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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > November
November 2009
Rodney Crowell to deliver Austin Songwriter keynote
Houston native Rodney Crowell will perform and address the 6th annual Austin Songwriters Symposium Jan 29 - 31, 2010 at the Wyndom Hotel (3401 South I-35, Austin). Go here for more information.
If you are interested in a 20 minute showcase, the application is also on the website.
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2009 HAAM Benefit raises over $150,000
The numbers are in, and they’re impressive: the Health Alliance For Austin Musicians announced today that the fourth annual HAAM Benefit Day, held Sept. 22, raised $164,000 from participating businesses, individual donations and a $25,000 grant from the Topfer Family Foundation. Presenting sponsor Whole Foods Market joined 170 large and small businesses in pledging 5 percent of proceeds from the day or made cash donations. Last year’s benefit day raised $150,000.
The nonprofit organization, which provides medical, dental and mental health care services to member musicians, also announced that HAAM Benefit Day 2010 will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 21. The HAAM Benefit Day Committee also has a new chairman — Keith Carmichael, president of the Austin office of Dallas-based insurance firm McQueary Henry Bowles Troy LLP.
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Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard to channel Kerouac at Antone’s
Fresh off a visit to Antone’s just two weeks ago, Son Volt’s Jay Farrar will be returning alongside Death Cab for Cutie front man and Mr. Zooey Deschanel Ben Gibbard Jan. 27.
The pair will be performing music from “One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Music From Kerouac’s Big Sur,” a collaborative album that utilizes snippets of prose from seminal beat writer Jack Kerouac’s “Big Sur,” pairing the influential novel’s writing with acoustic arrangements. The album accompanies a documentary film under the same name by Curt Worden.
Tickets go on sale from C3 Presents and Front Gate Tickets Saturday (Dec. 5).
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Norah Jones to play Stubb’s May 1
The 36-city Norah Jones tour featuring old songs as well as material from new album “The Fall” has a stop in Austin. The itinerary lists Stubb’s on May 1.
Ticketing information is available here.
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Spoon releases cover art for “Transference”
With a new Spoon album getting tantalizingly close — Jan. 19, to be specific — the details are starting to fly fast and furious on the latest release from one of the most beloved bands to ever call Austin home. Today music blog Stereogum premiered the covert art for “Transference,” the band’s seventh full-length.
The band famously employed a shot by Ugo Mulas for 2007’s “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga,” and stick with the theme for “Transference,” with a 1970 photograph from American lensman William Eggleston getting the cover nod.
Single “Written In Reverse” is out digitally tomorrow, Dec. 1, with the 7-inch vinyl dropping Jan. 5.
Update: “Written In Reverse” is now streaming on NPR, which liked the single enough to predict that “Transference” might be “Spoon’s best record yet,” surely a lofty statement if ever there were one.
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‘The party never ends…’ REK’s NYE gig
Darren Carroll FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Local fave Robert Earl Keen will be rocking the Austin Music Hall on New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31. Keen will be supporting his new album ‘The Rose Hotel,’ and, naturally, long roads and neverending parties. Randy Rogers Band, Wade Bowen and Band of Heathens will open.
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Bess Lomax Hawes 1921- 2009
Bess Hawes, the youngest child of legendary University of Texas folklorist John A. Lomax, passed away Friday in Portland, Ore. She was 88.
A former member of the Almanac Singers, with Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and her husband Butch Hawes, Bess Lomax Hawes was born in Austin on Jan. 21, 1921 and spent her childhood at the family home on West 26th Street. She often accompanied her father and brother Alan on folk song-collecting trips in the south.
Throughout her life, she carried on her father’s work, tirelessly teaching traditional folk music at festivals, schools, and universities. In the ’70s and ’80s, she directed the Folk and Traditional Arts Program for the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 1993, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.
Hawes attended the University of Texas for two years, but graduated from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.
She is survived by her three children, Corey Denos of Bellingham, Wash,, Naomi Bishop and Nicholas Hawes of Portland, Ore., and by six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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Daren Hess not clowning around on solo debut
For the past 11 years, Daren Hess has played drums for James McMurtry, but it was former Faces bassist Ronnie Lane, living in Austin in the ’80s, who helped establish Hess as one of the more musical drummers in town. Lane tapped a relatively green Hess to play in his band in 1987. Dan Stuart of Green On Red heard Hess play with Lane at the Continental one night and recruited him for a European tour and Hess, nicknamed “Clownie” by his former Loose Diamonds bandmates, has been steadily working ever since.
It’s fitting that Clownie, Hess’ singing alterego, ends his first solo album with Lane’s “April Fool.” His voice is unsteady at times, but Hess taps into the essence of the song’s nostalgic gauze. There’s a daydreamy quality to most of the layered songs on “What’s Left To Do?”, as Hess comes off as the disenfranchised son of a Beach Boy.
Though Clownie is on a mission of expression, this is not the usual self-indulgent sideman solo project, but more of a band record, with Jon Dee Graham’s screaming guitar leading the way. A former member of Poi Dog Pondering and the Silos, Hess pulls from past associations to collaborate with Bruce Hughes, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, JD Foster, Carey Bowman and more to make a record that sounds like it cost more than it probably did.
If you want to sample a couple songs, start with the title track in the third slot and let it go from there.
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Sunday reading: Mark Rubin interview
Self-proclaimed “opinionated loudmouth” Mark Rubin is one of the most creative standup bass players anywhere. In this very interesting article by the Steam Powered Preservation Society electronic archives, Rubin talks about the Bad Livers’ legacy, his recent shoulder injury suffered while lifting his bass over a subway turnstile and his unique (to Oklahoma) Jewish upbringing.
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Twang Twang reunites for record reissue shows
Although David Garza, Chris Searles and Jeff Haley played together as Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom for only 10 months in 1989-1990, they were incredibly successful- and polarizing. You either loved Twang Twang or you were already out of college.
The band’s first cassette “Me So Twangy” has been remastered and it’s set to be released on CD and online Tuesday Dec. 8.
To celebrate, the trio will play a free show Dec. 9 at Farmer’s Market at the Triangle from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Then the band will play more intimate shows (un-free) at their old home, Cactus Café on Dec 11 & 12.
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Something to be thankful for: new albums from Austin luminaries
If you need something more to be thankful for today, maybe this will do: two very different but very beloved artists will be releasing new albums in 2010.
First out of the gate will be country and bluegrass master Patty Griffin, whose “Downtown Church” will be out on EMI Jan. 26. The new, gospel-inspired album was produced by Buddy Miller and recorded in the titular Downtown Presbyterian Church on 5th Ave. N. in Nashville, Tenn. Emmylou Harris, Raul Malo and Shawn Colvin, among others, will contribute vocals.
Following that will be the Feb. 23 release of “The Golden Archipelago” from sweeping indie rock group Shearwater. The album is the third in a trilogy consisting of 2006’s “Palo Santo” and 2008’s highly acclaimed “Rook.” Front man Jonathan Meiburg says the new album will deal heavily with the theme of islands — both literal and metaphorical. Few are more qualified to discuss the subject than the globetrotting Meiburg, whose experience as a researcher has taken him from the Falklands to the Galapagos to Madagascar, among others. Peep the enigmatic, cinematic teaser trailer for the album below.
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Beauty Bar and Beerland offer Thanksgiving eve respites
Recent transplant to Austin? Too broke — or busy — to fly back home over the Thanksgiving holiday? Or maybe you’ve got the opposite problem, and you really just need to steal away from your family for a while?
Fear not, because the Beauty Bar and Beerland have you covered. The former, 617 E. Seventh St., will offer free Lone Star and free fried turkey this evening starting at 9 p.m., with a set from DJ Mike Byers, according to the hot spot’s Twitter. Meanwhile, Beerland, 711 Red River St., will be hosting its first “Love and a 45” tonight. The ongoing series, usually hosted by Rio Rita, allows bar patrons to bring and spin their own 7-inch vinyls. The event benefits Blue Santa, so bring an unopened toy along if you go out.
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Neon Indian takes on Grizzly Bear
Austin’s own Neon Indian looks more like the city’s next big breakout indie smash every day.
The chill, synthesizer-driven electropop project from 21-year-old composer Alan Palomo has steadily gathered buzz since the release of debut album “Psychic Chasms” earlier this fall. Now, Palomo has completed a veritable right of passage for any aspiring hipster next big thing, with two remixes of a song from one of those up-and-coming Brooklyn bands you’re always hearing about — in this case, “Cheerleader,” by Grizzly Bear.
Pitchfork, which has something of a fondness for Mr. Palomo, put the tracks up this afternoon. With their inescapable beats, they’re intriguing takes on the Grizzly Bear original, tailor-made for late-night house parties and kitchen dancing. Worth your time.
Neon Indian plays Stubb’s inside Friday night (Nov. 27), with Tunnels and Tigercity.
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Pinetop Perkins finishes album at age 96
Legendary blues pianist Pinetop Perkins just wrapped up an album for Chicago’s Telarc label with his former Muddy Waters Band mate Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. “Joined At the Hip” is scheduled to come out in April, three months before Perkins, who’s lived in Austin five years, turns 97. The album, produced by Michael Freeman, was recorded in Chicago and finished up at Wire Recording on South Lamar.
The oldest living original Mississippi Delta bluesman, Pinetop Perkins performs tonight at 8 p.m. at Antone’s.
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Weekend picks: The holiday edition
THURSDAY
The Scabs, Uncle Lucious at Antone’s. Bob Schneider’s dirty funk band slayed at ACL Fest and now they’re cooking at home. What better way to dance yer feast off? But make sure you come early to see Uncle Lucious, one of the best new rock bands in Texas. They play thinking man’s Southern rock, putting some consideration into the groove. $18. 10 p.m.— Michael Corcoran
Also recommended:
- Jesse Dayton at the Broken Spoke
- T-Bird and the Breaks at Momo’s
- Wayne Hancock at the Continental
- Two Hoots and a Holler at Trophys
FRIDAY
Neon Indian at Stubb’s (inside). Psychedelic synth pop outfit Neon Indian, brainchild of musical multitasker Alan Palomo (he also fronts the rising group Vega), broke out this year with their acclaimed debut, ‘Psychic Chasms.’ The band excels at merging spacy samples with pop hooks, walking fine line between abstract and accessible. With Tunnels and Tiger City. $10. 9 p.m. 801 Red River St. stubbsaustin.com — Peter Mongillo
Also recommended:
- J. Tillman, Pearly Gate Music at the Mohawk (outside) (Read interview)
- A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Moth!Fight!, Fach Idiot at the Ghost Room
- Alejandro Escovedo, Greyhounds at the Continental Club
- Real Estate at the Mohawk (inside)
- Gary Clark Jr. at Antone’s
- Peligrosa All-Stars at the Parish
- Band of Heathens, Brian Keane at Momo’s
- Jeff Lofton Quintet at the Elephant Room
SATURDAY
Mega Buzz at the Travis County Exposition Center. Rave culture is alive and well this Thanksgiving weekend. Twelve hours of dance music starts at 6 p.m. With acts such as Glitch Mob, Q-Bert, Wildchild, Filo and Peri, Rusko and a massive collection of Texas artists including Adam Warped, Cilly C, Nathan Swift and many, many more. Look for lots of tribal tattoos, go-go dancers, tribal drum circles, live art installations and, yes, stilt walkers. 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. $50. (VIP tickets: $70 to $100.) 7311 Decker Lane. massiveintent.com. — Joe Gross
Also recommended:
- Marduk at Red 7
- Cursive at the Mohawk
- the Skatalites at Flamingo Cantina
- Chris Gates and Gatesville at Beerland
- Baby Robots at the Parlor
- Alejandro Escovedo at the Continental Club
SUNDAY
Cafe Tacuba at La Zona Rosa.This Mexico City art rock band — imagine Elvis Costello fronting Los Tigres del Norte — is on a 20th anniversary tour. That’s two decades of erasing borders, two decades of snarling and swirling. Live, this four-piece is out of this world. 9 p.m. $30- $35 612 W. Fourth St. lazonarosa.com. — M.C.
Also recommended:
- El Tule at Central Market North
- Heybale at the Continental Club
- Alesana at Emo’s
- Jenny and the Corn Ponies at the Parlour North Loop
- Jon Dee Graham at the Continental Gallery
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CD review: KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17
KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 17
Grade: A
Two troubadours — a grinning, shaggy Steve Earle and rising star Hayes Carll — front the cover of KGSR Broadcasts this year (the CD is out Friday, Nov. 27. Check here for retail locations). The contrast between elder statesman of alt-country and beaming, youthful next big thing so adeptly sums up the beauty of the series that one has to wonder if it was specifically chosen as a raison d’etre for Broadcasts as the series enters a period of change.
That ethos of mixing the best of established talent with fresh-faced up-and-comers is particularly pronounced on volume 17, a skillfully curated, two-disc assemblage of 40 live, largely acoustic cuts that offers the single best value in Austin music. Station tastemaker Jody Denberg might be leaving — for now — but he’s gone out with another solid entry of the series that’s become an Austin tradition.
Unsurprisingly, the bread-and-butter artists that serve as the cornerstone of KGSR’s playlist are well-represented. There are recent songs from staple artists, such as an impassioned, rapidly delivered “40 Dogs (Like Romeo and Juliet)” from Bob Schneider, or a surprisingly funky rendition of Fastball”s “Little White Lies,” with a jumpy bass line that tops the original album version.
But the real treat is the album’s surprising emphasis on collecting some of the station’s most beloved and most played vintage cuts. From Alejandro Escovedo’s “Velvet Guitar” to Todd Snider’s satirical “The Ballad of the Kingsmen,” volume 17 is heavy on energetic new versions of some of the station’s most reliable tunes. Tori Amos’ “Silent All These Years” stings with aching vulnerability, while a naked “Ft. Worth Blues” from Steve Earle makes for a powerful closer.
Lest anyone think newcomers are neglected, though, volume 17 also has plenty to please those looking for something a little more fresh — folk prodigy Sarah Jarosz’s “Song Up In Her Head” is a disc two highlight, and Andrew Bird’s “Fitz and Dizzyspells” showcases the indie rocker at his whistling best. The hipster crowd will appreciate a haunting, spare rendition of Spoon’s “Black Like Me.” Altogether, volume 17 hits a challenging balance between guaranteed crowd-pleasers and the intriguing new material that helps keep the station vibrant.
It’s hard to say how the series — and station — might change in the wake of Denberg’s departure. It’s tempting to say he should have gotten the cover nod. But his pending leave offers a good chance to take stock of everything Broadcasts has accomplished in 17 years: millions raised for the Sims Foundation and dozens of discs with hundreds of hours of the very best in music from artists all over the world. And all of it for only $15 a year.
All in all, not too shabby. Take a bow, Broadcasts.
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Oscar nod for Ryan Bingham?
The Scott Cooper film “Crazy Heart,” about a washed-up singer-songwriter, was supposed to come out in early 2010, but because Jeff Bridges’ performance has been deemed Oscar-worthy by the studio, it’s hitting select screens Dec. 16 in order to become eligible this year. Ryan Bingham, who destroyed La Zona Rosa Wednesday with his great Dead Horses band, might get a nomination for this song, which he wrote for the film.
The Johnny Depp lookalike also plays a small part in the film.
Also, to get you in the mood, here’s the recent performance by Bingham and the Dead Horses on David Letterman’s show:
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SXSW announces 230 showcasing artists for 2010 festival
Hot on the heels of last week’s announcement of the first six bands to play the South By Southwest Music Festival, the organizers have released a list of 230 showcasing artists who will be rocking the 2010 get-together from March 17-21. Further additions to the lineup will be announced as the festival draws closer — more than 1700 bands in total played SXSW this year.
As with the Christmas season, SXSW lineup announcements seem to arrive earlier and earlier every year. This 200-plus barrage is heavy with obscure names, peppered with the occasional proven indie smash like Brookyln, NY’s We Are Scientists, Vancouver, BC’s Japandroids or Asbury Park, NJ’s Nicole Atkins. The slew of announced showcasing artists also further establishes SXSW’s cred as an international gathering place for musical talent, with acts hailing from locations as disparate as Iceland, Brazil, New Zealand, South Korea and even Iran.
Lest anyone accuse the festival of neglecting its roots, however — itself something of an annual tradition — the list also covers several notable locals, including the Black, Pink Nasty, Yellow Fever, Harlem, Nakia and His Southern Cousins, the Riverboat Gamblers, Alpha Rev and Suzanna Choffel. Perhaps most intriguingly, beloved psychedelic pop rockers Sixteen Deluxe — who rocked the city throughout the 90s and were recently named one of the best bands you’ve never heard of by Spin — will apparently be reuniting for the festival.
Take a full look at all 230 artists after the jump.
Aa (Brooklyn NY)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO (Osaka JAPAN)
A Classic Education (Bologna ITALY)
Alpha Rev (Austin TX)
Amaral (Madrid SPAIN)
And So I Watch You From Afar (Belfast IRELAND)
Apostle of Hustle (Toronto ON)
Arms (Brooklyn NY)
Ólöf Arnalds (Reykjavik ICELAND)
Art vs Science (Surry Hills NSW)
A Shoreline Dream (Denver CO)
Nicole Atkins and The Black Sea (Asbury Park NJ)
Autumn Owls (Dublin IRELAND)
Bare Wires (Oakland CA)
Julian Berntzen (Bergen NORWAY)
Best Fwends (Austin TX)
The Black (Austin TX)
The Black Atlantic (Groningen THE NETHERLANDS)
Dan Black (Paris FRANCE)
Black Tide (Miami FL)
Bliss N Eso (Albert Park VIC)
Boom Boom Satellites (JAPAN)
The Boxer Rebellion (London UK-ENGLAND)
Break of Reality (New York NY)
B-Real of Cypress Hill (Los Angeles CA)
Broadway Calls (Rainer OR)
Broken Records (Edinburgh UK-SCOTLAND)
VV BROWN (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Brunettes (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Buckshot (Brooklyn NY)
Canja Rave (Porto Alegre BRAZIL)
Capsula (Bilbao SPAIN)
Carsick Cars (Beijing CHINA)
Caucus (Tokyo JAPAN)
The Chevelles (Melville WA)
Chew Lips (London UK-ENGLAND)
Suzanna Choffel (Austin TX)
Chris T-T (Brighton UK-ENGLAND)
C-Mon & Kypski (THE NETHERLANDS)
The Coathangers (Atlanta GA)
Simon Collins (Victoria BC)
The Constellations (Atlanta GA)
Contra Coup (Austin TX)
Cotton Jones (Cumberland MD)
The Crystal Method (Los Angeles CA)
David Dallas (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Dappled Cities (Sydney NSW)
Daveman (Berlin GERMANY)
The Daylights (Los Angeles CA)
The dB’s (Chapel Hill NC)
Dead Sexy Inc (Paris FRANCE)
The Deaf (The Hague THE NETHERLANDS)
Deer Tick (Providence RI)
Delhi 2 Dublin (Vancouver BC)
Paul Dempsey (from “Something for Kate”) (Melbourne NSW)
Diplomats of Solid Sound (Iowa City IA)
DJ Car Stereo (Wars) (Austin TX)
DJ Evil Dee (Brooklyn NY)
DJ Revolution (Los Angeles CA)
Daniel Francis Doyle (Austin TX)
Adiam Dymott (Goteborg SWEDEN)
The 88 (Los Angeles CA)
Electric Electric (Strasbourg FRANCE)
Val Emmich (Jersey City NJ)
Eternia (Toronto ON)
Everything Everything (Manchester UK-WALES)
Fanfarlo (London UK-ENGLAND)
Michael Feinberg (New York NY)
Fergus & Geronimo (Westway TX)
Fighting With Wire (Derry IRELAND)
FINALE (Detroit MI)
Floating Action (Asheville NC)
Francis (Borlange SWEDEN)
Robert Francis (Los Angeles CA)
Frightened Rabbit (Selkirk UK-SCOTLAND)
The Funeral Pyre (Los Angeles CA)
The Ganjas (Santiago CHILE)
Geeks (Tokyo JAPAN)
Gerald G (Austin TX)
Colin Gilmore (Austin TX)
Giulia y los Tellarini (Barcelona SPAIN)
Rosi Golan (New York NY)
Gong Myoung (Seoul KOREA)
Goober and the Peas (Detroit MI)
Good Shoes (London UK-ENGLAND)
Guitar Shorty (Harlingen TX)
Ha Ha Tonka (Springfield MO)
Halves (Dublin IRELAND)
Darren Hanlon (Sydney NSW)
Harlem (Austin TX)
Headdress (Austin TX)
Hey Colossus (London UK-ENGLAND)
Robyn Hitchcock (London CA)
Hot Panda (Edmonton AB)
The Hounds Below (Detroit MI)
I Fight Dragons (Chicago IL)
The Intelligence (Seattle WA)
Ivan & Alyosha (Seattle WA)
Japandroids (Vancouver BC)
Jazz One (Austin TX)
Stephen Jerzak (La Crosse WI)
John Dear Mowing Club (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
The Jim Jones Revue (London UK-ENGLAND)
Jookabox (Indianapolis IN)
Julia Says (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Karnivool (Perth WA)
Kartick & Gotam (Chennai INDIA)
Kidz In Space (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Kidz In The Hall (Chicago IL)
Kingston (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Maurice Kirya (Kampala ZIMBABWE)
The Kissaway Trail (Odense DENMARK)
L.A.B. (Novo Hamburgo BRAZIL)
The Law (Dundee UK-SCOTLAND)
Vander Lee (Belo Horizonte BRAZIL)
Unni Lovlid (Oslo NORWAY)
Lowood (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Audra Mae (Los Angeles CA)
Malente (Essen GERMANY)
Natalia Mallo (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Mantles (San Francisco CA)
Julia Marcell (Berlin GERMANY)
Marco Polo & Torae (Brooklyn NY)
Mariachi El Bronx (Los Angeles CA)
Carolyn Mark (Victoria BC)
Maruosa (Tokyo JAPAN)
MegaRex (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
The Middle East (Townsville QLD)
Middle Finger Salute (Blackburn UK-ENGLAND)
Miniature Tigers (Phoenix AZ)
Mixtapes & Cellmates (Stockholm SWEDEN)
Monarchs (Austin TX)
Michael Monroe (Helsinki FINLAND)
PJ Morton (Conyers GA)
Mountain Man (Bennington VT)
Movits! (Lulea SWEDEN)
Moxine (Sao Paulo BRAZIL)
Mr Sicc (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Mumiy Troll (Los Angeles CA)
My Dad is Dead (Chapel Hill NC)
Nailpin (Boom BELGIUM)
Nakia & His Southern Cousins (Austin TX)
NiCad (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
9th Wonder (Raleigh-Durham NC)
The Novas (Dallas TX)
Jackie Oates (Exeter UK-ENGLAND)
One Night Only (Helmsley UK-ENGLAND)
1001 Nights Orchestra (Austin TX)
The Pack A.D. (Vancouver BC)
Paleo (Brooklyn NY)
Parlovr (Montreal QC)
Past Lives (Seattle WA)
The Peelies (Montreal QC)
Julie Peel (Montreal QC)
Mandi Perkins (Los Angeles CA)
Peter Wolf Crier (Minneapolis MN)
Pink Nasty (Austin TX)
Pivot (UK) (UK-ENGLAND)
P.K. 14 (Beijing CHINA)
Plants and Animals (Montreal QC)
Please The Trees (Prague CZECH REPUBLIC)
Steve Poltz (San Diego CA)
Andy Pratt (Amesbury MA)
Sean Price (Brooklyn NY)
Princeton (Eagle Rock CA)
Profetas (COLOMBIA)
Psalm One (Chicago IL)
Quantic and his Combo Barbaro (Cali COLOMBIA)
Random Axe (Brooklyn NY)
Rebelle (Den Haag THE NETHERLANDS)
Red Mass (Montreal QC)
Tommy Reilly (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Riverboat Gamblers (Austin TX)
The River Raid (Recife BRAZIL)
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (Brooklyn NY)
Brisa Roche (Paris FRANCE)
Rock of Heltah Skeltah (Brooklyn NY)
Rogues (London UK-ENGLAND)
Ruste Juxx (Brooklyn NY)
San Saba County (Austin TX)
Scanners (London UK-ENGLAND)
Kate Schutt (Guelph ON)
Serious Sam Barrett (Leeds UK-ENGLAND)
Shit And Shine (London UK-ENGLAND)
Sixteen Deluxe (Austin TX)
Skyzoo (Brooklyn NY)
Small Black (Brooklyn NY)
Smif N Wessun (Brooklyn NY)
Smoosh (Seattle WA)
So Cow (Tuam IRELAND)
Solid Gold (Minneapolis MN)
Soulico (Tel Aviv ISRAEL)
So What (The Hague THE NETHERLANDS)
The Spring Standards (New York NY)
Sabrina Starke (Amsterdam THE NETHERLANDS)
Steel Train (Teaneck NJ)
StereoHeroes (Les Gorguettes FRANCE)
Surrounded (Malmo SWEDEN)
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (Seattle WA)
M. Takara 3 (Guarulhos BRAZIL)
Team Facelift (New York NY)
Thunder Power (Omaha NE)
Timber Timbre (Toronto ON)
Todd (London UK-ENGLAND)
Marques Toliver (London UK-ENGLAND)
Toolshed (London ON)
Trembling Bells (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Trespassers William (Seattle WA)
Twin Atlantic (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Two Star Symphony (Houston TX)
Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights (Dallas TX)
The Uglysuit (Oklahoma City OK)
Uncle Lucius (Austin TX)
The View (Dundee UK-SCOTLAND)
Volovan (Monterrey MEXICO)
Waco Brothers (Chicago IL)
Miho Wada (Auckland NEW ZEALAND)
Warpaint (Los Angeles CA)
Wave Machines (Liverpool UK-ENGLAND)
The Wave Pictures (London UK-ENGLAND)
We Are Scientists (New York NY)
We Are Wolves (Montreal QC)
Withered (Atlanta GA)
Wolf Gang (London UK-ENGLAND)
Woot (The Haque THE NETHERLANDS)
XV (Wichita KS)
The Yellow Dogs (Tehran IRAN)
YellowFever (Austin TX)
Zlam Dunk (San Marcos TX)
Zona Tango (Buenos Aires ARGENTINA)
Permalink | Comments (17) | Post your comment Categories: SXSW, SXSW 2010
Live review: Lyle Lovett at Bass Concert Hall
In an interview in June Lyle Lovett mused on the tendency of critics, music industry types and even some fans to label him a country artist, when there’s really no accurate categorization for the stylistically borderless music the Houston native creates.
“I guess it’s because sometimes I wear a cowboy hat in pictures,” Lovett wryly answered of this reporter’s question. Maybe, but after seeing Lovett put on a stellar clinic of mid-20th century song Monday at Bass Concert Hall another theory emerges; better than any artist out there today Lovett takes styles from bop jazz to gospel, R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll (and at least a half dozen others) and refracts them through a prism of Texas plains country music twang, enhancing it all in the process.
Written out that sounds terribly dry and academic, but the other key to Lovett’s three decades of success is the enthusiasm and appreciation for all music that flows from his weathered, crisp croon and made every note in the 2 1/2-hour performance crackle with energy.
Starting the night in a quartet setup for “Sun And Moon And Stars,” Lovett’s accompaniment grew to the full 10 piece strength of The Large band after a cover of Eric Taylor’s “Whooping Crane” and transition into “Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel” and its sophomoric use of the line “choke my chicken.”
“The lights kicked up on that last one and, looking out at you all, I see you’re respectable looking folks and there’s no need for what we did on that last song,” Lovett jokingly apologized at song’s end. Monday’s show featured plenty of asides with the crowd between songs, focusing on everything from shows and performers in Austin that influenced Lovett (Don Sanders, Ry Cooder, Uncle Walt’s Band, Robert Earl Keen among them) to a theory on why male bluegrass quartets never last long (“You’ve got four guys singing around a microphone with their mouths really close together. Kinda tells you something about the ones that stay together.”)
The songs, though, were the focal point and the versatility of Lovett and the Large Band made it hard to pick out highlights. “I Will Rise Up/Ain’t No More Cane” was simply powerful thanks to help from a quartet of L.A. by way of Detroit backup singers, “L.A. County” and “If I Had A Boat” were vibrant studies in painting pictures through word economy, and a cover of jazz standard “Baby It’s Cold Outside” found Lovett abandoning any trace of country thanks to guest vocalist and Austinite, Kat Edmonson.
Throughout the night Lovett recognized his musicians after solo takes, often thanking them for close to 30 years of musical partnership. Those were the individual members’ chances to get some spotlight on them, but on rousing numbers such as “Up In Indiana” or the show-closing spiritual “Church” it was the collective energy of the whole band combined with Lovett’s special musical alchemy that gave them the best chance to shine.
Not a note wasted. Not a phrase out of place. Just about perfect.
Set list: “Sun And Moon And Stars,” “Whooping Crane,” “Farmer Brown/Chicken Reel,” “It’s Rock And Roll” (w/ Lance Armstrong), “Here I Am,” “I Will Rise Up/Ain’t No More Cane,” “Penguins,” “Cute As A Bug,” “Empty Blue Shoes,” “Bohemia,” “No Big Deal,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside” (w/ Kat Edmonson), “The Truck Song,” “L.A. County,” “Natural Forces,” “Loretta,” “Pantry,” “Up In Indiana,” “If I Had A Boat,” “I’ve Been To Memphis,” “My Baby Don’t Tolerate,” “That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas),” “Ain’t No More Cane (reprise),” “What Do You Do,” “Church”
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CD review: Susan Boyle ‘I Dreamed a Dream’
Susan Boyle
‘I Dreamed a Dream’
(Sony)
Grade: C
The half-year since Susan Boyle’s “Britain’s Got Talent” debut has been a painful one for the fans who turned that Internet video into a worldwide phenomenon. Would Boyle fall apart under the pressure of instant fame? Would Simon Cowell and company give the Everywoman such a polish she’d no longer be recognizable?
It’s hard to imagine many of that group will be disappointed with “I Dreamed a Dream,” which comes close to delivering what’s expected and was clearly made by people who knew better than to try to change the singer’s style. But the record isn’t nearly as good as it might have been, and its sometimes monotonous vibe won’t persuade many listeners who aren’t already in the fan club.
Though it showcases the pretty side of Boyle’s voice, occasionally even letting her be playful (the whisper and croon of “Cry Me a River,” for instance), “Dream” is surprisingly short on power. Yes, the stirring title track is here, and Boyle displays some convincing pop expressiveness on “Proud,” but elsewhere it’s as if she and producer Steve Mac are holding back. Mac doesn’t help matters when, bizarrely, he lets Boyle get lost among the backup choir in “Amazing Grace” and pushes the synths full tilt just as she’s working her hardest to sell the Madonna cover “You’ll See.”
Some strange choices turn out nicely — Boyle certainly makes the Stones’ “Wild Horses” her own — but what’s with the 5 mph take on “Daydream Believer” that makes the song sound like a breakup ballad?
A more earthy production would have gone a long way here, but the slick shimmer does work for “Silent Night.” (Just try to avoid that one in the month to come.) Maybe now that the overnight sensation has delivered a record that doesn’t break the hearts of the faithful, next time around she can let herself go just a bit.
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Tour, record dates from Spoon, Reckless Kelly
Spoon, which will release a new record on Jan. 26, has announced the first dates of its 2010 tour, which is sure to include more than one Austin stop. Get your passports ready:
SPOON February 2010:
14 Glasgow @ King Tut’s
15 Manchester @ Academy 3
16 London @ Electric Ballroom
18 Amsterdam @ Paradiso
19 Cologne @ Luxor
20 Berlin @ Frannz Club
And Reckless Kelly announced its next record, “Somewhere in Time,” will be out Feb. 9. Hear the first single, “Best Forever Yet,” here.
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CD review: Rihanna ‘Rated R’
‘Rated R’
(Def Jam)
Grade: A-
There is no way to review Rihanna’s new album “Rated R” without mentioning Chris Brown. After what happened earlier this year, their relationship is the proverbial elephant in the room.
The lead single “Russian Roulette” (“Know that I must pass this test / So just pull the trigger”) and its dark metaphor for love? The anthemic songs about how great she is on her own and the reflective ballads about lost love that every R&B album has? While she rarely explicitly mentions their relationship, almost everything about “Rated R” could be plausibly interpreted to be about Brown in some way.
It’s unfortunate, because “Rated R” should be judged on its own merits. Rihanna has become one of the most consistent hit-makers in pop music, and this album continues that trend. Five or six songs easily could be top 10 singles - from the Jeezy- and Slash-assisted club smashes (“Hard,” “Rockstar 101”) to the slower ballads (“Fire Bomb” and “Te Amo”) and songs that ably mix both styles (“Photographs” and “Wait Your Turn”).
Almost every one of the album’s 12 songs has a strong, memorable and catchy chorus. A superstar group of producers and songwriters - headlined by StarGate, the team behind “So Sick” and “Unfaithful” - give Rihanna a varied musical backdrop (from slow pianos to R&B tinged guitars and electronic club music) that still fits together cohesively. This allows Rihanna to stretch herself as a singer like she never has before.
“Rated R” should only further establish Rihanna as one of music’s pre-eminent superstars. And as for Chris Brown, maybe that’s the only message she needs to send — success is still the best revenge.
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Review: Daniel Johnston at St. David’s
“Well, that’s all I’ve got for now,” Daniel Johnston mumbled about 20 minutes into his show Friday night at St. David’s Episcopal Church. He had just rambled through three songs on his acoustic guitar, pounding Diet Cokes and obsessively flipping through his lyrics book in between. The 125 or so people in attendance, who were no doubt there just as much to see the idiosyncratic pop-song machine as they were to hear him, had their first awkwardness-as-comedy moment of an intimate set filled with many of them. I know I wasn’t the only one thinking, is it really all over?
Nope. It was just the end of the solo stuff. Roots cover band Strings Attached, who had backed Johnston on opener “Living Life” — wherein Johnston, fists balled, down at his sides, twitched as intensely as Joe Cocker at Woodstock as he sang, “Living, living, living, living, living, living, living, living life” — rejoined him for an hour’s worth of rhyming couplets mostly about girls, ghosts, dreams and death.
They kicked off things with “Mind Movies” and “High Horse,” from Johnston’s glossy new album “Is and Always Was,” which was produced by Beck collaborator Jason Falkner. It was a smart idea to have a backing band for Johnston so he could concentrate solely on singing, but I’m not sure Strings Attached was the best fit — unless, of course, Johnston wanted to convey the subtle country vibe created by Strings’ mandolin and violin flourishes.
In between golden oldies “Speeding Motorcycle” and “Life in Vain,” Johnston, having finally warmed to the crowd, told a joke. “I had a dream,” he said, “that this guy was sentenced to death for suicide — and it was me, in the back of the courtroom, going, ‘No, no.’” Johnston rode the momentum of the laughs it generated and played two more songs from the new album, “Tears” and “Freedom” (originally titled “Freedoom,” he said), before calling for an impromptu intermission.
Upon return, Johnston and Strings played “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, after which Johnston said, “I have a special Christmas gift for you all.” And with that, he sang a warm and fuzzy version of “True Love Will Find You in the End.” A standing ovation ensued. As Will Taylor of Strings introduced his players over the thunderous clapping, Johnston grabbed his guitar and remaining Diet Cokes, and split for his dressing room.
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Jody Denberg’s final Sunday set list
Jody Denberg has been on the air Sundays in Austin for 29 years, first as a 21-year-old hosting ‘Critic’s Choice’ on KLBJ-FM. The last few years he’s hosted a three-hour program on Sunday mornings on KGSR, playing whatever he felt like. This Sunday morning show was his last, for at least a year. In this case, a playlist is worth a thousand words:
Lisa Germano - ‘On The Way Down From The Moon Palace’
Sparklehorse - ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
Jackson Browne - ‘My Opening Farewell’
The Rolling Stones - ‘Slipping Away’
Nick Drake - ‘Clothes Of Sand’
The Band - ‘Unfaithful Servant’
Fleet Foxes - ‘Sun It Rises’
Abigail Washburn - ‘What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?’
Odetta - ‘Listening To Old Voices’
Bob Marley - ‘Give Thanks & Praises’
Lyle Lovett - ‘Flyin’ Shoes’
Robin Holcomb - ‘Nine Lives’
Paul McCartney - ‘Junk’
George Harrison - ‘Be Here Now’
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - ‘Look At Me’
The Waterboys - ‘Strange Boat’
Ronnie Lane/Pete Townshend - ‘Nowhere To Run’
Neko Case - ‘Don’t Forget Me’
Harry Nilsson - ‘Turn On Your Radio’
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - ‘Dreamville’
Mavis Staples - ‘On My Way’
Miles Davis - ‘It’s About That Time’
Loudon Wainwright - ‘Thanksgiving’
Poi Dog Pondering - ‘Thanksgiving’
Rosanne Cash - ‘Dance With The Tiger’
David Byrne - ‘The Revolution’
Wilco - ‘The Late Greats’
Bruce Springsteen - ‘Bobby Jean’
Willie Nelson - ‘It’s A Dream Come True’
Steve Forbert - ‘What It Is Is A Dream’
Neil Young - ‘Here We Are In The Years’
Patty Griffin - ‘Change’
Pete Townshend - ‘Content’
Bob Dylan - ‘Ring Them Bells’
Stevie Wonder - ‘Higher Ground’
Greg Brown - ‘Driftless’
Iris Dement - ‘Sweet Is The Melody’
Brian Wilson - ‘Love And Mercy’
Sinead O’Connor - ‘Thank You For Hearing Me’
Tom Waits- ‘Shiny Things’ (dedicated to his wife Barbara)
Randy Newman- ‘Harps and Angels’
Linda and Richard Thompson- ‘The Great Valerio’
“It’s all a balancing act,” Denberg said after playing that last song. “Sometimes you have to go out there on the highwire and see what happens.” Denberg announced his resignation from KGSR ten days ago. He’s vowed to take at least a year off. His final on-air appearance will be on Dec. 5.
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Soulhat’s ‘Live at the Black Cat’ to get national rerelease
Soulhat owned 1991 in Austin, especially at the Black Cat on Sixth Street, where their four-hour sets gave many young Austinites their first taste of live club music. Every Friday at 5 p.m. KLBJ’s Johnny Walker played “Bonecrusher” to signal the start of the weekend.
The Black Cat’s just a burned-out shell, and Soulhat rarely plays anymore, but the glory days can be revisited starting Dec. 8 when Nashville’s Dualtone label puts out what was once just a cassette with a run of 5,000.
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Blue October set list 11/20 Stubb’s
1. ‘HRSA’
2. ‘Clumsy Card House’
3. ‘Say It’
4. ‘Dirt Room’
5. ‘Been Down’
6. ‘My Never’
7. ‘Balance Beam’
8. ‘Picking Up Pieces’
9. ‘Should Be Loved’
10. ‘Congratulations’
11. ‘Into the Ocean’
12. ‘Jump Rope’
13. ‘She’s My Ride Home’
14. ‘Razorblade’
15. ‘Somebody’
16. ‘Blue Sunshine’
17. ‘Calling You’
18. ‘X Amount of Words’
ENCORE
19.’It’s Just Me’
20. ‘Come In Closer’
21. ‘Hate Me’
Justin Furstenfeld sings ‘It’s Just Me’ last night at Stubb’s
The rain killed the scalpers, as the first show since Justin Furstenfeld’s breakdown and hospitalization didn’t sell out. But the show was packed with powerful moments, as this band’s followers are a wildly devoted lot. The constant drizzle felt like Blue October weather.
On Thursday, Furstenfeld said he was nervous because he wasn’t yet used to new medication. In rehearsals he was forgetting lyrics, but after a somewhat subdued opening, the set really kicked in with “Dirt Room” and Furstenfeld appeared transformed.
After the show, the band was heard cheering in their dressing room. Furstenfeld said after the opening jitters he settled down and had a blast. “I suddenly realized, ‘this is what I do’ and it all came back like that,” he said, as he walked to his car through a sea of wellwishers. “And I didn’t forget a single lyric!”
Tonight’s show at Stubb’s is sold out, so maybe the secondary ticket market will break even.
- Interview with Justin Furstenfeld: ‘My brain just stopped working’
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Fans already lining up for tonight’s Blue October show
Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/Austin American-Statesman
Tonight and Saturday’s show are the only two the band has scheduled right now. The Austin/San Marcos band canceled its “Pick Up the Phone” Tour late last month because singer Justin Furstenfeld had been hospitalized after suffering a massive anxiety attack. (Read our interview with him here.)
Blue October fans, which include “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer, are a passionate and dedicated bunch, and have already started lining up outside Stubb’s for tonight’s sold-out show.
Mike Oshel, 37, and Courtney Gustafson, 34, were undeterred by the Friday morning rainstorm. “When it comes to Blue October, we don’t waver,” Gustafson said. Having missed their flight from Salt Lake City, UT, they said they felt lucky to make it to Austin on standby. The pair estimated they spent more than $1,000 on airfare and hotel to see their favorite band.
Florida couple Jaime Taylor, 39 and Michael Taylor, 41, drove 17 hours from St. Augustine and got in line outside Stubb’s at 7:30 a.m. Friday. There were eight fans already there, as the line started at 5 a.m. “We had tickets to all four Florida shows,” Jaime Taylor said. “We were pretty devastated when they were canceled, though the important thing is that Justin gets well.” Asked to explain their devotion, Jaime Taylor said, “When he sings, even in a big crowd, it feels like Justin’s singing just to you.”
Check back for our interview with Furstenfeld, who talks about what he experienced, and for photos from tonight’s show.
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Spike on Jody
I really like this piece by Spike Gillespie on Jody Denberg’s impending departure from KGSR.
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KGSR moving to 93.3; 107.1 becoming Spanish language station
Starting this Friday at 5 p.m., KGSR will be broadcast on the frequency that used to be home for Hot 93. Then, Nov. 30, the current 107.1 FM spot on the dial will air regional Mexican music.
Station manager Scott Gillmore said the move from the current 49,000- watt station to 100,000 watts will make KGSR available to about 100,000 more prospective listeners, especially in Williamson County, where the current signal has been weak.
From the news release:
Emmis Austin Radio announces that effective Friday, November 20th at 5pm, award-winning, adult alternative station 107.1 KGSR, will begin simulcasting on 93.3 FM. KGSR will be heard on both frequencies on the radio dial for ten days. Then, KGSR will be broadcast exclusively on the 93.3 frequency effective Monday, November 30th. At that time Emmis Austin Radio will launch a new Spanish-language, Regional Mexican format on 107.1 FM.
The 93.3 signal is licensed to the city of Cedar Park and boasts one of the largest total coverage areas in all of Texas. KGSR’s unique blend of Texas, roots, and adult alternative music will now be available to potential listeners in areas of Central Texas that its previous signal did not reach.
The 107.1 frequency is licensed to the city of Bastrop and has superior signal coverage in Austin’s highest density Hispanic areas including those with those with the largest Spanish-speaking populations in Central Texas.
This new format, and signal transition will optimally allow the respective stations the ability to best reach the communities they serve.
The new station, whose name and line-up will be announced at 5pm on Monday, November 30th, will include personalities already familiar to Austin’s Spanish-speaking community, as well as dynamic, new talents. Advertisers will be able to reach the active Hispanic market of Central Texas beginning Wednesday, December 2nd via 107.1 FM.
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Bill Narum 1947- 2009
Various friends, including Theresa Jenkins of the local Grammy chapter, have confirmed that visual artist Bill Narum, who worked closely with ZZ Top and other bands, died Wednesday at his home studio east of Austin. He was 62. A heart attack is suspected.
“What a beautiful man,” said booking agent David Cotton. “We are all so lucky he was here. This is going to leave a hole that will be impossible to fill.”
Narum produced cover art for such albums as “Tres Hombres” and “Fandango” for ZZ Top, and worked as art director on albums by Doug Sahm, Nanci Griffith, Stevie Ray Vaughan and many more. Originally from Houston, Narum was part of the infamous Sheauxnough Studio gang that produced posters for the Armadillo World Headquarters and other venues in the ’70s and ’80s.
Check out [some of Narum’s artwork}(http://www.myspace.com/billnarum) on his Myspace page.
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Weekend picks: Lo-fi jangle pop, angst-ridden alt rock and beloved scenesters
FRIDAY
Daniel Johnston at St. David’s Episcopal Church. Living legend and king of lo-fi jangle pop Daniel Johnston has lived a life that’s biblical in its triumphs and tragedies, making the intimate pews of St. David’s an ideal choice of venue for the singer-songwriter. Expect classic Johnston ditty ‘Devil Town,’ should he sing it, to take on a whole new atmosphere. — 6 p.m. $20-$35. 304 E. Seventh St. transmission.frontgatetickets.com.
Also recommended:
- Guy Clark at the Cactus Cafe
- Bosque Brown at the Ghost Room
- Blue October and Girl in a Coma at Stubb’s
- Tia Carrera at Red 7
- Julian and Stephen Marley at Aces Lounge
SATURDAY
Fabrication 7 with ‘Til We’re Blue or Destroy and the Laughing at the Mohawk. Team Fabrication, known individually as Erin Mikulenka and Jen Rea, are two of Austin’s most beloved staple scenesters. Tireless DJs and skilled stitchers, their annual get-together celebrates fashion, jewelry, general stylishness and — best of all — some of Austin’s finest music. This year, sip free vodka alongside electro-pop champions Til We’re Blue or Destroy and dance new wave outfit the Laughing. With the Happen-Ins and Karaoke Underground. 9 p.m. 912 Red River St. mohawkaustin.com.
Also recommended:
- the Mother Truckers at Antone’s
- Harlem at Emo’s
- Car Stereo (Wars) at the Beauty Bar
- Blue October and Girl in a Coma at Stubb’s
- Train at La Zona Rosa
- Leatherbag at the Ghost Room
SUNDAY
AFI at Stubb’s.Hey, remember 2006? If so, you might recall the inescapability of ‘Miss Murder,’ a cut off AFI’s gold-certified ‘Decemberunderground.’ A three-minute blast of angst-ridden alternative rock, it showcased the California band at its best, and we can only hope they’ll trend toward such older material Sunday night — and not tracks off this year’s leaden ‘Crash Love.’ With Gallows. 6:30 p.m. $26. 801 Red River St. stubbsaustin.com.
Also recommended:
- Local H at Emo’s
- Heybale at the Continental Club
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T-Bird and the Breaks kick off monthly 7-inch single series
To the dyed-in-the-wool vinyl fans who haunt Cheapo Discs at late hours of the night and comb through the bins at Antone’s Records, take note: T-Bird and the Breaks have got your back.
The groovy, bass line-loving local soul players recently re-released debut album “Learn About It” on record, and are continuing their vinyl fixation with a monthly series of 7-inch singles. The inaugural 45 RPM, “Monkey Wrench,” with “Nightshade Mary” on the B-side, came out this month. The series is planned to run for six months, though Tim Crane, also known as T-Bird, says it might last longer if interest is high enough. The vinyl releases will be available for $5 a pop at shows, local record stores and online. The songs also will be available for digital download.
“We just got so much new material we could be putting out, and to sit around for like two years and then drop another album seems like too long. We just released an album in January and it already feels like forever,” Crane says. “We’re always working on new stuff. I’m sitting on a pile of songs right now. I just want to be putting out new music all the time. New stuff keeps it fresh.”
The singles also afford the band the opportunity to release live cuts and cover versions that wouldn’t make sense on a longer album, Crane says. Then there’s the bonus of releasing new material on vinyl, a format Crane has a clear affection for.
“That’s how I came up, you know, digging into bins and finding something that I’d never even heard of and sure wasn’t released on CD,” Crane says. “And in terms of a physical product wax is where it’s at. A lot of kids don’t understand that, but the record is kind of like the Cadillac of the listening process.”
Take a listen to the first two songs below. T-Bird and the Breaks depart for a brief tour Thursday (Nov. 19) but will return to Austin Nov. 26 for a show at Momo’s.
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DVR alert! Pearl Jam on ‘ACL’ Saturday
Pearl Jam’s “Austin City Limits” taping, reviewed live here by Austin 360’s Chad Swiatecki, hits the small screen Saturday at 7 p.m. on KLRU. It’s the last program of 2009 for “ACL.”
Renowned local string ensemble Will Taylor and Strings Attached joined the legendary rock band on stage for two songs — “The End” and “Just Breathe” — as well as a brief improvisational jam. Taylor says Pearl Jam reached out to him via e-mail about a week and half before the taping, sending along sheet music in PDF form.
“It came completely out of the blue. I frankly was not real familiar with Pearl Jam other than that they were a very famous rock band that had been around about 20 years and had a lot of longevity,” says Taylor. “But I recognized it was a great opportunity. All these years of living in Austin and contributing to the music here and I’d never been on any ACL program. When I was backstage talking to (“Austin City Limits” producer) Terry Lickona he was like ‘So how many times is this for you?’ And I was like ‘Actually, this is the first time.’”
Taylor and company also joined Pearl Jam backstage for a slightly less intense undertaking — a few rounds of ping pong. The band famously carts a ping pong table around on tour as a way of blowing off stress. The entire experience, Taylor says, was slightly intimidating but went off without a hitch.
“It was thrilling and terrifying, even with all these years — for myself, over 25 years — of playing on various stages all over the world. Getting to play on Austin City Limits was a bit terrifying,” Taylor says. “The idea that millions of people are going to be watching it. But it was great.”
Check out “Just Breathe,” featuring Will Taylor and Strings Attached, below, and when you’re done be sure to surf on over to the official Austin City Limits Web site, where you can watch a time-lapse video of the entire taping. Keep your eyes peeled and you just might spot our own Chad Swiatecki.
Rounding out the 35th season are these shows:
January 9- Allen Toussaint
January 16- K’ Naan / Mos Def
January 23- The Avett Brothers / Heartless Bastards
January 30- Steve Earle / Kris Kristofferson
February 6- Esperanza Spalding / Madeleine Peyroux
February 13- Them Crooked Vultures
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Idol Jason Castro headlines Domain tree-lighting ceremony
Another year, another Idol.
This time it’s Jason Castro who will perform at the Lighting of the Macy’s Great Tree at the Domain. (For those who don’t breathlessly follow “American Idol,” Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks had the honor last year.)
Castro, the dreadlocked Aggie who kept everyone guessing during the show’s seventh season, didn’t win, but he came pretty darn close. A Top 4 finish and a diverse fan base — part swooning girls, part maroon bloods, part fans of anything but bubblegum pop — helped the North Texan snag a deal with Atlantic Records. His first album is due to hit shelves Jan. 26, but folks who just can’t wait till then can listen to a single, “Let’s Just Fall in Love Again,” right now at jasoncastromusic.com.
“There will be all the stuff you would expect,” Castro promises when asked about the self-titled album. “Some intimate acoustics … stuff with a guitar.”
Castro held auditions in Los Angeles earlier this year, putting together a band in just a matter of days. Look for them to tag along when he hits the road next year.
Also likely to be aboard the tour bus? Castro’s new fiancee. He popped the question to girlfriend Mandy Mayhall at a tailgate party before the Oklahoma-Kansas State football game in Norman, Okla., on Halloween.
“I’ve been with her a while now. She’s my girl,” he says before clamming up.
But before things get hectic — the album, the tour … a wedding — Castro plans to spend time right here in the Lone Star State with family and friends during the holidays.
“I just want to be home,” he says. “I’ve been so busy.”
Christmas at the Castro household has always been a big deal, and he’s ready to get the merriment started. This year, he insists, will be no different than any other.
“I’ve got a pretty big family, and we stay up all night and open presents at midnight. There’s lots of good food, too.”
And, of course, tons of tunes, both live and recorded.
“I just want to play my music. I’ve been obsessed with music since I was little.”
Saturday’s events at The Domain
Holiday festival, noon to 5:30 p.m.
Pre-show warm-up with ‘The Bobby Bones Show,’ 5:30 p.m.
Lighting of the Macy’s Great Tree, 6 p.m.
Post-show holiday party, 6:45 p.m.
11410 Century Oaks Terrace
795-4230, thedomaininaustin.com
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Review: The Avett Brothers at ‘Austin City Limits’
If you weren’t one of the fortunate ones who attended the Monday night taping of the Avett Brothers for the 35th season of “Austin City Limits,” catch up with our pal Matthew Odam’s account.
He says the brothers and their bandmates seemed a little nervous, but nonetheless rocked the historic studios (Lance Armstrong tweeted that it was the best taping he’s seen).
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Review: Rufus Wainwright at Paramount Theatre
Patrick Meredith FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Tuesday night, a well-heeled crowd gathered at the Paramount to see the final performance of a two-night engagement by the man Elton John has called “the greatest songwriter on the planet.” Strangely (and perhaps a bit out of character) Rufus Wainwright took the stage with very little fanfare and, after a polite hello to the crowd, launched right into a soaring version of “Grey Gardens.” The timbre of his rich voice matched the baby grand piano perfectly and filled up every inch of the theater, yielding only to the applause that followed.
Wainwright wasted no time engaging the crowd, riffing on the recent cold front. “When I got here it was 80 degrees,” he complained mockingly. “I was going to go swimming at … that water thing.” The man knows how to work a room and had almost as much shtick as he did music.
Tuesday’s show was a strange mix of the mediocre and the sublime, though. After flubbing the intro to a mostly lack-luster version of “Leaving for Paris No. 2,” Wainwright played a nearly flawless version of “Beauty Mark” that was full of all the resplendent theatrics he is famous for. “Sanssouci,” a wistful daydream about an imaginary getaway on par with Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou,” was marred only by a slightly out-of-tune guitar. Even so, Wainwright’s rich baritone held everything together beautifully. His guitar playing was a bit rudimentary and no one seemed to mind that he occasionally couldn’t find the right chord. Instead of glossing over these mistakes Wainwright used the occasion instead to draw the crowd in with a wry smile and knowing wink. Like I said, the man knows how to work a room.
Wainwright’s songs can be vain and self-indulgent at times, but Tuesday’s show proved that vanity is one of his greatest assets. To keep an entire theater breathless and listening in rapt admiration for 90 minutes, you have to be in love with the sound of your own voice. On “The Art Teacher” and “Peach Trees” he explored every nuance of the melodies, stretching phrases to their breaking point for dramatic effect, often allowing his voice to trail off into nothingness at the end.
Wainwright also previewed several songs from an upcoming album of solo piano and voice during the show. He announced to the crowd that the piano parts were very difficult and asked them to please excuse any mistakes as he was “in the practice stage.” He was being facetious, of course, and played them remarkably well although the new songs were a bit like cigarettes and chocolate milk, to borrow one of Wainwright’s own metaphors. The overtly showy piano arrangement, which echoed 19th Century Romanticism, wrestled with the facile vocal melody of “Give Me What I Want,” at times obscuring the lyrics. Wainwright was at his best when he let the naturally evocative quality of his voice tell the story as on “Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk” and “Going to a Town,” which brought the house down. For Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” during the encore, Wainwright brought out his opener, Joan as Police Woman, for a duet that featured some lovely harmonizing.
The audience wasn’t there last night for an exhibition of virtuoso musicianship, though. They were there for the gilded voice, the poetry, and the wit - all of which Rufus Wainwright had in spades.
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First round of SXSW music performers announced
It begins.
The first half-dozen bands that will be performing at the 2010 South by Southwest Music Festival have been announced on the official Web site. They include Vancouver, British Columbia’s garage rock duo Japandroids and London psychedelic folk rockers Archie Bronson Outfit.
The six bands hail from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Spain, proving that SXSW, as ever, has its eyes on a global audience. If your band applied and hasn’t received word yet, fret not — festival organizers are still in the process of sending out invitations. All acts will be notified of their status by Jan. 29.
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Thursday night bicycle ride to benefit Riverboat Gambler
Since its launch in March, the Thursday Night Social Ride — a weekly casual bicycle ride in central Austin that generally finishes at an area bar — has grown into a force to be reckoned with. This week the ride’s organizers are mobilizing the event’s hundreds of cyclists to help out an Austin musician in need: the Riverboat Gamblers’ Ian MacDougall.
MacDougall, you may remember, was severely injured after being struck by a car while riding his bike home Oct. 17. The Thursday Night Social Ride will meet at 7 p.m. at the Scoot Inn, 1308 E. Fourth St., before making its way to the Sustainable Waves compound, 4704 Caesar Chavez St. Cash donations will be collected for MacDougall, and R&B dub band the Finest Kind will perform. Ride organizers will also be collecting cans for the Capital Area Food Bank at the kickoff. More details are available on the event’s Facebook page.
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Hip-hop radio Hot 93.3FM to let on-air staff go
According to DJ 2DQ in a meeting this afternoon the entire on-air staff of the local Emmis Communications-owned commercial hip-hop station was informed by program director Chase Rupe that their contracts are to be terminated effective immediately. Tomorrow will be the final day for the station to feature on-air personalities. The station will then switch to an automated playlist through Friday, at which point the station will undergo a format change.
“I’ve been through this before,” said 2DQ, who previously worked at now defunct rival hip-hop station the Beat 104. “It’s just hard to see how it affects the people who have families. (On-air personalities) Boogie and Mimi, who have been there from the beginning, have families to support. These decisions are often made without considering the people they affect.” 2DQ would also like to thank the fans who made Hot 93.3 number one in Austin.
Attempts to reach station management for comment were unsuccessful.
Update: We received the following press release from Chase Rupe last night:
As of Friday, November 20th HOT 93.3-KDHT will no longer be broadcasting the Hip-Hop format in Austin, Texas. The HOT 93.3 staff was let go earlier today as a result of these impending changes. A new format will debut on the 93.3 frequency this Friday. More details regarding this event will be released at that time.
Update 2: We received a call from Rupe Wednesday night to comment on the layoffs and planned format change.
“The decision was strictly the result of a business opportunity in the market. It had nothing to do with Hot 93.3 whatsover,” said Rupe. “That station was the number one station in the 18-34 adult demographic and had an absolutely incredible staff. I can easily say they were the best staff I’ve ever worked with. They were incredible all-around. There’s no problem with the product whatsoever. It was just a business opportunity that we felt was in the company’s best interests.”
And what opportunity would that be? Rupe declined to comment but noted that Emmis, which owns and operates six stations in the Austin area, was preparing a statement on the format change, which is planned to take effect Friday.
Hot 93.3 had been in operation under its current format since 2003. Rupe said its success in the 18-34 demographic, according to their most recent data from radio audience research company Arbitron, made the station’s format attractive to competitors. With the station’s departure, the Beat 105.9 is now Austin’s sole hip-hop station.
“Hot unfortunately fell victim to its own success,” said Rupe. “It was such a successful station that did so well that it was attractive to competitors that thought they could shave off some of that success.”
In addition to on-air staff, some employees in promotions and sales were also laid off. Earning employees who had been with the company for more than a year qualified for severance benefits.
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‘Todd and Don Show’ to return, officials say
Yanked off the air in July after co-host Don Pryor repeatedly uttered an ethnic slur, “The Todd and Don Show” will return to KLBJ-AM on Dec. 7, according to a statement released jointly by the station’s management and local Hispanic leaders who met earlier today.
The station’s management could not immediately be reached for comment.
Spokesman Paul Saldaña said Emmis Austin Radio, the station’s parent company, announced its decision during a meeting with the Hispanic leaders earlier today. According to Saldaña, Emmis said the show will return to the air “with a transformed perspective on community history, expectations and cultural sensitivity.”
Saldaña said Emmis also announced a plan for mandatory diversity training for all on-air personalities, producers and station management at all six of its Austin radio stations.
He said Emmis assured the leaders that “efforts to better serve the entire Austin community would be ongoing.”
Pryor, the son of longtime radio personality Cactus Pryor, repeatedly used a slur to describe illegal immigrants, triggering complaints from listeners and from leaders of Hispanic groups.
Emmis Austin canceled the show July 20 under an agreement with local members of the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association, which canceled plans to boycott Emmis Austin’s six local stations and their advertisers.
Scott Gillmore, Emmis Austin Radio vice president and market manager, said then that the decision was made after the station’s ownership and management heard complaints from hundreds of listeners and after it consulted with Hispanic leaders and community members.
Pryor and Todd Jeffries each received two-week suspensions without pay. “The Todd and Don Show” had been on the air about nine months before it was canceled.
Pryor used the word “wetback” during a discussion on the July 14 show about labels for people who are in the country illegally. The use of the slur “wetback” has a long history in the United States, particularly in Texas, and many Mexican Americans consider it hurtful and offensive.
While the use of the slur outraged many local Hispanics, the suspensions and removal of the show also generated complaints from listeners who criticized them as too harsh and as an overreaction to public pressure and political correctness.
UPDATE: This story has been edited to indicate that the statement was sent jointly between station management and local Hispanic leaders.
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Dave Matthews is non-threateningly coming at you … in 3D
If you were one of the tens of thousands to make the pilgrimage to the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year, you might have noticed the several-stories-tall, highly advanced 3D cameras set up near the Livestrong stage. AEG Network Live, inconcert3d and Action 3D Productions shot footage throughout the festival with the same style of high-definition digital 3D camera used for this season’s movie releases “A Christmas Carol” and “Avatar.”
You’ll get the chance to check out the fruits of their labor Dec. 11 to 17, when 3D theaters nationwide screen “Larger Than Live… in 3D.” The film is composed of portions of three 2009 sets from three big outdoor music festivals — the Dave Matthews Band at Austin City Limits, Ben Harper and the Relentless 7 at the Mile High Music Festival in Commerce City, Colo., and Gogol Bordello at All Points West Music & Arts Festival in Jersey City, N.J.
The film is the first in a planned series of concert films, with best-of editions covering both ACL and Lollapalooza in the works for 2010. The trailer is available online. AEG was also behind the recent Michael Jackson concert film “This Is It.”
Information about specific theaters screening the film will be announced in the next few weeks — but since the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum’s IMAX theater screened the major 3D concert film, “U23D,” that seems a likely possibility.
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Good news and bad news for Austin metal fans
First, the bad news: after sitting out a scheduled Saturday night performance with Finnish heavy metal band Ensiferum at Emo’s, Swedish death metal trio Hypocrisy has had to pull out of the remainder of their co-headlining tour. The culprit? The ever-present dilemma of visa issues.
“Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are forced to stay home until U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services process and authorize our working visas,” the band said in a statement. “This is the first time the band has faced a situation like this and it’s extremely frustrating, as well as depressing, since the last thing we want to do is disappoint our loyal fans who have waited years to see us live in the US.”
The Ensiferum tour will continue without Hypocrisy.
Fortunately not all is dark and scary in the world of dark and scary music, as Austin’s own Mammoth Grinder announced Monday that their latest album, “Extinction of Humanity,” will at long last see digital and CD release Dec. 8 on Relapse Records. The album saw a vinyl release earlier this year on Austin label Cyclopean Records. Read Statesman writer Joe Gross’ review of the album here.
Finally — although in the world of metal, nothing ever truly ends — Austin’s own hardcore and metal outfit Iron Age will be returning home Dec. 7 for a show at Emo’s. The band is currently gallivanting around Europe on a co-headlining tour with Savannah, Ga. sludge metal act and possible G.I. Joe fans Baroness.
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Record release party: Billy Crockett at Cactus 11/18
Photo of Billy Crockett by Rodney Hatfield
Before he and his wife Dodee built the Blue Rock Artist Ranch and Studio on 19 acres in Wimberley, where he’s been producing rising star Grace Pettis, Billy Crockett was a touring singer-songwriter. He’s kept his hand in and has just released “Wishing Sky,” a slight departure from the nine contemporary Christian albums he recorded for WORD Records.
Help Crockett celebrate the release with a free show at the Cactus Cafe Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.
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Beer and Bingo Night debuts at Jo’s tomorrow
Austin is the live retro capital of the world. We’ve brought back roller derby and old time burlesque and bowling night and the Moose Lodge and mechanical bulls. Top that, Brooklyn, with your pool parties.
The newest old thing in Austin is Beer and Bingo Night. It debuts Wednesday from 7- 9 p.m. at Jo’s Downtown. Beers are $3 and bingo cards are $1 a piece. Proceeds go to Caritas, which feeds the homeless.
The Austin twist? Numbers will be called by transvestite Sapphire.
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CD review: John Mayer - ‘Battle Studies’
John Mayer
‘Battle Studies’
(Columbia)
Grade: C
Listeners who put on a pop record and are greeted with the sound of an orchestra tuning up may fear they’re in for an hour of self-importance. But the latest from soft-pop superstar John Mayer doesn’t want to shake the earth, it just wants someone to love.
Fair enough. But instead of wooing the listener, the singer is intent on first convincing her of the wreck old loves have made of him. “I’m in the war of my life,” he croons on one track; “if fear hasn’t killed me yet,” he claims, “then nothing will.” But there’s not a drop of passion in his voice, and Mayer doesn’t appear to know there should be.
He nearly pulls off the sad-sack act on “Perfectly Lonely,” but even there isn’t fit to hold the Kleenex of another smooth-sounding pretty boy, Chris Isaak, who understands how to make languor sound truly heartbroken.
Mayer delivers plenty of radio-friendly pop here, like the gently catchy “Who Says,” but his take on “Crossroads,” in which his buzzing rhythm guitar sounds like a sound effect from a ’50s sci-fi movie, hardly bolsters his blues credentials.
He’s at his best on “Half of My Heart” (joined by pop-country phenom Taylor Swift) and “Friends, Lovers or Nothing,” two takes on romantic ambivalence in which the songwriter actually seems to know whereof he sings.
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CD review: 50 Cent - ‘Before I Self Destruct’
50 Cent
‘Before I Self Destruct’
(Aftermath)
Grade: C
50 Cent tries to reconnect with his gangster rap roots on his new album, “Before I Self Destruct.” Besides a few Dre tracks and the lead single “Baby By Me,” the album has a consistent and monotonous sound — harshly melodic beats with hard pianos and drums behind them.
With no other guest rappers besides Eminem, the album rests entirely on 50’s shoulders. (Ne-yo and R. Kelly do sing some hooks on the record.)
Such a bright spotlight does him no favors. He rarely switches up his flow, mostly sticking with the same gravelly sing-song rhyme scheme that sounds like he’s talking out of one side of his mouth.
And he’s certainly not the cleverest lyricist, using lazy metaphors like “I’ve got more guns than a gun store” and “I’m like Will Smith in Pursuit of Happyness; in my hood we hustle in pursuit of the same (expletive).” Eminem out-raps him on “Psycho” so badly it’s embarrassing.
“Before I Self Destruct” is a full-throated return to the hardcore lyrics of his underground years: “You want some, come get some / It’s murder one when you see my gun / I just squeeze and squeeze till the whole clip done / You just bleed and bleed until the police come.” That’s the most surprising part of the album - 50 has made hundreds of millions of dollars over the past seven years, yet he doesn’t sound very happy.
The only reason girls have sex with him is to “have a baby by me and be a millionaire.” Even his usually witty one-liners are tinged with bitterness, such as slams against banished G-Unit members Young Buck and Game. The scars from a messy custody battle with the mother of his son are still fresh: “She don’t care about me, she just wants some cash / I’m thinking damn girl we used to be friends.”
But anytime he shows any vulnerability, he quickly scrambles back to the psychological safety of the gangster pose. He mentions the pain he felt when his mother blamed him for the missing furniture his crack-head uncle stole, then immediately boasts “he pistol-whipped that (expletive) till his face was purple” to retaliate.
As “Psycho” shows, a rapper as talented as Eminem and a producer as talented as Dre can make great music about nothing, but 50 doesn’t have nearly the skill of his mentors. He spends most of “Before I Self Destruct” trying to scare us, when it really sounds like he just needs a hug.
Update: This article has been amended to correct the guest rappers. Thanks to our readers for pointing this out - the version we reviewed had the wrong guests listed on some tracks.
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CD review: Them Crooked Vultures - ‘Them Crooked Vultures’
Them Crooked Vultures
‘Them Crooked Vultures’
(Sony BMG, DGC/Interscope, Columbia)
Grade: B-
A well-meant ode to goofing off with pals and heroes, Them Crooked Vultures can’t be accused of having a thought in its heavy head outside of “Let’s rock!” Since so few bands aspire to that simple notion these days (what’s up, Monsters of Folk), these guys sound downright outside the box.
It helps that they are a trio of weights so heavy they filmed an “Austin City Limits” episode months before their album was released. John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin, bass, elder statesman), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, drums, alt-rock vet) and Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, hard rock’s tallest, most suave man) make quite a crew. And hey, the songs are almost there.
As anyone who saw their “ACL” taping, ACL Fest show or Stubb’s gig know, these Vultures came to boogie. The tracks range from stuff that sounds a whole lot like Queens (“New Fang,” “Mind Eraser, No Chaser,” “Caligulove,” which is the most Queens-sounding song title Homme has ever come up with) to stuff that sounds an awful lot like Zeppelin (“Elephant,” “Reptiles”). “Spinning in Daffodils” is the full-on psychedelic jam, seven minutes of piano intros, Zep riffs, Grohl’s rolling, wonder-thump and general rock ‘n’ roll sprawl. There might be an organ involved in “Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up”; not their best idea.
But hey, there’s nothing here that’s anybody’s best idea. That’s the problem with supergroups — nobody is ever going to hand over their finest notion to a project band, no matter who else in the group that person is trying to impress. Just throw the CD in the car and hit the highway.
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CD review: Kris Allen - ‘Kris Allen’
Kris Allen
‘Kris Allen’
(Jive)
Grade: D+
Kris Allen, with his matinee idol good looks and Hallmark Channel-friendly personal story, falls squarely into the camp of utterly unsurprising “American Idol” winners. His second album (but first since participating in the television show) is precisely the sort of pop confectionery you’d expect from a carefully groomed would-be star, a generic outing that’s all soaring harmonies, inoffensive guitar and utter lack of soul.
Single “Live Like We’re Dying” kicks off the album, with cliche lyrics that — aside from, um, urging you to live like you’re dying — elect to go as broad as possible, lest any listener be alienated by an actual glimmer of personality. It’s a running motif throughout the album, which favors almost offensively universal songs modeled after adult contemporary pop favorites like Maroon 5. Allen’s voice is serviceable, but from love song “Before We Come Undone” to “Is It Over,” he fails to make much of an impression, churning out one anonymous radio-friendly nugget after another. Only on a bizarre and fun cover of Kanye West’s “Heartless” does Allen show the promise you would expect of the man who just might be the most musically diverse “American Idol” winner yet.
Update: This article has been amended to correct a couple song titles.
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CD review: Norah Jones ‘The Fall’
Norah Jones
‘The Fall’
(EMI)
Grade: B
There are all sorts of ways to interpret a tantalizingly ambiguous album title like “The Fall,” but the most resonant is also the most biblical. Like mankind’s own fall from the grace of the Garden of Eden, Norah Jones’ fourth full-length abandons the sleepy, idyllic jazz sound that characterized diamond-certified and Grammy Award winning debut “Come Away With Me” in favor of a more complicated — but also more intriguing — world. “The Fall” represents a loss of innocence for Jones — and a needed injection of color and musical variety that should help her shake that “S’Norah” nickname once and for all.
Make no mistake, “The Fall” has some vintage Jones, as on the sad, sweetly melancholic “December,” or the smoky piano-infused “Back in Manhattan.” Both songs are rich with the regret that tinges recent breakups — Jones split with longtime collaborator and boyfriend Lee Alexander prior to the album’s recording. Fortunately, she also retains a sense of humor on “Tell Your Mama” — a Southern shouter that evidences that there’s more than a bit of Texas left in Jones — and “Man of the Hour,” a love song penned to her dog.
But “The Fall” really pulses during its more adventurous moments. “Light as a Feather” is a dark, driven dirge of a song, while the steady, strong percussion of “It’s Gonna Be” has a bop not typical for Jones songs.
Lingering electric guitar underlies “Young Blood” and breaks out into a full solo on the album’s best song, “Stuck,” co-written with Will Sheff of Austin’s own Okkervil River. “I’ll go home alone, a sinking stone, a switched-off telephone,” Jones sings, moodily recapping a drunken, unhappy night alone.
It’s a sharply poignant song that reminds the world that even after three best-selling albums, Jones is still a young woman at 30 with plenty of heartbreak and insight left to share.
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WOXY’s Lounge Act series returns tomorrow
When much beloved online rock radio station WOXY up and relocated to Austin back in September, one regrettable casualty was the popular Lounge Acts series, which corralled some of indie’s best musicians into the studio for a live performance and interview.
Fortunately, Lounge Acts will at last return to the station Tuesday (Nov. 17), with a performance from Tennessee’s Royal Bangs at 2:30 p.m. It’ll be followed by performances from Mission of Burma at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Thao With the Get Down Stay Down at 1 p.m. Thursday and Elvis Perkins in Dearland at 2 p.m. Friday.
It’ll be interesting to see whether WOXY’s new home will mean more local artists cropping up in Lounge Acts — the last Austin band to play the series before its hiatus was rock trio Ume.
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Fun Fun Fun final tallies….
….are almost final, but not quite.
“I think we are 21 percent above last year,” Fun Fun Fun producer James Moody said Monday. About 8,600 people attended each day, up from 7,900 last year.
While Nov. 7 was gorgeous, Nov. 8 walk-up was nearly destroyed by steady rain. However, Moody said Fun Fun Fun moved more merchandise than ever before: “We sold about four times as much merch as last year.”
Transmission is still waiting on final word from the City of Austin on what their obligation is to restoring Waterloo Park. (Waterloo Park does not have the on-going upkeep of, for example, Zilker Park, but the rain and mud on Nov. 8 was significant, and high traffic areas looked pretty rough.)
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Boston Globe features Wimberley’s Jarosz
Sarah Jarosz, the 2009 graduate of Wimberley High, was the subject of the arts section lead of the Boston Globe this weekend. This article comes after the news that the mandolin whiz, currently a freshman at the New England Conservatory, won’t be playing the Old Settlers Music Fest this April, for the first time since she was 12.
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Live review: the Swell Season at the Paramount
Harry Houdini once performed at the Paramount Theatre- some of the current ushers might’ve worked that show- but it’s hard to imagine a more magical night at the old grand hall than Sunday, when the Swell Season put a musical spell on the sold-out crowd for two hours.
The night just felt special, like when you can see in the performers’ eyes that this ain’t Dallas.
“The Swell Season” was the name of a 2006 album credited to Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard, which actually came out a year before they “met” onscreen with the beyond-charming film “Once.” But the group now called the Swell Season is Hansard’s band, make no mistake about it, though Irglova certainly had her transfixing moments Sunday.
With Hansard’s old band from Dublin, the Frames, backing up the duo (who switched between piano and guitar), and the amazing fiddler Colm Mac Con Iomaire doing a solo turn on a traditional Irish tune, the show was one of several musical configurations. There was none so pure and powerful, however, as Hansard standing up there all alone with a battered acoustic guitar. His possessed version of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” may have left his strumming hand permanently blurred and “Say It To Me Now” had folks dabbling at their eyes after the Irishman interjected a touching story about how saying something instead of just thinking it can make someone’s day in a deep and meaningful way.
Hearing his voice is the aural counterpart of watching an athlete do something almost miraculous. How can he possibly do that day after day?
Those who came to hear the Oscar-winning “Falling Slowly” and “When Your Mind’s Made Up” from “Once,” were not disappointed, unless they were the impatient type. Both highlights from the film came near the end, both past 11 p.m. on a Sunday night. Of the two, “Falling Slowly” was better; it’s really hard to top the emotional undercurrent of the movie version of “Mind’s Made Up.”
Hansard seemed a bit thrown off by just how pin-drop quiet the scene was, and when the band emerged to encore with “Falling Slowly” he asked the audience to remain standing because it felt better. Indeed, it was a bit surprising that the performance didn’t inspire more standing ovations. If I was in the fifth row, I would’ve been up ten times.
See John Carney’s “Once” (terrible title) if you haven’t. It’s probably the best film ever made about why people make music and how they become connected through songs. The film’s theme was there in the flesh Sunday night, when the audience sang along to an encore number so new it doesn’t yet have a name.
When it comes to Glen Hansard and the Swell Season, “Once” is not enough. But if that’s all you’ve got, it’s plenty.
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Bored on Sunday night? So is Bus Driver
Knocking around town with pals and apparently itching to get up on stage, indie hop luminary Bus Driver has scheduled a last-minute, free show tonight at midnight at Red 7.
The good folks at Transmission Entertainment sent word a little bit ago trying to spread the word since this all just went down and support acts haven’t even been lined up. Heck, if you’ve got some skills bring your rhyme book and there’s a puncher’s chance you’ll be able to get up on stage for a few verses.
Looking at the club’s booking calendar, Red 7 wasn’t even supposed to be open tonight. God, I love this town.
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Wainwright enjoys success on his timetable
Rufus Wainwright mirrors his enthusiasts’ rabidity. Evidence: The New York City resident, whose new “Milwaukee at Last!” follows 2007’s Grammy-nominated “Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall,” enjoys spotlighting gleeful fan photos on his Web site. “I really appreciate that I’ve had people from Australia and New Jersey come to see me,” Wainwright says. “Maybe if I had a few number one hits, I could sit back and complain more about my public. I’m a real day laborer.”
The 36-year-old songwriter performs Monday and Tuesday at the Paramount Theatre.
American-Statesman: Paste magazine recently named (Wainwright’s 2003 album) ‘Want One’ as one of the decade’s top 20 albums.
Rufus Wainwright: Oh wow! It’s nice to hear that “Want One” is getting the attention it deserved. It always seems that my albums take a few years to settle, and I think “Want One” is just starting to do that.
What did (Austin guitarist) Charlie Sexton bring to that album’s dynamic?
Well, lugubrious stares by me (laughs). He’s so gorgeous! He brought solidity, and an American — without being Americana - sensibility to the record. It was good, like some nice, solid bricks. Charlie has the chops for country and western or folk or rhythm and blues, but he’s not bound by them, either.
Yet nothing from ‘Want One’ made it onto the ‘Milwaukee at Last!’ CD.
There’s a bit of confusion with the live album. It’s really centered around the DVD of the show. That has 30 songs on it, and it’s the whole show. The CD is just a taste. Of course, people thought the DVD was the accompaniment piece. That was sort of my bad. It wasn’t very well done, frankly.
People seem to be surprised that you recorded it in Milwaukee.
I love Milwaukee, but mostly I love the Pabst Theater. It was really about doing something there, and I’m happy that it’s released. Like “Want One,” I think it’ll settle down and take its proper place. I wanted to document the whole show because it was such a high point in my touring career. Everything came together.
That’s a full-band show, but you’re playing solo at the Paramount. Why?
Yes. I’m gearing up for this new record that I’ll be touring. I’m in the studio recording right now, and it’s turning out to be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, of course. Forget opera, and forget Judy Garland. Just me alone at the piano: That can really make my life complicated!
Will you debut any new material in Austin?
I’m vowing now — and this is the first time I’m vowing it, so I won’t chicken out — that I will be singing some new songs that I may not even get through (laughs). They’re so difficult. So, there’ll definitely be new material to hear, because I have to start playing it. I’m really baring it all, warts and all. One live show is worth a thousand rehearsals.
How will you make each of the two shows here unique?
What you see that day onstage is an extension of the earlier parts (of the day). I don’t really draw the line, I guess, between the stage and the streets. They’re extensions of each other. I suppose one goes through a lot on the street in Austin. I might even walk in with a few bats on me!
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Live review: Son Volt at Antone’s
It’s always been a little difficult to get a bead on Son Volt, the alternative country band formed from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo by Jay Farrar in 1994. Partly that’s because Son Volt’s sound has covered every square inch of the territory of alt-country, from restrained folk ballads to juke joint rockers. And partly that’s because the band has undergone some pretty major shifts, from a six-year hiatus in the early part of this decade to its eventual reformation with an entirely different lineup, Farrar aside.
That quixotic — or, if you were being less generous, schizophrenic — spirit was alive and well at Antone’s Saturday night, as Farrar presented a tale of two Son Volts. One took the stage sounding tight but looking disconnected from its audience, speeding through low-key, often monotonous ballads. The other threw itself into a series of barhouse rockers with a decided energy. Fortunately, by the end of the night the stronger Son Volt had won out and reaffirmed the band’s status as a winning, if inconsistent, act.
The first half of the evening’s set was loaded with several of Son Volt’s slower, more ambling numbers. The band sounded flawless on the slow-paced “Dust of Daylight” but seemed disconnected. On “Pushed Too Far,” an angst-loaded song off this year’s “American Central Dust,” they sounded more studied than engaging. While drummer Dave Bryson pounded out his part with note-perfect energy, Farrar seemed to neglect his role as band linchpin, failing to connect with the audience. For a while — aside from the powerful licks laid down by enthusiastic lead guitarist James Walbourne — it looked like Son Volt might be upstaged by their own opener, the rollicking and very entertaining Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. Even a song about Keith Richards’ drug habits (featuring the immortal line “I snorted my father and I’m still alive”) failed to be as amusing as it should have been.
Fortunately, Farrar and his band mates loosened up as the night wore on, leading to a more enjoyable second half that was heavier on the kind of toe-tapping rock songs that Son Volt excels at. On “No Turning Back” Bryson’s drums grew positively bone-rattling, and “Medication,” with its Indian guitar parts and furious dueling solos, was a highlight of the whole performance. Son Volt also popped on “The Search” and “Afterglow 61,” the memorable single off 2005’s “Okemah and the Melody of Riot.” Even the quieter moments — like “Big Sur,” off a Jack Kerouac-inspired collaborative album by Farrar and Ben Gibbard, of Death Cab for Cutie — took on a greater sense of urgency.
By the close of their four-song encore, Son Volt had overcome an initially underwhelming show. When bassist Andrew Duplantis took advantage of the opportunity of one last moment on stage to propose to his girlfriend (she said yes, incidentally), it felt like he — and the band — had earned their moment of celebration.
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Live review: Mike Birbiglia at the Paramount
When comedian Mike Birbiglia played Austin about two years ago, it was at Antone’s opening for a band nobody had heard of. It was good to see a near sellout crowd at the Paramount Saturday night for the Boston storyteller who’s enjoyed a career spike after regular appearances on NPR’s “This American Life” and, to a lesser extent, the nationally syndicated “Bob and Tom Show.”
His hour and 20 minutes Saturday were built on five or six main stories that branched off into hilarious vignettes. Getting regularly beat up in an all boys Catholic school, arguing with his GPS, throwing up on the Scrambler at the carnival, adventures in sleepwalking and urology, and sticking the finish in gymnastics were just some of the topics that had the crowd roaring. During that latter bit, the pudgy comic rolled on the crowd to imitate a fallen gymnast, saying, “this is the opposite of what I’m trying to do.” He’s got the timing of Tommy Chong circa 1973.
He’s really the closest in style and outlook to Jim Gaffigan, who also doesn’t use profanity. But where food is Gaffigan’s main riff, it’s sleep for Birbiglia, who offered a hilariously rich description of what it’s like to be out and about at 4:30 a.m.
For an encore, Birbiglia came out with a guitar and did two songs from the three-year-old album “Two Drink Mike.” That was lazy. He also took requests for retired material and did “Joey Bag-O-Donuts,” about how he survived a tough job by pretending a beloved former employee was his brother. Also lazy, but very funny.
Birbiglia has altered his act slightly as he’s found success with the NPR crowd. There weren’t any hip-hop references- once a big part of his set- and the routines are longer. But he still makes full use of a rare comedic mind and his delivery elevates. Next time through, he’ll play Bass Concert Hall, going from Antone’s to 3,000-seaters faster than anyone since Los Lonely Boys.
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Denberg: “It was entirely my decision” to leave KGSR
Jody Denberg called Saturday to squash speculation that he was forced out at KGSR, where he’s been the voice of the station- not to mention the one who picks the music- for 19 years.
“About a week ago I went to (station manager) Scott Gillmore and said ‘I’m through,’” said Denberg, who said he felt he was just going through the motions recently. “I’m just tired. Twenty-nine years is a long time.” Before working at KGSR when it switched from a jazz format in 1990, Denberg was at KLBJ-FM for 10 years.
“I’ll tell you what really made up my mind,” he said. “Robin Shivers dying in her sleep. I was thinking about Clifford Antone and Cindi Lazzari, who also passed away in their 50s. I want to see what else is out there in life.” Denberg is in his early 50s. He has no children and is married to an attorney for the state.
Denberg was recently diagnosed with diabetes and said, with his upcoming year off he’ll be taking better care of his heath. “When you’re a workaholic, it’s hard to make those doctor’s appointments,”
The New York native, who came to Austin in the ’70s to attend UT, said he received a small severance package and signed a non-compete agreement for an unspecified amount of time. “They really wanted me to stay and have kept the door open if I want to return,” he said.
Denberg’s last day on the air is Dec. 5, when KGSR broadcasts live at its 19th anniversary show with Rosanne Cash, Bob Schneider and the Gourds.
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Jody Denberg to leave KGSR after 19 years
Content manager and on-air host Jody Denberg will leave KGSR FM after 19 years, Emmis Austin Radio announced today.
Denberg, who is on the air weekdays from 1 to 6 p.m. and who also hosts a popular Sunday morning show, will stay on until at least early December, the station said.
“I have promised myself one year without doing any work,” Denberg said in a statement. “The time is right for me to take some time off and recharge my creative batteries.”
Before coming to KGSR when the station launched in 1990, Denberg spent 10 years on the air at KLBJ FM, also an Emmis station, the statement said.
“Jody’s … passion and talent have been instrumental in the station’s ongoing success,” said Scott Gillmore, Emmis vice president and market manager.
No decision has been made for Denberg’s replacement, the statement said.
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Catch Willie Nelson at 41 and 75, both this weekend
Need a satisfying way to spend your hours this weekend? KLRU has just the ticket.
The local PBS affiliate will air the long-awaited Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel “Austin City Limits” episode tomorrow at 7 p.m. The country legends teamed up for February’s “Willie and the Wheel,” a toe-tapping tribute to Western swing. The episode was filmed Feb. 23.
Below, check out a preview from the episode, a peppy take on swing standard “Hesitation Blues.” And when you’re done with that, surf on over to PBS Video, where the original 1974 pilot episode of “Austin City Limits” featuring Nelson is currently streaming. The episode will be available online until Tuesday.
Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel are on tour at the moment, but will be swinging back through Austin to close their current set of dates on Dec. 15 at the Austin Music Hall.
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Indie rock, outlaw country and electronica favorites come to Austin
It’s a big day for concert announcements.
Special thanks to The Dillo for bringing to our attention a couple of shows that should be of interest to local indie rock mavens: the Cribs (featuring Johnny Marr of the Smiths fame) at the Parish Jan. 23, $18, and New Jersey’s Yo Lo Tengo at Antone’s Jan. 29, $20-$23. Tickets for both will go on sale tomorrow (Nov. 14).
Also paying a very welcome visit to Austin will be Texas legend and outlaw country pioneer Jerry Jeff Walker, who will be playing a show at the One World Theater Feb. 5. Tickets range from $30 to $70.
Finally, hip hop and electronica favorite RJD2 will be hitting up Emo’s Feb. 13, touring behind new album “Colossus.”
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New tenant to take over old Spiros location
Orlando, Fla., bar owner John Gardner will soon open a new club in the Red River Street building once occupied by Spiros nightclub, according to a news release from SkylesBayne, the real estate company that handled negotiations for the tenant.
Spiros closed back in June after eight people were injured in a May 30 shooting at the club. Two Central Texas rap artists, Brandon Bruce Hutchison, 25, and LaBaaron Demon Hutchison, 21, were charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident.
Gardner, owner of Orlando’s Independent Bar, leased the roughly 4,500-square-foot building. A longtime fixture in downtown Orlando, Independent Bar is a multi-room dance club featuring video walls that play indie rock and ’80s music videos.
We’ll be back to update the story as more details become available.
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Texas legends celebrate the 80th birthday of Rod Kennedy
The Paramount will be hosting an all-star birthday tribute to singer, Kerrville Folk Festival founder, radio and television pioneer and all-around trailblazer Rod Kennedy Feb. 2. The tribute will feature Robert Earl Keen, Ray Benson, Marcia Ball, The Flatlanders, Ruthie Foster, Eliza Gilkyson, Terri Hendrix, Lloyd Maines, Jimmy LaFave and others. Proceeds will benefit the Center for Texas Music History at Texas State University.
Kennedy is a colorful figure who’s had one of those storied, larger-than-life careers. His life as an entertainer began in 1946 when he lent his pipes to the Bill Creighton Orchestra in Buffalo, New York. Since then, he’s founded the career-launching Kerrville Folk Festival, led multiple TV and radio stations and served as director for the Austin Symphony Orchestra, among other arts organizations. He’s even been a sports car racer. A more complete biography appears on Kennedy’s Web site and is worth glancing over, if only to shatter your ideas about how much one human being can accomplish in a lifetime.
Further details and tickets are available at the Paramount’s Web site.
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The Fray to headline show at the Austin Music Hall
Speaking of radio holiday bashes and the extremely popular artists they bring to town, Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum piano rock quartet the Fray will pop into the Austin Music Hall on Dec. 16 to headline the annual Christmas party for the Bobby Bones Show. Owl City, Jason DeRulo and Lyaz will open.
Tickets are $32 and available from Front Gate Tickets.
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Phoenix returns to Austin for holiday show
Take note, fans of hopelessly addictive French pop band Phoenix: your day has come. Again.
The much beloved indie rockers, who played the first day of the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year, will be returning to Austin Dec. 17 for the annual 101X holiday concert at La Zona Rosa. Thanks to local music blog ultra8201 for the tip.
Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m., and you can grab them here. Hockey and hometown heroes White Denim will open. The show benefits Austin Habitat for Humanity.
In the meantime, check out our interview with guitarist Laurent Brancowitz from last month.
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White Denim debuts new video for “I Start to Run”
Along with the United States release of their sophomore album “Fits,” Austin’s spastic Lou Barlow-approved fuzz rock kings and certified international sensations White Denim have just debuted the stateside video for lead single “I Start To Run” on mtvU. Eagle-eyed viewers may notice that the video was shot at the (re-dressed) Austin City Limits studio. White Denim had an open call for extras for the shoot just last month.
Although the video, with its freakish costumes and faux-QVC shopping network interludes, is a charmer, it doesn’t quite reach the zany heights of the United Kingdom video for “I Start To Run.” That video, released back in June when “Fits” came out in the U.K., took a rather more literal approach, with bassist Steve Terebecki madly scrambling and a visual style recalling Terry Gilliam’s cult film “Time Bandits.” Peep the new video below, followed by June’s version right underneath, and if you feel so compelled drop into the comments and let us know which you prefer.
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Guy Clark, Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland and Lucinda Williams part of Janis Joplin tribute
Guy Clark, who plays the Cactus Cafe on Nov. 20, will play Saturday at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Kozmic Blues: The Life and Music of Janis Joplin,” part of the hall’s American Music Masters series. Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, Carolyn Wonderland and Lucinda Williams are also scheduled to perform. Here, Clark talks about his involvement with the show:
“I met Janis a couple times in Texas and San Francisco, and we had a lot of mutual friends. In later years, I met her sister Laura Joplin, who lives in California. She’s involved in this thing, I think. Laura and I had gotten to be friends, and we were talking about how when Janis was just starting she was more of a folk singer, traditional blues and ballads.
“I’m going to do the old blues song “Trouble in Mind” (on Saturday). I’d bet anything we both learned that from Lightnin’ Hopkins. Janis’ version and mine are pretty much the same, aside from the vocals. I’m not scared, you know, but I’m not really sure why I’m doing this. I wasn’t a bosom buddy, but I guess there was some connection they wanted to make. They asked me to do an original, too, and I chose ‘She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.’ It kind of reminds me of what Janis was going through when she left Texas.”
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Weekend picks: Frenetic punk, lovelorn dreamers and Monsters of Folk
Pictured: Monsters of Folk
FRIDAY
Monsters of Folk at Stubb’s. This combo of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), raspy-voiced indie rocker M. Ward and producer/musician Mike Mogis released a self-titled debut in October, a low-key affair pulling from the diverse backgrounds of each member. Expect a marathon performance that includes material from the album as well as songs from past solo efforts. $36. 801 Red River St. stubbsaustin.com —Peter Mongillo
Also recommended:
- Mastodon, High on Fire, Dethklok, Converge at the Austin Music Hall
- Elvis Perkins in Dearland, AA Bondy at the Parish
- Bishop Allen, Darwin Deez at the Mohawk
- Bruce Robison at Broken Spoke
SATURDAY
This Moment in Black History at Red 7. This frenetic punk band from Cleveland mixes explosive blues punk and garage rock. It’s tight and loose in ways that only rock can be — precise, yet flailing with rhythmic guitar chug that slams against chased-by-wolves howl. With locals Fingaar Bangaar, the Gospel Truth and more. 10 p.m. $10. 611 E. Seventh St. 476-8100. www.myspace.com/redsevenaustin — Joe Gross
Also recommended:
- Mercy Me at Austin Music Hall
- Son Volt at Antones
- Pong at the Continental Club
- Ensiferum at Emo’s
- My Education at the Parish
SUNDAY
The Swell Season at the Paramount Theatre. Folk duo Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s work in 2007 sleeper hit musical drama ‘Once’ — including the lilting, intimate ‘Falling Slowly’ — won the pair an Oscar and the hearts of lovelorn dreamers everywhere. They’ve fallen into and out of love, a development that colors sophomore album ‘Strict Joy,’ and should make for an interesting on-stage dynamic. Will Hansard’s notoriously charming stage banter survive the breakup intact? All signs point to yes. 7:30 p.m. $40-$45. 713 Congress Ave. 472-5470.austintheatre.org — Patrick Caldwell
Also recommended:
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Strange Boys debut new song, announce album
Well, that was fast.
Less than a year after the release of fuzzed-out, passionate garage rock treasure ” …And Girls Club,” Austin’s the Strange Boys have announced their follow-up album, “Be Brave” and released its title track to the masses. The youthfully fierce — or is that fiercely youthful? — band recently signed to London’s Rough Trade record label for territories outside the U.S. (here in the States, they’ll remain on In The Red). They’ve also added vocalist and saxophonist Jenna Thornhill of Mika Miko, the Los Angeles noise punk band that took its final bow this weekend at the Fun Fun Fun Fest.
Appropriately for the band’s energetic ethos, “Be Brave” was recorded in two weeks in Costa Mesa, California. It should be out in February 2010, preceded by a limited edition 7-inch single of the title track. The U.S. and U.K. editions will have different b-sides.
Listen to the charming “Be Brave,” with its AM-radio-quality production and infectious chorus, below.
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The times they are a-changin’: vinyl and digital downloads set sales records
The latest set of data from Nielsen SoundScan, the information system that tracks sales of music in the United States and Canada, is out, and paints an interesting picture of a music industry in flux.
As reported by Billboard, digital sales of music are unsurprisingly on the rise — four artists so far this year (Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, the Black Eyed Peas and Taylor Swift) have broken the digital track sales record of 9.9 million, set last year by Rihanna. Jackson, both predictably and justly, is in the lead with 11.3 million. Digital full album sales this year, meanwhile, are on track to beat last year’s record of 65 million sometime next week.
There’s little shock there — the narrative that digital sales are the future of the music industry has spread far and wide. More interesting is that vinyl, the little format that could, continues its slow-but-steady ascendancy up the sales ranks. More than 2 million vinyl albums have been sold this year, breaking last year’s record of 1.9 million — though it’s worth noting that SoundScan’s data extends only back to 1991, the year the service started. Still, vinyl sales are showing 37 percent growth year-to-date over 2008, an impressive boost. There’s no telling how long that kind of growth will last, but if nothing else it looks like the vinyl resurgence is here to stay. That’s good news for Austin’s assorted vinyl-specializing record stores, such as Backspin Records, Antone’s Records, End of an Ear and Breakaway.
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Get ready to catch Yellow Fever
Smack-dab in the midst of a tour of the West Coast and the Southwest that kicked off last week in San Diego, minimalist Austin art pop duo Yellow Fever have announced they’ll release their self-titled debut full-length Dec. 1.
Jennifer Moore and Adam Jones have been kicking around Austin since 2006. The understated band marries Moore’s subtly psychedelic vocals with catchy bass lines and imagery-rich lyrics.
The album appears to be a compilation of two previous EPs, “Cats and Rats” and a self-titled effort, and the duo’s “Culver City” 7-inch. It’ll drop on Wild World, which the particularly savvy might recognize as the boutique label launched by Brooklyn garage rock trio and SXSW workaholics the Vivian Girls last year.
You can take a listen to track nine, “Hellfire,” below, and surf on over to the MySpace for more.
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Live review: Jay-Z at Erwin Center
Ricardo B. Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN
- Photos: Jay-Z at the Frank Erwin Center
It’s safe to say Jay-Z doesn’t want for self confidence.
Over the course of a world-conquering 90 minutes Tuesday at the Erwin Center the world’s most charismatic CEO compared himself favorably to Julius Caesar, Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley and probably could’ve lyrically worked over Jesus Christ and Czar Nicholas II if he’d decided to dip into his mix tape reservoir.
As the old saying goes, though, it ain’t bragging if it’s true and in the space of two dozen songs the man born Shawn Carter made a pretty airtight argument for why his name should one day belong amongst history’s greats.
He had help; a 10-piece band gave different touches throughout like “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” and its hot jazz vibe or the hard rock feel of “Empire State of Mind,” and Memphis Bleek served as both hype man and utility verse trader when needed while openers Pharrell Williams (of N.E.R.D.), Bridget Kelly and J. Cole made deserving cameos.
But the show in total was a confirmation of Jay-Z as singular force of nature, the guy who can make an arena pretty much combust at the first notes of “U Don’t Know,” pull 87 lyrical swerves over the course of “Jigga What, Jigga Who” or get away with cramming some of his best or best-known songs (“On to the Next One,” “‘03 Bonnie & Clyde,” “Can I Get A?”) into a medley during the encore.
The scale of achievement going on Tuesday was even more stark compared to a weekend of good-to-great performances at Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest by the likes of The Cool Kids, GZA and The Pharcyde, all of them enjoyable and praiseworthy but together not containing one-tenth the ability to keep an audience locked in and riveted on their every word and motion.
For Jay-Z, though, owning the spotlight and the microphone is a way of life akin to breathing or eating. So it’s no surprise he could get audience members in every section of the arena whipping around jackets, towels or whatever they had handy as visual decoration for “Big Pimpin’,” or that he stopped the song when crowd participation wasn’t quite to his liking.
To help the cause, he decided to count down from 10 before starting again. When he reached zero the place was covered-ears loud, imposing another smile on the face of the man who near show’s end claimed he invented the move of wearing a New York Yankees hat turned to the side.
Whether he did or not was irrelevant. On this night every word the man delivered was gospel to the thirsty faithful.
Set List: Run This Town, D.O.A., U Don’t Know, 99 Problems, Show Me What You Got, Give It To Me, Diamond Is Forever, Jigga My N——, Izzo (H.O.V.A.), Jigga What Jigga Who, P.S.A., Heart of the City, Already Home, Empire State of Mind, A Star Is Born, So Ambitious, Dirt Off Ya Shoulder
(encore break)
Thank U, medley (On to the Next One, Excuse Me Miss, Venus Vs. Mars, ‘03 Bonnie & Clyde, Lucifer, Swagga Like Us, Can I Get A?), Big Pimpin’, Hard Knock Life, Numb/Encore, Young Forever
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Take a stab at booking ACL 2010
It might be a bit early for lineup announcements for the 2010 Austin City Limits Music Festival, but it’s never too early to cross your fingers, speculate and dream fancifully about who you’d like to see. And the festival is stoking those fires big-time this year, giving fans a chance to suggest five artists who they’d book to rock Zilker Park in October 2010. You can send in your suggestions online through Nov. 17. C3 Presents gave Lollapalooza fans a similar shot that closes today.
Although suggestions can run the gamut from “mega headliners to artists we’ve never even heard of,” we humbly suggest you leave out the obvious — C3 probably already knows you’d like to see Radiohead — and show some love to some of your favorite Austin bands. Want to see the astonishing blues piano of Pinetop Perkins? The sweaty, groovy funk of Soul Track Mind? The intriguing alternative rock of Loxsly? Mobilize your friends and family and let ACL know.
Not that we’re suggesting ballot stuffing.
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File under: Danzig, ashes, extreme fandom gone awry
This communique and photo from Transmission Entertainment honcho Graham Williams, fresh from this weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest, gets today’s Needs No Setup or Intro award. Take it away, sir:
Hello my friends…. This was too unreal and kinda hilarious to keep on my computer as wallpaper, so here is the photographic evidence, but last night at the end of Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, some girl definitely DID run up to the stage and pour her dead friend’s ashes on the spot where Glen Danzig was standing on stage, as “this was her last dying wish.” No disrespect to any of the awesome bands that played my festival, but I didn’t see anyone do that when Kevin Barnes left the Of Montreal stage. I’m just saying…some people have a special kind of fan. I think I DID see a dreadlock fly by GZA during “Liquid Swords,” but I digress….
Weirder still is that it’s probably an even money bet that this type of thing has happened to Danzig more than once before. Incredible. I don’t know whether I’d high-five the guy if I saw him on the street or make like a Looney Tunes character and bust through a brick wall going the other way.
No matter, the above happened and that’s about 29 kinds of awesome. Though if anyone’s keeping track I’m officially putting Chuck D, Eddie Vedder and John Turturo (during a staged reading of “The Big Lebowski”) as the top three on my Ash Bucket List.
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Metal fans say ‘Aye!’ to alter ego
Jesse Dayton has plenty of stories about the weird things that happen to a musician who finds late-career success under the wing of hard rocker Rob Zombie, a good bit of which couldn’t get published in a daily newspaper.
But the 40-year-old - known for years in Central Texas for country and honky-tonk consistency but is now popular worldwide as his psychobilly alter ego Captain Clegg - shares a recent encounter with his teenage son’s principal as one of the more surreal.
“I was over at Hill Country Middle School to pick up my son and his principal was out there,” Dayton said by phone recently from Denver while on tour with Zombie. “He came up to me to say, ‘Hey, congratulations on the stuff you’re doing with Rob Zombie. That’s really great.’ If you’d have told me years ago that my kid’s principal would be congratulating me on doing something with a guy like Rob Zombie, there’s no way I’d have believed you.”
It’s been that kind of year for Dayton, who returns to Austin tonight when Zombie’s tour visits the Austin Music Hall. Old fans who come to the show will see something far different from Dayton’s straight-up country gigs every Thursday at the Broken Spoke on South Lamar Boulevard.
What they’ll get is a horror movie costumed, quasi-evangelical rocker drawing from the Cramps, Johnny Cash, Otis Redding and whatever muse Dayton and his band mates (doing business as the Night Creatures) feel like working into the mix.
It’s a whimsical but successful career turn that started when a mutual friend approached Dayton to let him know Zombie was looking to create a fictional band to make music for his slasher film “The Devil’s Rejects.” Dayton got the gig and wowed Zombie, who approached him with the Captain Clegg idea as a musical component of this year’s “H2” movie, a part of the “Halloween” horror franchise.
Both turns yielded the highest sales of Dayton’s career (especially for the Captain Clegg full length that was released with the “H2” movie) and have led to more movie work. He’s just about secured a part in a high-profile film he can’t say much about (“the ink isn’t on the paper yet, but it’s happening”) and he has funding to film “Zombex,” a Russ Meyer-style B-grade zombie horror movie that’s going to shoot in New Orleans in February using a host of Austin filmmakers and actors.
To say he’s over the moon with the direction his career has taken is an understatement. “I get to play in front of 3,000 metal kids every night and they love it, even though there’s no way any record company exec would’ve thought this would work in a million years,” he said. “I go out to the merch table after shows and kids are saying, `Wow, you guys are like Rev. Horton Heat crossed with Black Sabbath and it’s awesome.’ At this point seeing how far we can take this whole idea is part of the fun.”
Which isn’t to say he’s about to give up on his tip jar-playing roots. He’s flying home twice during the tour to make his Broken Spoke residency, which is a lot more packed since his film endeavors have taken off.
“It’s not like I’m done with the honky-tonks and beer joints because I love doing that stuff and always will,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun but that’s a hard way to make a living, which is why I appreciate what I’ve got right now so much.”
Rob Zombie with Nekromantix and Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures perform at 7:30 p.m. at the Austin Music Hall, 208 Nueces St. Tickets: $35., austinmusichall.com.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest update: Riverboat Gamblers
Riverboat Gamblers guitarist Ian Mcdougall had to sit out the punk trio’s performance on Sunday after being struck by a car on his bicycle Oct. 17. The band’s Mike Wiebe said they would extend a two-month hiatus to three months, during which Wiebe’s side project Ghost Knife would record an album.
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Remembering !!! drummer Jerry Fuchs
Jerry Fuchs was a beast.
The drummer for 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival performers !!! and Maserati was a graduate from the “bang them as hard as you can” school of drumming, a brilliant player who paired note-perfect pounding with animal fury. He died early Sunday morning after falling down an elevator shaft in Brooklyn. He was 34.
The Village Voice has an excellent remembrance posted that’s worth your time. Maserati already lost original drummer Mikel Gius to a car accident in 2005.
Fuchs was a legendarily relentless presence on stage, and nothing demonstrates that better than a short film by Fred Weaver currently making the rounds online. In it, Fuchs pulls a Rick Allen, nailing a towering fill with clockwork precision with only one arm — and at five separate shows, no less. All five performances glimpsed in the two-minute video were filmed in March of this year — and two were shot right here in Austin, at End of an Ear Records and the Side Bar.
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Slew of Austin musicians team up to help the homeless
Longtime local luminaries David Garza, Sara Hickman, and Abra Moore will join with new(ish) kids on the block, smooth-as-silk jazz singer Kat Edmonson and pianist Kevin Lovejoy Nov. 17 at the Cactus Cafe for a benefit for House the Homeless. The all-volunteer nonprofit provides services and aid to the homeless community and also spearheads education and advocacy initiatives.
The shindig is the brainchild of award-winning Austin music photographer Todd V. Wolfson. Though known primarily for his shutterbug skills, Wolfson describes himself as an “okay percussionist” and will join the lineup on stage for an informal jam.
“I have all these great friends that I’ve played with. I’ve played with David for about 10 years and sat in with Kat at the Elephant Room. So we’re all like family and I thought it’d be cool to get all these friends together,” says Wolfson. “It’s not going to be like one after the other. We’re all going to be on stage together just having a freaky good time. We’re going to sing on each others’ stuff, come up with some jams, just whatever. It’s going to be like walking into my living room basically.”
For Wolfson, it’s a way of paying back the community that came to his aid with a benefit concert after a career-threatening bicycle crash this summer. Though he “has a lot of metal inside of (him)” Wolfson says he’s recovering steadily.
“I wanted to do something to give back a little,” says Wolfson. “I was thinking of the holiday period and I wanted to say thank you for how good people were to me when I had my accident.”
The show is free, but organizers request that attendees bring along donations for House the Homeless in lieu of a cover charge.
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John Mayer headed to Erwin Center
He’ll be joined March 8 by Michael Franti & Spearhead. His new record, “Battle Studies,” is scheduled for release Nov. 17.
Tickets — $46 and $66 — go on sale at 10 a.m. Nov. 21 through Texas Box Office Outlets (includes select H-E-B stores in Austin, Bastrop, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Kyle, Leander, Pflugerville, Round Rock, San Marcos, Temple; Ft. Hood ITR and Renaissance Records in Killeen). By phone at 512-477-6060 or 1-800-982-2386, and online at TexasBoxOffice.com.
Or go to Mayer’s site and pre-order his record through Tuesday (Nov. 10) and you’ll have access to a tour pre-sale.
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Review: Doug Sahm Birthday Tribute at Antone’s
According to Shawn Sahm, who is probably in a good position to know, his dad was probably up in heaven, smiling down on the stage at Antone’s on Friday night—and talking up the World Series. But truth be told, for Doug Sahm — peripatetic musical genius (and baseball superfan) — heaven would have been center stage at Antone’s, talking a blue streak and mixing it up with the myriad musicians come to honor him on what would have been his 68th birthday.
And some birthday party it was, starring Greezy Wheels, the Lucky Tomblin Band, Jimmie Vaughan, son Shawn, Augie Meyers and members of the revitalized Texas Tornados, members of the San Antonio band the Krayolas, and a rare reunion of Paul Ray and the Cobras, featuring ex-Bob Dylan guitarist (and Antone’s hall-of-famer) Denny Freeman.
Besides the celebration, the event also served as a benefit to raise funds for a marker on Doug Sahm Hill, in Butler Park across from Auditorium Shores. Such a memorial would honor the San Antonio native’s contributions to all the genres of Texas music of which he was a master (which is pretty much everything between Van Cliburn and the Geto Boys), and his ceaseless celebration of Austin and its musical community. (For more information on the project, go to http://www.dougsahmhill.com">www.dougsahmhill.com).
With his mane of hair, wire-rimmed glasses and effervescence to burn, Shawn Sahm is the very picture of his dad, and he looked right at home onstage with Doug’s peers, including guitarist Louie Ortega, drummer Ernie Durawa, bassist Speedy Sparks, guest star Joe “King” Carrasco and, of course, keyboardist Augie Meyers, the Pancho to Doug’s Cisco Kid.
Mixing blues, Tex-Mex, horn-driven R&B, country and rock in a characteristically Sahm-ian fashion, the big ensemble romped through hits from the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados, the two bands which bookended Doug’s career — “Is Anybody Going To San Antone,” “Nuevo Laredo,” “It’s Gonna Be Easy,” “Groover’s Paradise,” “Hey, Baby, Kep Pa So” and others.
Despite all the other great music purveyed onstage that night, the emotional core of the evening resided in that exuberant set of music that could have had only one wellspring — Doug himself. And, in that sense, Doug never left us at all.
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Fun Fun Fun fest review: Danzig
Glenn Danzig is know for his voice, a punk rock bellow that’s part Elvis and part Crypt Keeper. It powered such influential bands as the Misfits, Samhain and the self-titled Danzig, all of which inspired serious rock ‘n’ roll devotion.
He is known for long black hair and a fondness for evil and horror and comics and fantasy images that ends up more cartoonish than scary. He is known for pounding heavy metal and one of the very best skull logos of all time (lifted from the cover of the otherwise-not-very-interesting comic book “The Saga of Crystar” #8, since everyone should know that).
For all of this, his fans adore him. Which they did Sunday night at Fun Fun Fun, which Dazing and his band closed out.
However, it seems astonishing that his between-song banter has not been anthologized. Oh, sure, it was great hearing pounders such as “Skincarver” and “Am I Demon?” and the “Her Black Wings” in all their loud, Black Sabbathian glory.
But that’s little compared to “I heard you guys were having a drought so I brought the Danzig Black Clouds Of Rain with me. Hope you appreciate it.” Um, thanks?
Or how about “(This is) a tender little ditty called ‘Do You Wear the Mark’?” And oh, was it tender indeed. Fist-pumping, sing-alongish and, OK, fine, not very tender.
But folks loved him liked they loved their first punk rock record, first R-rated movie and first leather jacket, monk-level bald spot and all. No demonspawn would let a mane of evil like Danzig’s thin out — maybe he’s human after all.
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Fun Fun Fun fest review: Mission of Burma
Mission of Burma
Here is the coolest thing about Mission of Burma: The 21st century Burma reunion has lasted nearly twice as long as the band’s original 1979-1983 run, (The band reunited in 2002.) This is a weird, weird miracle. Even stranger is how strong their three 21st century albums are, top flight art-punk from guys whose kids, if they have them, could be college-aged. These guys know how to roll the hard eight.
The odds were not exactly in Mission of Burma’s favor Sunday night. It had been raining pretty much all day and it was getting old. But in yet another triumph of the veteran rocker - everyone in Burma, save for soundman/tape manipulator Bob Weston, who is in his 40s, everyone in Burma is north of 50 years old - the gents rose to the occasion, playing a rock solid set in often-increasingly horizontal rain.
Drawing on material from the brand new “The Sound The Speed The Light” and from throughout their weird career, hard-leaping guitarist Roger Miller, reserved, melodic bassist Clint Conley and hard-screaming drummer Peter Prescott again and again battled the elements. The gnarlier it got, the harder they played, especially Miller and Prescott.
By the end, by the classic “Academy Fight Song,” they looked a little sick of maybe getting electrocuted out there. But their luck hasn’t run out yet and it didn’t then. Perhaps they can return later this year, or next, under drier circumstances.
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Fun Fun Fun fest review: (Expletive) Buttons
(Expletive) Buttons are an experimental electronic duo from Bristol, England. Their music alternates between aggressive, hellacious noise and more pastoral passages that suggest the contours of a drug trip. This is not all that surprising, given the famously druggy nature of their city and its scene (See also Massive Attack, Tricky, Flying Saucer Attack and all three seasons of the BBC series “Skins.”)
While both of their albums (“Street Horrrsing,” the new “Tarot Spot”) are excellent, the music works far, far better live than it has any right to. Of course, most of the time Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power look as if threy are checking their email while standing and vigorously dancing in place, the time-tested visual of electronic acts performing live.
But the music which concentrated on drones rather than abraisive textures, felt anthemic and lovely rather than irritating. (Peace to the often-stellar band Growing, who have a similar format and played earlier in the day, but 12:30 p.m. was a little early for their face-punching digital hiccups.)
These were misty mountain hops played for an appriciative field of flatlanders who were starting to looked bummed out by the weather. And not a lot goes well with steady, increasingly unpleasant rain; this stuff sure did.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Of Montreal
There aren’t a lot of bands that can close their set by thanking their ninjas and Santa Claus, but that’s Of Montreal for you.
The Athens, Ga.-based art rockers are famous for blending a basic respect for the conventions of pop — catchy melodies and memorable choruses — with a smattering of influences ranging from glam rock to vaudeville to afrobeat. But they’re even more famous for the live shows, with bizarre outfits and guest appearances by dancers in black leotards, centaur costumes, elf costumes and a raft of other odd uniforms. Throw in a projection screen with trippy imagery — including multicolored images of Captain America and frequent appearances by flashing cats — and you have a spectacle few contemporary bands can top.
Front man Kevin Barnes took to the stage with a peppy and fun rendition of “Mingusings,” a track off last year’s “Skeletal Lampings” before transitioning into that album’s “Id Engager,” which also brought the first appearance of leotard and gold-mask clad dancers.
Those dancers disappeared for dance anthem “For Our Elegant Case” — after firing a volley of streamers into the crowd — but it wasn’t the last appearance of ludicrous on-stage antics. Dancers in pig costumes, chicken masks, a Santa Claus outfit and a surprisingly elaborate centaur get-up all appeared in later songs.
And while the spectacle of such flights of fancy might be a kick, Of Montreal have the songwriting and chops to make such events a little distracting. Barnes is a skilled guitarist and front man, and each member of the band has the technical savvy to play excellent pop rock tunes, occasionally making you wish they’d dial down the antics and focus more on the music.
When Of Montreal abandons their obligation to silliness, as with a straightforward but energetic take on Bat For Lashes’ “Daniel,” the band truly gets a chance to shine. They wouldn’t be Of Montreal without a touch of the bizarre, but a little bit less insanity might actually go a long way toward affirming the band’s equally accomplished musical compositions and instrumental skills, and not merely their affinity for performers in elf costumes.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Crystal Castles
Frankly, Crystal Castles front woman Alice Glass is a little terrifying.
It isn’t the layers of black eye shadow that give her gaze a naturally sinister gleam that does it. It’s not her goth-influenced black outfits. It isn’t her “Behind the Music”-ready story as a teenage-runaway-turned-indie-princess. It’s not even her madcap stage antics that make her such an intimidating presence.
No, it’s that otherworldly howl — a high-pitched guttural screeching that’s less singing and more vocalizing —that makes Glass so scary. As one-half of dance music duo Crystal Castles — alongside synth player and chief songwriter Ethan Kath — Glass is an electric force to be reckoned with, a consummate performer taken to climbing on gear and performing whilst crowd-surfing.
She was on top form Sunday night, generally performing as close to the edge of the stage as possible, taking advantage of the festival’s nearly non-existent photo pits to bend herself over the audience. A well-timed light show kept to the beat, illuminating the light droplets of rain as the duo tore though songs from their self-titled 2008 debut.
As you’d expect from a band whose name is a reference to girl-power cartoon “She-Ra: Princess of Power,” Crystal Castles take more than a bit of inspiration from the ’80s. Kath’s beats are inspired more by the bleeps and bloops of an 8-bit Nintendo than they are by the conventional electronica or techno of any era. Pair that driving but simple aesthetic with Glass’ furious but frequently indecipherable singing, and you’re left with a band that can get a bit tedious in large bursts.
But when Glass leaps into the crowd and spends an entire song surfing, or climbs onto the drum kit, turning into little more than a writhing silhouette surrounded by ample fog from the stage’s machines, it’s hard not to be impressed. When a show has that much vigor, it’s hard to fault it for being too one-note.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest scene report: Bankrupt and the Borrowers
It’d be easy to walk away from Bankrupt and the Borrowers’ impassioned blast of blues rock on Sunday afternoon with the impression that the band had a host of demons to exorcise. Denis O’Donnel from The Bread, Tyler Hautala of the Bridge Farmers, Pete Brown of Watching the Moon and Blake Van Buren of The Van Buren Boys joined in for what was said to be the band’s last performance in the wake of the Oct. 9 death of multi-instrumentalist band mate Jon “Baggage” Pettis in an East Austin house fire. The assembled group belted out gritty roadhouse blues with the kind of fervor that suggested they were still reeling from a painful loss.
But then, that would have been par for the course for Bankrupt and the Borrowers, even had the band not tragically lost Pettis early last month, another sad casualty in what has turned out to be a sobering year for the Austin music community. The local quartet had built a reputation on rocking out, with furious, animated jams and shouted harmonies. That’s the spirit that dominated Sunday’s show. After starting by piping one of Pettis’ acoustic songs over the PA, Bankrupt and the Borrowers and guests launched into a blistering half-hour set that doubtless would have made their departed band mate proud.
There were signs that it was no ordinary show for the band, though. Tearful hugs abounded, both backstage and in the audience, and as several in the crowd locked arms and sang along, it was clear that the powerful experience marked the passing of a bright light in the Austin music scene.
“It was an extremely emotional experience for the band, friends, family, everybody, but it was something that needed to be done and I’m glad they decided to go ahead and do this show today,” said Gene Griffin, 27, the band’s manager. “He would have wanted us to do this, absolutely. So it was kind of a no-brainer. It wasn’t up to us. We had to do this for Jon.”
The band is still raising money through private donations online to help start a Jon Pettis memorial scholarship in his hometown of Westford, Mass., as well as a crisis fund for other musicians in need. Donations have already helped secure a new home for the fire’s survivors and helped Pettis’ fiancée to get back on her feet. You can visit the band’s home page to donate. A benefit show will take place Dec. 6 at the Hole in the Wall.
Although the performance was announced last week as the band’s last, the future remains ambiguous. The band members have no immediate plans as they put the pieces back together and figure out their next steps.
“It may be a while and it may not be ever, but I can honestly say that I could see these musicians playing together again,” said Griffin. “They have a strong bond. I have a feeling these guys are going to do something again. It might be two weeks from now, it might be a month from now, it might be a year from now but I think they’ll continue to play together one way or another.”
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Harlem
Not often will you find a band that can make a better case than Harlem does for making “sloppy” a creative objective.
Who knows if the Austin three piece actively works at futzing up its devil-may-care Kinks/Kingsmen/pick a “Nuggets”-era band brand of rock, but if that’s the case then “Bravo!” on them for carrying it off like they did Sunday at Fun Fun Fun Fest.
From the fearsome start of “Witch Greens” on, Harlemites Michael Coomers and Curtis O’Mara (co-vocalists who switch between guitars and drums at the half-show point) and bassist Jose Boyer carried a loose but measured swing through their distorted almost-punk that suggests there’s a firm foundation underneath it all. Boyer’s recent addition seems to have helped considerably, as evidenced by the fact that they hardly ever have to start a song two or three times anymore before they get it right.
That certainty let the band focus on showcasing its subtler charms, namely Commers’ lax sense of humor that was no doubt helped by an abundance of beer and liquor up on stage and the Valium he claimed to have swallowed earlier in the day. Whatever was at play, it all worked to plan or at least as much as these three can be bothered to put one together.
“What’ll the bloggers say about this?” Coomers sarcastically asked early on, in a nod to Harlem’s indie-as-hell Web-friendly archetype. Well Michael, this one thought it all sounded pretty freakin’ great.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: The Riverboat Gamblers
No one would’ve held it against the Riverboat Gamblers if the Austin punks’ Sunday set at Fun Fun Fun Fest had come off as uneven or a little reserved. Reeling from the hospitalization of guitarist Ian MacDougall last month in a severe bike/truck accident, the Gamblers had planned on playing with only second guitarist Fadi El-Assad in a move that would have severely restrained the band’s trademark energy and urgency.
Instead of merely putting in appearances, though, the Gamblers enlisted a crew of friends and former members Sunday to turn the rainy, overcast day into a celebration. It was an occasion that featured MacDougall at the side of the stage on crutches (against doctor’s orders) and front man Mike Wiebe calling the show “The Riverboat Gamblers and Friends,” with Justin Hall from Austin’s Krum Bums helping out on guitar and former Gamblers bass player Pat Lillard taking a run through a few older songs.
It’d be crass to say the adversity helped the show, but the feeling of a scrappy band fighting against long odds was palpable from the start of set opener “Dissdissdisskisskisskiss,” its early line “One day, you’re gonna die” taking on added heft given MacDougall’s accident and laundry list of injuries. That vulnerability gave a deeper shade to many of the band’s songs, most notably “Don’t Bury Me (I’m Still Not Dead)” which was delivered with as much energy as ever while Wiebe did the human Superball bouncing-all-over-everywhere thing he’s pretty much famous for at this point.
Older songs like “What’s What” and “Hey! Hey! Hey!” were a little better fit on the day given their ragged nature and the abundance of energy and nerves playing out on stage, but the more measured single “A Choppy Yet Sincere Apology” from the new “Underneath The Owl” album has also found a home in the band’s furious live show and points to more creative growth as the Gamblers mature as a band.
It all culminated poetically and perfectly with a cathartic, set-closing performance of “The Art of Getting (Expletive)ed” as a stage full of friends crowding around microphones welcomed MacDougall as he helped sing the song’s “G-A-M-B-L-E-R” coda like it was an affirmation and statement of purpose for his life as he recovers. Little doubt he’ll make it or that friends and fans won’t be there to greet him witih open arms when he does.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Metallagher
The name pretty much says it all. Metallica covers plus lots of smashed foodstuffs, ala unstoppable prop comic Gallagher.
What the name of Minneapolis troupe Metallagher doesn’t give away is how well those two components go together, as evidenced by the dropped jaws and continual cheers the five piece received Sunday at Fun Fun Fun Fest.
With its instrumentalists donning Nelson-esque metal hair wigs, the band peeled through “Creeping Death,” “Battery,” “Blackened” and closing number “One” while its Gallagher impersonator doubled as a fine James Hetfield when not tossing off purposely lame sexual politics jokes from the ’80s that have aged about as well as salmon left in the sun.
Which was all part of the plan, of course, and helped to amp the ridiculous factor even higher than whatever obliterating a watermelon, bananas, a tub of cottage cheese and jug of fruit juice with a sledgehammer will get you.
It wasn’t high concept, but as an early afternoon breather between acts on the Yellow Stage, it was almost perfect. Someone deserves a medal for this.
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King Khan set canceled at Fun Fun Fun Fest
The man himself says wet equipment from the afternoon’s rain is to blame. He’ll play a free show at 11 tonight at Red 7.
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Live Twitter updates from Fun Fun Fun Fest
We’re covering Fun Fun Fun Fest via Twitter this year. Look for your tweets to appear below. Just make sure “FFF” is somewhere in your message.
Fun Fun Fun updates from music writer Patrick Caldwell:
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: The Pharcyde
Right now’s a pretty great time to be a late-to-the-party hip hop fan, with the last several years seeing reunions by Golden Era greats like Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Wu-Tang Clan (or at least enough members to consider it a quorum) and west coast heavies The Pharcyde, who closed out the first night of Fun Fun Fun Fest with as energetic and compelling a show as you’re likely to hear from backpackers half their age.
Seriously, as great as the idea of hearing “It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back” or “Three Feet High and Rising” played live in their entirety sounds, Pharcyde’s trio of MCs - Imani, Bootie Brown and Slimkid3 - and DJ Ice Water made a case Saturday for being the best bet of the bunch to move forward artistically and make music in the 21st century that can come within swinging distance of classic cuts like “Passin’ Me By,” “Runnin’” and “Soul Flower,” all of which exploded like mortar shells live.
With a late 30s Imani acting as the main conductor and mouthpiece for the night, all three traded verses in perfect sync and carried an easy, humorous rapport with the crowd between songs while musing on topics like fondness for marijuana (prior to “Pack The Pipe,” naturally) and how fans have to connect with the group on Facebook since Imani’s off MySpace now; “Certain things I don’t want my son knowing about, so I’m off the MySpace since everyone can see you on there.”
If the set would’ve just been a (minor) hit parade no one would’ve gone home unhappy, but prior to show closer “Oh (expletive that rhymes with “hit”)” all three MCs walking the crowd through the call-and-response section of the song, with unsatisfactory results at first.
“Look, this up here is like double dutch, you can’t just wait on the side and think about jumping in,” Imani urged the crowd. “You’ve got to just do it. That’s the only way this will work.”
And it did, beautifully, with one of the group’s most kinetic songs transforming the crowd into one hopping mass while Slimkid3 leaned into the frenzy from the stage barrier and the entire group leaving no doubt as to their present-day relevance, regardless of it we ever get anything new from them.
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First annual Smithville Music Fest a hit
About 1,500 folks showed up to see Jimmie Vaughan and others at Smithville’s Riverbend Park Saturday night. Organizers were praying for 1,000 after advance ticket sales were bleak. But the crowd, appreciative of the quality of music in the rural setting, kept trickling in all day.
It was a charmingly smalltown affair, with the high school marching band playing “Carry On My Wayward Son” under an incredible, three-trunked oak tree, followed by a group of soldiers paying tribute to three Smithville natives who lost their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The main stage action kicked off with the Peterson Brothers Band, featuring 13-year old Glenn and 10-year-old Alex. Then came Dale Watson, a total pro, who dropped in references to Hwy 71, the road that leads to Smithville, in his truck-driving songs.
The sensational Jones Family Singers just tore it up for an hour that felt like 20 minutes. I’ve seen this group of gospel shouters at least a dozen times, but this was the best for two reasons. 1) The sound system was so pristine you could hear all six singers and 2) the audience basically went berserk and did everything lead singer Alexis asked them to do.
Austin audiences can get jaded because quality live music is everywhere every day. But Smithville ate up their first annual music festival like a steak dinner in a combat zone. I don’t know when’s the last time Jimmie Vaughan played to an audience that packed up front and jumped all around. Oh, wait, I do. It was last night. A highlight of his fest-closing set was when Smithville native, former Gil Evans trumpeter Hannibal Lokumbe, came up and played “When the Saints Go Marching In” with Vaughan and his Tilt-a-Whirl Band. Lokumbe had his flutter on high and, again, the crowd responded with pumping fists and cheers.
The event, which will indeed be annual after last night’s smash debut, was organized by a group of volunteers led by the local Chamber of Commerce. They’re trying to raise money to open a community center and I sat in on a couple of early meetings and gave advice on which acts to book. My big fear, especially when only 27 tickets had been sold two weeks before the event, was that nobody would come out and the fest would lose money it didn’t have. I felt bad for not being more persuasive when I tried to talk them out of doing it at the first meeting in August.
But after the Smithville Times ran a couple of front page articles on the fest and Vaughan, who has lived outside of town for seven years, ticket sales picked up. People were talking about the music fest wherever I went in this town of 4,001., located 45 miles east of Austin. Still, I was expecting to see ten cars in the parking lot when I showed up at 3 p.m., two hours before the main stage started.
When I pulled into Riverbend, a gorgeous park with a built in pavillion for live music, I was amazed to see about a hundred cars. What a lift, and the day just kept getting better and better. Smithville stepped up to the plate and knocked one into the bleachers.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: The Jesus Lizard
Two things many thought would never occur happened Saturday: The House passed a comprehensive health care reform bill and the Jesus Lizard played in front of thousands at Waterloo Park in the year of our Lord 2009.
The first is wildly controversial; many are celebrating, many are complaining, many are doing both.
The second was perfect.
As the opening notes of “Puss” thundered off Fun Fun Fun Fest’s black stage and he yelled “Alright, Dallas!,” Lizard singer David Yow, 49 (!!!), hurled himself into the crowd, landing on a small sea of humanity. Suddenly, it might as well have been 1996. This was the homecoming Austin natives Yow and bassist David Sims deserved — Capitol building blazing in behind the crowd, Yow’s sister somewhere in the audience. Near the end of the set, Yow and his extra-long mic cord drifted into the crowd, stopped, then was passed back. “That was one of the coolest moments of my life,” Yow said. “My sister’s back there, and I got to kiss my sister while we were playing that song.” Awww. (Most of the time, he hurled himself around stage, snarling, wheezing and cracking wise — “Which one of you likes to party?)
This was a team effort, but special mention should be made of drummer Mac McNeilly. Five or six of Austin’s best drummers were backstage, staring at Mac’s Bonham-ish punk precision. Sweat poured off the man like he was sprinting for an hour, which he sort of was. It was a tour de force.
Over and over, the Lizard absolutely owned the festival. Sure, there was nostalgia. Everyone knew the words to messy ’90s punk chestnuts such as “Gladiator” and “Seasick” and “Nub” and “The Comes Dudley” (which opens with a long 16 count of Yow, um, polishing invisible grapefruit at chest height — you get the idea).
But when men twice some acts’ ages are rocking far harder and funnier and more precisely and more chaotically than anyone else, it’s not just nostalgia — this is the best live rock band in the world.
Your move, everyone else.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Les Savy Fav
To discuss New York art rock and hardcore five-piece Les Savy Fav’s Saturday night performance, it’s necessary to start at the end. As they wrapped up their blistering half-hour set, reliably ridiculous front man Tim Harrington attempted what can only be called ladder surfing, putting a ladder into the crowd, climbing on board, and then letting thousands of hands be his guide. For those concerned that might not be ostentatious enough, he was sure to straddle a male audience member who had climbed onto the ladder as well.
So it goes for Les Savy Fav and Harrington, who have an outsized reputation for spectacle that they lived up to at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Of course, it’s easy to dismiss the band as something of a joke when they stake their live show on ostentatious antics. No doubt Harrington is having fun when he arrives on stage in a Sleestak mask and a wedding dress — items eventually shed, leaving the vocalist shirtless and in a rather clingy pair of shorts.
But shtick only carries you so far, and fortunately Les Savy Fav had more to offer. Sticking to a set of solely old material, the band was as solid and together as Harrington was showy, driving “Our Coastal Hymn,” off singles compilation “Faces,” with thundering playing and a joyous energy. A highlight off 2007’s “Let’s Stay Friends,” “What the Wolves Do,” showed the band at its best: fusing hardcore and math rock into something that sounded simultaneously angry and enthused.
But the show ultimately comes back to Harrington, a consummate performer who knows how to work an audience. As he climbed from one side of the orange stage to the other, delivering half of “Patty Lee” in the middle of Ratatat’s setup, it was clear that Harrington’s antics had paid off in the form of crowd anticipation. Illuminated by the quasi-strobe light that was hundreds of camera flashes going off at once, Harrington cut an impressive figure on stage — a hard-signing, hard-living rocker not afraid to do what it takes to win an audience’s attention.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Shonen Knife
Shonen Knife are so tremendously Japanese they almost defy parody: a giddy all-female pop-punk trio who sport matching outfits, flash peace signs at every available opportunity and have songs with titles like “Muddy Bubbles Hell,” “Monkey Brand Oolong Tea” and “Broccoli Man.” Their stage banter is, of course, always adorable, delivered with beaming smiles and charm to spare.
“You are the best! We are the best! Austin rock city!,” exclaimed guitarist and lead vocalist Naoko Yamano near the conclusion of their set, a bold proclamation that would have sounded self-serving coming from most bands.
All of which makes it easy to dismiss them as a guilty — or, worse, ironic — pleasure. But all image issues aside, Shonen Knife can also shred, hard, and they proved it Saturday afternoon, with a bouncy and tight performance that demonstrated that the band is more about talent than kitsch.
They opened with “Bang Bang Superhero,” an energetic rocker that nicely set the tone for 45 minutes of unpretentious fun — appropriately so, both for this festival and for the band that released a 2007 album by the name “Fun! Fun! Fun!” Yamano and bassist Etsuko Nakanishi made up for their small statures with near-constant jumping. “Riding on the Rocket” sounded just like a song with that title should: propulsive and loud, with hard-hitting drum work courtesy of Ritsuko Taneda. And while an attempt at an audience sing-a-long on “Big! Big! Cat!” didn’t pan out, the infectious rocker still charmed a dancing audience. “Barbecue Party,” a song about the joys of barbecue, went over about as well as you’d expect from a BBQ-loving Texas audience. On each new lick, Yamano paired all the technical skill of a woman nearing 50 with all the enthusiasm of a girl just discovering rock, making her one of the day’s most entertaining guitar heroes.
Which is a handy summation of the appeal of Shonen Knife: with their tight and precise playing, they have all the bona fides you’d expect from a band that’s been rocking nearly 30 years and won over everyone from Sonic Youth to Nirvana. But the women look decades younger than they are, and their music similarly defies aging — childishly enthusiastic, it sounds like the product of either the late ‘70s Ramones-inspired pop punk scene or a bunch of teenagers who never discovered cynicism. Even when Shonen Knife attempt a heavy metal song, as on the Judas Priest-inspired “Muddy Bubbles Hell,” the result is still fun, silly and delightfully hard-rocking. That marriage of genuine talent, crowd-pleasing ability and total delight in rock music is rare in a band and serves as ample evidence that Shonen Knife are one of the best things going in pop-punk.
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Fun Fun Fun fest review: (Expletive) Up
The close, personal vibe of a basement hardcore show is tough to capture in a festival setting, but Damien Abraham, a mountain of a man and lead singer for (Expletive) Up of Toronto, Canada, sure tried.
His ground-glass bellow is in a specific punk rock tradition (see also Poison Idea, Negative Approach and more) and a key part of the band’s appeal, but he often handed the mic off to fans in classic hardcore style.
The band’s three guitars set up a mighty wall of sound for Abraham — hairy and shirtless and often in the crowd — to push against.
It’s an odd mix. This is a band of six folks who love certain cues of classic hardcore — the mic hand offs, the pace, the endless stream of singles and variant singles and collectible singles and EPs and the occasional album. They also have a name you can’t say on TV or the radio or print in family newspapers.
Yet, this is punk with a self-consciously progressive rock tinge (i.e, a penchant for long song blasts at punk rock pace). They like a whole mess of different kinds of music, all played at “puree” speed.
Then again, hearing Abraham scream and belt into anthems such as “Son the Father” (“It’s hard enough being born in the first place/ WHO WOULD EVER WANT TO BE BORN AGAIN?!?!”) harkens back to classic sing-along punk. He shouted out record collectors, talked about making a baby (“it’s like a receipt for sex”) and mentioned he hadn’t taken his anti-anxiety meds in six days (good luck in the van, guys!).
Did it feel like a dank, sweaty club? Nope. Was it a blast anyway? Oh yes.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Destroyer
Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Bejar is a mystery wrapped inside a riddle encased firmly within an enigma, and all the more so when seen live. Better known under the moniker Destroyer, Bejar has written and performed with power-pop supergroup the New Pornographers and released nine full-length albums of his own. Frequently hard to parse, he blends elements of Bowie and lo-fi-era Pavement with a dash of acoustic troubadour, and he’s given to writing poetic lyrics that pack in everything from attacks on the music industry to historical references — as on this year’s “Bay of Pigs” EP.
With a dense lyric style and a tendency toward genre-hopping — and a head of hair that makes him look as though he’s perpetually just woken up — he might be indie rock’s maddest scientist. And as he took the yellow stage Saturday night, he seemed it. Bejar, a famously inconsistent live performer, rarely opened his eyes as he sped through an hourlong solo set drawn from across his prolific career. The famously quiet Bejar’s modest banter frequently disappeared down back alleys and got lost, and he occasionally disengaged from the crowd, but his keen songwriting and impassioned wail delivered a set that, while hardly transcendent, offered glimpses into why he has such a devoted following. Of course, the cards were stacked against him.
Bejar opened with “Streethawk II,” the wistful, plaintive closer to his 2001 album “Streethawk” and immediately had to contend with some serious sound bleed issues. Though Fun Fun Fun is usually free of sound conflicts, Bejar was directly across Waller Creek from the Jesus Lizard, whose noise rock almost drowned him out (“(Expletive) ruckus,” he quipped afterwards, handling the problem with impressive good humor). Whether it was that or the relatively isolated yellow stage, Bejar played to one of the evening’s smallest crowds, a smattering of die-hard fans and those seeking refuge from the festival’s generally more abrasive sound.
Not that Bejar’s crowd was all circumstance’s fault — he’s a musician who’s difficult to access at best, and without a band to back him his songs often fell flat. Without the accompaniment of a team of musicians, “Foam Hands,” one of the stronger cuts off last year’s “Trouble in Dreams,” felt limp. Swan Lake cover “The Freedom” and “What Road,” two other songs early in the set, exemplified the problem: while Bejar’s voice is loud, powerful and emotive, his guitar-playing is sub par, simple repetitive strumming that lent a sameness to the set’s first half. Destroyer needs to be a band and not a single man with a guitar.
But as Bejar loosened up and spoke more to the audience, the set took on energy. Granting a fan’s request to play “I Want This Cyclops,” Bejar grew animated, whirling about on stage. “The Chosen Few” featured possibly the set’s only proper guitar solo, a driving interlude that lent the tune some needed pep. And a dip into his New Pornographers material with “Streets of Fire” (“I wrote this song 15 years ago. Things were less intense in 1994”) was a welcome break. As befitting a deeply artistic eccentric, Bejar was inconsistent — always strong of voice, but often disengaged and aloof. But when he stepped away from his inaccessibility and began to open up, despite the thunderous rock always threatening to overpower his performance, he proved he could connect with an audience.
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Fun Fun Fun fest review: The Night Marchers
John Reis has been around the block. He played with the San Diego ’80s punk act Pitchfork at 17, he made epic, thunderous post-hardcore rock with Drive Like Jehu, blended that with R&B showband moves in Rocket From the Crypt and got back together with Pitchfork/Jehu partner Rick Froberg in Hot Snakes. Night Marchers is essentially 3/4 of Hot Snakes with a gent named Tommy Kitsos playing bass. (Froberg rocks out with Obits these days - a band, not the stuff about dead people in the newspaper).
Both Obits and Night Marchers wanted to make different kinds of rock than they had previously produced. Both sought to strip away much of the thick distortion that characterized pretty much all of their previous bands in favor of something smaller sounding — cleaner, almost. They both nailed it. Obits is perhaps a little crisper. Night Marchers, on the other hand, will break into “Surfin’ Bird” when the feeling strikes. Which it did.
Drawing on their 2008 debut “See You in Magic,” the Marchers songs locked up over classic rock (rather than Classic Rock) riffs, Reis’s Telecaster taking the trebly rhythm parts, guitarist Gar Wood soloing and moving in and out of the chug with his Les Paul — in this band, guitar tone matters, signifying a break with their alt-rock past. Reis’ banter was too goofy by half; what was funny in the Rocket felt off here. This was an adult rock….that still liked “Surfin’ Bird.”
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: The Cool Kids
How long can you get by on promise? That’s something you’ve got to start asking about The Cool Kids nearly three years into a career that’s yielded one good E.P. (2008’s “The Bake Sale”), a couple so-so mix tapes and reams of press clippings calling them hip-hop’s “next big thing.”
Which isn’t to say their live show has lost any of the energy or gusto that first earned the Midwesterners accolades, or that “Black Mags” or “A Little Bit Cooler” bang any softer than they did upon their debut back when Republicans still controlled Congress. It’s just that at this point the continued absence of new material from their repeatedly delayed full length “When Fish Ride Bicycles” is starting to affect what they can do on stage in terms of sequencing and pacing.
That was evident Saturday at the duo’s Fun Fun Fun Fest show, even though MCs Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish belted out the well-worn chant-alongs like they were still in a Chicago basement club in 2005. While the enthusiasm and crowd adoration was there, the material started to blend together after more than a few songs; a symptom of the electro synth-heavy production that’s characterized most of their work.
The glaring exception to that malady being “Black Mags,” with its syrupy vocal hook and skittering beats making it the most distinct and successful song the group’s ever produced. Since it came at the tail end of The Cool Kids’ set, though, it had a greatly diminished audience since the throngs of punks and indie fans who had bobbed their heads for a song or three early on eventually straggled away for closing sets by The Jesus Lizard, Destroyer or Ratatat on nearby stages.
-Chad Swiatecki
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Death
Jordon Smothermon AMERICAN-STATESMAN
So, Death. If you want, you can spend a good while pondering whether Detroit’s latest lost musical reclamation project (politico-folkie Sixto Rodriguez filling the bill in 2008) would even be able to fill the inside of Emo’s on a weekend if it weren’t for the trio’s delectable back story.
That being the doings of the Motor City based brothers Hackney (Bobby on bass and vocals, Dannis on drums and David on guitar) who in the early ’70s crafted a raw form of music that would’ve become punk if they’d kept at it instead of breaking up following what was supposed to be a short hiatus and move to Vermont(!) in 1976.
We know all this because indie label Drag City dug up Death’s seven songs and reissued them as “…For The Whole World To See,” a record that’s been embraced as a bygone-era curio and paved the way for Saturday’s set at Fun Fun Fun Fest, for a crowd of several thousand that probably dwarfed anything the African American band saw while toughing it out in Detroit clubs in the years following the 1968 race riots.
So the music, then. As billed, tunes like “Rock-N-Roll Victim” and “Keep On Rocking” do have a distinct proto-punk quality to them with a chugga-chugga bass and scuzzy guitar riffs kinda like what Ohio neighbors Rocket From The Tombs would ride to just a bit more success a few years later. Crack the band - with Bobbie Duncan playing guitar in place of David Hackney, who died in 2000 - and its mythos out of its amber preservative and it’s certainly accomplished but nowhere near revelatory.
But the point of a gig like Death’s on Saturday isn’t really about discovering something new, but instead paying respect to nearly lost pioneers and giving them a chance to enjoy a much delayed moment in the sun. And with a black-and-white almost life-sized photo of David Hackney looking on from stage right the other Hackney brothers did their past proud, earning every bit of the cheers that for a long time seemed improbable if not impossible. -Chad Swiatecki
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Fun Fun Fun review: Yeasayer
Jordon Smothermon AMERICAN-STATESMAN
With the much anticipated Death taking the stage 20 minutes late, Brooklyn-based Yeasayer’s set was pushed back and delayed even further as the band went through a painful set of probably necessary sound adjustments on a stage that didn’t really sound good all day. They eventually started, playing a set heavy in material off their forthcoming followup to 2007’s critically acclaimed “All Hour Cymbals.” The new songs, which included “Tightrope,” the band’s contribution to the “Dark Was the Night” compilation, took a considerably more proggy road than the older songs, which integrated a more organic, world-beat element with darker electronic sounds.
While there was something about the synth work in “All Hour Cymbals” that recalled Genesis and other similar bands of the ’80s, the over-the-top keyboard flourishes in new songs seemed much more focused on that element of the band’s sound. Lead singer Chris Keating, in a black suit jacket, has also become considerably more polished since the band first showed up in Austin a couple years back, and his unique ability to fly his voice in any number of directions remains.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Vega
Alan Palomo leads two bands, Vega and Neon Indian, both of which appeared on the same stage Saturday, about three hours apart. Vega, the more accessible of the two groups, went first, with Palomo wasting no time getting out in front with a microphone. With only an EP’s worth of material to work with, the band isn’t terribly developed. Palomo’s songs aren’t as catchy as some of his synth-happy contemporaries, but he nevertheless kept the crowd engaged with driving dance pop. Perhaps the best surprise of the set was the band’s guitarist (he also played bass on a couple songs). Ripping across Palomo’s disco soundscapes, the guitar work added depth to the songs and helped separate the group from the million other similarly electronically minded wannabes.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest review: Foot Patrol
Austin-based Foot Patrol gets the award for the most vulgar set of the day. The funk band, decked out in sheriff and prison uniforms, ran through a set of songs detailing various acts of podophilia. Dancers and acrobats performed as some in the crowd waved foot-shaped fly swatters. The point of departure for the band’s sound is the synth-heavy funk of Prince and Parliament, and they do it well, with the “shoe horns” complementing bassist Hung Nguyen, TJ Wade’s catchy keys and raw vocals. A lot of what has been written and said about the band touches on the idea that the musicianship is so good that it transcends the content. It’s true to an extent, but no matter how tight the groove, it’s still very difficult not to get distracted when Wade talks about how he’s not going to brush his teeth until his breath stops smelling like feet.
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Live review: AC/DC at the Erwin Center
“Thunderstruck” whimpered where it once roared, the set sagged badly in the middle half hour, the four new songs were plain awful and “You Shook Me All Night Long” sounded warped, like someone left it out in the sun at the last Yellow Rose picnic. Friday night’s concert at the Erwin Center was far from being the best AC/DC show I’ve ever seen.
And yet it succeeded as a tribute to the awesome power of good, hard, rock n’ roll. The capacity audience of over 13,000 (staging took out about six seating sections) made the show; in fact during the “T.N.T” and “Highway To Hell” chant-alongs, it sure felt like seeing the band in metal-crazed San Antonio. When the two-hour set ended with “For Those About To Rock (We Salute You),” with cannons, of course, the band seemed genuinely appreciative of the energy they got back.
AC/DC hadn’t played Austin in 13 years, but much of the set was unchanged since then. Besides the aforementioned cannons, there’s still the drawn out strip tease by guitarist Angus Young during “The Jack.” Singer Brian Johnson once again took a running leap to ring the bell during “Hell’s Bells” and “Let There Be Rock” ended with the most self-indulgent guitar solo of all time.
But AC/DC is a band you don’t want to change. The show was as much a thanks and celebration of all the great music through the years, as it was a high dollar, two-hour show that found a veteran band proving that they can still do what made them beloved. AC/DC is a memory machine, KISS with talent instead of makeup, taking fans back to their discovery of rock. Where were you when you first heard “Whole Lotta Rosie”?
With the three-piece rhythm engine of guitarist Malcolm Young, drummer Phil Rudd and bassist Cliff Williams clustered together in the back, like they were playing the Continental Club, the throb was relentless on “Hell Ain’t a Bad Place To Be” and “Rosie,” probably the band’s two best songs.
But as Angus and Brian, “the new singer,” worked the crowd shamelessly I had to ask myself if I could actually be this bored during a show by the world’s greatest hard rock band, I couldn’t control the yawns that stretched out during “Dog Eat Dog,” which has no place in a career-spanning AC/DC concert.
Much of the set seemed programmed by the concessionaires, whose favorite words were “Here’s another one from the new album.” The new “War Machine” is quite possibly the dullest song ever played at the Erwin Center during a sold out concert.
Part of the reason I couldn’t get fully into the show is because my seat in section 20, row 16, was separated from a 20-foot drop over an exit by a railing that went up to my knee. I get shoved and I’m dead. (Dying during a concert by my alltime favorite band would’ve made for some nice “at least he died happy” talk, but I’m kinda holding out for the 25-year anniversary show of Them Crooked Vultures.) Even though my seated view was unobstructed, sitting down during AC/DC is like standing up during a lap dance.
It would be a shame if it took the death of a fan for the Erwin Center to rectify this blatant safety hazard. How about some webbing below the rail to catch clumsy fans? Then us 20/ 16 folks can rock out like everybody else.
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KGSR ‘Broadcasts’ coming Nov. 27
The 17th volume of KGSR’s “Broadcasts,” featuring Steve Earle and Hayes Carll on the cover, hits stores the day after Thanksgiving. As always, all songs on the two-CD set ($15) are live performances originally broadcast on KGSR
The best-selling series has raised a remarkable $2 million for the SIMS Foundation since it became beneficiary with “Volume 5.” (Last year’s donation was $137,000.)
This year’s CD is dedicated to Stephen Bruton, who has a hidden track on the set.
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Weekend picks: New Age jazz, a folk patriarch and rock perfection
FRIDAY
AC/DC at the Erwin Center. When people say their band sounds like AC/DC, it just isn’t true. Oh, they might think they sound like this crew of Australians’ patented hard rock, but they don’t. Very little sounds quite like AC/DC. The chunky riffs, the drumming’s beyond-basic feel, Brian Johnson’s ancient tomcat screech pretty much embody the idea of deceptive simplicity. Like the Ramones and Motörhead, the band struck upon a perfect song and just kind of kept playing it again and again. And like the Ramones and Motörhead, you can tell an AC/DC song about three seconds into it. This is, of course, where bands fail in their quests to become yet more AC/DC-like: They attempt to add to AC/DC, to combine it with something else. This is a mistake — you cannot improve upon rock perfection. 7:40 p.m. $89.50. Erwin Center. 1701 Red River St. uterwincenter.com. — Joe Gross
Also recommended:
- Eyehategod at Emo’s
- Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors at the Continental Club
- Gary Newcomb Trio at Lovejoy’s
- Galactic at Stubb’s
SATURDAY
Loudon Wainwright III and Richard Thompson at the Texas Union Ballroom. The Wainwrights — Rufus, Martha, Sloan and Lucy — are probably the closest thing American folk has to the Kennedys, with the talented, prolific and good-humored Loudon as the patriarch. Richard Thompson is a British folk legend whose compositions have been recorded by everyone from R.E.M. to Elvis Costello. Both are touring behind new releases — Wainwright a double-CD tribute to legendary hard-living banjo picker Charlie Poole and Thompson an exhaustive 4-CD retrospective. 8 p.m. $40. 2247 Guadalupe St., utexas.edu/txunion — Patrick Caldwell
Also recommended:
SUNDAY
George Winston at One World Theatre. The capo de tutti capi of New Age-slotted piano players. There was a time when Winston’s music was considered progressive — he first recorded for John Fahey’s Takoma label and his sales practically built Windham Hill Records. Winston also has a long history with Austin — Waterloo Records was an early booster and he once sold out the Paramount. He also plays Friday and Saturday. 7 p.m. $20, $45, $60. One World Theatre. 7701 Bee Cave Road. oneworldtheatre.org — J.G.
Also recommended:
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FFF to be final show for Bankrupt and the Borrowers
Grunge blues outfit Bankrupt and the Borrowers have announced that their 1 p.m. Sunday show at Fun Fun Fun Fest will be the band’s last, according to a release from the their publicist. The show will serve as a tribute to their band mate, multi-instrumentalist Jon Pettis, who died Oct. 9 in a fire sparked by a malfunctioning power strip in his East Austin home.
Donations have helped move the fire’s survivors into a new home, replaced all lost musical instruments and assisted Pettis’ fiancée in getting back on her feet. The band is also working on establishing a Jon Pettis Fund to assist other local musicians in times of crisis, as well as a scholarship in Pettis’ name at his high school, Westford Academy in Westford, Mass. Plans are still under way for a benefit show Dec. 6 at the Hole in the Wall, where the band was planning to play a November residency before Pettis’ death.
Denis O’Donnel from The Bread, Tyler Hautala of the Bridge Farmers and Blake Van Buren of The Van Buren Boys will contribute to the performance.
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Listen to new Spoon: “Mystery Zone”
As reported earlier, Spoon is set to release a new full-length, “Transference,” on Jan. 26. Click here to check out the super catchy “Mystery Zone,” which will appear on the album along with “Got Nuffin.” (Pitchfork)
Update 3:25 p.m.: The song has been removed. You’ll just have to trust us that it was really good.
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Rick Rubin to produce ZZ Top
Guitarist Billy Gibbons recently told a British journalist that Rick Rubin, who helped resurrect Johnny Cash’s career, will produce the band’s next studio album. The members of ZZ Top will spend much of the next year writing material for the guy who stole their beard idea.
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Okkervil River’s Will Sheff contributes to new Norah Jones album
Ryan Adams and Jesse Harris also co-wrote songs with Jones for “The Fall.” NPR’s First Listen is steaming the album in its entirety here.
Sheff and the rest of Okkervil River will also be joining the Levon Helm band for a New York show in January.
“Unless It’s Kicks,” from last Saturday’s Okkervil/M.Ward Austin City Limits episode:
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‘The Horn’ makes debut on Austin FM radio
After a few stutter steps and perhaps a fake reverse, sports talk in Austin made its debut on FM radio Monday.
Listeners were able to hear local sports talk, including popular morning host Erin Hogan, on the FM dial at 104.9. That station, which has previously featured Spanish language music, has been renamed “The Horn.”
“We’re trying to build on what the Longhorns are doing,” Hogan said.
The local sports talk programming will be simulcast for awhile on its previous station, 1530 AM.
That station will now be devoted to ESPN’s national programming. ESPN Deportes will remain on 1260 AM.
Hogan, who’s also programming director for the new station, said, “FM brings some cache. It sounds better to the ear with the stereo.”
He added that the biggest advantage would be reach, as signal strength at 1530 AM has always been an issue.
Although the move had been touted on air for several days, late last week managers at both 104.9 and 1530 weren’t sure that the deal was going to get done.
On Friday, Steve Wilder, general manager at 1530 ESPN, said, “All I can say is that there’s been a small conflict in the legal agreement to operate our stations together.”
FM 104.9 is one of four Austin radio stations owned by Border Media. This past summer Border Media, in a liquidity crisis, transferred its assets to Border Media Business Trust, with the plan to sell about 30 stations, including those in Austin, to pay off debts to investors. The media broker overseeing the trust is Larry Patrick, whose Patrick Communications is based in Maryland. Patrick could not be reached for comment.
On Friday, there was even talk that it would be ESPN’s national programming moving to the FM station, not the local content. Since January, ESPN has added about 30 FM stations to its national network.
Some of ESPN’s national programming, including Colin Cowherd’s show, will be heard on both Austin stations.
“This is a move for the long term,” Hogan said of the switch. “Everyone is excited.”
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Fun Fun Fun Fest preview: Alan Palomo
Both of Alan Palomo’s bands, Vega and Neon Indian, will perform Saturday during Fun Fun Fun Fest, with about three hours between sets. It’s a tall order for Palomo, 21, who doesn’t have much experience performing with either band, but he’s not overly concerned.
“It’s going to be like one extended set with a break in between,” he says. “I’m more curious than worried. We’re trying to brainstorm a little to make the sets seem as different as possible.”
Though casual listeners might not notice much difference between the groups, both of which rely fairly heavily on electronic effects, there are differences. Vega, which Palomo says is mostly named for the star (and not for Alan Vega of the band Suicide, although he is a fan), is the more danceable of the two, pulling from disco in service of a sound that might appeal to fans of Cut Copy and Passion Pit (he has remixed the Boston band).
Neon Indian, on the other hand, is a more psychedelic affair, which Palomo describes as an “audio documentary,” where fleeting samples of random sounds (car radios, background noise) underscore lyrics that describe moments from his teenage years.
Of the two, Neon Indian is getting more attention at the moment, with a well-reviewed debut full-length, “Psychic Chasms,” out now on Lefse. Palomo also caught a big break during the Austin City Limits Music Festival, when he filled in for Raveonettes after the band was unable to get out of Denmark, although it didn’t quite work out as well as he would have liked. “From what I read, everyone still thought we were the Raveonettes, which kind of sucks, but it was still pretty surreal and amazing to be up there and see such a large audience of people,” he says.
It’s all happened very quickly for the Mexican-born musician (his family moved to Texas when he was 6), who moved to Austin last year after deciding to take time off from film school at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he fronted a third band, Ghosthustler. Though his father, Jorge Palomo, is a musician who enjoyed a stint as a pop star in Mexico during the ’70s, Alan says that he didn’t become interested in making music until high school.
That is not to say that Palomo isn’t influenced by his father; he even sampled him on “Psychic Chasms.” Despite the fact their styles of music don’t have too much in common, the father and son have been able to find some common ground when it comes to the music business. “The more stories I tell him about being on the road the more parallels we seem to find between the experiences he’s had in music and the experiences I’m having in music,” Palomo says.
Vega plays at 3:35 p.m. on the Blue stage. Neon Indian follows three hours later at 6:35 p.m. on the Blue stage.
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Fun Fun Fun Fest preview: Jesus Lizard
It’s this simple: In the 1990s, the Jesus Lizard was one of the best live rock bands on the planet.
They might, in fact, have been the best. They started in 1989 and disbanded in 1999. Until 1997, when original drummer Mac McNeilly quit, they owned the decade. And were simply pretty dang good thereafter.
They reunited this year with their original lineup to play a series of shows, and the band’s Touch and Go studio albums were re-released with improved sound and bonus tracks in October.
Just go to YouTube and check out the evidence of former (and current) glories. There’s singer David Yow, a wee yet terrifying man, launching himself into the crowd or reeling around the stage, drunk and shirtless and screaming.
There’s David Sims, the “Four-String Napoleon” who’s Yow’s old pal from Austin psychedelic punk legend Scratch Acid, grinding away on bass, looking vaguely hacked off.
There’s guitarist Duane Denison, the lanky silver fox, his riffs half-rockabilly shimmer, half-noise rock crunch.
And then there’s McNeilly, the hammer of the gods, one of the hardest-swinging, thunder-slinging-est drummers American punk ever produced.
They were a perfect rock band. And if reports from their reunion shows are to be believed, they are again a perfect band.
Nobody thought this reunion — which continues at Fun Fun Fun Fest this weekend — would ever happen. “A number of people approached us over the years,” Sims says from his New York home. “Mike Patton asked us to do the (All Tomorrow Party) he was curating (in 2008), but by the time he asked us, it wasn’t logistically possible. They said how about next year and we decided to nail it down.”
Sims says the band convened at Denison’s house in Nashville in January to rehearse: “He had the biggest house and an incredibly patient wife and daughter.” While the split in ‘99 wasn’t hostile, it had been a long time since these four guys had been in a room together.
“That first show (at All Tomorrow’s Parties in May) was a very emotional experience,” Sims says, “especially for so many people who had worked with the band over the years. There were a few guys who I won’t name who were backstage crying.” The band jumped to major label Capitol Records in 1996 for the album “Shot,” which caused a certain amount of consternation among the indie faithful. Sims thinks these wounds have healed.
“I’m a little surprised at how much fans are into the ‘Shot’ songs that we play,” Sims says. “There was a lot of backlash about them at the time, but they seem to have been rehabilitated, like an old Soviet premier that used to be airbrushed out of a photo.”
He has little good to say about the indie versus major wars of the 1990s. “It all seemed a little bit arbitrary and contrived to me,” Sims says. “We were very lucky to be on a spectacularly great label (like Touch and Go) but there was no shortage of scumbags running indies back then. When people drew this bright shining line with all of the majors on the dark side, my B.S. detectors went off. It was always a lot more complicated.”
As for future Lizard plans, Sims remains good and vague. “We haven’t really looked beyond this series of shows, but we’re also never say never,” he says. “I’ve been really happy with how the shows have gone, there’s been no down side to it.
“I really, really love playing with those guys and hanging out with them. They are three of my all time favorite people.”
Doesn’t get better than that. Neither does the rock.
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CD review: Molina & Johnson, self-titled
Molina & Johnson
‘Molina & Johnson’
(Secretly Canadian)
B+
Fans of Centro-Matic frontman Will Johnson know that he’s a prolific musician, from the Centro-Matic sister project South San Gabriel to solo material and a seemingly endless string of collaborations and guest spots with the likes of My Morning Jacket’s Jim James (Johnson is currently touring as drummer for James’ Monsters of Folk Project, which plays Stubb’s on Nov. 13). Jason Molina, who first earned a loyal following in the ’90s with his Songs: Ohia project and later with Magnolia Electric Co., shares Johnson’s penchant for working with others (also including James, on a split EP in 2002).
It makes sense, then, that the two would eventually cross paths. Other musicians are on board as well, including Centro-Matic’s Matt Pence and Texas singer-songwriter Sarah Jaffe. The result is an extremely sparse, well-crafted affair, but definitely not a point-of-entry for music fans curious about either artist’s work. Opener “Twenty Cycles to the Ground,” which was released as a single, is the most accessible track here, with Johnson taking the lead on vocals atop the mid-tempo shuffle of an acoustic guitar and some restrained percussion.
Molina, whose smooth folk-singer voice stands in stark contrast to Johnson’s rasp, takes the lead on a few of the songs as well, but one of the most charming moments comes when the two trade verses on “Almost Let You In.” The juxtaposition of voices adds a depth that the album could have used more of; along with “Twenty Cycles,” it also highlights the duo’s ability to get to the bottom of a well-rounded song without relying on too many frills.
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88.7 KAZI FM now broadcasting online
Now it’s possible to access KAZI online through their new Live365 station. The interface is a little clunky and it took me three tries to actually get on the stream because it was full (and I’m not a Live365 premium member), but it’s definitely a step forward for “The Voice of Austin.” Welcome to the Web, KAZI.
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Live Review: Kelly Clarkson at Cedar Park Center
I want to hear Kelly Clarkson cut some modern R&B with R. Kelly and Ne-Yo and Christopher “Tricky” Stewart.
I want to hear her make some more giant-sized pop with Swedish superproducer Max Martin (“Since U Been Gone”) and Katy Perry (“I Do Not Hook Up”).
I want to hear her do some blues-punk with the Dirtbombs or Jon Spencer. I want to hear a diva-off with Beth Ditto of the Gossip.
I want to hear her sing over beats by Timbaland, Kanye West and Dr. Dre. I want to hear her make 22nd century electronic music with LCD Soundsystem’s producer James Murphy; maybe she can sing that fake Yaz record Murphy’s always wanted to make. I want to hear her cover country songs by Willie Nelson and Sally Timms and Patty Griffin (Her take on Griffin’s “Up to the Mountain” is devastating). I want to hear her Sinatra album and her album with the Foo Fighters.
In short, I would like to hear her sing every single kind of song she possibly thinks she can sing. She should be knocking out world-beating singles every two months in every genre under the sun with the songwriters of her choosing. Her voice is a force of nature; hearing her uncork it is a pleasure and an honor.
But seeing her in a half full (yet fanatical) Cedar Park Center Monday night was a little depressing and speaks to the strange year she’s had. After her 2007 “I-want-to-write-my-own-stuff album “My December” (which, in spite of her case of the Alanis-es, nevertheless went platinum in a handful of countries), she returned to straight forward radio pop on “All I Ever Wanted,” which has yet to platinum anywhere. Where she goes next seems up for grabs.
Whatever happens, she can still sing, blasting out “I Do Not Hook Up” and “Impossible” and the thermonuclear “Since U Been Gone” with zero stage set and a crack eleven-piece band, including three horns, two back-up singers and a D.J.
Unlike most pop stars of her class, Clarkson really does seem like the gal next door who happened to sell 15 million albums. Her between-song banter never came off as canned (nobody would script talking about music-as-therapy that much; somewhere Clive Davis is fuming.)
Since she can’t do as much on CDs, she works in some nifty live covers, including a killer run at the Black Keys’ “Lies”(!) and an ingenious mash-up of Alanis Morissette’s “That I Would Be Good,” combined with Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” (!!) describing the latter as “one of those songs that you wish that you wrote.” She hit that massive, U2-ish chorus on “Use Somebody” and you could practically hear everyone get chills.
Her voice actually might be a bit too powerful for her acoustic version of “Walking After Midnight;” that song needs a pretty casual delivery; Clarkson sounded like she could barely reign her voice in.
I await her doing anything she dang well pleases.
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Robin’s rhythm: Shivers remembered by music community
In April 1994, Kevin Connor was fired from KGSR-FM for unspecified reasons and was moping at home, taking occasional “keep your head up” calls from friends. “My identity was so wrapped up in my job that when that was taken away from me, I was completely distraught,” recalls Connor, who’s now head of programming at ME-TV. One day he got a call out of the blue from Robin Shivers, whom he’d met casually when she was chairwoman of KLRU and hosted fundraising galas starring Garth Brooks, George Jones and others.
“She said, ‘You need a place to go every day,’ and said she had a spare office,” Connor says. “That was the best thing anyone could’ve done for me. It got me out of the house and back on my feet.” From his new office in a downtown high-rise, he was soon able to land a job as music marketing manager for the Austin Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. And two years later, he was back on KGSR.
Anecdotes such as that were flying all over town last week after the Austin music scene’s angel died in her sleep Oct. 26 from undetermined causes. The daughter of Fort Worth venture capitalist John Ratliff, Shivers was born into wealth, then married into Texas political royalty in 1978 when she wed the legendary former governor’s son Allan ‘Bud’ Shivers Jr. Among the Shivers’ closest friends were George W. and Laura Bush.
And yet Robin Shivers, who was just 53 and apparently in good health when she passed away, did not carry herself as a woman of privilege. “She’s just the coolest, most soulful and spiritual person I’ve ever known,” said Susan Antone of Antone’s nightclub. “She was a visionary who got things done.”
Shivers’ funeral will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at St. Mary Cathedral (203 E. 10th St.). Her closest musician friends, including Troy Campbell and Scrappy Jud Newcomb of the Shivers-managed Loose Diamonds, will play at the service.
Bringing affordable health care to working musicians was one of Shivers’ passions and Shivers used her connections with the Seton Family of Hospitals, where she and Bud served on the board for almost three decades, to found the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians in 2004. HAAM has provided low-cost health care to 1,600 uninsured musicians. Shivers’ work has saved lives and has provided a model for others to follow. When a group of musicians and club owners in Tucson, Ariz., decided to start a similar musicians assistance program, Shivers met with them and energized the effort. “What a woman,” David Slutes of the Tucson Artists and Musicians Healthcare Alliance, posted on Austin360.com. “She set us on a course that we were able to follow and begin our successful organization.”
Robin was never one to just write a check, Connor says. “She was always thinking ‘how can we make this work?’ She had a business sense to go with her amazing spirit of generosity.”
There are people who don’t play music, but they make it with the way they live their lives. Robin Shivers had a rhythm of righteousness in everything she did. She drew you in like a great song that will forever live in your heart.
“Robin’s passing has left a big hole that we all have to work harder to help fill,” Connor said.
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The story behind … Mindy Smith’s ‘Come to Jesus’
Mindy Smith plays Friday night at the Cactus Cafe (7:30 p.m. 24th and Guadalupe streets on the UT campus, 477-6060). Here, she tells the story behind “Come to Jesus,” from her 2004 debut “One Moment More”:
“It’s about having so many struggles as a writer. It takes (so much) just to get your voice heard. I felt like the uphill battle was getting steeper and farther and farther away from me. I was kind of looking up at the sky going, ‘Really, God, seriously?’ I was frustrated and tired of being poor. I live a little more comfortably now that I have my own place, but it’s still a struggle every day.
” ‘Come to Jesus’ is really just about survival, finding ways to survive in a tough world. I think a lot of people relate to that, and I don’t think it matters what your faith is. It’s more what you’re trying to get to than what you believe, but I believe that we have somebody helping us along the way. Even now, that’s a healing song for me.”
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Fun Fun Fun Fest Preview: the Laughing
Cory Ryan
When the Laughing played its first shows in 2006, the local quartet were noticed as much for their distinctive on-stage aesthetic as for their synth-filled dance rock. They boasted a mascot — a stuffed tiger named Svan — and a glam sensibility with matching face paint and white denim vests. Some found the look amusing and entertaining. Some didn’t. The Austin Chronicle slammed the group’s debut EP, 2007’s buzzed, energetic “Tiger Cry,” as an exercise in gimmickry.
“It was sort of a unique experience to get publicly ridiculed for what was, at the time, a hobby,” says Logan Middleton, singer, guitarist and occasional glockenspiel player. “But every time you put something out there you have to accept the fact that some people are going to hate it. If I really had a problem with that I wouldn’t go out and do anything in public.”
Two and a half years later, the group has shed its visual shtick and released its first full-length album, the groove-filled and mildly psychedelic “Fever.” It’s the result of a full year of recording and studio experimentation, with production assists from Erik Wofford — the acclaimed producer and mixer who’s worked with everyone from Voxtrot to Explosions in the Sky — and Danny Reisch, of the Lemurs.
Of course, shedding the costumes — which the band first adopted as an homage to 1979 cult favorite “The Warriors” — was partially a decision based on “impracticality and laziness,” says Middleton. Getting into and out of wardrobe over the course a half-dozen South By Southwest day parties while chasing a hangover would make any band question its stylistic choices. But it’s also a reflection of the band’s increased level of musical seriousness since spring 2007.
“It’s always been really about the music for us, and as it’s progressed we’ve moved more towards that and stripped down things that were sort of gimmicky,” Middleton says. “I honestly think the novelty wore off for us.”
Although the Laughing remain committed to their original goal of being a fun live band, they’ve diversified their sound, and it shows on “Fever.” The album has all the spazzy hooks the band is known for, but influences ranging from Harry Nilsson to Phil Collins have found their way in as well. Waves of sound and a slightly hallucinatory feel recall the 13th Floor Elevators, while ample instrumentation — flute, clarinet, glockenspiel, saxophone — helps keep things varied.
Holding together the disparate elements on display is the drumming of Grant Van Amburgh, whose rhythmic flourishes are placed front and center.
“I kind of get to do what I want. I think of the drums almost as another guitar part,” says Van Amburgh. “I’m not just playing a beat or holding it down like in some bands.”
The end result is an album that plays to the group’s strengths — an energetic rocker that audiences can dance to that still maintains just a bit of an edge, a slight tinge of weirdness that recalls, in spirit if not visuals, the fun oddness that once characterized their live performance. And if there are any bad reviews in the pipeline, Middleton is mentally prepared.
“Oh, now we’re ready. We’re releasing a record that we have a lot invested in and I’m ready for people to say it’s terrible,” says Middleton. “I don’t think it is, but if it comes down to it I feel better prepared.”
The Laughing will play at 12:35 p.m. Saturday on the Orange Stage.
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Patty Griffin’s new record also out Jan. 26
As previously reported, Spoon will release its new record on that date. And Griffin’s “Downtown Church,” produced by Buddy Miller, is also out that day. Hers is a mix of gospel songs and hymns, as well as two new songs, all recorded at Nashville Downtown Presbyterian Church.
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Monsters of Folk play Kiss
Below, check out the Monsters of Folk in full Kiss makeup during their Halloween show at the Palace Theatre in Louisville, KY. We probably won’t get this when they stop at Stubb’s next Friday:
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Queen Latifah at Antone’s cancelled
It sounded strange, the First Lady of hip-hop at Antone’s, and now it’s apparently not happening.
According to a post on the Antone’s Web site, Queen Latifah’s Persona Tour scheduled for next Thursday has been canceled.
No refund information has been published at this time.
