The piano greets me before I even reach the main entrance to the Dallas apartment where I’m meeting the pAper chAse. I wait for the playing to pause before knocking…it’s just polite. The greeting is appropriate–that very instrument symbolizes the thread of transformation, and even maturation, that the Dallas band…
At Mwanza Dover’s final Mazinga Phaser II performance, it’s unfortunate–but somehow appropriate–that a former Dover bandmate stole the show. Headliner the Great Tyrant, fronted by Daron Beck (formerly of the Pointy Shoe Factory and Dover’s keyboardist in Falkon), erased any memory of Mazinga’s faltering set with a bizarre half-hour of…
Saw not long ago where our music ed referred to the New Year as “legendary,” which is just another word for “beloved everywhere but in the band’s hometown,” which long ago should have erected a shrine to bros Matt and Bubba Kadane–and, while yer not at it, Peter Schmidt, the…
Longtime leader of Austin’s Asylum Street Spankers, Guy Forsyth might be too versatile for his own good. His latest solo effort, Love Songs: For and Against, features sturdy blues and reggae grooves, along with touches of folk and jazz. Forsyth’s an excellent player, but he doesn’t have to work so…
The Brooklyn-based dance-punks in Radio 4 expressed their dissatisfaction with the Man on 2004’s pissed-off Stealing of a Nation, but they forgot to have any fun in the process, which made joining their underground resistance a very hard sell. Though it doesn’t match the punk-funk intensity of 2002’s Gotham! (produced…
California County, the third effort from this oddly named roots quartet from the sunshine state, is heavily indebted to The Flying Burrito Brothers, the early Eagles and probably some kind of psychedelic drug. Full of sweet, Byrds-like harmonizing, songs like “Slash from Guns N’ Roses” and “Motorcycle Mama” are peculiar…
During college, I saw bands like Pine Hill Haints damn near every week. Something about Austin attracts swampy, podunk acoustic acts, the kinds of swill pots that mix bluegrass, country and even punk into a sonic brew with enough bite and aftertaste to scare your Aunt Mae half to death…
Got the Blues: Before our weeks of hiatus at AAT HQ (SARS scare, but we’re cool now), we’d heard rumors about the House of Blues opening one of its national mid-level concert franchises in Dallas, supposedly near South Side on Lamar. This week, we returned to see the final report…
Not so long ago music of a spiritual persuasion was easy to pick out in a heathen crowd. You wouldn’t mistake Stryper for Mötley Crüe or confuse DC Talk with NWA–contemporary Christian musicians always made it clear that they were rockin’ and/or rappin’ for the Lord. If their faith was…
Though I usually ignore Lower Greenville’s meat-market bars and stale dance clubs, I’d feel remiss to not comment on what happened in the district this weekend. The Dallas Morning News reported a murder and a knife attack on opposite ends of Lower Greenville (the residential block near J. Pepe’s and…
“Hype” is probably the nastiest of all four-letter words these days, and no band on earth right now has more of it than the Arctic Monkeys. Over the last seven months, the Sheffield quartet–none of whom is of American drinking age–has been lauded as 2005’s “Best Breakthrough Act” at the…
Though many avoid the number 666 like a leaking condom full of AIDS, some heathen entertainers see June 6, 2006 (6-6-06) as a once-in-a-century marketing opportunity. The remake of The Omen will be released, and speed-metal pioneers/pentagram enthusiasts Slayer long planned to release their follow-up to God Hates Us All…
When Gram Parsons died of an overdose in 1973, he left behind a staggering body of work for a man of only 26 years–four albums with the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers and the International Submarine Band, as well as two classic solo records–and it’s a pretty safe bet that…
Before the tres cool producer legend of note came the ultra-cool, left-field and decidedly cult artist whose eclecticism and artiness–albeit mixed with his gritty Fort Worth roots–likely kept him from becoming, say, Elvis Costello (who Burnett produced and is half of the Coward Brothers for a track here). What made…
To spectators of the Rust Belt garage-rock revival, the Raconteurs must seem like a dream come true. For Detroit darling Jack White, the band is the perfect chance for him to ditch his lubberly sidekick, Meg; for his Motor City counterpart, Brendan Benson, it’s a way to grab some sack;…
Neil Diamond (who in his later years has come to resemble a Soho clothing retailer) has always been an unlikely lightning rod, bringing forth scorn from rockers and adoration from housewives and AOR program directors. Sadly, most detractors associate Diamond with his ’70s and ’80s dross period: shit like “You…
Compared with the mild-mannered groups that usually take the miniature stage at Lower Greenville’s Cavern, Austin’s Gorch Fock should tear this place up. Wall-of-tribal primitive Jesus Lizard fire melds with bizarro trombone bursts and some kind of intoxicated, seafaring lyrical theme. Edinburgh, Scotland’s Country Teasers headline, bringing their charming/sloppy/noisy brand…
Last year’s With Teeth stressed the rock half of Nine Inch Nails’ industrial-rock attack, layering blistering guitar fuzz over Dave Grohl’s pounding drums. The band’s live shows since the album’s release have seen Trent Reznor re-embracing the assertive-front man role he seemingly abdicated in the late ’90s, back when dude…
An aging hipster and a 16-year-old girl stroll through the mall, each absentmindedly enveloped in their respective iPods. They collide. “Hey, watch where you’re going,” says the hipster, “you got pop sensibilities in my drone-y shoegaze.” The 16-year-old girl cocks her head: “Nuh-uh. You got your lame ass shoegaze all…
No longer just an Earthy-crunchy songstress with a clever bent (her token song about marijuana, “College Girl,” both extols and debases it), Dar Williams finally gained some depth through fuller arrangements and a deeper exploration of herself on 2003’s The Beauty of the Rain. “The World’s Not Falling Apart,” one…
Three Dog Night weren’t exactly hip even in their late ’60s heyday. Nearly dated before they formed, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells were a trio of good harmony singers who actually knew a good song when they found one. Hell, they made a hit out of “Mama Told…
In 1989, Lee Coombs began his dance floor career spinning at acid-house parties in London and Cambridge. He quickly became the resident DJ at the now-legendary Eclipse raves, and a swift, natural evolution from the decks to the studio led to releases under several monikers such as the Invisible Men…
