John Stirratt and Patrick Sansone could be the next Simon and Garfunkel. Though based in Chicago, the two men who constitute the Autumn Defense create acoustic guitar-based soft ballads with gorgeous harmonies that elicit the gentle warmth of the California sun. As with the Summer Hymns, one can almost feel…
The earth is not a cold, dead place, at least not in Texas, which has produced some of the finest and most carefully crafted instrumental post-rock in recent years, courtesy of artists such as Explosions in the Sky, Cue and My Education. Out of nowhere—San Marcos to be exact—This Will…
Sounding more like “the next big thing” from our Canadian neighbors than those crazy kids from down the street, Red Monroe’s self-titled, full-length debut album made jaws drop, including the Grammy nomination panel. Even if the record was chock-full of bittersweet Arcade Fire-like yelps and Wolf Parade-esque moments of crashing…
Unless you spent 2006 under a rock—without the aid of an iPod, cell phone or BlackBerry—these two acts need no introduction. The “Go, go Gadget” success of Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere, the first collaboration between Goodie Mob’s Cee-lo and renowned producer and mash-up artist Dangermouse, provided the perfect summer soundtrack…
In the rap game equivalent of Henry IV seizing the throne from Richard II, T.I., born Clifford Harris Jr., crowned himself King. The Rubberband Man’s fourth album dropped at a crucial moment in 2006: the week of his film debut in ATL, while Jay-Z was still “retired,” and before Ghostface…
Connecting the two enchanted bodies of water that encapsulate The Way the Wind Blows—one set in Galisteo, New Mexico, the other in France—the cross-cultural, cross-generational folk tales of A Hawk and a Hacksaw re-contextualize the traditional and classical into the modern age. Led by nomadic aural archaeologist and former Neutral…
1. Midlake, The Trials of Van Occupanther 2. The Polyphonic Spree, Wait EP 3. Centro-matic, Fort Recovery 4. The Theater Fire, Everybody Has a Dark Side 5. The Paper Chase, Now You Are One of Us 6. Bosque Brown, Cerro Verde 7. Red Monroe, Red Monroe 8. The Drams, Jubilee…
The revolution was not televised, nor was it sold at the local record shop. Colorful chamber-pop collective the Polyphonic Spree instead digitally released one of the best albums of the year, the five-song EP Wait. Bookended by two songs from the group’s forthcoming full-length, A Fragile Army, which is tentatively…
If your holidays are less like a Hallmark card and more like an outtake from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, load up on eggnog, pack up the mistletoe and celebrate the season with true, kindred spirits. Reverend Horton Heat, the man (James C. Heath), the myth and the band, which was…
Dan Auerbach may or may not have made a deal with the devil at the crossroads, but the Black Keys’ singer did venture to the Promised Land, the muddy banks of the Mississippi, to hone his signature guitar tone. His journey to R.L. Burnside’s “Bad Luck City,” the Delta region…
Wednesday, November 29, at the Gypsy Tea Room
Saturday, November 25, at Gypsy Tea Room
Sunday, November 26, at the Gyspy Tea Room
For Jim James, the lumberjack-bearded singer and guitarist for My Morning Jacket, everything sounds better coated in a thick layer of reverb. The familiar echo of his resonating vocals wraps around the listener, creating an ethereal warmth like Southern Comfort to the soul. It goes down even smoother live, for…
Two of the hit men responsible for Seattle’s renowned Murder City Devils will suffer an awkward reunion at the Tea Room. Drummer Coady Willis is now responsible for one-half of Big Business’ ear-shattering enterprise and one-fourth of the Melvins’ monolithic drone metal, while bassist Derek Fudesco went on to form…
The Lions’ search for the Blizzard of Ozz on their debut album, Volume One, is a psychedelic trip through dive bars and crack houses where only the almighty riff survives. The Austin-based foursome recorded the seven-song sphinx at The Den, earning their namesake as Kings of the Jungle. “Metal Heavy…
After all these years, X still marks the spot. The seminal California punk band recently blazed trails nationwide on the “As the World Burns” tour with a reunited Henry Rollins Band, celebrating the re-mastered release of Los Angeles, as well as a reunion show filmed in the City of Angels…
If “Reason Is Treason” as Kasabian claimed on their breakthrough self-titled debut, then the overproduction and megalomania of Empire is treachery of the highest decree. Like the majority of sophomore efforts from 2004 buzz bands (see: Franz Ferdinand, The Killers), the latest from this band of Brits trades in the…
The beauty of Regina Spektor is in her balance, between high and low art, classical and popular music, the profoundly poetic and the utterly mundane. This idyllic synthesis is what makes the Moscow-born Jewish singer-songwriter both as graspable as the street-savvy girl next door that parties with the Strokes and…
After fumbling a few chords and forgetting more than a few words, a weary and weathered Kris Kristofferson paused briefly during his performance at a New West Records day party during SXSW 2006. He then humbly mumbled, “Just imagine this beautiful thing that sounds as good as Bob Dylan.” The…
The last of the original Lemonheads, Evan Dando has been through a lot in the last decade or so after becoming yet another casualty to the “next Kurt Cobain” hype machine. He got clean, got married, released a widely underappreciated solo effort (Baby I’m Bored) and even fronted the MC5…
W.W.J.J.D.—What Would Joan Jett Do? The question at hand appears on the T-shirt of a young guitarist for the all-female punk rock group the Applicators during yet another late-night, sweat-filled practice session in a small storage center in South Austin. For her, and countless others around the world, Joan Jett…
