freed-up recording artists and the record labels. The album is certainly dark and hopeless enough to sound like it could be describing the industry.
“I need my role in this very clearly defined. I need your discipline / I need your help,” Reznor sings on “Discipline.” What he really needs right now, though, is your downloading.
Recommended: “Head Down,” “Lights in the Sky,” “Discipline” — Omar L. Gallaga
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Escovedo to open Matthews gigs
Alejandro Escovedo will advance his new album “Real Animal” as the opening act for the Dave Matthews Band on five shows in June. Al-E, who now shares management with Bruce Springsteen, will also log a couple of national TV appearances, June 20 on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and on June 24, the day the album will be released, Escovedo and band will appear on NBC’s “The Today Show.”
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Weekend Picks: Angsty nostalgia, mock proms and plenty of thrash
Friday: Tribute to the Cure at Elysium. So to which era of the band will these locals pay tribute? Will Rescue Mission go with short hair New Wave or ‘Just Like Heaven’? Will Seaholm Electric go with ‘The Top’ (essentially a Robert Smith solo album) or alt-rock radio hits from the ’90s? Will Christian Hicks play the dancey ‘The Walk’ or the jazzy ‘Lovecats’? - Joe Gross
Friday: L’Austin Space II at Emo’s Lounge. The whole evening, presented by the same folks who bring you the ATX Beat Battles, is billed as a sort of downtempo, visual, rap extravaganza. The acts that piqued my interest are the openers. Rap duo Blacklisted Individuals helmed by slam poet DaShade Moonbeam and his rhyme partner Snyp throw down groove-heavy hip-hop with serious lyrical content. They’re followed on the bill by the lovely Miss Yadira Brown who has an ethereal vocal quality that slips easily from spoken word over hip-hop grooves into atmospheric shoegazer rock. Visitors, L.A.X. and DJ Tako also perform. —Deborah Sengupta Stith
Friday: KOOP Pop Prom at Club DeVille. Why should insecure high school students have all the fun? Break out the ridiculous pink dresses and the tuxedo shirts and head down to Club DeVille where KOOP radio hosts a grownup prom complete with punch, streamers, cheesy posed pictures and all the other standard fare. BASIC, the Always Already and the Bubbles will all perform. —D.S.S.
Friday-Saturday: Chaos in Tejas Fest. Now in its fifth year, this grassroots event showcases a wide sampling of punk and hardcore music. At various venues.
Friday-Saturday: Texas Rockabilly Revival at Stubb’s BBQ. The Friday set, the ‘Legends of ’80s Rockabilly and Psychobilly Night,’ features the Rockats, the Guana Batz, the Legendary Shack Shakers and more. Saturday features performances from the Rev. Horton Heat, Unknown Hinson, Lee Rocker and Lonesome Spurs. 6 p.m. Tickets through TexasRockabilly.com. $30 per night, $50 for both. — J.G.
Saturday: Swoll at the Beauty Bar. DJ Mel hosts another installment of his booty-centric Beauty Bar bash. This time, guest turntablists include DJ Klever (The Killer) out of Atlanta and Cosmo Baker, co-host of NYC popular hip-hop monthly “The Rub” will be in the house. —D.S.S.
Sunday: Austin Blues Society Annual Fundraiser.They’re so lonesome for your dollars, they have the blues. (Sorry. Had to be done.) With scene veterans such as Angela Strehli, Derek O’Brien and Marcia Ball, and scene up-and-comers such as Carolyn Wonderland and W.C. Clark. 7 p.m. $10 advance, $15 at the door. — J.G.
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Pachanga Fest two-for-one promo deal
Earlier this week, Joe Gross chatted with Latino rocker Alex Vallejo about, among other things, Pachanga Fest, the new Latino Music Fest that will go down in Waterloo Park May 31st. The festival will feature over 20 bands on three stages including Grupo Fantasma, Maneja Beto, Charanga Cakewalk and headliners Bostich + Fussible from Nortec Collective. From now until Saturday, the show’s promoters are offering a two-for-one deal on tickets, which means you can scoop two tickets for the standard ticket price of $18. Festival admission is free for children 12 and younger accompanied by a ticket-bearing adult.
Tickets are available online at pachangafest.com or frontgate.com as well as all Frontgate Tickets locations. For more information, call (512) 389-0315.
A portion of ticket sales goes to ALMA (Austin Latino Music Association).
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El Orbits leader elected to Marfa post
Padre’s construction, narrated by Beebe
The inexhaustible David Beebe will be sworn in Tuesday for his two year term on the Marfa City Council. Tuesday also marks the debut of Beebe’s weekly radio show at 11 p.m. on Marfa Public Radio, which can be streamed here. Meanwhile, he and his investors are hammering away on “Padre’s,” a new, Continental Club-styled live music venue expected to open in the West Texas artists’ retreat around November.
Beebe celebrated his narrow council win Saturday by playing bass for Jon Langford, the ex-Mekon who had an art show in the town where “Giant” was filmed.
Beebe, who channels Doug Sahm with El Orbits and the Conrads, also announces the Houston roller derby bouts.
