Never got to see Johnny Cash, and now I never will. I had a chance in 1996. I was living in Austin at the time, a couple of months shy of graduating from college, a couple of years from figuring out what to do after that. Never had any money…
Canada’s been getting loads of attention this year from stateside indie-rockers jazzed over ornate ensemble productions from “gay church folk music” practitioners the Hidden Cameras and extravagantly spaced-out guitar-popsters Broken Social Scene. Here’s two more acts worth your overvalued American dollar: Winnipeg’s Weakerthans and Toronto’s Constantines, passionate rock believers possessed…
Yo La Tengo is the sound of slightly nerdy brainiacs rifling through the racks of the hippest record store in town. You know the type–obsessive fans who always have the first line on what’s new and cool and often obscure, people who can also find the buried treasures on albums…
Last seen hereabouts a few weeks back as the prelude to Neil Young’s odd Greendale trip, Williams was aptly paired. Young’s artistic whimsy causes him to falter as often as triumph–the indelible mark of an artist at work–and Williams is now far enough along in her run to show a…
How good was Dwight Yoakam in Hollywood Homicide as rap mogul Isaiah Washington’s creepy bad-cop henchman? Yeah, you’re right, not that good. Half-convincing glower aside, Population: Me, the part-time actor/full-time honky-tonker’s latest, is another entry in one of the most consistent bodies of work in modern country music. I’d tell…
Chris Knight isn’t exactly the American noble savage, but like fellow Kentuckians such as photographer Shelby Lee Adams and author Chris Offut, he offers movingly detailed portraits of life as it’s really lived in Appalachia. His tiny, aptly named hometown of Slaughters (where Knight still lives, despite Nashville record and…
We are not the only ones who miss the late, great Robot Monster Weekend (“Geek Out,” September 4). If we were, well, we wouldn’t be surprised. The group wasn’t really around long enough–and didn’t play in front of enough people–for that to happen. But that doesn’t matter to some: “They…
The cowboy hat may be D:Fuse’s trademark, but his music hardly makes you think of Texas. Instead, his creations evoke such locales as New York, San Francisco, London and Ibiza, and visions of ecstatic throngs dancing in thrall to a seamless mix of energetic beats per minute. In one of…
Daniel Lanois, superstar producer and occasional solo artist, took pains in his liner notes to thank all of the musicians who contributed to Shine, his first album in a decade. These fellow musicians include U2’s Bono, sensual country singer Emmylou Harris, prolific session drummer Brian Blade, longtime friend and collaborator…
At this late date, only the acolytes await the latest Bowie release, the casual fan long having been waved off by slow sell-backs masquerading as Low comebacks every few years. He’ll never be as artistically rewarding as he was during the ’70s or as commercially viable as he was in…
Wildwood Flower’s liner notes are reason enough to recommend the final recording by June Carter Cash, who died unexpectedly from complications of heart surgery in April. Penned by stepdaughter and songwriter Rosanne Cash, they eulogize Carter Cash as a uniquely talented and loving mother and musician who for nearly 40…
Defiantly homespun, the 2002 debut of Kentucky’s Nappy Roots, Watermelon, Chicken and Gritz, gathered up the back-porch drawl and bacon-grease funk that had been surfacing on Dirty South albums over the past couple of years, tied them together with a strong dose of populism and became a surprise success by…
Outside of the despicable Aqua’s repulsive “Barbie Girl,” Denmark has not been known for producing any notable music. That is, until now: Enter the Raveonettes, who are among the new school of Danish musicians (along with Junior Senior) creatively reinterpreting familiar musical archetypes. These clever Danes–Sune Rose Wagner (boy) and…
Here’s a neat triple bill for pop lovers not put off by Hollywood shine and record-biz hype as long as it accompanies some genuinely enjoyable tunes. Hollywood-based headliners Rooney kick off their self-titled debut (on Geffen because singer-guitarist Robert Carmine’s brother is Phantom Planet drummer/Rushmore star Jason Schwartzman, whose mom…
Emerging in 2001 in a welter of fuzzed-out guitar and excellently effed-up hair, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club could have been mistaken for the second coming of the Jesus and Mary Chain. Likewise anesthetically moody, but adding the extra oomph of sexual come-on in the bass lines and vocals, the band’s…
While it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment in history when ultra-fashion-conscious new wave music formally emerged, we can be certain that its arrival altered the face of popular music forever and influenced more of what’s now heard on the airwaves than a few would care to admit. Though a…
As with pierced-and-inked TRL darlings Good Charlotte, it’s tempting to call out way-hyped L.A. sleaze-rockers the Bronx on their dubious fealty to hard-boiled punk ideals: On their Web site (thebronxxx.com, naturally), they declare that “these days rock is dead” and that “emo dudes are carrying purses” (which, to be fair,…
Is the Mermaid Purse a supergroup? Sort of. All the members of the band are in other bands: singer-guitarist Eric Shutt (Doosu), guitarist Justin Wilson (Red Animal War), drummer Dominic Weir (Flickerstick), bassist Jason Jones (the Feds) and recent hire Mike Graff (Halls of the Machine) on guitar. That’s one…
In the military, they call it a debriefing. In other circles, it’s an exit interview. Three of the people at this table at Sol’s in Deep Ellum work as animators, the other is an architect and, until recently, all of them played in the same rock band. So it’s probably…
Joey Duenas dreams big–perhaps a bit too big. The vocalist for Austin hard rock band Unloco had hoped the group’s 2001 full-length Maverick Records debut, Healing, would be a smash out of the gate, catapulting the band to the upper (or at least upper-middle) ranks of success. After the album’s…
On the back cover of the CD booklet that accompanies Richard X’s first full-length is an anti-piracy statement from EMI Music (Astralwerks’ parent), a polite but strongly worded missive reminding listeners about the danger of the Internet, CD burners and the like. Bit strange, really, since that’s pretty much how…
The British version of this DVD collection, an assemblage of rock-and-roll highlights from 16 years of TV’s finest live-music program (or programme, mate), runs two discs and includes the likes of Japan, Focus, Dr. Feelgood, Simply Red, Meat Loaf and Robert Wyatt–in other words, acts unlikely to enhance the show’s…
