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May 2009
Girl in a Coma audio/video
Check out songs and video from San Antonio’s Girl in a Coma. Read Michael Corcoran’s feature on the band.
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Twitter-views: Phoenix, Booker T, Cool Kids, more
Record reviews short enough to make Bob Christgau’s head explode. Sorry, Professor.
Phoenix, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” - Parisians release not just one song of the summer (“1901”), but almost a whole album of them. Synths + laid-back hooks = pop rock bliss. A
Booker T, “Potato Hole” - All-star backups (DB Truckers, Neil Young) jam on your new cookout soundtrack. Includes oddly good instrumental “Hey Ya!” cover. B-
The Cool Kids, “Gone Fishing” - Mixtape tease of upcoming “When Fish Ride Bicycles” smells like it was left in the sun too long. Hard to keep hopes up for the debut. C-
Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse, “Dark Night of the Soul” - Imagine a Jim Jarmusch movie converted to music and it’d sound like this guest-heavy experiment that might never get an official release. B
Japandroids, “Post-nothing” - Think Sonic Youth recast as a two-man dream/power pop act and you’re 90% there. The other 10% is raw insouciance, which sadly never lasts. A
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Weekend picks: Techno thump, gypsy jazz and guitar-heavy rock
FRIDAY
The Field at the Mohawk. The Field is the nom de techno of composer Axel Willner, whose 2007 debut album ‘From Here We Go Sublime’ mixed minimal techno’s thump and blip with trance’s hypnotic vibe. Critics ate the thing up. The brand new ‘Yesterday & Today’ probably will not fare quite as well, but virtually nothing could. With the more-dance-than-rock dance-rockers the Juan Maclean, Ian Orth and Jeramy Neugent. 10 p.m. $10. —- Joe Gross
Also recommended
- D Madness project at the Dirty Dog Bar
- Junior Brown at Antones
- Detroit Cobras, Dex Romweber Duo at Emo’s
- Witch Hunt, Nitad at the Broken Neck
- Woven Bones at Beerland
- Blunt Force Trauma at Room 710
- Zlam Dunk (CD release) at Stubb’s
SATURDAY
The Belleville Outfit at Momo’s. This Austin crew’s new album, ‘Time to Stand,’ is an even smoother blend of gypsy swing a la Django Reinhardt — jazz, country and Americana making for music with a golden glow like a new morning. Seriously lovely stuff. With the Fire Ants. 10 p.m. $10 — J.G.
Also recommended
- Dax Riggs at Stubb’s
- Amplified Heat, Black Joe Lewis at the Hole in the Wall
- Lost Controls at Beerland
- Thrones at Emo’s
- Experimental Aircraft at the Scoot Inn
- This Will Destroy You at the Mohawk
SUNDAY
Oak is Keeping at the Hole in the Wall. When creating hard rock of a certain stripe, two guitars are better than one the vast majority of the time. This Austin crew understands that. With Odis. 10 p.m. — J.G.
Also recommended
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McLagan to appear on Letterman June 16
With his album “Never Say Never” getting the best reviews of his career, Manor-based Ian McLagan has been tapped to appear on “The Late Show With David Letterman” on June 16. Patty Griffin will sing with Mac and the Bump Band, reprising her role in “Never Say Never.”
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Bennett’s friends, he “was in a really good place”
Undertow Music’s Jeff Macklin, one of the partners at the management firm of recently deceased former Wilco member Jay Bennett, released a statement Tuesday night that is both a touching remembrance and an honest update about Bennett’s troubles with his former band.
Give a read and then pull out some Nick Lowe or Warren Zevon records in tribute. We lost a good one, folks. Bennett was 45.
“Our good friend Jay Walter Bennett left us this weekend. As news hits the wires so instantaneously these days, we thought it was important to share some thoughts about our friend and brother before any rumors got out of hand.
First, let it be known that Jay was in a really good place these past few years. He had returned to the area he loved—the “Twin Cities,” Champaign-Urbana—and resurrected his studio, Pieholden Suite Sound, with the assistance of many dear friends and allies.
Jay had been busy making music. He recently had released an intimate record entitled “Whatever Happened I Apologize,” and he was looking forward to wrapping up his new work, “Kicking at the Perfumed Air.” Proud of finishing a trilogy of records, including “Bigger Than Blue,” “The Beloved Enemy,” and “The Magnificent Defeat,” Jay loved the balanced yet ironic album titles. He was also looking forward to engineering and releasing Titanic Love Affair’s previously unreleased record, as well as starting work on “The Palace at 4 a.m. Part II,” the follow-up to his post-Wilco debut with Edward Burch. “Jay the Academic” had also reemerged, pursuing his umpteenth degree at the University of Illinois, and he was thrilled to be taking graduate classes again.
As many of you may be aware, Jay had finally found the courage to put his Wilco issues out into the public forum. After a long, four-year process (and therefore very much unrelated to his impending hip surgery), formal filings against Wilco were finally initiated. This task was very emotional for Jay. He was a “lover,” and this confrontation was not easy for him. With the exception of his final period in Wilco, Jay looked back on his time in the band with great fondness and pride. While he was dismayed that some people may have formed a narrow perception of him via the “documentary,” all who truly knew him understood that with most entertainment media, editing is usually constructed for dramatic effect and presents only a small part of a larger, more complex reality.
So, please spend some time this week engaging in Jay’s favorite passions: listen to a Nick Lowe album, watch some Mythbusters on Discovery, play Warren Zevon’s “Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner,” rent Pay It Forward (one of his favorite movies), write a song with the TV on and the sound off, and focus on how Jay always concluded his communications: “Love, Jay.”
All the Best,
Jeff
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The story behind the song: ‘Sinfonia Agridulce’
‘Sinfonia Agridulce,’ a mariachi cover of the Rolling Stones ‘Bittersweet Symphony.’
Camilo Lara, Mexican Institute of Sound
It’s terrible because one day I woke up and I pressed play on the recording machine and there was this song. I recorded it the night before I guess, like, totally drunk. I was at the studio recording to mariachis and these guys, mariachis, always drink tequila when they are playing. So we started really early doing some recording and after like six hours or so we end up with like six or seven bottles of tequila. So we have some time off and I start playing with the idea of doing this track. So I got all the mariachis to play the song and I recorded it in one take probably. And the next day with the hangover I was like, wow, what a mistake because it is such a difficult song because it’s not the Verve song, it’s a Rolling Stones owned song. So I was like, OK, if this is not going to happen I’m just going to keep it as a rarity. But I asked for permission from the Rolling Stones and the next day they sent me the confirmation that they were OK with me recording it. So I think it’s great. I love the song. It’s a memorable anthemic song and doing it the mariachi way it adds some serenata flavor.
MORE PACHANGA FEST
- Electronica and more from the 'Mexican Herb Alpert'
- The story behind the song: 'Sinfonia Agridulce'
- SoundCheck360: Listen to Mexican Institute of Sound
- Artist features: Gaby Moreno | Cordero
- Attending Pachanga Fest: Essential information
- Photos: 2009 Pachanga Fest lineup
- Video: Chris Perez interview
- Giveaway: Rock Pachanga Fest on us
- Full schedule | More
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Rock Pachanga Fest on us
We’re giving away two tickets to Pachanga Fest at Fiesta Gardens each day this week and on Friday we’ll be giving away two VIP passes. Follow us at Twitter.com/austin360 for your chance to win.
Pachanga Fest takes place Saturday, May 30 from 12:30 to 10 p.m. at Fiesta Gardens. Tickets are $15 and available through FrontGate Tickets. VIP passes are available for $60. For more information visit pachangafest.com
MORE PACHANGA FEST
- Electronica and more from the 'Mexican Herb Alpert'
- The story behind the song: 'Sinfonia Agridulce'
- SoundCheck360: Listen to Mexican Institute of Sound
- Artist features: Gaby Moreno | Cordero
- Attending Pachanga Fest: Essential information
- Photos: 2009 Pachanga Fest lineup
- Video: Chris Perez interview
- Giveaway: Rock Pachanga Fest on us
- Full schedule | More
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360 concert lineup change
We’ve had a small lineup change for our Stubb’s concert this Thursday. The Lemurs will still be topping the bill with their unique blend of catchy dance rock, and indie-pop up-and-comers Corto Maltese will still perform. Unfortunately, openers Burning Hotels have had to cancel because one of the band members had a death in the family. Our condolences go out to the band and we hope to have them back on our stage at some point in the future.
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Chaos in Tejas, Day Four: Eyehategod (and everyone else)
Headliners headline shows for all sorts of reasons. Most of the time, it’s because they have the largest following. Sometimes they have the deepest catalog. Sometime it’s even because they’re the best band.
All three of these things were true Sunday night at Red 7 when Eyehategod put one of the most savage, passionate, intense and grimy sets of music I’ve seen in a very long time, a staggering capper to four stellar days of underground punk and metal. This band is 20 years old and they destroyed crews half their age.
Iron Age and Mind Eraser were excellent; Iron Age’s long-form thrash is clearly ready for the big time, Mind Eraser proved their mettle as up-and-comers.
Harvey Milk, a strange and wonderful trio, moved at a glacial pace for two-third of their set, lulling the crowd in spots before thundering into large guitar gallop. Also, frontman Creston Spiers sweats more than any ten human beings I’ve ever seen.
But Eyehategod just owned the place. This New Orleans crew was engaged utterly in summoning a perfect storm of free-floating hostility.
It has not been an easy road for this band. Their problems with drugs and the law are well-documented (the irony of seeing singer Mike Williams - who was in a methadone program when Katrina hit - in a Dischord Records t-shirt couldn’t have been lost on the crowd). Other, more famous bands owe them large aesthetic debts. The fact that these five guys are even still alive is a small miracle.
And it was all there on stage, every bit; the rage, the hatred, the abusive self-loathing, all of it. Nearly everyone else who played this weekend was in their pitch-black, sludgy, and utterly inspiring shadow.
Nice job, guys.
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Former Wilco member Jay Bennett dead at 45
Jay Bennett, former multi-instrumentalist (and lately a thorn in the side) of Wilco, died in his sleep Saturday night. He was 45.
Update: Bob Andrews, an artist manager at Bennett’s management firm Undertow Music, confirmed Bennett’s death and said the company is letting Bennett’s parents speak first about their son’s passing. Andrews said there are no confirmed funeral arrangements at this time.
The planned autopsy to determine Bennett’s cause of death will delay services for some time.
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Chaos in Tejas, Day Three: Amebix, Pierced Arrows, more
Saturday night at Emo’s was Chaos in Tejas at its most Chaos-in-Tejas-ish.
Crusty punks, tight black jeans, face tattoos, record collecting, Japanese hardcore, hyper Japanese frontmen, Mexican art punk, beer, band t-shirt collecting, legendary bands reminding everyone age is no longer a barrier to truly rocking (if it ever was) and thrash metal played in executioners’ hoods. It was that kind of night .
Drunkdriver opened the evening at the not-all-that-rock hour of 6:45 p.m. Their noise punk is harder-swinging that most (guitarist Kristy Greene has a well-concealed hard rock streak that informs every riff) and all the better for it.
Midnight followed (the band, not the time - that would have been one long Drunkdriver set, huh?). The Ohio trio is a one-man project band in the studio and a vicious trio live, trading in no-prisoners, old school, gritty thrash. Excellent music to grind a rail or cruise a 7-11 parking lot to. The trio wore bullet bandoleers and black executioners hoods. The back of their T-shirts at the merch table said “You Can’t Stop The Vomit Tour 2009.” Well played, gents!
Outlaw Order’s druggy-sounding, bad-vibes New Orleans sludge seemed surreally out of place with the sun still out at 8:15 p.m. As a pal put it, “This has got to be the most sober crowd these guys have ever played in front of.” No. Kidding. (Outlaw Order is a side project of the band Eyehategod, who play tonight at Red 7.)
Warcry played impossibly pure d-beat hardcore - radically simple, hyper-fast drumming, guitars distorted to the edge of incomprehensibility and a fist-pumping frontman (Todd Burdette of hardcore icons Tragedy) bellowing about war, man’s inhumanity to man and did I mention war? (Burdette should patent his forearm fist pump gesture, available in one or two-arm styles; it’s as recognizable in its own way as,say, Mariah Carey’s melismas.)
Tragedy changed the d-beat formula up a bit with longer song structures and two guitars dueling for supremacy, Warcry brings the style back to its roots in stuff-that-sounds-a-lot-like-Discharge. Mother’s milk for those who love the stuff.
On the inside stage, Mexican art punk shared a stage with American art-punk. Ratas del Vaticano’s old school, messy punk could have come straight from ‘78, while the drums and bass duo XYX continue to drop jaws with their blend of the raw and the cooked; noisy rock one second, complicated, almost prog-rock musical ideas the next. Ohio no-fi rockers Times New Viking headlined the inside stage, to give it that “is this a SXSW set?” feel.
The funniest visual of the evening was the line at the Emo’s merch area whenJudgement showed up.
The fest was the Japanese hardcore supergroup’s only American date. As soon as the seven-inch singles and t-shirts were displayed, punk swarmed the table like pigeons getting bits of bread from an old man on a park bench. At its peak, the line was probably about 30 or so minutes long. Within about two hours tops, Judgement sold out of 200 singles at $5 each and 250 shirts at $10 each. Intense!
AI and Judgement provided the Japanese hardcore content for the evening. AI’s frontman came off as impossibly intense, hurling himself around the stage like a man half his age while the band roared away behind him. Judgement’s music was more complicated and only slightly less bonkers, pure rage for now crusties.
Pierced Arrows is Fred and Toody Cole from the legendary Dead Moon with crust/d-beat punk vet Kelly Haliburton on drums. Which essentially means Dead Moon with a harder hitting drummer. Cole has been doing the rock thing since about 1964. He never got famous, he just kept on his grind year after year, putting out his own records, touring, raising a family. He and his wife Toody are grandparents now. The Arrows play the same sort of punk-flecked, garagey R&B the two played in Dead Moon (call it “dark garage,” maybe? can that be a sub-genre now?) just very slightly heavier. It gets no more punk rock, which is why they are here.
Amebix last played Austin in January, when temps in the 40s put a damper on things. They were good, but tonight they were excellent, breathing mew, dynamic life into the gothy punk that became known as “crust.”
A mash-up of British punk, Killing Joke’s tribalish, tom-heavy drumming and guitar drone, Motorhead’s scratchy bellow, bassist Rob “the Baron” Miller noted that after the band broke up in 1987 after nine difficult years, he thought they might have screwed it all up, that the band would be forgotten. “Then the Internet came along,” he said, dedicating “The Darkest Hour” to the folks who said the songs saved their life. He sounded genuinely moved that people still played his records, remembered his art and remembered him and his band at all. Which is, frankly, the most any of us can hope for.
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CD review: Iron and Wine
Iron & Wine
‘Around the Well’
(Sub Pop)
A
Sam Beam of the Dripping Springs-based folk group Iron & Wine is deceptively prolific. Though he has released only three full-length albums since his debut in 2002, his catalog is overflowing with a seemingly unending stream of EPs, singles, a live album, a collaborative effort with Southwestern rockers Calexico and contributions to various film sound tracks.
No other song epitomizes Beam’s penchant for musical appetizers quite like “The Trapeze Swinger,” which was recorded for the 2004 film “In Good Company.” The song, a nine-minute collage of some of Beam’s favorite themes — childhood, lost love, death and religion — is representative of his best song writing and has become a staple at Iron & Wine shows. It’s not surprising, then, that the title of Iron & Wine’s new two-disc rarities compilation, “Around the Well,” is taken from a verse in the fan favorite.
The first disc in the collection is mostly culled from singles and demos recorded at the same time as early releases such as “The Creek Drank the Cradle.” That some of these songs didn’t fit on the albums speaks to the strength of the material that was actually released. The first track, “Dearest Forsaken,” a bluesy, bare-bones lament, originally appeared as a single along with “Call Your Boys,” which also appears here. Both songs are as strong as almost anything on “Creek.”
Disc one also includes three covers (a fourth, New Order’s “Love Vigilantes,” appears on the second disc): Stereolab’s “Peng! 33,” the Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ For A Superman,” and “Such Great Heights‘“by the Postal Service. Of the covers, “Peng” and “Love Vigilantes” score higher, mainly because Beam manages to infuse them with a healthy dose of his sing-along campfire twang. Though “Such Great Heights,” which was recorded for the “Garden State” soundtrack and subsequently appeared in a psychedelic M&Ms ad, sounds pretty atop Beam’s sparse guitar, it doesn’t have the same spirit as his original material.
The second disc, most of which was produced by Brian Deck (whose credits include “Our Endless Numbered Days” and “The Shepherd’s Dog”), is a heftier collection of songs. Included alongside “The Trapeze Swinger” are “Belated Promise Ring,” “God Made the Automobile” and “Homeward, These Shoes,” all unreleased tracks also recorded for the “In Good Company” soundtrack. “Promise Ring,” a bouncy, midtempo love song with a delightful piano solo, is the standout here, but the songs all work so well together that it’s not hard to imagine them having been released as their own EP built around “The Trapeze Swinger.”
In addition to the soundtrack material, another highlight of the second disc is the “Shepherd’s Dog”-era “Kingdom of the Animals,” a spacey gospel-style tune brought to life by layers of guitar, piano, drums and accordion. That said, this collection might work better for fans already familiar with the band’s other releases, as it’s more of a companion piece to the catalog than an introduction to the work.
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CD review: Phoenix
Phoenix
‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’
(V2)
B
Say this for French alternative rock quartet Phoenix — they certainly are confident. “Lisztomania,” the opening song and first single off their fourth album, has a title and lyrics that allude to the mania that once accompanied public performances by 19th-century Hungarian pianist Franz Liszt. Whether Phoenix deserves the throngs of screaming fans that besieged Liszt’s concerts is up for debate, but “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” makes a convincing argument. Bubbly and effervescent, it’s an album short on substance but long on charm. The aforementioned opener, a bouncy number tailor-made for high school dance parties, perfectly encapsulates the album’s appeal. The similarly peppy “1901” and “Fences” keep the momentum going, but the album nearly derails entirely with the two-part “Love Like A Sunset,” a largely instrumental bit of sub-Sigur Ros meandering. Although the back half never quite recaptures the energy, even with winning tracks such as “Rome” and ‘“Armistice,” “Wolfgang” still packs enough delights to make it Phoenix’s best yet. Those looking for a pleasant slice of summertime pop to listen to poolside could do much worse.
Phoenix plays the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Oct. 2.
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Chaos in Tejas, Day Two: Cock Sparrer, Drunkdriver and those from Spain
Friday night was oddly mellower for me than Thursday. Not as much running between Mohawk, Emo’s and Beerland.
Emo’s featured 35-year old pub/punk/proto-oi! band Cock Sparrer headlining, a gig which had been sold out for weeks. As a result of that and counter-programming, Beerland took it on the chin again (this will not be true Sunday when Pierced Arrows play there). But there were sets to be found there that moved way past punk into drive-you-out-of-the-room abrasive.
Emo’s was understandably nuts with even an early-ish inside set from Young Offenders pretty packed. A bit later, increasingly popular (on a very small scale, of course) Danish punk trio Hjertestop thrashed away to a full house.
The question of the night from Hjertestop’s singer: “Do any of you actually speak Danish?” This would have been funnier if they weren’t from Denmark. Also, no, we do not. So he taught us something completely unprintable in a family newspaper.
Over at Beerland, a duo called Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra played improvisational electronics after a set from Austin grindcore kings Hatred Surge, a local band many out of towners were there to see.
According to witnesses, a couple of frat dudes made sport of Hatred Surge, but rna out of the club once the brutal laptops-plus-pedals skree of Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra started, well, surging with hatred through the speakers. They rumbled away to a nearly empty room, which was impressive in and of itself.
Later that evening Total Abuse singer Rusty Kelley played with his disturbing power electronics crew Country Club, which mixed contact-mic-ed metal, shearing digital distortion, a bit of screaming and samples of a man talking about the Ruby Ridge
It was a good night for those from Spain and the surrounding areas. The Basque noisemaker known as Mattin was one half of Deflag Haemorrhage/Haien Kontra and played guest second guitar during Drunkdriver’s brilliant, one song, ten minute headlining set at Beerland. (See them sans Mattin tonight at Emo’s and tomorrow at Sound on Sound). I would totally put out a record of that song.
At Emo’s, Barcelona hardcore band Destino Final blew minds with their massive, heavily distorted sound, vocals reverbed to the limits of human understanding. A mess of D.F. played in Invasion, who killed at last year’s Chaos in Tejas. It was no wonder that these folks killed as well; it took me exactly one song to speed over to the merch table and yell, “ONE DESTINO FINAL LP PLEASE.”
Cock Sparrer’s set featured an Emo’s as packed as I’ve ever seen it. It was neat to see so many skinheads - and no, I don’t know their individual politics - in plaid shirts, Levi’s and Doc so excited to see the band which all but invented the working class, sing-along street punk that changed their lives. In front of a giant C.S. logo, the band chugged though songs old and new, some dating to the band’s founding in 1974.
Hearing a punk band formed that long ago singing “What’s It Like to Be Old?” is oddly moving. Perhaps they never thought they’d get there, but they’re there now. And there still here, on stage, getting people to shout along.
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CD review: The Belleville Outfit ‘Time to Stand’
(The Belleville Outfit at Shady Grove in 2008. From left: Jeff Brown, Conner Forsyth, Rob Teter, Phoebe Hunt, Marshall Hood, and Jon Konya. Photo by Tammy Perez/For the American-Statesman)
The Belleville Outfit
‘Time to Stand’
(Self-released)
B+
The Belleville Outfit urgently declares its mission statement against a crescendo of stuttering bluegrass swing: “So listen with your gleaming ears, all who walk our broken land,” lead vocalist Phoebe Hunt sings imperviously as the title track’s cascading piano and fiddle duel. “You’ve crawled, you’ve walked, you’ve run away, but now it’s time to stand.” Empowerment snowballs. Clearly building on momentum from last year’s promising debut, “Wanderin’,” this rapidly rising local sextet now forcefully puts pedal to metal.
Velocity rarely wavers. “Time to Stand,” a joyous collection measuring equal parts youthful bravado and cautious hindsight, resonates almost start to finish. Its trump card: electrifying ambition. Kamikaze fretwork boosts both complex arrangements (“Nothing’s Too Good for My Baby,” “Outside Looking Out”) and easier fits (“Let Me Go,” “Flying On”). The spring-loaded group’s effortless interplay makes it nearly incomprehensible that it formed less than two years ago.
Listen for occasional flashes of narrative and poetic depth. Sharply cut lines particularly mushroom “Two Days of Darkness” and “Once and for All” from snapshots into screenplays. “It can catch you in a funny way, like a rainy day or a ricochet,” songwriter and guitarist Robert Teter sings on the latter. “And leave you fallen on your face or blind. All I need is solid ground, but all I see is sand around.” Peel that imagery straight off John Hiatt’s back porch.
Unfortunately, it’s not aces across the board. The serviceable but largely unremarkable ballads — “Love Me Like I Love You,” “She Went Away” and “Will This End in Tears” — slightly dilute the album’s collective potency. Let’s forgive and forget. The Belleville Outfit’s unwavering adventurousness fades missteps to black, spotlighting instead high water marks like Teter’s immediately familiar “Safe.” Count on that melody alone to score plenty of new fans next month at Bonnaroo. The Belleville Outfit plays Waterloo Records at 5 p.m. May 27 (waterloorecords.com) and May 30 at Momo’s.
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D&T’s Nozero trades sticks for brushes
Former Drums & Tuba drummer Tony Nozero returns to the Continental Club next month, but as a painer, not a musician. His solo exhibit “Word” will hang in the club’s upstairs Gallery from June 4- June 30.
D&T’s rehearsal space in New Orleans was converted to Nozero’s painting studio after the band’s 2006 breakup. “I mainly used [painting] for decompression between tours,” Nozero said in a press release for the show. “But I knew in the back of my mind that when this whole road thing was over I’d have this to come back to, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Little known fact: Nozero is the son of legendary Motown sax player Larry Nozero, the “Funk Brother” who played the sax intro to “What’s Goin’ On” by Marvin Gaye, as well as on other classics. The younger Nozero moved to Austin after high school in Detroit. D&T formed in 1995 and was signed to Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label. The band put out eight full-length albums.
Check out Nozero’s work here.
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Chaos in Tejas, Day Zero and Day One: Ponytail, Bellrays and locals
The sea of dirty black band t-shirts, tight black jeans, random dreadlocks, sleeve tattoos and assorted piercings that flooded Red River St. Thursday night meant one thing only: Chaos in Tejas had begun. The now-four day festival of underground hardcore and metal drew fans and bands from all over the world, with acts flying in from as far away as Europe and Japan.
There was a pre-party the night before at Red 7, a decently-but-not-spectacularly attended gig by Ponytail, the Baltimore art-rock band whose wordless vocals and spiky, rhythmic guitar charmed hundreds at this year’s South By Southwest. Down the street, the Melvins absolutely packed Emo’s at a gig that was not part of Chaos in Tejas, but might as well have been. Hearing the Melvins break out their 1983 line-up and 1983 songs was intriguing: A little faster than later material, but their loud-sludge-rules template was definitely already there.
Thursday night - as the sounds of the Indigo Girls at Stubb’s created a marked contrast to what was going on at either end of Red Tiver - Emo’s looked and smelled like Emo’s always looks and smells during Chaos in Tejas: crowded, smelly and lined with merch tables. But it was also joyful: Like South By Southwest for industry types, a lot of these folks only see each other once at year or so at this show.
Vaaska, a side project band from locals in Deskonocidos and Sacred Shock, started the night with a solid dose of d-beat hardcore. (D-beat refers to the ultra-fast, ultra-simple one-TWO-one-TWO beat popularized by the British band Discharge).
No Tolerance played a traditional Boston straight edge hardcore. I may on all kinds of wagons, but my edge was not quite straight enough for these guys.
Then there was Trash Talk at Mohawk, a venue that hosted a Chaos in Tejas show yet still managed to still feel exactly like any other Mohawk show - weird, that. Trash Talk brought the noise as only a California hardcore band can - sweaty, sloppy, lots of leaping on stage and into the crowd. The guitarist played a Lucite model, just like former Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn (you know, those things always look awesome). It also inspired what I thought was the evening’s most violent pit: Lots of big guys swinging their arms everywhere. The singer kept talking about how they had played more than 70 shows in more than 60 days and how they would be back in town in about three weeks. Then they would roar back to life and inspire more hitting.
Beerland was stuck in the middle. The Bellrays were slated to hit the stage at 12:45 a.m. and the club was largely empty until that set started (early, as it turned out, so the band ended up playing to a half empty room for much of its set). Local garage punk Black Panda played to a handful of folks. Catch them next time.
My favorite act of the evening, oddly, was a local band. At Emo’s inside stage, Ghost Knife blends the rhythm section from the final iteration of J Church (bassist Ben White and drummer Chris Pfeffer) with guitar and songcraft that might scan to some as pop-punk, but felt meatier than that. This was full-on, Jam-style mod rock played by dudes who couldn’t have looked less like mods (well, White and Pfeffer couldn’t). But the songs were tight, smart and funny. My new favorite unsigned Austin band? Yes.
Japanese hardcore vets Crude absolutely slayed at lat year’s Chaos in Tejas, so it wasn’t too surprising to see them back this yearr. Slow, hardrockish bits crashed into warp speed passages in classic Japanese “burning spirits” hardcore. They play again Sunday night at Red 7.
On the inside stage, Ted Leo played a long, chewy solo set, just him and his hollowbody electric guitar. Songs such as “Bleeding Powers” and the explosive “Me and Mia” reminded everyone the Leo can really put a song together. He can be wordy, but it worked well in this format, blending sometimes loquacious verses with terse riffs.
Outside, Swedish hardcore goods Skitkids warmed up for the Cro-Mags with enormous dreadlocks and gorilla masks - fun, a little goofy, plenty fast.
Down the street, Propagandhi wrapped up their headlining set at Mohawk mere minutes before the Bellrays took the stage. They were slated for a 12:45 a.m. start time, but started playing a good 25 minutes early, which meant their high octane R&B, equal parts punk thrash and soul power, played to a two-thirds empty room, at least in the beginning. Witnesses said the crowd thickened as the set went on, but this was a show that deserved to be packed from note one.
Notes on Friday night shows will be posted to Austin360music’s Twitter account late tonight and very early Saturday morning. More detailed comments to follow here.
What did YOU think?
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Chaos in Tejas: First thought Friday morning
Hearing Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” at 9:15 a.m. is actually a pretty good keynote song for this week’s Chaos in Tejas insanity at Emo’s, Beerland, Mohawk and Red 7 (and the Broken Neck) (and those 4 p.m. Sunday day shows at the Parlor and Sound on Sound).
Lots of comments over at http://twitter.com/austin360music, comments upon which Music Source will expand later today. But follow us on Twitter!
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Escovedo to kick off 13th annual Twangfest
St. Louis roots rock festival Twangfest could be called the Austin North Fest. Not only is Alejandro Escovedo headlining the four-day festival, but such Austin acts as Bruce Robison, Hot Club of Cowtown and Asylum Street Spankers.
Here’s the schedule:
Wednesday, June 10 - The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Blvd, St Louis, MO 63112 - (314) 726-6161
Alejandro Escovedo
Hot Club Of Cowtown
Amy Lavere
Thursday, June 11 - Duck Room at Blueberry Hill, 6504 Delmar Blvd Saint Louis, MO 63130 - (314) 727-4444
Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys
Bruce Robison
Eilen Jewell
Brothers Lazaroff
Friday, June 12 - Duck Room at Blueberry Hill
Asylum Street Spankers
Andre Williams
Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles
Jon Hardy & The Public
Saturday, June 13 - Duck Room at Blueberry Hill
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Daddy (with Tommy Womack and Will Kimbrough)
The Deep Vibration
Theodore
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Weekend picks: Heavy sludge, rock stompin’ blues and ‘The Toughest Girl Alive’
FRIDAY
Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm at the Continental Club. ‘From six to 18 I lived with you/ Almost everything I know I learned from you,’ the opening line of ‘R.L. Burnside,’ is all you need to know about this two-man wrecking crew from rural Mississippi. R.L.’s grandson Cedric and blues guitarist Malcolm both grew up playing for everyone on the Fat Possum label. Now they’ve joined as a rockin’ stompin’ Delta force to be reckoned with. Chili Cold Blood opens at 10 p.m. $10. — Michael Corcoran
Also recommended
- Thermals at the Mohawk
- Balmorhea, Pompeii at Stubb’s (inside)
- Vibrators at Room 710
- Letters to Cleo, Cruiserweight at the Parish
- Drunkdriver at Beerland
SATURDAY
Candye Kane at the Continental Club. This blues belter’s theme song is ‘The Toughest Girl Alive’ and no one can dispute that after her fierce, ongoing battle with cancer. But since doing what you love is good for ya, Ms. Kane has been touring like crazy lately and should be in top form. $10. 1315 S. Congress Ave. 441-2444. —M.C.
Also recommended
- Fastball at the Parish
- Gary Allan at Stubb’s
- Gary Clark Jr. at Antone’s
- Bob Schneider at Nutty Brown Cafe
- Foot Patrol at Jovita’s
- Amebix, Judgement Pierced Arrows and more at Emo’s
SUNDAY
Eyehategod at Red 7. The final night of Chaos in Tejas promises to be heavy on the sludge. The headliner is a legendary conduit of bad vibes and skin-crawling, slow-burn Southern doom metal; this can be some scary stuff. With the excellent Harvey Milk and Japanese hardcore dudes Crude along with Mind Eraser, Iron Age and Unit 21. A stellar end to what should prove a stellar fest. 8 p.m. $15. — Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Jon Dee Graham and Kelly Willis at Continental Club Gallery
- Hayes Carll at Threadgill’s South
- Frontier Brothers, New Roman Times at the Mohawk
- Pierced Arrows at Beerland
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Green Day tops chart in Austin, nationally
Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown” was the nation’s top-selling CD last week, moving more than 215,000 albums over a mere three days, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (The album was released on a Friday; the chart is compiled on Sunday.)
This was also true in Austin, where the CD sold more than 1200 copies, according to Soundscan.
The second biggest album in Austin was Steve Earle’s “Townes,” which moved about 400 copies locally. (It came in at no. 19 nationally, moving 18,000 copies. The idea that an album which sells 18,000 copies can come in inside the top 20 is the sort of stat that must keep record executives up nights. That said, it’s a very nice first week for an album on an indie label.
Here is our review of that one.
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Austin acts cited in Americana Awards
Alejandro Escovedo, Band of Heathens, Belleville Outfit, Gurf Morlix, the Gourds, the Flatlanders and Reckless Kelly are the Austin acts nominated for the Americana Music Awards, to be given out in September in Nashville. Here’s a list of nominees:
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Real Animal, by Alejandro Escovedo
Written in Chalk, by Buddy & Julie Miller
Jason Isbell & The 40 Unit, by Jason Isbell & The 40 Unit
Midnight At The Movies, by Justin Townes Earle
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Alejandro Escovedo
Buddy Miller
Justin Townes Earle
Raul Malo
INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR
Buddy Miller
Gurf Morlix
Jerry Douglas
Sam Bush
NEW & EMERGING ARTIST
Band of Heathens
Belleville Outfit
Justin Townes Earle
Sarah Borges
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Chalk,” written by Julie Miller, performed by Buddy Miller & Patty Griffin
“Country Love” by the Gourds
“Homeland Refugee,” by Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Butch Hancock, performed by the Flatlanders
“Rattlin’ Bones” by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, performed by Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
“Sex And Gasoline,” by Rodney Crowell, performed by Rodney Crowell
DUO GROUP OF THE YEAR
Buddy & Julie Miller
Flatlanders
Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
Reckless Kelly
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Show preview: Cedric Burnside at the Continental Club
Colin McAuliffe
Cedric Burnside’s bloodline literally traces the blues. Legendary singer R.L. Burnside’s grandson — a fiery singer-drummer nearly two decades into a career that debuted at age 13 — relishes it. “I don’t know why, you know, but most of the younger generation prefers rap,” Cedric says, explaining the autobiographical “Don’t Just Sing About the Blues.” “I like rap and I like funk, but I love the blues. I am the blues!” The 30-year-old and partner Lightnin’ Malcolm support “2 Man Wrecking Crew” Friday at the Continental Club.
American-Statesman: You recorded ‘2 Man Wrecking Crew’ in just three days?
Cedric Burnside: Yeah. You know, Malcolm and me have been playing together for a pretty good while. We’re used to practicing a lot at home and get things together before we even get in the studio. We just took care of business.
What’s your writing process like?
Well, we help each other write. I might come up with a crazy beat, or maybe Malcolm will come up with a crazy riff and I need to find a beat to go with it. We just get the music together and then come up with words.
How did you find words for ‘R.L. Burnside’?
I was sitting in a hotel room, man, out of town and thinking about my granddad and all the things we had been through and doing the things I’m doing now, continuing his music. It brought back memories of when I was playing with him. I just came up with some words and played it for a few months before I showed it to Malcolm.
Do you feel you’re carrying on your grandfather’s legacy?
Yes. I have to say that I thank God that I’m living and able to do it. I thank my granddad for everything. He showed me everything that I know about this music thing. He showed me how to pack my bags and put knickknacks in it in case we’re somewhere that doesn’t stay open too late at night and you want something to eat. I got a can of Vienna (sausages) in my bag or a can of potted meat. He taught me about the road and this music. I want to keep carrying on for the rest of my life.
Is that inspiring or intimidating?
I’m very inspired, man. Growing up with my granddad, as well as other legends like Junior Kimbrough, you couldn’t help but to love them. That love grows up with you. Everything that they did and showed you, you don’t mind showing to anybody else. That’s what it’s all about.
They wrote from personal experience. Do you?
I try to write my music according to how my life, the stuff that I go through. There’s that song on the CD, “Don’t Just Sing About the Blues.” That song is true all the way through. I write about the way I live and how my family is at home and stuff like that. I keep it as real as I can keep it.
What can folks expect Friday at the Continental?
Well, all I can tell them is be careful if you’re going to wear a hat and shades, because we might blow them off (laughs). We pack a bunch of energy, man. We’re going to bring it Friday. Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm perform at midnight Friday at the Continental Club. 1315 S. Congress Ave. $12 at the door. 441-2444.
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Nick West memorial May 31
Influential fanzine co-founder Nick West, whose Sluggo! deftly documented the nascent Austin punk scene of 1978, passed away from prostrate cancer last week in Berkley, Cal. his friend Phil Lenihan confirmed. A memorial service will be held in Berkley this weekend with one to follow in Austin on May 31.
It will be at Mercury Hall in South Austin at 2 p.m.
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Three questions with the Lemurs
The Lemurs struck the Austin scene like a bolt from the blue with their 2006 self-titled EP, a frenetic blast of dance rock in the vein of Britain’s Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. The quintet’s poppy, accessible style brought them local radio play and a 2007 tour. 2008’s five-song EP, ‘Million Little Bits,’ built on the buzz, showcasing the group’s mix of synthesized dance beats and old-school rock guitars. Now they’re hard at work with Austin producer extraordinaire Erik Wofford recording their first, as-of-yet-untitled full-length album, due for release in late 2009. Pictures, bits of songs and other pieces from the recording process will be posted to the band’s Twitter account (twitter.com/thelemurs). Vocalist and guitarist Mitch Billeaud answered our questions before the band plays the next Austin360 concert series next week — May 28 — at Stubb’s (inside). With Corto Maltese and the Burning Hotels. $5 advance/$8 door. Purchase tickets.
1.Austin360: You’re recording your first full-length right now. Has working on a full-length changed your songwriting approach?
Billeaud: No, I think it’s very similar, except the volume is basically doubled from what we’ve done in the past. Just having that volume of art and trying to get everything to where the songs are complete and the creativity is there is a real challenge. We didn’t expect to get as much attention as we got from the first EP. It was just sort of impulsive, and we ended up getting a reaction out of it that warranted going out on tour, so in 2007 we went out on the road for three months. And we were green, so our process didn’t involve writing on the road. When we got back, we just didn’t have any songs left. We’re not immune to the pitfalls of falling behind schedule really quickly, which is why it’s taken so long to record an LP. But the timing now absolutely makes it seem like this is the right thing for the Lemurs to be doing. I wish we had done it sooner.
2. ‘Million Little Bits’ stayed true to the dance rock sound that you popularized on the first EP, but had some interesting diversions — ‘Nina,’ for instance, had a blues influence that was new for the Lemurs. Will the new album diversify things more?
Yeah, it was called ‘Nina’ because it was inspired by Nina Simone. I was going to the studio one day, and I heard this Nina Simone song on KUT, and the back beat was just really amazing. So it’s not surprising that that song has a blues feel to it. And hopefully we can continue to steal from people without being caught all the time and come up with interesting stuff like that. We’ve never really as a band had direction in terms of what we definitely wanted to do, except that we wanted to be upbeat. And I think for this record things will change somewhat. We’ll slow things down a bit so it won’t feel as much like a dance record.
3. Michael Kingcaid of What Made Milwaukee Famous performed guest vocals on ‘Million Little Bits’ — can we expect other guest appearances on the new record?
I really can’t imagine not incorporating guests. I don’t know exactly who it will be, because we’re still so far from getting vocals, but we have some people in mind. I definitely imagine this record having a big vocal harmony component. We’ve been lucky to meet some great singers, so we’ll probably have quite a few besides the core members of the band. Sara Beck of Pink Nasty I imagine will be on it. Hopefully we’ll have Cari Palazzolo (of Belaire). Paul (Waclawsky) from the Boxing Lesson may be on it. We may have Mike Booher from Zykos. It’s one of the upsides of being the old man on the block that you can guilt people into doing favors for you.
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Here and there (Offspring, Isis, the sky, etc.)
You know a show isn’t doing well when you have the following exchange with a parking lot attendant:
Attendant: “You know who is at Stubb’s tonight (Tuesday)? The Offspring?”
Me: “The Offspring, yeah”
Attendant: “Yeah…. That show didn’t do too good for me.”
Ouch.
Indeed, there were a whole lot of empty spaces at the Ninth Street garage, which is usually packed during Stubb’s shows. Either everyone was dropped off by their folks or that show did not do so well financially. Anyone there last night? Let us know how it was.The Gourds play Shady Grove June 4 and the biker rally concert June 12.
No wonder Explosions in the Sky is from Texas, not to mention whole mess of fantasy, sci-fi and comic book writers. Check out this amazing time-lapse photography of the sky about Fort Davis. (Thanks to one of my favorite geek blogs, io9.com, for the link.)
Am I the only person who thought the drummer for Pelican was having a terribly off night at Emo’s? He sounded a little lost in spots, surprisingly so. Anyone else notice this or were my ears having an off night? (Or resting up for Chaos in Tejas tonight through Sunday.)
Isis had their 2008 12-LP box set for sale at the show for $225. I would like to shake the hand of anyone who bought this. Then I would like them to buy me lunch.
Isis sounded like Isis. Weirdly consistent band, actually. Large, sharp dynamic shifts, big chords, big songs, ever in search of a bigger, um, bigness.
See you at Melvins tonight as well as Ponytail over at Red 7 for the Chaos in Tejas pre-show party.
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Book review: ‘One Man’s Music’ by Vince Bell
Singer-songwriter Vince Bell knows how suddenly euphoria can turn to tragedy. In December 1982, a 31-year-old Bell had just driven away from a South Austin recording studio where Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson traded licks on what was supposed to be Bell’s debut album. Then his car was blindsided on Riverside Drive by a joyriding teenager.
Thrown 60 feet from the car and found face down in a pool of gasoline, Bell suffered a several injuries, including severe brain trauma that forced him to relearn how to make music.
His debut LP, called “Phoenix” of course, finally came out in 1994.
This incredibly sad and moving story can be found in “One Man’s Music” (University of North Texas Press), a new autobiography that is as much about the life of a songwriter as it is a tale of rebirth. This reads real, as Bell shows the fairytale the door with a life of alcohol, depression, poverty and, worst of all, creative self-doubts. In the vibrant 1970s Houston singer-songwriter scene, whose graduates include Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle and many more, Bell was the one who seemed most like a writer who played the guitar. It’s a little showoffy, but Bell spends the first few chapters proving to be a gifted, often funny storyteller, with a rare knack for descriptions (“they were so suburban they glowed”).
The reader gets a sense of the energy of the era when musicians inspired each other to show up next week with a song that would blow everyone away. One distraction of the book is that, after the accident, Bell switches from first person to interviews and then back to him. Considering that Bell forgot so much and had memory problems for years, it was probably a necessity to quote witnesses to fill the holes. But everything was going so well from just Bell’s point of view.
The book will make you curious about this man’s music, so there’s a companion CD of the same name, consisting of re-recorded Bell faves, as well as three new songs. Here’s more about the record.
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Iron Age signs to Tee Pee
Excellent Austin psychedelic hardcore (read: they write long songs) band Iron Age’s new album “The Sleeping Eye” will be released Aug. 4 on Tee Pee Records.
The band plays 9:15 p.m. Sunday at Red 7 as part of Chaos in Tejas. Go see them.
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New Powell St. John CD coming
Former Janis Joplin runnin’ buddy Powell St. John, who also wrote five songs on the first two 13th Floor Elevators albums, is releasing “On My Way To Houston” July 21. The album features a previously unrecorded Roky Erickson composition entited “Hardest Working Man.”
St. John is backed by Roky’s former band the Aliens, with a guest appearance by Ralph White. Bill Bentley wrote the liner notes.
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Pachanga Fest 2009 - full schedule
We’ve just received the full schedule for this year’s Pachanga Latino Music Festival. Pachanga Fest, which takes place Saturday, May 30 at Fiesta Gardens, features over 20 acts on three stages. The family-friendly event will also host NIños Rock Pachanga, an arts and crafts area for children. Tickets for Pachanga Fest are $15 advance and $20 at the gate. Children 12 and under are free with a paid adult. Pachanga Fest tickets are available at all Front Gate Tickets outlets, frontgatetickets.com, Estrada Cleaners on East 7th Street and Turntable Records on South First Street.
2009 PACHANGA SCHEDULE:
PAVILLION STAGE
- 12:30 to 1 p.m. Anthropos/niños dance party
- 1:30-2:30 El Tule/niño’s dance party
- 3:00-4:00 Pachanga All Stars
- 4:30-5:30 AJ Castillo
- 6:00-7:00 Chris Perez Band
- 7:30-8:30 Mariachi Altenas
- 9:00-10:30 Michael Salgado
PLAZA STAGE
- 12:45-1:30 Escondido Project
- 2:15-3:00 Dignan
- 3:45-4:30 Gaby Moreno
- 5:15-6:00 Cordero
- 6:45-7:30 Davíd Garza
- 8:15-9:00 Charanga Cakewalk
YERBA STAGE
- 1:30-2:15 Kalua
- 3:00-3:45 Los Bad Apples
- 4:30-5:15 Ocote Soul Sounds
- 6:00-6:45 Maneja Beto
- 7:30-8:15 Brownout
- 9:00-10:00 Mexican Institute of Sound
Niños Rock Pachanga
- noon to 4 p.m. Folk arts and crafts area with papel picados, Mexican masks, clay tamales, pinwheels, Annie Ray photo booth
- 12:30 p.m. Jake Owen from Charanga Cakewalk guitar demo, Kids Dance party at Pavillion Stage with Anthropos
- 1:30 p.m. Alex Vallejo from Vallejo drum demo, Kids dance party at Pavilion Stage with El Tule
- 2:30 p.m. Bobby Garza from Maneja Beto keyboard demo
- 3:30 p.m. David Garza will have a songwriting demo and mini concert
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CD reviews: Indigo Girls, The Wooden Birds
Indigo Girls
‘Poseidon and the Bitter Bug’
(Vanguard)
C
It takes more muscles to cringe than smile, so for a real facial workout read the lyrics to this latest from the Georgia duo that has been setting coffeehouse journals to music for two decades. A sample: ‘A snake will always bite the hand that feeds it,’ from ‘I’ll Change.’ These girls never came across a cliche they couldn’t turn into a song about learning to crawl or taking it on the chin, which makes this LP’s title all the more pretentious.
And yet when Emily Saliers and Amy Ray harmonize they become sisters and elevate the mundane. Produced by Mitchell Froom, this CD comes as a double disc, with one CD of the same songs stripped down. There’s not a whole lotta difference between the two, but I prefer the one without the bass, drums and keyboards because that’s the Indigo Girls being themselves, giving the lyrics some needed authenticity. — Michael Corcoran
The Wooden Birds
‘Magnolia’
(Barsuk)
A-
After a six-year stint in Brooklyn that included collaboration with Broken Social Scene, American Analog set’s Andrew Kenny has returned to Austin with a solid collection of stripped down, folksy Americana. At a time when the mellow end of the indie music spectrum tends to lean more toward the loosely defined category of freak folk, Kenny has put out an album that manages to sound relevant despite it’s lack of freakiness — no strange percussion, Latin-style breakdowns or eerie children’s choirs. The album is consistently bare-boned from beginning to end, and Kenny for the most part shuns any hint of earnestness for an attractive detachment, especially on “False Alarm” and “Sugar.” If there is any downside, it’s that the music is almost too restrained at points, giving some songs, such as the dark acoustic jam “Anna Paula,” an unsatisfying feel. — Peter Mongillo
The Wooden Birds play June 4 at Stubb’s with Explosions in the Sky.
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CD review: Eminem - ‘Relapse’
Eminem
‘Relapse’
(Interscope)
B-
“I’m just so (expletive) depressed/I just can seem to get out this slump/ If I could just get over this hump/ But I need something to pull me out this dump” - Eminem, “Beautiful”
Look, we understand Marshall Mathers has had a rough couple of years. His early mentor and best pal Proof died in 2006. Rumors of grief-driven drug use and food binges abounded. Chances of a comeback seemed slim and shady, especially given the strangely placeholding feel of his 2004 album “Encore.”
But there’s depressed and then there’s just being a jerk and there’s no particular evidence on “Relapse” that Eminem knows or cares about the difference. The horror-show lyrics which seemed funny and raw a decade ago, when Eminem was the most galvanizing figure in popular music, seem like weak beer here.
There’s Em as an escaped psychopath, whacked on Klonopin going on a black-out killing spree (“3 a.m.”).
There’s Em turning a rape at the hands of his stepfather into a sitcom in “Insane.”
There’s Em yammering about Mom and her pill problem again (“My Mom”) and complaining about Mariah Carey (“Bagpipes from Baghdad”). Carey seems to have gotten over him; he should probably do the same. Em’s mom probably has moved on, too.
As anyone who has seen the unfortunate video to “We Made You” can attest, for a guy who has spent the last couple of years on his rear watching TV, his cultural targets aren’t exactly up to date. (The most recent one is Sarah Palin, which is at least from the past 12 months.)
Two things saves this slab of bad vibes from complete degradation. The first is Dr. Dre, one of the best beat-smiths who ever lived. Dre discovered Mathers and with him rediscovered himself; Eminem enabled Dre’s career to have the third act virtually unheard of in hip-hop. Having him back at the reins, supplying beats for all but one song, gives the songs deep focus bass and rich drums.
The second is Em’s withering disdain for the celebrity culture he knows he’s a part of. When he takes cheap shots at folks like Jessica Simpson and Kim Kardashian, he must know he’s not that much farther up the celebrity food chain. It doesn’t make up for all the raping and killing and drug-gobbling in the lyrics, which he really should be moving past by now. But it does give “Relapse” a savage cynicism that makes this symphony of self-loathing one of the year’s nastiest albums.
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CD reviews: Passion Pit, John Vanderslice
Passion Pit
‘Manners’
(Frenchkiss)
B+
It’s been a big year for Boston-based psych-poppers Passion Pit, who followed up last year’s well-received EP, a catchy DIY effort recorded by frontman Michael Angelakos as a Valentine’s Day gift for his girlfriend, with a strong showing at SXSW and a tour that will have the band on stage at several high-profile festivals, including Austin City Limits in October. The tour comes on the heels of their full-length debut, “Manners,” on which the full band joins Angelakos for a decidedly more polished set of songs, with the exception of the standout “Sleepyhead,” a holdover from the EP. The production, which is more reminiscent of bloated mainstream pop recordings than of the band’s indie roots, threatens to spoil the album, but Angelakos gets a pass on the strength of his introspective song writing style, which has matured since the release of the EP. Highlights include the punchy, synth-heavy “Little Secrets,” as well as “The Reeling,” an ’80s-esque dance number destined for remixing.
— Peter Mongillo
Passion Pit plays June 3 at Emo’s and in October at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
John Vanderslice
‘Romanian Names’
(Dead Oceans)
B+
After two musically elegant but lyrically clunky slices of post-9/11 liberal ennui, 2004’s “Pixel Revolt” and 2007’s “Emerald City,” San Francisco’s John Vanderslice returns with a vengeance to relevance in the intriguing “Romanian Names.”
Vanderslice largely abandons politics on his seventh album, settling instead for a series of intimate torch songs that combine his signature hi-fi analog sound with compellingly enigmatic lyrics. Opener “Tremble and Tear” combines propulsive acoustic guitar with vocals awash in reverb for a striking pop gem. Vanderslice even ventures outside his usual boundaries with “D.I.A.L.O.” and “Too Much Time,” both featuring a rare appearance of synthesizers.
That’s not to say Vanderslice never gets dark — the album’s best track, the violent “Forest Knolls,” features a constant heartbeat that evokes Edgar Allan Poe. But even the saddest tracks contain a glimmer of hope.
When Vanderslice pledges to look up to the nautically themed Carina Constellation in the superb song of the same name, there’s a sense that he’s trying to look as brightly on the future as he does on the stars in the Southern Sky. — Patrick Caldwell
John Vanderslice plays in October at the Austin City Limits Music Festival
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Live review: TV on the Radio at Stubb’s
First, the TV.
TV on the Radio singer Tunde Adebimpe is a stellar frontman. Saturday night at a packed Stubb’s, he danced around the stage and sang with one arm flailing, his movements varying between metronome and the more obtuse time-keeping of a free jazz drummer - you sort of knew when the arm was going to flail out, but it was always a cool surprise when it did. As this band keeps on its upward popularity swing, his thick, squarish eyeglasses could become as iconic as Kanye’s preppie chic or Tim McGraw’s hat. He’s a riveting guy to watch and he’s about 90 percent of the band’s live stage presence.
Now, the radio.
I have seen TV on the Radio a handful of times in Austin and once at Lollapalooza — not once has the sound been any good. It’s tough to tell if this is the band’s design or if it’s just Austin, a town with far fewer good sounding rooms than the sentence “the Live Music Capital of the World” should indicate.
This was no different at Stubb’s, a venue with a usually reliable mix.
While TV on the Radio albums try to blur sound sources — is that a guitar? A synth? Tunde’s voice? — live, it turned into a baffling smear with Tunde’s vocals, sometimes treated, often raw, vanishing in and out of the mix. Opening with “Dirtywhirl,” lyrics were largely imperceptible, which is too band for a band that has prided itself on wordy smarts. Songs came alive when there was a groove that could be perceived all over the venue, kicking things up a notch, but mostly the sound coming from the stage blended smeary guitar, a sax and ambient bass. From the level of chatter in the crowd - rarely low at outdoor shows, but especially noticeable here - few outside of those at the front of the stage could be bothered to pay attention to the music. (For the record, outside of the first few rows, the sound seemed least awful on the stairs near the stage left bar.)
Even those who enjoyed it seemed surprised by the band’s short set, which lasted an hour, plus a three-song encore. Feel free to insert “this food is terrible and portions are too small joke here.”
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NBC anchor Brian Williams, music dork
Jay-Z, you now need to give him a feature on your next album.
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Kristofferson, Burnett, Raitt attend Bruton funeral
The Fort Worth Star Telegram has this report from this morning’s funeral for musician Stephen Bruton.
The Bass Concert Hall in Fort Worth hosts a free concert celebration of Bruton’s life Sunday at 2 p.m.
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New East Austin club to host Little Joy, Clues
Former Electric Lounge (RIP) manager Mike Henry will kick off The Independent, a 300-capacity club inside the 501 Studio complex at the corner of E 5th St., in earnest with a June 8 show by Little Joy (sans Fabrizio Morretti, who’s recording with the Strokes). Two nights later, Unicorns co-founder Alden Penner’s new band Clues will play the venue that was opened in time for SXSW, but has been pretty low key until early June.
C3 is booking both shows. Could The Independent become Parish East?
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Hot tip of the week
The word is that Jay Farrar of Son Volt will be at Roadhouse Rags on Saturday to play a couple songs for a documentary being made about Doug Sahm. Tortilla Flats, the Waymores and the Ivas John Band get things started at 7 p.m. Cover is $10
Although this rumor seems to come out of nowhere, it makes sense when you realize that Farrar’s old band Uncle Tupelo was among the first indie rock bands to salute Sahm in his lifetime, recording “Give Back the Keys To My Heart” on the Austin-produced “Anodyne” in 1991.
Son Volt bassist Andrew Duplantis, who lives in Austin, is also expected to be on hand. Roadhouse Rags is Kelli Archer’s vintage clothing shop at 1600 Fortview St. She hosts music on the weekend on a backyard stage.
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Bruton’s funeral Saturday in Fort Worth
Services for musician Stephen Bruton, who succumbed to cancer May 9, will be at 10 am this Saturday at Holy Family Catholic Church, at 6150 Pershing St., in Fort Worth. Burial at Mount Olivet Cemetery will follow. There will be a viewing at Thompson’s Harveson & Cole Funeral Home, 702 8th Avenue, on Friday evening beginning at 5:30 pm.
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First impressions of Wilco (The Album)
On Tuesday, Wilco gave fans a reason to slack off at work by streaming the new album, ‘Wilco (The Album),’ which won’t be released until June 30 on Nonesuch. If you haven’t already, check it out here. Though a stream isn’t the best way to take in the new material, at first listen the album has an energy that was for the most part lacking on “Sky Blue Sky.” Jeff Tweedy seems to have dropped the sense of resignation that hung over the last album for a more relaxed (there is a camel wearing a hat on the cover) and reflective approach, with a strong set of songs that at times recall the band’s “Summerteeth” and “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” days.
Fans that are looking for the band to continue to push the boundaries of their sound aren’t going to find that here. Considering the self-titling of the album and the meta-title track, Wilco (the song), they recognize this, a move that would have left them open to criticism that they were trying too hard to sound like themselves if the material wasn’t so good. There’s something for everyone, from the obligatory, emotional relationship song “One Wing” and the super sweet duet with Feist, “You and I,” to the summer barbecue rock of “You Never Know” and “Sonny Feeling.” The band also stretches out its sonic chops, especially on the tense “Bull Black Nova,” where a chorus of abstract guitars build over foreboding drums.
What do you think of the new music? Tell us in the comments below.
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Weekend Picks: High-octane rock, impressionistic funk and monster musicians
FRIDAY
Stinking Lizaveta at Red 7. This Philadelphia trio has been cranking out complex, high-octane instrumental rock for 15 years and six albums, stuff that should appeal to metal dudes, progressive rock fans and aging punks. Long may they shred. With Darsombra and Baron Grod. 10 p.m. Red 7. — Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Centro-matic at the Parish
- Ugly Beats, Amplified Heat at Emo’s
- Loxsly (CD release) at the Mohawk
- See-I (members of Thievery Corporation) at Antone’s
- Del Castillo at Nutty Brown Cafe
- Slaid Cleaves at the Cactus Cafe
SATURDAY
TV on the Radio at Stubb’s. The group’s 2008 album ‘Dear Science’ was far and away the most critically praised, scoring record of the year in Rolling Stone, Spin, Entertainment Weekly and elsewhere. Its complicated, impressionistic music roils with modern funk and Tunde Adebimpe’s gauzy voice. 7 p.m. $27.50. Stubb’s. — J.G.
Also recommended
- Mr. Lewis and the Funeral Five at Beerland
- Boz Scaggs, Kat Edmonson at the Paramount Theatre
- Ghost at the Mohawk
- Chain and the Gang at Emo’s
- Built by Snow at the Parish
- Ian Moore, Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves at the Continental Club
- Prince Paul at Lamberts
- Broken Teeth at Red Eyed Fly
SUNDAY
Jon Dee Graham and Ian McLagan at the Continental Gallery. The Jon Dee and Friends series continues with a rare acoustic appearance by McLagan, who shows a tender side on new CD ‘Never Say Never.’ The room holds only a couple dozen, so it’s like having these monster musicians playing in your living room. $17- $20. 8:30 p.m. — Michael Corcoran
Also recommended
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CD Review: Green Day, ’21st Century Breakdown’
Green Day
“21st Century Breakdown” (Reprise)
B+
Green Day has been compared to a long list of bands. Back in the early 90s, they all but embodied the Bay Area’s high-energy pop punk, a mix of the Ramones’ formalism and the Buzzcocks’ devotion to a good hook.
When they went all major label with 1994’s “Dookie,” punk don Ian MacKaye referred to them and the Offspring as the Ugly Kid Joe’s of the ’90s, which might be the meanest thing said about a band IN the ‘90.
Then came a bunch of very professional rock records that made Green Day seem like any other bubblegrunge act, a total prom-theme hit single (“Time of Your Life”) and MacKaye looking prescient.
Oops. “American Idiot” (2004) made them seem political where they once seemed goofy, ambitious where they once seemed tossed off, and was an album that insisted you listen to it all the way trough, which seemed unwise now that we all lived in Downloadland. It sold 12 million copies worldwide.
Which made all of Generation X, who remembered “Dookie” as a fluke, say a collective, “Wait, what?”
Like the Kinks, who seemed to make conceptual rock opera after conceptual rock opera there for awhile, “21st Century Breakdown” feels like “American Idiot 2: Anarchic Boogalooo.”
Billie Joe Armstrong, clearly energized by his career’s surreal lease on life, makes “Breakdown” into pure pomp for now people, power pop overflowing with pianos and giant guitars and sweep and lost souls born on the Fourth of July all packed into 18 songs in 69 minutes - only a little longer than an episode of “Lost” and about as baffling. (The album also rhymes “American dream” and “American scream,” which probably should be illegal.)
Yoked to some sort of story about lovers, Armstrong still worships punk rock goddesses (“”Last of the American Girls”) is confused by religion (“East Jesus Nowhere”), wants to write annoying sub-Beatles ballads (“Last Night on Earth”) and knows how to knock out a killer anthem (“Know Your Enemy,” which will occupy what’s left of rock radio for the rest of the summer). Over and over, the songs aim high and meet their goals. Most banks can’t even do that these days.
Like Pete Townshend in the Who, he’s lucky to have rhythm section pals like Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool; those two haven’t lost a step. Like U2 in 2001, he’s lucky to be here and wants to do something wide-screen and out-sized with his time. Like almost nobody else in rock, he makes it seem like fun to be so ambitious, as if it’s something we should all want to be. No small feat, that.
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Free grooves from DJ Chicken George
Looking for some smooth downtempo listening to add a little soulful groove to your Wednesday afternoon? Head over to properlychilled.com and download a free copy of DJ Chicken George’s “Radio Jazztronica Five.” Includes tracks from Sharon Jones, Q-Tip, Ocote Soul Sounds, The Jackson 5 and many more.
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Here is a stream of the new Wilco album.
Enjoy, true believers!
And tell us what you think.
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Summer concerts: Tori, Hank Jr., Jamie, Crows etc.
It’s just been announced that Tori Amos is playing the Long Center July 25. Other upcoming concerts include Hank Williams Jr. at the Expo Center June 13, during the biker rally; Jamie Foxx at the Erwin Center July 11, Counting Crows at the Austin Music Hall Aug. 3.
If you missed the fireworks at the end of Explosions In the Sky’s SXSW set at Auditorium Shores, you’ll get another chance when the grandiose intrumental band plays Stubb’s on the Fourth of July.
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Live Review: Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction at the Erwin Center
Tuesday night at the Erwin Center, it was time to party like it was 1991.
Sure it’s a cliche, but a cliche is just an idea that you’ve heard many times before. Trent Reznor, aka Nine Inch Nails, has been putting out records for 20 years. The original Jane’s Addiction line-up — front-wiggler Parry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and returning bassist Eric Avery — started playing together during the Reagan administration.
This was a chance for more than 10,000 people at the Erwin Center to relive their youth or college years. It was a chance for some to see a couple of the architects of modern rock right there in front of them.
Nine Inch Nails took the stage after a brief set from Street Sweeper Social Club, the new project from Coup rapper Boots Reily and Rage Against the Machine axe-man Tom Morello. This was NIN stripped down to a four-piece industrial rock steam engine. Reznor looked buff as the band thrashed through 90 minutes of the occasional hit (“Terrible Lie, “Sin,” “The Hand That Feeds”) and a whole mess of rarities (“The Way Out is Through,” “Survivalism,” “La Mer”).
Closing with “Head Like a Hole,” it was pretty easy to imagine it actually was 1991, even with newer songs. Reznor’s lyrical topics haven’t changed much over the years — control, fear, anger, control, struggle, control, weakness and did I mention control? He even paid homage to his roots with a Joy Division cover, “Dead Souls.”
Speaking of, Jane’s Addiction is a band that looks downright extraordinary on paper — Joy Division’s melodic, ovoid bass lines welded to Led Zeppelin’s classic rock. On album, well, the original 1988 review of “Nothing’s Shocking” in Rolling Stone (a co-review with Randy Newman’s “Land of Dreams!”) put it best: “the band is great, and it is also full of (expletive) — often at the same time.” That never, ever changed.
Live, on the other hand, Jane’s was a force of nature, Farrell’s frontman-as-shaman shtick pushing against music full of wide open spaces, classic rock pomp, and a little too much of the Doors’ Los Angeles voodoo.
Perkins, always the good matured one, still drums like he’s wielding Thor’s hammer,driving the music to swing as hard as it charges. Avery, the musical anchor for much of the early material, paced like a caged lion, Navarro remained shirtless. (Does that guy even own shirts anymore?)
The 10-minute opener “Three Days” acted as a rally point for fans and a signal to remaining folks there just to see NIN that it was good time to leave.
Farrell, 50 years old this March and clad in tights under some sort of black kimono thing, started out a tad gingerly on a leg he had injured the concert before. But he acquitted himself well, dancing and grooving (“Whores,” “1%,” “Summertime Rolls”) and leaping when the music just demanded it (the anthemic “Mountain Song,” “Pigs in Zen”). But he couldn’t resist Borscht Belt song transitions (“I went to thift store, put on some clothes and walked right out the door” before “Been Caught Stealing” - oy!), nor could he resist shouting out C3 and Charles Attal twice to plug Lollapalooza, moments I’m sure were as embarrassing for Attal as they were for us.
That said, an encore of “Summertime Rolls,” “Stop!” and “Jane Says” sealed a deal that seemed a lock from the show’s first notes: Are they great? Sure. Full of (expletive)? Oh yes. A live powerhouse? Still.
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NIN/JA set list, May 12, 2009, Frank Erwin Center
Jane’s Addiction
Three Days
Whores
Ain’t No Right
Pigs in Zen
Then She Did
Mountain Song
1%
Been Caught Stealing
Ted, Just Admit It
Ocean Size
Summertime Rolls
Stop!
Jane Says
Nine Inch Nails
Mr. Self Destruct
Sin
Terrible Lie
March of the Pigs
Heresy
the Becoming
Piggy (Nothing Can Stop Me Now)
Not so Pretty Now
Survivalism
Gave Up
La Mer
The Fragile
Gone, Still
The Way Out is Through
Wish
I Do Not Want This
Lights in the Sky
Dead Souls (Joy Division cover)
The Hand that Feeds
Head like a Hole
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Elvis Costello to play PAC
Elvis Costello and his new acoustic band the Sugarcanes play Bass Concert Hall 8 p.m. Sept. 1. Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. May 18
Costello and the ‘canes release the album “Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane” June 2 on Hear Music, Starbucks’ record label. T-Bone Burnett produced.
Check it out here.
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CD Review: Steve Earle, ‘Townes’ (New West)
Steve Earle
“Townes”
New West
A funny thing happened to Steve Earle recently: Barack Obama was elected president. Suddenly, the politics that defined the past few years of Earle’s career could be subsumed. Earle could get back to his first love: songwriters he would love to write as well as.
This is an exaggeration, of course. Surely Earle planned to do this 15-track tribute to Townes Van Zandt before Obama won. But if the reality of an Obama administration means nobody ever has to hear “Condi, Condi” again in favor of, say, “Brand New Companion,” so much the better. And who are we kidding? Most everyone with a beat-up acoustic guitar and a notebook worships Van Zandt, perhaps Texas’s ultimate songwriter’s songwriter.
It’s hard to tell if it takes guts to open such a tribute with “Pancho and Lefty” or it’s so glaringly obvious as to be a little too on the nose. Van Zandt’s best-known tune is also one of the most mystifying story songs ever written, a narrative as obtuse as it is riveting.
Sadly, the lyrics also veer toward incomprehensibility in Earle’s rough voice, a problem that plagues this well-curated set. Songs such as “White Freightliner Blues” and the otherwise excellent “Loretta” fare even worse, kicking into high gear when clearer backing vocals kick in (one voice belongs to Earle’s son Justin Townes Earle - Steve REALLY likes Townes a lot). Much like (in fact, exactly like) Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s take on Van Zandt’s “Nothing,” which transformed that spare tune into a guitar thunder storm (just like Led Zeppelin used to do with the blues), Earle turns “Lungs” into an electric stomper, while “Delta Momma Blues” is acoustic beauty.
Reverently played and expertly arranged, “Townes” suffers only from Earle’s own weakness as a singer. And if this well-meaning album does nothing but points everyone back to Van Zandt’s recently re-released studio output, we all owe Earle a beer and a shirt with Townes’ face done Obama-HOPE style. B
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Poodie’s ‘celebration of life’ scheduled
Poodie Locke will be honored June 28 at the Backyard, which has been reconfigured as a 2,000-capacity venue. The show runs from 2 p.m. - 10 p.m. Co-organizer Joe Ables of the Saxon Pub said the lineup won’t be announced, but you can figure out who’s going to be there. Imagine it’ll be like a mini Fourth of July Picnic.
Ables was one of Poodie’s pallbearers Monday in Waco. “It was a beautiful service,” he said. “Billy Joe Shaver sang ‘Live Forever’ and Ray Wylie Hubbard played ‘Amazing Grace’ on the slide guitar.” Ables estimates that about 1,000 mourners were on hand. The funeral was billed as “private,” but that was just to keep the crowd manageable: no one was refused entry.
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CD review: Meat Puppets
Matthew Rogers
Meat Puppets
‘Sewn Together!’
(Megaforce)
B
Thanks to their early association with legendary hardcore punk label SST Records, rock trio the Meat Puppets have long shared a place in the history books among ’80s underground success stories such as Hüsker Dü, the Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth. But where those bands combined crushing guitars with alternating waves of rage and melancholia, the Meat Puppets, led by brothers Cris and Curt Kirkwood, have blended punk with country and psychedelia to forge an oddball take on Americana that many a desperate music critic has dubbed “cowpunk.”
The lovably easy-going, midtempo form of rock has served them well since breakout 1984 album “Meat Puppets II” and makes for a disarming listen in their 12th and latest, “Sewn Together.” Across 12 rambling, charming, gently psychedelic tracks of alt-country, the Puppets reassert themselves as an act whose work is rarely grandiose or revelatory but a low-key treat best enjoyed casually on the porch with a beer in hand. When Curt Kirkwood advises us on “I’m Not Into You” that “The things I say and do/Should be of no concern to you,” it serves less as angry rejoinder and more as a good-natured guide to listening.
The opening, title track sets an ideal precedent for the rest of the album, with its traditional Meat Puppets guitar/bass interplay and sing-along harmonies that wouldn’t be out of place on “Sesame Street.” Similarly sunny crowd-pleaser “I’m Not Into You” is a rollicking country ditty with a toe-tapping banjo solo. Single “Rotten Shame,” an upbeat rocker imbued with a catchy guitar riff, might be the band’s best attempt at an accessible crowd-pleaser since 1994’s minor radio hit “Backwater.”
The many forays into ballads are less successful. “Go to Your Head” commits popular music’s cardinal sin — being boring — while closer “Love Mountain,” winning tambourine aside, packs an album’s worth of cliches into four minutes.
Fortunately, the missteps are few and far between. Even weak tracks like “Clone” sport odd pleasures, like its nonsensical, surreal fairy tale lyrics, or the cheerful use of whistling on the otherwise somewhat-typical honky-tonk tune “The Monkey and the Snake.” That leaves “Sewn Together” with more than enough high points to recommend it to longtime Meat Puppets fans, though newcomers should start with the more consistent “Meat Puppets II” or “Up on the Sun” and double back only if they like what they hear.
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CD reviews: Mike Farris, Jason Lytle, The Grateful Dead
Mike Farris and the Roseland Rhythm Revue
‘Shout! Live!’ (Columbia)
C+
Farris is a notoriously fiery live performer, but this sounds like “American Idol” goes to church. The former Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies singer possesses an impressively acrobatic voice, and the band’s terrific, but I’m not feeling the soul.
Backed vocally by gospel ringers the McCrary Sisters, who take over on “I’ll Take You There,” Farris traffics in melisma that becomes like vocal traffic over the course of this album. The Larry Bird of hard gospel music he’s not.
This Sunday at a little white church in Fayetteville, Roy Green of the Soul Invaders, not to mention hundreds of other singing preachers, will blow this glorified bar band record away. — Michael Corcoran
Jason Lytle
‘Yours Truly, the Commuter!’ (Anti)
B-
After his band Grandaddy ended its run in 2005, frontman Jason Lytle moved from California to Montana, where he began working on an autobiographical solo effort. While the resulting album doesn’t stray all that far from the lush electronic pop production of his Grandaddy efforts, the most powerful moments come from the sparser arrangements, where Lytle seems more comfortable bearing his soul.
He begins the opening, title track singing, “last thing I heard I was left for dead,” a reaffirmation to himself and his fans that he is still capable of making music. Similarly, on the piano ballad “I Am Lost (And the Moment Cannot Last),” Lytle paints a moving picture of a musician struggling to regain stable footing. Unfortunately, weaker tracks like “Brand New Sun” and “It’s the Weekend” give the album an uneven feel. — Peter Mongillo
The Grateful Dead
‘To Terrapin: Hartford ‘77’ (Rhino)
A
Many fans consider the 1977 spring tour to be the best run of the Grateful Dead’s storied career. This three-CD recording of the last show on that tour lives up to that hype with a set full of vintage Dead moments, including a soaring 19-minute ‘Sugaree,’ as well as a near-perfect version of the operatic ‘Terrapin Station,’ a song that was then new to the band’s repertoire. A groove-heavy ‘Not Fade Away’ has enough bounce that it might almost be confused for Jerry Garcia’s more soulful solo work if the song didn’t segue into the emotional ‘Wharf Rat.’ A lot of Deadheads probably already have a copy of this show, but the crisp quality of this recording makes it worth a listen. — P.M.
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Marcia Ball, Clifford Antone win blues awards
Marcia Ball and the late Clifford Antone won big at the the 30th annual Blues Music Awards May 7 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. The Blues Music Awards are produced by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization established to preserve and support Blues both past and present.
Clifford Antone was inducted by Marcia Ball into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame the night before. His sister Susan Antone accepted the award on his behalf.
“It was so great, so nice,” Susan Antone said. “Everyone was there. Marcia gave a wonderful speech about Cliff. “
Also that night, Ball also inducted Irma Thomas into the Blues Hall of Fame.
Ball herself won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player award on May 7. “She was totally surprised,” Antone said.
Speaking of ol’ Pinetop, Perkins joins Charley Pride and Marty Stuart to headline the third annual Mississippi Grammy gala May 28 at the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel in Tunica, Miss. Proceeds benefit the Mississippi Blues Commission’s Blues Trail.
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Do not expect Perry to do much jumping around during Jane’s Addiction’s set Tuesday at the Erwin Center
This is too bad, as Perry’s dynamism is a pretty big part of their live energy. One hopes for the best.
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Raitt pays emotional tribute to Bruton
A day after her former guitar player and friend of 38 years, Stephen Bruton, passed away, Bonnie Raitt ended her pre-encore set at Bass Concert Hall by thanking the audience for being there. “I’ve been crying all day and I never thought I’d get through this show.’ she said.
She finally broke down in tears after encoring with one of Bruton’s songs, ‘Too Many Memories (For One Heart To Hold).’ The redhead sang it beautifully with tears streaming down her cheeks near the end. A dry eye? Not in this house.
It was an emotional night and a special one, with the crowd of about 2,300 leaping to their feet after “Angel From Montgomery” (dedicated to Bruton’s wife Mary and mother Kathleen) and stomping along with Raitt and guest Kim Wilson (Fabulous Thunderbirds) on “I Believe I’m In Love With You.” Then, on ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me,’ Raitt aired it out with such pure and powerful purpose that the crowd was overwhelmed by the moment.
After an impressive set from Paul Thorn, who could be called Mississippi’s John Hiatt if he didn’t put so much Pentecostal fire into his sound, Raitt came out and talked to the crowd a bit about Bruton, who lost his battle with cancer. “Stephen Bruton is in our hearts tonight and forever,” she said, She also dedicated the first song “Talk To Me” to Poodie Locke and his family. “I can’t tell you how much it means for us to be in Austin,” she said, easing her way into the music.
It’s been a rough week for the Austin music scene, but Raitt was the right performer to start the healing. She mentioned Bruton after almost every song, noting how she couldn’t look at him onstage when he was in her band because they’d always crack each other up midsong. Her voice quivered when she realized that she’d never again see Bruton waiting in the wings to be called out to jam.
But there were also laughs, as when Johnny Nicholas of Fredericksburg came out to add harmonica to “Love Me Like a Man” and noted that Bruton loved to get dressed up. “He also liked to get undressed,” Raitt shot back. “I never witnessed that. Maybe that’s why we were friends for so long.”
The way it usually works when a musical icon dies is that a tribute concert is planned for a few weeks down the road. With Sunday’s Raitt concert already booked, it turned into an impromptu memorial show. But the musicianship of Raitt and her band (kudos to new keyboardist Ricky Peterson) kept it from being overly sentimental, even as the star seemed genuinely touched by the outpouring of love.
There’s long been a special relationship between Austin and Bonnie Raitt, but the bond has never been stronger than on Sunday night.
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Stephen Bruton 1948- 2009
Although his credits as a guitarist, producer and songwriter were highly impressive, there was so much more to Austin icon Stephen Bruton, who lost a two and a half year battle with throat cancer Saturday morning in Los Angeles.
“He was one of the bright spots in the lives of anyone who was close to him,” said Kris Kristofferson, who hired a 22-year-old Bruton to be his guitar player in 1971. The gig lasted 17 years and made the pair as close as brothers. Bruton also played in the bands of Bonnie Raitt and Delbert McClinton, plus he produced career-defining albums by Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Marcia Ball..
“I feel fortunate that I was able to get back to L.A. last night and say farewell,” Kristofferson said. “He finally knew he was going, after fighting it so hard for so long. I said I would see him again down the road, probably sooner than later.” The two talked for awhile, then, late Friday night, Bruton said he had to go to sleep. He never woke up. He was 60.
“Stephen Bruton was the soul of Texas music,” T-Bone Burnett said in a statement Saturday. “This is an incalculable loss. He was my oldest friend and I loved him like a brother. I learned more from him than I can say.”
Burnett flew Bruton to L.A. in a private jet about two months ago, knowing that playing the guitar in the studio would be great for Bruton’s spirits. “Stephen wanted to work,” said Cameron Strang, the president of New West, which released three Bruton solo LPs. Besides playing on a soundtrack produced by Burnett for the upcoming Jeff Bridges movie “Crazy Heart,” Bruton saw two highly regarded oncologists in L.A. and had initially showed signs of improvement, Strang said.
Back home in Austin, where the guitarist played every Sunday night with the Resentments at the Saxon Pub for several years, there was hope that Bruton would pull through. If anyone could beat cancer… Instead, a music community still reeling from Wednesday’s death of Willie Nelson’s beloved stage manager Poodie Locke, had to deal with another great loss.
‘We owe a lot to Stephen Bruton,” Saxon Pub owner Joe Ables said, speaking not only for his club on South Lamar, but Austin as a whole. “The word I think of when I think of Stephen is ‘respect.’ Everyone respected him as a man of talent and integrity. He was the guy you looked up to.”
He was also known as someone you could turn to in times of despair. After getting sober about 20 years ago, Bruton was there to help anyone who wanted to lead a life without drugs and alcohol. He didn’t preach, but inspired by example..
As a producer, Bruton had a way of taking command that made you want to follow him, said Jimmie Dale Gilmore, whose Bruton-produced album “After Awhile” took Gilmore out of the honkytonks and into listening rooms and concert halls. “He was so important to me,” Gilmore said. “He had the right combination of genuine musicianship and organizational skill that made him such a great producer. Plus he was so much fun to work with.”
Off-the-cuff comedy was another of Bruton’s talents you won’t find in liner notes, but he could also take a joke. Once he was the best man at a wedding, but was the last one to arrive. As the couple waited patiently and the guests looked back at the entrance for Bruton, someone said ‘Turn on a movie camera and he’ll be here in two minutes” and everyone cracked up. Including Bruton, when he was told about it.
Raised on rhythm and blues and country in his family’s record store in Fort Worth, Turner Stephen Bruton was only 20 when he met budding songwriter Kristofferson in Fort Worth. A couple years later, the suddenly hot Kristofferson asked Bruton if he was interested in playing the guitar in his band. “Man, that’s all I’m interested in,” Bruton answered back.
“Kris was always so encouraging about my songwriting,” Bruton told the American-Statesman in 2007. Bruton co-wrote the title track of Kristofferson’s 1972 album “Border Lord” and had his greatest writing thrill when Raitt and Willie Nelson sang a duet of Bruton’s “Getting Over You” on Nelson’s “Across the Borderline” LP.
Raitt has a show Sunday in Austin at the Bass Concert Hall. It could be one of the toughest she’ll ever have to get through, as she and Bruton were extremely close.
By the time he played a part in the video for Raitt’s “Thing Called Love,” Bruton was a bit of an acting veteran. Through his association with Kristofferson, the guitarist with the movie star looks beefed up his resume with roles in such films as “A Star Is Born,” “Heaven’s Gate” and “Songwriter’ (writen by Bud Shrake, who passed away yesterday). Bruton also had speaking roles in “The Alamo,” and “Miss Congeniality” and had a cameo as the band leader in the TV series ‘Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip.’
And then he got cancer. His wife Mary had a sore throat one day and she wanted to see what a normal throat looked like so she had Stephen say ‘ah,’ but his red and swollen tonsils looked even worse. He was diagnosed in December ‘06 and vowed to fight it with everything he had. Even though he was still feeling the exhausting effects of chemotherapy, he worked as band leader for the Freescale Semiconductor “Road To Austin” show in May 2007. Playing again with special guests Kristofferson, Raitt and McClinton seemed to rejuvenate “the Kid.”
McClinton and Bruton go back to 1965, when a 16-year-old Stephen and his older brother Sumter were guitarists in the house band of a Fort Worth juke joint called the Bluebird. McClinton would sometimes sit in on harp; white teenagers playing the blues in a black club and having a blast.
By the time he hooked up with Kristofferson, Bruton had an encyclopedic knowledge of guitar riffs. But his playing was never flashier than what the song called for. “He’s my all-time favorite guitar player,” Kristofferson said.
In that 2007 interview with the American Statesman, Bruton proudly pulled out a photo of him and Kristofferson backstage warming up for their first gig together, at the Golden Bear in San Rafael, Calif. in 1971. That was the moment Bruton became a professional musician.
“Touring with Kris was the greatest experience,” Bruton said, looking at the photo with a big smile. “I feel like we went through life together.”
- Sign the guest book
- Photos: Stephen Bruton
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Poodie’s funeral Monday
James Randall “Poodie” Locke, the trusted and beloved Willie Nelson stage manager who passed away suddenly Wednesday from a suspected heart attack, will be laid to rest Monday near his native Waco.
A private funeral will be at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church in Woodway. [Here’s a map](http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3722350254). Poodie will be buried at the Oakwood Cemetery after the church service.
Visitation will be Sunday from 4- 8 p.m. at the Connally Compton Funeral Directors (4400 W. Waco Drive).
According to willienelson.com, an Austin memorial is being planned for the Backyard Glenn, but a date has not yet been set.
Meanwhile, Billy Bob Thornton has written a song about Poodie called “He’s Just Making the Rounds.” Here are the lyrics:
“HE’S JUST MAKING HIS ROUNDS”
(THORNTON/ANDREW)
(SALVE MAN MUSIC, BMI/ THE GYPSUM VALLEY MUSIC CO., BMI)
EVERY TIME IT RAINS I’LL THINK ABOUT HIM
SAYIN’ COME ON BOYS LET’S TAKE THE BEER INSIDE
EVERY TIME THERE’S TROUBLE I’LL THINK ABOUT HIM
SAYIN’ COME ON BOYS HOLD YOUR GROUND DON’T HIDE
EVERY TIME WILLIE SINGS WHISKEY RIVER
I’LL TAKE A DRINK AND TOAST THE MIDNIGHT SKY
FROM WACO DOWN TO LUCK THE STARS WILL SHIVER
AS THE BIG MAN ON THE HILLTOP PASSES BY
HE’S JUST MAKIN’ HIS ROUNDS
IN ANOTHER LONELY TOWN
WAITIN’ FOR THE FAMILY TO ROLL IN
HE’S JUST MAKIN’ HIS ROUNDS
IN A BRAND NEW KINDA TOWN
THAT’S BIG ENOUGH TO HOLD ALL HIS FRIENDS
EVERY TIME I ROLL THE DICE I’LL THINK ABOUT HIM
SAYIN’ THAT’S IT SON JUST ROLL EM OUT AND PRAY
EVERY TIME WIN OR LOSE I KNOW I’LL HEAR HIM
SAYIN’ SON YOU PLAYED THE GAME SO IT’S OKAY
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Concert review: Flight of the Conchords
(Flight of the Conchords photos by Deborah Cannon/AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Well, that was a rather underwhelming hour and 40 minutes, as Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie took their 1,000-capacity act to the 3,000-seat Bass Concert Hall Thursday night. Because of a hit show on HBO, Flight of the Conchords have inspired a growing cult audience of college-aged kids, but it was evident at the sold out show that they’ve skipped a few steps up the ladder of stagemanship. This was a crowd with a big crush, but FOTC couldn’t deliver beyond a few charming adlib moments.
A few tunes, including “Ballad of Stana,” an epic old West number “with duration issues,” “Albi (the Racist Dragon) and the faux French bossa nova ‘Foux du fa fa,’ were complete wastes of time, as this musical parody duo has been coddled by fan worship. Can that lame “Busdriver’s Song,” too. This set was in bad need of tightening up.
The main problem was evident early in the set, as “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)” lost its subtle grace: the vocals were so loud that the guitars were drowned out. “Jenny,” the ode to mistaken identity, was another casualty of a mix that chose comedy over music. Fortunately, those two songs have been so YouTubed into the audience’s consciousness that they went over spectacularly.
The show was at its funniest when the duo (augmented by “the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra,” as their cellist was introduced) conversed between songs in a mix of planned patter and improvisation. Noticing a couple of empty seats in the first row, the pair stared at the tiny defeat, restoring their TV persona as a couple of lovable losers. When a woman arrived 45 minutes into the set to claim one of the seats, Clement and McKenzie made her part of the show, filling her in on what she missed, which was really not much.
It wasn’t until the end of the show that FOTC turned in any kind of interesting performance, leaving their stools to tease “the ladies” on “Sugalumps” and encoring with “Robots” and “Business Time.” There was also a funny bit about how the audience, which kept throwing t-shirts onstage, should’ve been tossing panties. There was delight in the deadpan all night.
But then they came out for one encore too many, a throwaway “Demon Woman” that they had no business dressing up in costumes. When Clement apologized to those who “were relieved that we were over” he was speaking to me.
Comedian Eugene Mirman, who has a small recurring role in “Flight of the Conchords,” opened the show with a too loud set that hinged on an angry letter he wrote to Delta Airlines. They may have lost his luggage, but they gave him a funny bit.
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Boyer brings the funk
Ricky Clay
Greg Boyer’s recall is astonishing. He still remembers the exact date of his first professional gig as a part of Parliament Funkadelic —- March 9, 1978. For more than three decades he’s performed with the likes of Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Chuck Brown and since 2002 has been arranging horns for Prince as part of the New Power Generation band. Boyer admits he has just about everyone’s parts memorized by now. Recently he has been sitting in with Austin’s Latin funk powerhouse, Grupo Fantasma, and is looking forward to the band’s homecoming for a two-night stint (tonight and Saturday) at Antone’s. We spoke to Boyer from his home in Maryland about touring, recording a new solo album and playing with Austin’s hottest Latin export.
Music Source: You’re coming to town with Grupo Fantasma as a special guest for their Antone’s dates this week. How did you get hooked up with those guys?
Greg Boyer: I saw them the first time when they came through Vegas and was really impressed. Then, I saw them again at Prince’s Superbowl party in ‘07 and really got an appreciation for them. When they invited me to be a guest soloist on their CD —- their Grammy nominated CD —- we just hit it off. So since then I’ve had the opportunity to sit in with them when they played with Prince at Coachella in 2008 and recently at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. That was an unbelievable night.
Are you taking on a sort of mentoring role with them?
Not really. I’m more like family. Those guys are incredibly close and for them to let me in to that family speaks volumes. I wear that badge with pride.
Sounds like you’re looking forward to these upcoming shows with them at Antone’s.
Oh, yeah. Austin is a musician’s town, and Antone’s is the crown jewel. I really enjoy Austin. And as far as horn sections that I’ve worked with go, I can tell you those guys in Grupo have put their work in. We had three days to put all the music together for that Coachella gig with Prince, but we pulled it off —- and we had fun doing it.
You’ve been arranging horns for Prince for about six years now. Any word on a ‘Lotusflow3r’ tour?
Well, he isn’t using a lot of horns lately, but he keeps telling me to ‘be ready, Greg.’ So I’ve got ‘be ready’ on the brain lately.
What else is on your radar these days?
Lately I’ve been working with Chuck Brown up in D.C. doing jazz and big band work with him. I’ve also been working on a solo project recently, recording a bunch of everything, really. I’ve got that go-go really deep down in my system, but I’ve also got a hard-core jazz affliction. My tenure with P-Funk has given me a love of funk as well, so I’m really just trying to find some direction for this project right now. There are a lot of masters I’m trying to serve here. I’ve even thought about recording an all trombone bluegrass project.
Seriously?
Seriously. I mean, if you really listen to bluegrass, it’s just mountain be-bop. That’s the beauty of playing jazz. You can play anything.
Sounds like you’ve got a lot of influences all pulling on you at once. What about country music? I see you did a Hank Williams Jr. tribute once.
That was so much fun! It was a CMT tribute to Hank Williams Jr., and they had all these guys like Brad Paisley, Kid Rock and Buddy Guy doing Hank songs, and I was asked to do the horn arrangements for about three of them. I put the music together for some of these guys, and the TV show went off without a hitch. I’ve always had a respect for country music. Rock, too. In high school I played bass in a rock band.
What kind of rock?
Hardcore —- Zep, Rush, Blue Oyster Cult. That kind of thing. I wanted to push the envelope. Rock ‘n’ roll really opened my eyes. I used to ride the bus to my high school and it was really segregated. The black folks would complain when the bus driver played the rock station, and the white kids would complain when she played the soul station. But she alternated the stations like that on purpose. One day it was Joe Simon, the next Carly Simon. After a while my musical horizons really opened up. It’s like Duke Ellington said. ‘There are only two kinds of music —- good and bad.’
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Weekend picks: Independent hip-hop, vibrant bluegrass and amazing women
FRIDAY
Inaugural Fresh-Fest at Flamingo Cantina. A celebration of independent hip-hop, which feels about ready to make a serious resurgence. Check out sets from Phranchyze, MSG Crew, Fool’s Inc., Dubb Sicks, Cali Zack, and more. Hosted by Mesanger and K.O.B. of MSG Crew. 9 p.m. $5. — Joe Gross
Also recommended
- Richard Buckner at the Cactus Cafe
- the Paper Chase at the Mohawk
- Lucero, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears at Emo’s
- the Toadies at Stubb’s
- Grupo Fantasma, Bavu Blakes & the Extra Plairs at Antones
- Drew Smith, Suzanna Choffel at Lamberts
SATURDAY
Old Crow Medicine Show at Stubb’s.One of the premier progressive-yet-old-timey string bands. Expect a smart, vibrant mix of bluegrass, alt-country, blues and folk. They impressed Doc Watson enough to score an invitation to MerleFest early in their career. With Justin Townes Earle. 7 p.m. $24. 801 Red River St. 480-8341 — J.G.
Also recommended
- When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth at Red 7
- Glass Candy at the Mohawk
- Screaming Females at the Mohawk
- Three 6 Mafia, Gorilla Zoe and more at the Austin Music Hall
- Grupo Fantasma at Antone’s
SUNDAY
Gretchen Phillips at Momo’s. She did time in Meat Joy, the rock band Girls in the Nose and the (still) weirdly underrated Two Nice Girls, whose totally bulletproof, hysterically funny lesbian anthem ‘I Spent My Last $10 (on Birth Control and Beer)’ she will take to her grave. Her new album is the astonishingly well-titled ‘I Was Just Comforting Her.’ This Mother’s Day gig includes Patrice Pike and will raise money to send 10 women to the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Amazing woman. 8 p.m. $10. — J.G.
Also recommended
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Randall “Poodie” Locke 1948- 2009
Jay Janner AMERICAN-STATESMAN
“There are no bad days” was the slogan Poodie Locke, Willie Nelson’s stage manager of 34 years, put on a sign outside his Poodie’s Hilltop beer joint in Spicewood. But Wednesday was a dark one for members of the extended Willie Nelson family as Locke died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Briarcliff, about 30 miles west of Austin. He was 60.
“He wasn’t feeling well and Shaye (Locke’s girlfriend) called for EMS at around two in the afternoon,” said Bryan Dixon, a manager at the Hilltop. “Poodie collapsed just as the ambulance got there, but they couldn’t revive him.” As news spread, Locke’s 133-capacity club quickly filled up with mourners.
“Willie loved Poodie’s exuberance,” said Casey Monahan of the Texas Music Office, who hung out with Locke Saturday at Nelson’s show at Carl’s Corner. “Willie’s whole thing is living in the moment and that was Poodie.”
In Willie’s band of gypsies, Locke was the ringleader who had a hug for everyone no matter how much else was going on. Everybody loved Poodie, the only roadie with his own logo, fan club line of barbecue sauces, but there was work to be done so both of the Nelson crew buses had signs that said “Poodie’s on the other bus.”
“He was the heart and soul of the road crew,” said Joe Nick Patoski, author of the definitive Nelson biography “An Epic Life.”
“I do not recall ever seeing him any way but calm,” said lawyer Bobby Earl Smith, who met Locke as a member of Freda and the Firedogs. “All hell would be falling around him and he just kept keeping on, slow, deliberate, getting the job done.”
Locke was a gentle giant who treated everyone special, which is why it was inevitable that, in 2002, he opened Poodie’s Hilltop Bar & Grill. It would be a place where Willie’s cronies and crew could hang out between tours, but Poodie spent many of his “off” days working on his laptop at the bar, setting up stage specifications for tours. He’d always drop everything, however, when an old friend popped in.
The Hilltop became a place where the famous, such as Willie, Merle Haggard, Garth Hudson of the Band and Big & Rich would sometimes play for hours, unannounced.
As his mother Gloria “Momma” Locke loved to say, Poodie won the Most Beautiful Baby contest in Waco when he was just a few months old. The nickname “Poodie” came from a younger sister who couldn’t pronounce “pretty” in describing her sibling.
A 12-year-old Locke met Nelson, from nearby Abbott, in Waco. Before hooking up with Willie just before “Red Headed Stranger” blew up, Locke was a roadie for B.W. Stevenson.
“Indecision may or may not be our biggest problem,” Locke quoted Willie as summing up the life of being on the road for up to 275 days a year. Although he’s met countless celebrities through the years, Poodie’s only asked for two autographs: John Wayne and Walter Cronkite.
Locke worked a Willie show at Carl’s Corner Saturday and seemed to be in good health, according to Patoski. He’s survived by his girlfriend Shaye, his sister Cindy and his mother.
You were lucky if you knew Poodie Locke, a larger-than-life folk hero who epitomized, behind the scenes, the humor and humility and edication his boss presented onstage. You can be sure there is devastation in Willie World. A member of the immediate family, Willie’s spiritual kid brother, has passed on.
There’s a little less love out on the road. But, as Poodie knew better than anyone, the road still calls.
- From the archives: Boonie tunes
- Sign the guestbook
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Kat takes to the sky
Big things are happening for local jazz singer Kat Edmonson, whose self-released “Take To the Sky” CD has been a top ten bestseller at Waterloo Records since its release in March. The 25-year-old makes her New York City debut at the Jazz Standard June 2, which is the date her record is set to be released nationally. There is a chance, however, that the release will be delayed, as Edmonson has received interest from a prominent jazz label which caught her act at SXSW. Edmonson did not want to reveal more until talks have progressed to a more confident state.
The petite singer with the irresistable voice plays the Paramount Theatre Gala May 16, opening for Boz Scaggs.
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Bowing to pressure from record label, Waxploitation! DJs to change name
David Weaver FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
- The A-List: Soul Happening at Club DeVille, 10.03.08
Austin’s Waxploitation! DJs who have been shaking up the Austin scene with funky soul happenings for over a decade are undergoing an identity shift. After a year of pressure and numerous cease and desist orders from the L.A.-based Waxploitation record label/artist management company, the local crate diggers have decided to change their name. The group is still working out the final details of what their new name will be, and they plan to make an announcement at their next gig on Friday, May 29 at Club de Ville. Regardless of how this party is branded we have no doubt it will be the same bumpin’, booty-movin’, sweaty scene that we’ve come to expect from this posse.
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Happy Cinco de Mayo! Let’s go shopping!
In honor of Cinco de Mayo, tickets to the Pachanga Latin Music festival are five for $50. Today only. Check it out here.
The Quiet Company’s new album “Everyone You Love Will Be Happy Soon” is on sale for $5 today only. Buy it here.
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Review: Sonny Rollins at Bass Concert Hall
The anticipation was palpable Sunday night in the recently renovated Bass Concert Hall. After a pre-performance lecture by University of Texas professor Jeff Hellmer, the crowd was primed to hear one of the great icons of ’50s hard-bop, Sonny Rollins. Much of the crowd was already on its feet as the 78-year-old tenor player emerged from the wings with his band, applauding wildly for a man who has been a transformative force in jazz for more than 60 years.
With such fanfare it was a shame the night began with a bit of technical trouble as Rollins appeared to have problems with his microphone. After starting the band off on a syncopated Latin groove, Rollins’s first solo was nearly inaudible. The band recognized this and immediately brought everything down a notch, but it was still a strain to hear much of anything. After a quick microphone change during trombonist Clifton Anderson’s solo, Rollins reinserted himself into the mix, this time in full voice, and took a second ride much to the delight of the crowd. He smiled and just shrugged.
Rollins might not have the stamina of a younger man, but time hasn’t done much to diminish his tone. After a few short flourishes to test out the new microphone, Rollins let out a long, sustained note that filled up every inch of the concert hall and brought the crowd and the band back to life. A master of motivic development, Rollins wasted no time in getting “out” before returning to the song’s theme for ideas. Guitarist Bobby Broom’s first solo started out and ended way out, landing somewhere just east of the highway. His solo on “My One and Only Love,” however, was a quiet heart-breaker, silencing the crowd with all the warmth and tenderness the song’s lyrics suggest. Rollins by comparison turned in a long, rather playful solo on this tune, vacillating between slow, passionate phrases and wildly frenetic ones. By the song’s end the crowd was on its feet again for the first standing ovation of the night.
Rollins spent much of the evening dialoguing with his band, chewing up licks from the phenomenal young drummer Kobe Watkins and percussionist Victor See-Yuen and spitting them back. During a calypso number in the middle of the set, Rollins and Anderson improvised simultaneously, occasionally arriving at the same place and harmonizing beautifully. Anderson was on fire Sunday night, at times faithfully quoting Charlie Parker, at times sounding like he was from Mars.
Bass Concert Hall’s recent acoustic redesign was impressive as every thump of the congas and every muted guitar chord was right out front. The crowd’s clapping to the last song of the set, the Chubby Checker classic “Calypso Rock,” sounded as crisp as Watkins’s snare, as if it were mixed through the sound board. Afterwards the crowd stood and applauded loudly and with enough conviction to bring Rollins and company out for an encore of “It’s a Low-Down Dirty Shame,” which featured a gravely Rollins on vocals.
Sixty years has seen the coming and going of most of Rollins’ musical contemporaries - Miles, Coltrane and, most recently, Max Roach. Still, time hasn’t confined him to the rocking chair nor has it made him artistically irrelevant. Rollins turned in a strong performance Sunday night proving he still has the chops that made him famous, and the rich, gilded tone that’s made him timeless.
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CD review: St. Vincent
St. Vincent
‘Actor’
(4AD)
B+
There’s a great song from good old 1995 by the (currently Austin-based) songwriter Bill Callahan, aka Smog, called “Prince Alone in the Studio.” Broad and epic, with dramatic strings and stately pace, it imagines Prince perfecting a song. (“It’s three a.m. Prince hasn’t eaten in eighteen hours … It’s four a.m./ And he finally gets that guitar track right.”)
One pictures Annie Clark, former axwoman for the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, alone in the studio working on “Actor,” hour after lonely hour, adding layers of guitar, sometimes heavily distorted, sometimes sparkly. (There are a few additional players here and there, but much of the album was played by her.) You picture Clark double tracking woozy vocals, adding blippy drum machines, wordless choral chants and ethereal synths until it’s just right.
This is a dense, busy album disguised as a languid one, alternately beautiful and gritty and too often too fussy by half. It feels and sounds precisely done, the sound perhaps going through her head on the faintly creepy album cover, where Clark resembles a very lifelike android.
Opener “The Stranger” mixes choirs and smeary amp overdrive, a catchy chorus that goes “Paint the black hole blacker” and this chunky riff that sounds shipped in from a whole other song. “Save Me From What I Want” pulls the same choral trick with glassy, rainy guitar over breakbeats and spacey synths. It’s proggy stuff, indebted to (or recalling) such disciplined rock composers as Robert Fripp, Jim O’Rourke or Bjork.
There are straight-forward moments: “Marrow” futzes with a stiff digital funk, “Actor Out of Work” pounds along Krautrock style, while the chilled-out piano ballad “The Party” channels her inner Carole King. But most of the time, when things get too pretty, she crashes the party with some quick-cut noise guitar or deep focus percussion, as on the creepy, soundtracky “The Bed.”
“Actor,” which hits stores tomorrow, performs complicated moves that reward with multiple listens. Like Callahan says of Prince, “And when it’s all complete/ He feels like a hunter on the street.” Wouldn’t be surprised if Clark did, too.
(‘Actor’ listening party, 5 p.m. Tuesday at Mohawk.)
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CD reviews: Telekinesis, Conor Oberst
Telekinesis
‘Telekinesis!’
(Merge 2008)
B
Seattle-based pop-rock outfit Telekinesis is the brainchild of Michael Benjamin Lerner, who provides vocals and plays all of the instruments on the band’s full-length debut. Lerner comes across as a rosy optimist, especially when he’s belting out lines like “I know we’ll make it through the really hard parts,” on “Look to the East.” Musically, he’s not exactly a depressive either. There is an airy feel to many of the songs, which is due at least in part to producer and Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla, who has also produced Portland-based pop rockers the Decemberists, among others. Airiness doesn’t always work in Lerner’s favor, however.
“Awkward Kisser,” a twee ode to young love, falls short compared with stronger rockers such as “Coast of Carolina,” with a more aggressive guitar part that balances out the sweet-sounding vocals.
(Telekinesis plays May 23 at Mohawk).
Conor Oberst and Mystic Valley Band
‘Outer South’
(Merge 2009)
B
With Ryan Adams on hiatus, Conor Oberst has reclaimed the title of ‘most prolific singer/songwriter,’ following up last summer’s self-titled shedding of his Bright Eyes moniker with “Outer South.” The Mystic Valley Band gets a more prominent billing this time around, with other members sharing singing and songwriting duties. “Outer South” also finds the band straying from its country-rock roots, with mixed results. The playful pop of “Air Mattress” and the electric blues of “Roosevelt Room” seem slightly out of place next to the catchy mid-tempo stomper “Nikorette,” where we find Oberst singing, in his own lust-for-life style, “I don’t wanna wear no dead man’s suit.” Another highlight, the haunting “White Shoes,” adds a bit of needed gravity in the spirit of Oberst’s earlier work. “Outer South” isn’t Oberst at his best, but it’s enough to satisfy fans and maybe even earn him a few new ones.
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ACL 3-day passes sold out!
Three-day passes to ACL Fest have sold out in record time, but single day tickets have gone on sale for $85 each.
Here’s the breakdown of who’s playing each day.
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Seeger grants rare interview to O. Henry student
O. Henry Middle School 7th grader Richard Swafford hoped to get a couple of interviews for a student film on Pete Seeger this past weekend when he flew to New York to attend Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden. He had no idea that on Saturday morning he’d be interviewing the folk legend himself at Seeger’s home in Beacon, New York.
Seeger doesn’t usually do interviews anymore, but he told Swafford he made an exception because of the director’s youth. “He told me that young people are the future of society and that’s where the change will come from,” said Swafford, 13, who was accompanied to New York by his father Robert, an Austin attorney.
Seeger greeted the Swaffords warmly and offered some fresh-baked apple pie. “It was amazing to talk to him because it was like reading out of a book,” Swafford said. “He was quoting Plato and Nietzsche.”
The interview with Seeger was set up by a bed & breakfast owner in Beacon who is a friend of a friend of Robert Swafford. Saturday evening, young Swafford also interviewed Emmylou Harris for his film, which is entitled “Pete Seeger: When Music Changed History.” An earlier version of the documentary took second place in a regional National History Day contest. Swafford has two weeks to work the new material into the film before the statewide competition.
The airfare to New York and tickets to Seeger’s 90th birthday party celebration were; gifts from Richard Swafford’s grandmother Wanda of Odessa, a former history teacher.
Swafford’s favorite moment of the concert was when the full cast of performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Taj Mahal, Harris, Joan Baez and many more came out to sing “Happy Birthday.”
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Bob Dylan tells Rolling Stone that Texas is the reason
Bob Dylan really isn’t kidding about the Texas thing that’s all over his new album.
In the May 14 issue of Rolling Stone, Dylan talks at length about the role Texas plays in the new album.
On border towns: “You feel things and you’re not quite sure what you feel. But it follows your every move.”
On the music: “Texas might have more independent thinking people than any other state in the country. And it shows in the music….Texas is so big; it’s a republic, it’s its own country.”
On Billy Joe Shaver, who comes up in a lyric: “Waylon and me played (Shaver’s) ‘Ain’t No God in Mexico’ and I don’t know, it was quite good….Shaver and David Allen Coe became my favorite guys in that [outlaw] genre.”
On Doug Sahm: “Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with… Doug a heavy frequency…It’s like what Charley Patton says, ‘My God, what solid power.’ I miss Doug.”
It is not on-line, so, perhaps needless to say, Texas music fans really should pick the issue up. It’s a stellar interview.
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Review: Death Cab for Cutie at Austin Music Hall
Seattle, Wash.’s venerable indie-ethos rock band Death Cab for Cutie busted out their best Austin show in years Friday night at Austin Music Hall.
Between South by Southwest, Austin City Limits Festival and regular album support tour stops, Death Cab has always put on perfunctory performances, but rarely have they been “one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life.” Seemed it always took them at least half their set to get warmed up. Once during a two-night-stand at Stubb’s on their “Transatlanticism” tour, they didn’t really begin to gel until their final song.
This time it appeared Death Cab had stepped up all elements of their tour production into a multi-bus, multi-semi-trailer truck affair. The PA’s sound engineering was on point (except in the far back) and the stage lighting was choreographed to accentuate the mood and tenor of the songs, creating displays that highlighted crescendos and emotions.
Another noticeable difference in the band’s performance was the depth of their catalog, allowing them to perform a crushingly emotional song-cycle. Frontman Ben Gibbard has always been a songwriter’s songwriter, and more than 10 years of crafting some of the most beloved melancholy indie-pop in the genre has built the band’s song collection into something deep and overwhelmingly powerful. All those years of touring (with basically the same lineup) has also allowed the band to become tighter than many of their peers. The members of Death Cab for Cutie have matured into consummate rock ‘n’ roll professionals.
Gibbard appeared more svelte than in past shows, performing with a relaxed air of assuredness. Highlights included the Los Angeles send-up “Why’d You Want to Live Here” and the dusted-off gem “Photobooth.” The coup de grace encore was delivered with two of their best songs, “A Movie Script Ending” and “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard’s mellifluous voice pulling at heartstrings like a blustery winter break-up.
Setlist:
The Employment Pages
Your Heart Is An Empty Room
The New Year
Why’d You Want to Live Here
President of What?
Crooked Teeth
Photobooth
Company Calls
Grapevine Fires
I Will Possess Your Heart
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Title and Registration
Cath
Long Division
The Sound of Settling
Soul Meets Body
Scientist Studies
Encore:
A Diamond and A Tether
A Movie Script Ending
Transatlanticism
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ACL line-up broken down by days, three-day passes sold out
To wit, in re: headliners and bigger bands:
Friday: Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Thievery Corp, Mos Def, Lilly Allen, Coheed and Cambria, Andrew Bird, Phoenix, Bassnectar, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Avett Brothers Reckless Kelly
Saturday: Dave Matthews Band, John Legend, The Levon Helm Band, Ghostland Observatory, the Decemberists, Flogging Molly, Citizen Cope, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9), Bon Iver, !!!, DeVotchka, The Scabs
Sunday: Pearl Jam, Ben Harper and Relentless7, the Dead Weather, Sonic Youth, Toadies, the B-52s, Arctic Monkeys, Clutch, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Girl Talk, Passion Pit, Heartless Bastards
Check it all out here
Perhaps not coincidentally, ACL folks also announced today that three-day passes are sold out. Single-day tickets are still available for $85 each.
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New Austin music venue
It’s the Amsterdam, a Euro-style club at the corner of West 8th and Colorado Streets. There’s a parking lot at 9th and Colorado that’s free after 5 p.m. Here’s the music schedule:
5.06.09 Rick Busby’s Songwriter Stage (6:00)
5.07.09 Jodi Adair & Shelley King (9:00)
5.08.09 Arthur Yoria (7:30), Mysterious Ways (10:00)
5.09.09 Katie Mariah (8:00), Dennis Welch (9:00) Francis Levoy (10 p.m.)
5.14.09 Nakia & Derek (9:00)
5.15.09 Earl Poole Ball, Casper Rawls (6:00), Driftwood Moon (9:00)
5.16.09 Jodi Adair (9:00)
5.21.09 Noëlle Hampton (9:00)
5.22.09 The Atlantics - Two Shows (9:00) (11:00)
5.23.09 John Neilson (9:00)
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Review: Jason Isbell at Antone’s Friday
Former Drive-By Trucker Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are aiming for that spot between Stax/Volt R&B and classic/Southern rock and they’re almost, almost there. Their new, self-titled CD is a much more cohesive work than “Sirens of the Ditch,” Isbell’s debut, which took years to put together between DBT duties. But both records are lacking something, and it’s frankly the brute force and brawl the Truckers gave Isbell’s often deeply melancholy — OK, kinda downright depressing — songs.
But a live band can pump it up, which the Unit did at Antone’s Friday night. “Soldiers Get Strange,” the opener, served as something of a statement of purpose and put the crowd on notice that these guys weren’t going to play tentatively. “Cigarettes and Wine,” another new one, swayed and soared with longing. Tunes like “Hurricanes and Hand Grenades” and “No Choice in the Matter,” it’s no exaggeration to say, are soul classics — I don’t care if the were written in this decade. At his best, Isbell writes songs that Ray Charles would have been pleased request be played at his funeral.
But let’s face it, lots of us were there to hear stuff Isbell first did with the Truckers, even “Dress Blues,” a song about an classmate of Isbell’s killed in the Iraq war that he woodshedded with his old band before going solo. And I always wanted to be one of those delerious fans in the crowd at the Truckers’ “Live at the 40 Watt” DVD (2005), hollering along to Isbell’s songs. And as it happens, I was standing next to this guy Hunter and his girlfriend Liz. Hunter said he was there for those recordings when he was all of 16. So when Isbell got around to “Outfit” and the closer, “Decoration Day,” we were screaming the words along with him, pumping fists, Hunter brandishing no fewer than three Shiner Bocks at one point. It seemed like Isbell’s way of saying: These were always my songs, and this is my band. And very soon we’ll be swinging for the fence.
“I have to say I’m always happy when I get to come to Austin and it’s not South By Southwest,” Isbell said. So are we.
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May is Latino Music Month!
May is Latino Music Month in Austin and the festivities kick off 7 p.m. tonight at the Gibson Guitar Showroom with the “Austin Music Mezcla” CD Release Party.
Expect live sets from Vallejo and Los Bad Apples. A $15 donation gets you entry, a CD and refreshments. Space is limited, so RSVP to AustinLatinoMusic@gmail.com.
Artists on the CD include Terremoto, Brownout, A.J. Castillo, Los Bad Apples, Alejandro Escovedo, Tortilla Factory and more. The CD should be available soon at Waterloo Records, Resistencia Bookstore & cdfuse.com.
There’s also a Cinco De Mayo Celebration 7 p.m. at Fiesta Gardens with AT Boyz, Da Crazy Pimps and Gary Hobbs, as well as gigs all over town.
That is, of course, the point of Latino Music Month. Austin is full of live Latin music every night of the week; this is a chance to highlight it. Go to the Austin Latino Music Association page for more information.
The month closes out, of course, with the Pachanga Latin Music Festival on May 30
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Review: Sugarland at Erwin Center
(Jennifer Nettles (left) and Kristian Bush of Sugarland perform Thursday at Frank Erwin Center. Photo by Thao Nguyen/AMERICAN-STATESMAN.)
Multi-instrumentalist Kristian Bush’s fedora foretold Thursday evening’s fortunes: Sugarland brought a different kind of hat act to the Frank Erwin Center. Call it thinking man’s mainstream country.
While other radio stars tap kegs for hits, the best moments on this Grammy-winning duo’s latest, “Love on the Inside” — nominated for a fistful of honors at next month’s CMT music awards — spike narrative arcs with unexpected turns. “The whole thing seems like Einstein’s dreams,” Jennifer Nettles sang, as the seven-piece band formed an intimate crescent moon for “Genevieve.” “See the smoke start to shiver. I’d do anything just to forget her.” Easily imagine credentialed folkies like the Indigo Girls, minus the spit-shined “na, na, na, na” refrains, turning that out.
“As a songwriter, you’ve gotta work three times as hard so it doesn’t come out like a (bad) country song,” Bush told us last week. “Sometimes you have to choose the writer-like reference — literary, pop culture, whatever — that not everybody’s gonna get.” Of course, shaking snake oil and roses and a fortuneteller’s son off a coffee-stained page (“We Run”) won’t jangle an arena’s rafters.
Explosive covers will. Sugarland’s spot-on reading of Pearl Jam’s “Better Man” and the ebullient encore B-52’s “Love Shack” — not to mention quick-takes on R.E.M.’s Nightswimming” and Madonna’s “Holiday” — provided easy highlights. (Let’s forgive Nettles’ hokey Kate Pierson impersonation.) Approval greeting the band’s own “Something More” nearly imploded the stage, thanks to a background video swooshing past local landmarks like Artz’s and the Horseshoe Lounge.
Shame they cut the scripted set at 90 minutes flat. It was far too short. Consider: There was no pinch-hitter for Eric Hutchinson, who dropped off the three-band bill on Wednesday. Exiting fans grumbled that Billy Currington, whose deeply soulful cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” killed, wasn’t enough. Next time, Sugarland, at least throw in that cover of “Life in a Northern Town” for good measure.
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Seeking Seeger: This fan is your fan
In a couple hours O. Henry 7th grader Richard Swafford will be off to New York City to attend Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden Sunday. A Seeger documentary by Swafford took second place in a regional youth competition and the budding filmmaker will be bringing his video camera to NY with the hopes of getting more interviews before the state contest.
Richard’s proud papa Robert, who’ll be also on the trip to NY, said his son has already interviewed Joan Baez, plus Emmylou Harris will sit for an interview Saturday. Who knows, maybe young Swafford will luck into an interview with the birthday “boy” himself.
Such Seeger fans as Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder will perform at the 90th birthday concert.
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Review: Peter Brotzmann at the Victory Grill
Epistrophy Arts, the Austin jazz and improvisational music production outfit, used to sell a t-shirt with Albert Ayler on it. The late legend of avant-garde jazz, who blended almost folky riffs with truly out there playing, was a symbol of the sort of music, spirit and energy the company wanted to bring to the River City.
But their real mascot, of you will, has been Peter Brotzmann, the German saxophonst who was one of the first post-Ayler players in Europe. Brotzmann, now 68, has played in Austin several times over Epistrophy Arts’ 11 year run. His wildly energetic style has traditionally emphasized power and abstraction, his timbre a withering honk with a muscular, signature vibrato.
This time around, Thursday night at Victory Grill, the don of European free jazz was paired with New York drummer Nasheet Waits and Texas bassist Eric Revis, the latter a frequent Branford Marsalis collaborator.
Starting on alto sax, Brotzmann opened with an aggressive flurry of notes, surging and pushing as Waits and Revis crashed into the piece.Victory Grill is an underrated room, the heavy curtain and wooden frame contain and almost massage the sound coming form the stage - the entire band lit it up. Waits’ drumming started frantic, a complex array of cymbal, snare and tom interaction; Revis was also responsive and pulsing, his runs finding purchase between the beats.
When Brotzmann would hit a more lyrical passage, it still sounded raw and umkempt, a grizzled sound that he would build up to a faster run. Waits’ drums would occasionally take a slightly martial cast, his rapid snare leading the section’s charge.
I have always been as fond of Brotzmann’s clarinet work as his sax playing. While it retains the energy of his signature instrument, the clarinet, with its Eastern European feel and association with klezmer, brings out Brotzmann’s more pastoral (and, lets’ face it, accessible) side.
His switch to clarinet kep his vibrator intact while introducing almost Middle Eastern tones. He still hit furious flurries, but these were smaller sounds al lthree player were making, tiny notes that, rushing together, almost recalled the complicated European electronic music of Autechre or Aphex Twin.
But Waits was able to find the tonal sweet spot between John Bonham thump and lighter fare, moving back and forth between brushes and mallets to find a rolling groove that emphasized the waves Brotzmann and Revis trafficked in. Revis seems like an unassuming player, which made the almost distorted energy of his bowed work a distinct surprise. It was an evening of clear, complicated communication between the old world and the new and - with Epistrophy Arts organizer Pedro Moreno taking the next year off to reorganize - a find close to E.A.’s season.
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