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Friday, September 26, 2008
Beat 104.9 goes off the air … for good
Local hip-hop station The Beat 104.9 is now just a memory to Central Texans.
At 5:30 p.m. today, the station signed off and its predecessor, Digital 104.9, returned.
Border Media Partners acquired The Beat’s format and Univision Radio bought the 104.3 FM frequency from Entercom, owner of Mix 94.7 and Majic 95.5, in February of last year. Univision’s La Que Buena can now be found at 104.3 on the FM dial.
The sale spurred BMP to make a series of moves, placing The Beat on its 104.9 frequency; moving Digital, the Spanish-language contemporary pop station that had been broadcasting there, to 92.5 FM; and shuffling La Lupe, a Mexican oldies station that had been parked on the 92.5 frequency, to 1560 AM.
Tonight, The Beat’s Web site has already been set to redirect to GoHispano.com, a Web site affiliated with Digital 92.5.
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ACL review: Alejandro Escovedo
For as long as I have watched Alejandro Escovedo perform (and it’s been long enough for a Savings Bond to mature), I am always put in mind of that Robert Frost poem where he talks about how “work is play for mortal stakes.”
That is always how Escovedo’s work has come across to me. It’s music for grownups, infused with loss, but never quite bereft of hope, informed at every moment that it (and he) are playing for keeps. That sense of gravitas—and accompanying sentiments of fun and joy—was present from the moment that Escovedo stepped on stage for his inaugural ACL performance.
ACL visitors from out of town don’t necessarily have to know that Escovedo’s life has been shaped by cathartic and life-altering circumstances. But surely, listening to him launch headfirst into the joyous choruses of “Always A Friend,” they must have gleaned some sense that here is a man who has been there and back. There is a wonderful sense of abandon and unfettered celebration in singing “Every once in a while, honey, let your love show/Every once in a while, honey, let your love go.” There is a liberation in those lines that has to be merited, and Escovedo has earned every syllable.
The set, per se, was a sampler of his new album, “Real Animal,” as well as a hopscotch survey of his life and times and influences (heads up, Iggy Pop). “Chelsea Hotel ’78,” with its nihilistic echoes, butted up against the sunny “People We’re Only Gonna Live So Long” (Escovedo was still walking on air from having performed the latter at the Democratic National Convention), which had a shotgun wedding with the churning, paranoid “Everybody Loves Me,” which eventually yielded to the top-down unfettered rock of “Castanets.”
Escovedo, characteristically, seemed enamored of every note he played, of every musician who shared the stage, of (as that movie queen memorably phrased it) “all those wonderful people out there in the dark.” The feeling was contagious. Listening to his set was, as always, like diving into a renewing well capable of quenching every weary thirst.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Jenny Lewis
A good chunk of the crowd that was on hand for M. Ward’s fantastic set on the WaMu stage hung around to see Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis perform. Like Ward, Lewis brought out a five-person band, and also like Ward, was a highlight of day one at ACL. Lewis’s solo work is in some ways an experiment in mixing genres, from rock to country to rhythm and blues. All of these forms were on display as she made her way through the set, captivating the audience the entire time.
Lewis played a selection of songs from 2006’s “Rabbit Fur Coat” and her most recent album “Acid Tongue,” which was released earlier this week. She started off on the piano with “Jack Killed Mom,” evoking Dusty Springfield and trading lyrics with her guitarist, and then grabbed the guitar for “Rise Up With Fists.”
Lewis’s bassist Jonathan Wilson stood out on several songs, including “Bad Man’s World” off the recent album, which she dedicated to John McCain. A friend pointed out that Wilson, who looked to be wearing a George Harrison t-shirt, switched back and forth between a Rickenbacker and a Hoffner violin bass, Paul McCartney’s weapons of choice.
The band closed with the driving country-rocker “See Fernando,” also a new one, with Lewis climbing up on to the piano bench and clapping along with the crowd, who were focused on her every move.
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ACL review: Mates of State
The quirky pop tunes of husband-and-wife duo Mates of State have always sounded full, even with just the two members. Kori Gardner’s electronic organ pumps out so many diverse sounds over Jason Hammel’s pounding drum beats, and the two belt out such meticulously layered melodies that both their live shows and studio recordings create the illusion of at least a four-piece band.
But at the ACL Fest the duo took their live sound a step further for many songs by adding a three-piece string ensemble to the mix. The violin and two cellos soared over the doo-wop piano rolls of “Like U Crazy,” while in “You Are Free” they melded with the organ to create an epic sound.
Aside from a couple of shaky moments, the vocal delivery of both Gardner and Hammel was impeccable as always. On many numbers, their voices blended in harmony so well that it was hard to tell which member was singing what.
Equally as impressive was their seamless flow between the shifting rhythms in many of the songs. Fan favorite “Ha Ha” in particular changed drum beats at least three times, but the shifts always sounded natural. Whether they’re playing as a two-piece or more, Mates of State always seem to make it work.
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ACL scene report: Friday night quotes
What people were saying as they left day one of the festival around 6 p.m.:
“I’m going to a presidential debate party later, but I won’t be missing any music for it. My favorite act was Gogol Bordello. We’re going to eat now.” - Rene Francis of Austin
“Awesome music. Really awesome.” - Maggie Koerner of Shreveport, La.
“It was hot, but really good. Showering is the number one priority right now, then we’ll probably walk around downtown. We ate at Kenichi last night. We really enjoyed it.” - Sarah Sour of Shreveport
“It was good. We saw Vampire Weekend, Heidi Griffith and Jenny Lewis. Vampire weekend was definitely our favorite.” - Drew Miller of Austin
“The presidential debate is actually going on in our state right now, but we’ll probably just go eat and come back.” - Andy Baker of Jackson, Miss.
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ACL review: M. Ward
M. Ward and his band played to a super-packed tent, running through 2006’s “Post-War” album. Ward is an entertainer—after a solo acoustic number he brought out a band of five, which included two drummers (and two drum sets), and offered up rocking versions of “Right in the Head,” “Chinese Translation” and “Requiem,” among others.
The only low points came during a few of the lower-key songs, when chatter from the crowd drowned out the band a bit. After a cover of a John Fahey song (Ward produced a Fahey tribute album a few years back and is clearly influenced by Fahey’s fingerpicking), the band pleased the crowd with the loungy and delightful “Rollercoaster” and “Magic Trick,” the lyrics of which he changed so the song was in the first person.
He closed with a cover of Austinite Daniel Johnston’s “To Go Home,” which appears on “Post-War” as well. Part of the joy in watching Ward perform is that he appears to really love making music—he went over his allotted time, and probably would have kept playing if he didn’t have to cede the stage to Jenny Lewis.
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ACL review: Jakob Dylan and the Gold Mountain Rebels
With the Wallflowers’ breakthrough album, 1996’s “Bringing Down the Horse,” Jakob Dylan proved himself a solid songwriter, showing that there was more to him as a musician than just his father’s famous last name. Now with five Wallflowers releases under his belt, Dylan has dropped the roots rock for a stripped-down folk sound on his debut solo album “Seeing Things.”
Dylan’s new act translated perfectly to ACL’s AT&T stage on Friday afternoon. Dylan and his bandmates, the Gold Mountain Rebels, took the stage dressed in black suits, white shirts and shades, then breezed through an hour’s worth of softly floating folk tunes and hard-driving blues rock numbers.
There was some trouble with the mix at the start of the set and the band’s harmonies wavered slightly for the first few songs, but they found their stride with “Here Comes Now.” In the song, soft snare strokes and egg shakers created an atmosphere of understated percussion to underlie Dylan’s twinkling, finger-picked guitar lines.
The next song, “Three Marlenas,” was a pleasant surprise for longtime Wallflowers fans. The track from “Bringing Down the Horse” had audience members singing along and clapping.
The highlight of the show, however, was “Will It Grow,” a cut off Dylan’s solo album lush with imagery and smooth-flowing guitar solos. “Jet black starlit midnight rolls/I am down in the valley where I let go,” Dylan lamented with his rich voice as clean guitar lines danced in the background.
This was Dylan’s first ACL performance, but fans will surely be eager to welcome him back.
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ACL review: David Byrne
“One fine daaaaay,” David Byrne sang from the AT&T stage Friday evening at Zilker Park and boy howdy was it. Dusk is always a fun time at ACL - the setting sun takes the edge off the day’s heat, and soft light fills the sky. “Then before my eyes- Is standing still/I beheld it there- a city on a hill,” he sang. There it was, right behind him, Austin at magic hour.
Playing his second set in two days, Byrne and his band of white-clad musicians, dancers and back-up singers cranked out a roiling set of Talking Heads hits and material from his new collaboration with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.” As with his show Thursday night at the Paramount Theatre (and every show on this tour), Byrne drew on previous collaborations with Eno such as “Once in a Lifetime” and “Houses in Motion,” making it a theme for the tour.
Some elements worked better on the Paramount stage and some worked better at Zilker. The dancers, who already looked under rehearsed (unless it was supposed to look a little “off”) at the Paramount were completely swallowed up by the massive AT&T stage. But Byrne’s guitar was audible throughout the Zilker set, something you couldn’t say about the Paramount and its somewhat wonky acoustics. Like the Paramount set, the newer material blended seamlessly with older hits, though when the band hit “Once in a Lifetime,” with its angelic synth-drone, crisp poly-rhythms and Zen-like lyrics, really is one of the pop highlights of the past 30 years.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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‘Love Hurts,’ Jenny? Really?
A rule of ACL Fest should be that every act should do a cover. I mean, we love your new stuff, but out in the fields we want to hear familiarity now and then.
I wasn’t sure what to think about Jenny Lewis’ set Friday at the WaMu stage. The overflow crowd, perhaps the biggest in WaMu hist, was digging every move the high-heeled Lewis was throwing out. But I kept wondering, are these songs really great, or is this a case of style winning big?
Then, she and her shaggy guitar player, sent the rest of the band off the stage to do “Love Hurts.” This could be the laziest cover ever at ACL, akin to if David Byrne did “I Shot the Sherrif.”
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ACL scene report
If there are going to be major problems at the ACL Festival this year, they haven’t reared themselves yet. Unlike last year, when a fire erupted just a few hours into the first day, the festival’s kickoff has been smooth and, well, festive. Perhaps seeking escape from the week’s relentless financial and political roller coasters, festival-goers were ready for a good time.
By 2 p.m. the grounds were already packed as people rushed out of work to make the most of near-perfect festival weather. Breezes whipped through the crowd just at the right time during exuberant sets by What Made Milwaukee Famous, Vampire Weekend, Jamie Lidell and Gogol Bordello.
Food lines have moved quickly so far, with people packing the picnic tables and filling up the nearby WaMu Stage (aka the “FDIC Stage”), the only one at the festival covered by a tent. In fact, it was the hottest place at the festival late Friday afternoon as a swell of people crammed into the tent for Portland, Ore., troubador M. Ward and stayed for Jenny Lewis, lead singer of Rilo Kiley. No one seemed to let the financial troubles afflicting the stage’s sponsor, Washington Mutual, affect their mood.
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ACL review: Delta Spirit
The onset of fall is simply a rhetorical conceit in this neck of the woods. So the music of Delta Spirit, as the sun began its seemingly imperceptible descent behind the Austin Ventures stage, was entirely in keeping with the climate—a parting shot of summery indie pop and country-inflected rock.
No strangers to Austin (they took a moment to plug their upcoming Thanksgiving gig at Emo’s), the San Diego-based quintet had a bigger canvas to paint on than their customary local club gigs afford. Changing between instruments as the songs demanded, the group set up a rolling thunder of guitars, two-fisted keyboards and floor toms that alternated with more nuanced pop and confessional songwriting.
One common denominator in the musical checkerboard were the forceful vocals of frontman Matthew Vasquez (particularly as vocalists often represent the Achilles heel of even the most high-flying indie groups.) Multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich and drummer Brandon Young also stood out during this particular set.
Delta Spirit has drawn comparisons to Drive-By Truckers and the Waterboys (Reckless Kelly might represent the local template). But their multi-instrumental versatility, strong vocals and infectious presentation, at least to these eyes and ears, set them apart.
Songs like “Streetwalker” and “People Turn Around” painted a dour lyrical picture juxtaposed against exuberant melodies, while “Trashcan” (which, like the previous titles, derives from their sole 2007 release), with its irresistible, percussive piano line, was clearly a crowd favorite.
Photo: Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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ACL review: Vampire Weekend
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ACL review: Jamie Lidell
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ACL review: Sunny Sweeney
One big way in which ACL Fest is different than all the other festivals is the way mainstream country intercuts with hip indie rock bands. Even the sons of legendary promoter Louis Messina would have a hard time making it to Coachella or Bonnaroo if they had a steel guitar.
Although Austin’s Sunny Sweeney has the semi-tough demeanor of a tender biker chick, her music is aimed at Mass-ville appeal. Her self-depracating “Next Big Nothing” had the crowd of about 750 in front of the BMI stage bobbing like a rebuttal. A swipe at Lucinda Williams’ “Can’t Let Go,” meanwhile, had folks dancing. “This is Texas,” the Longview native said. “Might as well dance.”
A couple of missteps kept the set from hitting its stride. “Band of Gold,” although Sweeney’s best vocal performance of the night, was sappy, as was the new “It’s a Sweet Dance.” Even worse, “Contrary & Western,” with lines like “If you don’t like Merle, I believe/ You might end up on the fightin’ side of me” was the sort of pandering that didn’t belong in the groove fields.
At the end, Sweeney totally nailed it on “If I Could,” with its rapidfire lyrics setting up a fluid Telecaster run by Charlie Rich’s grandson Cole Lee. The Sweeney set in one word: refreshing.
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ACL review: Rodney Crowell
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ACL makes a ‘Love Connection’
First celeb sighting of ACL Fest was the first person onstage. Chuck Woolery, who was the original host of “Wheel of Fortune” (right you were, Mrs. Scheibal) and brought us back “in two and two” on “Love Connection,” introduced Friday’s first act, Ben Cyllus on the BMI stage.
Woolery lives in nearby Marble Falls. His connection to Cyllus is not known, but the two were off to the American Legion Hall off Lake Austin Boulevard, which has turned into a pamper palace for ACL artists.
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ACL review: Jones Family Singers
Here’s the scene at the WaMu stage, which is known as “the gospel tent” when Bay City’s Jones Family Singers are onstage: Led by the volcanic Alexis Jones-Roberts, whose voice could dust an abandoned house, the group has about 100 audience members doing a simple synchronized dance. When the five Jones sisters vamp ten steps to the right on “I Am,” the crowd follows them. Then it’s ten paces to the left, with the crowd aping their slinky movements.
It’s still Friday morning, just past 11:30. It’s on, peoples!
What seemed like boneheaded booking, putting the ACL show-stealers on so early Friday, may turn out to be a tradition. The JFS had the tent at least half-filled and most of the folks were on their feet throughout.
The material is getting a little too secular- Roberts’ rewording of “Saving All My Love For You” was a vocal showoff, but didn’t hold up the intensity. And a short “Wind Beneath My Wings,” for a couple in the audience’s 25th anniversary, fell totally flat. Still don’t like “Shout” as the set-closer, but when this wonderfully joyful band kicks out a rock groove, it’s just plain irresistable.
I vote for having the JFS open every ACL, right after the “Star Wars” theme. This family group just puts everyone in a great mood with their choreography and electric smiles.
Photo: Erich Schlegel FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
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Three day passes: $150
And on the seventh year, the unbearable heat rested. But everything else seems business as usual the first morning of ACL.
The secondary market for passes and tickets to ACL Fest is pretty brisk. One fella had a handful of three-day passes he was unloading for $150 each, though some were asking $180 and more. The top price of $170 has been sold out for a month.
Shady Grove is charging $25 for parking, while Chuy’s, closer to the fest gate, is charging $20 a car. Weird, since they’re both owned by the same company.
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Review: David Byrne at the Paramount
No matter what he’s playing, writing, composing, programming or singing, David Byrne always lets you know he’s thinking things through.
Thursday night at the Paramount Theatre, in what that proved a fantastic kick-off to the Austin City Limits Music Festival weekend, Byrne and everyone in his band came on stage wearing all white - white trousers, white shirts of varying styles. Three backup dancers (and three backup singers) added motion and form to the sharply funky songs, drawn entirely from the music Byrne made with producer Brian Eno on such rock touchstones as “Remain in Light” and “Fear of Music” and the new Byrne/Eno collaboration “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.” The deft five-piece band breathed new life into old material and sold the heck out of the new stuff, cranking out stripped down versions of decades-old crowd pleasers such as “Once in a Lifetime,” “Crosseyed and Painless,” the gorgeous “Heaven” and “I Zimbra.”
Though Eno was not present, his keyboard parts couldn’t have been written by anyone but him, their cloudy drone distinctive as a finger print. Byrne, all of 56 and playing all the guitar parts himself, sometimes joined the dancers’ routines. He also hasn’t lost of a note of his singular voice - it was faintly startling how good he sounded. And it was smart to blend the new material with the old. Set opener “Strange Overtones,” “One Fine Day” and “My big Nurse” fit seamlessly in with the songs everyone knew.
While simple politeness kept folks (on the floor, at least) in their seats though most of the set, it’s physically impossible not to move to Byrne’s music, yet be moved by the almost Zen sense of wonder that runs though his lyrics, an admixture that legions of imitators have failed to capture. By the time a woman in crowd yelled, “I want to dance,” more to her fellow fans than the band, the dam willfully burst and fans spilled into the aisle for “Crosseyed and Painless,” remaining there for the rest of the set. Thank goodness.
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Did someone say Foo?
Welcome to the first day of the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival. Get ready to watch music and stay hydrated, possibly not in that order.
This year’s fest is two weeks later than last year (there’s been talk of an October start date for 2009), and Austin is holding its collective breath that not only will the three-digit temps of years past be avoided but that most of the festival will take place with the mercury held to lower than 90 degrees. We’ll see.
The Foo Fighters are this year’s Sunday headliner, a slot for which ‘07 headliner Bob Dylan was utterly inappropriate. To wit, he did not, you know, rock, which seems the least a band should be expected to do when closing out a big festival. Even people without much interest in the Foos should check them out simply to say they were there: Word has it a long hiatus is in the works for this band that has managed to be around not just three times longer than head Foo Dave Grohl was in Nirvana, but nearly twice as long as Nirvana was a band at all (Nirvana 1987-1994, Foo Fighters 1995 -present). This is very weird for thirtysomethings in the crowd to deal with, so don’t be surprised if you see members of this ACL Fest target demographic mumbling to themselves during the weekend. (If you see one, just offer him or her a drink and a shady spot; they’ll be fine when they remember how old Robert Plant is.)
Speaking of the man with the golden voice, Saturday night, Plant and musical partner Alison Krauss, — the duo whose “Raising Sand” has been one of the sleeper hits of the past few years — is up against Beck, who has been around even longer than the Foo Fighters. Roky Erickson, one of music’s greatest comebacks, is playing at more or less the same time.
Is there an aesthetic theme this year? Not an overarching one — that’s not really how ACL Fest rolls. But there are two smaller trends to note.
ACL Fest is packed with indie rock this year. From the harmonies of the Fleet Foxes to the guitar histrionics of Band of Horses, from the Brazilian funk of CSS to the acoustic songwriting of M. Ward, from the somewhat less acoustic songwriting of Austin’s Okkervil River to the kitchen-sink dance rock of Austin’s own White Demin, indie rock acts are on nearly ever stage.
And some mention must be made of the accidental influence of Talking Heads. The funky New Wave legends are an influence on today’s hispters the way Gang of Four and Wire were an influence on yesterday’s. Yeasayer and Vampire Weekend have clearly heard more than a few of Talking Heads’ funkier outings. Antibalas plays actual Afrobeat, no matter that they hail from Brooklyn. MGMT have been known to cover “This Must Be the Place” while Hot Chip’s pop oddness seems impossible to conceive of without albums such as “Remain in Light.” And of course, there’s former head Head David Byrne himself, playing a set that is slated to include plenty of the Heads material that the band produced through a collaboration with brilliant producer Brian Eno.
So keep a drink in your hand, folks, and walk toward the music, whichever kind you choose. You have three days of this — pace yourself. See you out there.
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