Slacker’s paradise subUrbia Original Soundtrack DGC Records Soundtracks are like Christmas albums: ephemeral, sloppy, overrated. A complete waste of time–plastic and nasty–whereon unknown bands play for unsuspecting moviegoers or established acts unload their leftovers for extra royalty checks. Soundtracks are for the zealous consumer who wants the complete shopping experience:…
We think long and hard about our culture’s infatuation with retro- (both -grade and -spective); it beats thinking about the VISA bill. How much is too much? When does our constant reworking of the past cease to be funny or cute and begin to be genuinely hateful? Where to draw…
“Classical music for the next millennium,” said The New York Times upon the release of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II in the spring of 1994–a hefty label for a young lad from Cornwall who was only 22 at the time. Richard James–aka Aphex Twin–has gotten used to this…
Shed your skin For Those With Contempt Strap Medina Records Word on the street has it that the bright and talented Lone Star Trio committed artistic and commercial suicide by abandoning its roots. Its sudden shift from a bona fide rockabilly band–heir apparent to cat daddy Horton Heat–to a nondescript…
I Got That Feeling Debbie Davies Blind Pig Records Davies’ three-year stint playing guitar for Albert Collins won her blues credibility her otherwise thin gifts would not have gained her. She’s a feisty instrumentalist, but her weak voice and bland material bar her from any measure of greatness. Here she…
“Hey; kids, let’s put on a show!” has been a hallowed pop catchphrase since Mickey Rooney played Judge Hardy’s sincere but trouble-prone son Andy. Rock ‘n’ roll reduced the prerequisites to a few instruments, drums, and electrical outlets, and youngsters across the globe have been cleaving the night with their…
Fifty miles of elbow room The movie Tender Mercies is about as evocative a movie about a place (in this case, Texas) as has yet been made; not so much for the acting or story (both of which are excellent), but for the cinematography–particularly the shots in which the sky…
Last year I did a phone interview with Scott Thompson, the openly gay co-star of The Larry Sanders Show and founding member of the defunct, much-lamented Kids in the Hall. We’d hooked up to discuss the Kids’ celluloid swan song, Brain Candy, but spent more time kvetching about the state…
The concept of the Guitar Hero has left a bad taste in the mouths of critics and music fans ever since punk stressed feeling over technique. America’s appreciation for bigger-faster-harder guitar playing has waned ever since, but Dallas’ Andy Timmons may well change all that. He’s grinning hugely on the…
You don’t know what you’ve been missin’ Popular strummer-about-town Colin Boyd–most recently the author of “Peggy Sue Went Surfin'”–is certainly haunted by Buddy Holly’s ghost, but the former Cricket’s shade also makes it over to Austin to spook around Monte Warden’s house. You could make a case for Warden as…
Pop goes the easel Non Pop-Specific pop poppins Carpe Diem Records It’s probably a disservice to the other guys in pop poppins to focus on Broose Dickinson, but he is the group’s hyper-creative frontman and guiding light. Pop poppins have always been the masters of an emotion-laden sonic flow, and…
Local bluesman Pat Boyack has fully recovered from an unfortunate bit of confusion last summer when longtime Mike Morgan and the Crawl vocalist-harmonica player Lee McBee decided to stick with (actually, rejoin) Morgan & Co. rather than play with Boyack. Although Bruce Bowland, the vocalist he was working with immediately…
Sunshine daydream Bombs & Butterflies Widespread Panic Capricorn Records There was quite a bit of foofraw when Phish released Billy Breathes a few months ago. Much was made of the jam-happy group’s most convincing foray into the realm of accessible song, but that’s a space that Georgia’s Widespread Panic has…
Singer-songwriter Trish Murphy feels a particular warmth for Dallas. “The Dallas music scene really brought me back to life,” she says. “When I was at school [at the University of Dallas], Deep Ellum was in its beautiful early phase, this amazingly fertile, creative environment. I remember living out in Irving…
Knowing where the lions are The Charity of Night Bruce Cockburn Rykodisc If 1994’s Dart to the Heart was Bruce Cockburn flexing the muscles he’d built up since the mid-’70s–his reputation and technique snagging T Bone Burnett as producer and a rocked-up sound heavy on horns–then The Charity of Night…
The axiom that history tends to repeat itself holds particularly true when it comes to music. In the summer of 1969, George Harrison recorded a catchy little tune called “The Hare Krishna Mantra,” which soon rose to the top of the British charts. At about the same time, John Lennon…
The red brick building sits on the high ground overlooking the intersection of Harry Hines Boulevard and Oak Lawn Avenue like a fortress, accessible only by a curving driveway that flashes past drivers almost before it’s perceived. For many it’s a phenomenon of the commuter age–something that’s seen every day…
Hot buttered soul Snoop may well be the Doggfather, but Isaac Hayes (pictured) is still one of soul music’s Godfathers. Few songs show up in both the form of parody and sincere tribute as often as his “Theme from Shaft,” and few rappers have personified Black Pride the way Hayes…
Green, green grass of home who to love and when to leave Mary Cutrufello Independent release By now the more obvious aspects of Mary Cutrufello have been reduced to filler fodder, but the contrasts inherent in an African-American female from the East Coast with a Yale education attempting to play…
Old tricks, new dogs Texas Blueswomen Chonita Turner, Jav-Lyn, and Lady Lotion TopCat Records Apart from touring acts like Buddy Guy and local blues jams, there exists a whole group of R&B/blues clubs that see few white faces but are no less valid for their self-containment (perhaps even more so)…
Most ’90s celebrities understand that baring their souls comes with the territory. Your average personality mag is brimming with profiles of famous people who disclose their deepest, darkest secrets as casually as they cash their royalty checks–and the few who don’t are viewed with suspicion. Eddie Vedder’s reluctance to share…
Tim Locke, felled by the season’s latest and nearly ubiquitous strain of flu, still manages to sound excited through the coughing and sniffling. Locke is the lead vocalist, guitarist, and main muse behind Grand Street Cryers, the Dallas pop quintet that’s enjoying the fallout of a magical bit of radio…
