Email Author Darryl Smyers

2005 Stories by Darryl Smyers

• Old 97's, Shibboleth

  published December 29, 2005

  New Year's Eve without the Old 97's? Well, it's a day early this time around, so let's hope Rhett and Murry made the right plane reservations.... More >>

• The Long Winters

  published December 15, 2005

  Best thing I've heard all year? That would have to be this fantastic EP's opening cut, "The Commander Thinks Aloud," in which the Long Winters'... More >>

• Cave In

  published December 15, 2005

  A pair of major-label misfires confused longtime fans and turned this bone-crunching Massachusetts quartet into so much pop pabulum, but Cave In... More >>

• Blue Christmas

  published December 8, 2005

  Truth be told, most blues-related Christmas gifts are depressing and not just because they're the blues. Current players seem content to... More >>

• Robert Fripp

  published December 8, 2005

  At nearly 60, Robert Fripp continues to be an enigmatic asshole. Twenty years ago, he claimed that guitar gods Clapton and Beck didn't even know... More >>

• Jasper TX

  published December 8, 2005

  If beauty is a result of tragedy, then Swedish indie whiz kid Dag Rosenqvist has picked the right name for his band. His heavily processed,... More >>

• The Hotrod Hillbillies

  published December 8, 2005

  The unlikely fusion of rockabilly and gothic punk has produced some freakish results (Dallas' own Ghoultown comes to mind), but Austin's Hotrod... More >>

• South Austin Jug Band, The Gourds, Two High String Band

  published December 1, 2005

  Though their name conjures up images of half-century-old pickers and grinners crowding a dilapidated front porch, the youthful and lively South... More >>

• Last Set?

  published November 24, 2005

  For a decade, Fort Worth native Andrew Kenny has led some form of the American Analog Set, Austin's greatest contributor of ambient pop. But the... More >>

• Curt Kirkwood

  published November 24, 2005

  Former Meat Puppets leader Curt Kirkwood has spent much of his post-Puppet time in semi-retirement, occasionally venturing out into his adopted... More >>

• Saboteur, Dropsonic, The Hard Lessons

  published November 17, 2005

  The best rock show of the week starts early at the Cavern, when Detroit's Hard Lessons open the night like a Pabst. Agostino Visocchi's guitars... More >>

• Michelle Anthony

  published November 17, 2005

  Blessed with a commanding voice reminiscent of Chrissie Hynde, Kansas City native Michelle Anthony offers a bluesy take on alt-country, full of... More >>

• Mazarin, Soundteam

  published November 10, 2005

  Rarely do genres blend and cross-pollinate as fruitfully as on We're Already There, Mazarin's gracefully noisy barrage of neo-electronic... More >>

• Styrofoam

  published November 10, 2005

  In a rare instance where musical guest stars contributed something more than their names to a sticker slapped on the CD, Styrofoam's 2004 album,... More >>

• Ripped Off

  published November 3, 2005

  Corrine Silguero tells her story with wary optimism, maintaining hope that her musical future will finally become reliable. A local blues diva who... More >>

• Oh, Canada!

  published November 3, 2005

  If you want to see both Broken Social Scene and the Stars, two of Canada's hottest indie-rock darlings, then you better hope DART builds a... More >>

• Jackson Browne

  published November 3, 2005

  Poorly recorded with oddly muffled vocals and an overemphasized, enthusiastic audience, Jackson Browne's late-in-the-game "unplugged" recording... More >>

• Llano Avenue

  published October 27, 2005

  "With music, you think it's a young man's game," local country crooner Darryl Lee Rush says. "But at 39, it's like I can finally make some moves."... More >>

• Ween-ie Roast

  published October 27, 2005

  Put that copy of "The Monster Mash" away, Pops. We hate when backyard haunted house organizers bore kids' ears on Halloween with cheesy sound... More >>

• Services

  published October 27, 2005

  Tristan Bechet and Christopher Pravdica, veterans of New York's Flux Information Society, one of the city's seminal techno bands, regrouped as... More >>

• Atmosphere

  published October 20, 2005

  Slug (aka Sean Daley) is the focal point of this Minneapolis hip-hop collective, dispensing his unique version of street wisdom and male bravado.... More >>

• Amy Rigby

  published October 20, 2005

  Amy Rigby's 1996 solo debut, Diary of a Mod Housewife, was an acclaimed assimilation of pop, country and folk. Rigby's fifth and most... More >>

• Calla

  published October 13, 2005

  Calla's brooding front man, Aurelio Valle, possesses a deliciously menacing tone; part resignation, part betrayal. His melodramatic persona... More >>

• Mack Starks

  published October 13, 2005

  "I know you built something last night/Is it a cage? Is it a bridge?" With this question, sung on Blind Spot's title track, Nashville's... More >>

• Milton Mapes

  published October 13, 2005

  This five-piece ensemble has its roots in Austin, but the local scene is no stranger to their brand of off-kilter, almost ambient country. After... More >>