I’m not at all homesick, but that night his words hit home, maybe harder than they should have. “I mean, you get to England, and you expect the bands to be as good as the Beatles, as good as the Kinks, and that’s just not the case.” Rhett Miller, frontman…
Matt and Bubba Kadane said that they would continue to make music together when they decided to break up Bedhead in 1998. In April, they made good on that promise with Macha Loved Bedhead/Bedhead Loved Macha, a one-off collaboration with their old buddies from Wichita Falls, Josh and Mischo McKay,…
Sinead O’Connor Faith and Courage (Atlantic Records) It’s little surprise that Sinead O’Connor would come out in the new issue of Curve magazine (dunno, never heard of it): She’s been little thought of since the release of I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got a decade ago, except as…
Merge Local Access Sessions: Vol. 1 Various Artists (Atlantic Records) If nothing else, Chip Adams has done his best to promote local bands and musicians, using Local Access, his hour-long Sunday-night show on Merge Radio (93.3 FM), to spotlight as much area talent as 60 minutes will allow. Sure, Cary…
The Jayhawks It was the perfect setup, at least on the exterior: They shared songwriting credits, shared lead vocals, and shared the stage until it was difficult to discern just who brought what to the party. With their old buddies in Uncle Tupelo, you could easily spot where A met…
Boy Sets Fire Endlessly driving across America, limping from basements to run-down club to rented VFW hall, sometimes finding tons of kids milling around waiting for you to play and other times showing up only to find out the show was canceled is often a frustrating, painful exercise. Well-promoted and…
The Waxwings Lord knows every song that appears on The Waxwings’ just-released debut, Low to the Ground, has appeared elsewhere at least once or twice, or maybe a hundred times. To believe otherwise, you’d have to rid record stores of every copy of Odyssey & Oracle, Pet Sounds, Walk Away…
The following is an expurgated transcript of a Britney Spears phone press conference held last week, in advance of her summer tour. By expurgated, I mean we have deleted some of the more banal questions and duller responses–but not all, since we’d have only six words left once all the…
You don’t see the phrase “simultaneous two new album release” every day, and with good reason. For one thing, it’s as tricky to pull off as it is to say. 1991: Nobody can convince Axl Rose to pare down a pair of new Guns N’ Roses albums, each CD with…
So last night I’m sitting down watching digital cable at about 3 a.m. In hopes of catching a rerun of Behind the Music’s profile of Vanilla Ice, I flip to VH1, only to find an early-a.m. montage of pop videos. Just before I head over to MTV to check up…
Even in his hometown of Dallas, the news of Johnnie Taylor’s death of a heart attack on May 31 at age 62 was hardly news. In a way, it’s fitting the city that never knew what it had in Taylor when he was alive and recording didn’t know what it…
Sunny Day Real Estate The Rising Tide (Time Bomb Recordings) For some reason, Sunny Day Real Estate’s 1998 album How It Feels to Be Something On was treated as if it were a one-time-only reunion, 10 new songs found while the members of the band sifted through the ashes of…
[DARYL] Communication: Duration (Urinine Records) Months ago, a friend leaned over to me at a club to say that if someone had predicted years ago that today she’d be watching (and, more important, loving) a band with keyboards, the suggestion would have been met with either violence or laughter, depending…
Groovie Ghoulies I first saw the Groovie Ghoulies three years ago at the now defunct Argo in Denton, opening up for The Queers. After the other support act, the Lillingtons, finished its set, the club’s lights came down and only the orange and red lights came back on. Taking the…
Nash Kato Urge Overkill were the virtual rock stars of the early ’90s, copping press attention beyond their record sales, winning the hearts of Geffen Records and Chrissie Hynde with their retro (but still modernly ironic) take on smooth and gleaming bubble-hard rock. Their smirking style made them redolent of…
Joseph Arthur Joseph Arthur may have some serious problems. Or maybe he doesn’t; maybe he just magnifies his regular problems for the sake of his songs. Either way, here’s hoping he continues to mine his personal demons for his music, which he manages–despite his commitment to putting his personal life…
Scene, heard The first live show by The Rocket Summer happens on September 23, on the same bill with The Get Up Kids, The Anniversary, and Koufax. Bryce Avary, the singer-guitarist-bassist-drummer for The Rocket Summer, is still putting together a band for the show since, until recently, he’s been the…
The Resentments are not a band, yet they are exactly what a band should be: five guys playing together for the sake of the song, the music. A conglomeration of Austin talent that, until recently, only played most every Sunday night at The Saxon Pub in their hometown, the group…
Marshall Mathers LP, the sophomore effort from Michigan-by-way-of-Missouri native Eminem, ranks among the year’s best from a musical standpoint. With tight production by Eminem himself, Dr. Dre, Mel-Man, and others, this record jumps from one slamming track to the next, with the adrenalized “Criminal” perhaps the most potent. Eminem’s flow…
Scene, heard Darlington is back from its recent nine-country, 26-day tour of Europe. Joining singer-guitarist Christy Darlington and drummer Steve Visneau on the trip was erstwhile bassist Angelique Congleton, who is apparently back in the group these days, though that will probably last as long as the band’s brief name…
Belle & Sebastian Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (Matador Records) On their three previous albums, Belle & Sebastian seemed to be answering the question: What do librarians do after hours? Every disc felt as if it had been released posthumously, long enough after the band’s demise…
The Lucky Pierres My Temptation (A DIY Recording) The painting on the front cover of My Temptation, The Lucky Pierres’ follow-up to 1998’s Cocktail Country, more or less sums up all of the songs inside: A sad-eyed waitress finishes her shift with good cry and a bad cup of coffee…
