Blimey, lads, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us again—that one time of year when making fun of our Irish friends is perfectly acceptable (like using condescending terms such as “blimey”). We thought it would be more interesting to let the Irish do it to themselves, particularly U2, but, well, they…
On “Trollin’,” The Weirdness’ first cut, Iggy Pop declares, “Rock critics wouldn’t like this at all,” and if he’s right, the Stooges’ improbable comeback will collapse on the starting line. In the end, though, most reviewers are apt to view the disc as an honorable miss, not a flat-out disaster…
Inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2005, the Tragically Hip continue their brand of off-kilter power rock on the substantial World Container. Released almost exactly 20 years since their debut, the new effort finds the band sticking to a formula of straddling the line between collegiate and…
Where !!!’s last release, Louden Up Now, sounded like a Ph.D. student’s disconnected deconstructions of Klymaxx and post-punk, Myth Takes hews much closer to extended, almost mechanical grooves, give or take the occasional overwrought freakout of diarrhetic songs such as “Bend Over Beethoven.” The act’s range on Myth succeeds in…
Unless you want to spend megabucks on the massive Complete Stax-Volt Singles box set released 15 years ago, this double disc distillation should do just fine. Featuring many of the artists who defined soul music throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, this dose of history is nearly perfect. Beginning with…
The members of Menomena will freely admit that they start each composition with a drum loop. We’re all relieved that they cop to it, because the percussive assault of each and every song on their 2007 release Friend and Foe is jarring and undeniable and provides the momentum for a…
If Norway has been a right bitch to Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes, then America has surely been Sondre Lerche’s femme fatale. Blessed with a poetic command of the English language that could make Cole Porter sweat, the 24-year-old Norwegian songwriter has yet to crack America’s VIP list, despite releasing three…
With roots in North Texas (singer Aurelio Valle and percussionist Wayne Magruder were in Denton’s the Factory Press way back in 1993 before relocating to New York), this moody quartet has grown considerably over the course of five releases. Calla’s newly released effort, Strength in Numbers, may well be their…
Daily special! There are some diverse and tasty pop delicacies on the menu at ellum:Onstage this week. It’s a four-course orgy of synthesizers, violins, guitars, percussion, banjos and really adorable —legal and low-fat, promise!—pristine-voiced indie rockers. Savor each act: Great Glass Elevator blend the driving, anthemic energy of punk guitar…
What—did you think we were just gonna ignore the Observer’s never-ending quest to keep the Toadies together, forever, please for the love of god? Damn, you’d think the Toadies were our Mommy and Daddy, and that we’d just die if they stayed apart, and we’d have to go to some…
Every day we’ll be brining you a new podcast live from Austin, filled with live audio, artist interviews and some reports from real-life journalists. We’ve got a couple podcasts in the can thus far, featuring conversations about bands our colleagues are excited to see. We even threw in a few…
Me: Do you hate doing this? Sandra Bernhard: No, not at all, of course not. If I don’t do this people don’t know I’m coming, and it becomes counterproductive to my work. I’m a quarter of the way through an awkward phone interview with Bernhard, a woman whose persona is…
When bands and relationships mix, there’s usually a divorce lawyer lurking behind the drum riser. Consider the romantic dysfunction that made Fleetwood Mac everyone’s favorite arena-rock soap opera of the late ’70s. What about the “I’m leaving you, what time is Thursday’s gig?” dynamics of the White Stripes and Quasi?…
In preparation for indie songster/professional whistler Andrew Bird’s upcoming show at the Gypsy Tea Room, we sat down for a listen through Bird’s new album, Armchair Apocrypha. What follows are excerpts of the accompanying selected song-by-song Instant Messenger conversation—a lively discussion of Bird’s clever wordplay, instrumental prowess (Bird is a…
Gym Class Heroes, “Cupid’s Chokehold,” from As Cruel as School Children Of course the MySpace generation was eventually going to want its own fluffy, unthreatening rap group, but that doesn’t make this awkward, rhythmless plod any easier to take. It’s all pretty dire: the sproinging bass, the ineffectual DJ scratches,…
It’s not surprising that Nashville native Cortney Tidwell wants nothing more than to hold a lover in a “silent city.” Music City’s legacy of mainstream country has its flip side: a dream landscape of countrypolitan psychedelia, cool guitars, and the eternal wisdom of Hee-Haw and Jim Nabors, all dressed in…
After the Arcade Fire took leave of hanging with David Bowie but before they hunkered down to record the much-awaited follow-up to Funeral, they listened to some serious Springsteen. Maybe it wasn’t always Nebraska, but that classic had to have been the album of choice, let’s say, seven of every…
Before Public Enemy moved into the realms of action figures and VH1, they were cutting-edge for two primary reasons: subversive, political lyrics and edgy, envelope-pushing beats. In more recent years, Def Jux’s artists had been doing the same thing, but they seem more interested in collaborations now. Beat patriarch DJ…
Overheard conversation. Guy describes seeing Explosions in the Sky live. Guy: I was kind of disappointed, because they were just improvising it all. Girl stares blankly. Guy: I mean, I thought their music was more thought-out than that. Girl: So? I’m with the girl. Whether EITS painstakingly craft each composition…
The promotion materials for this Dallas band declare them to be “the masters of doom metal,” and though such claims are certainly difficult to verify, one can say that these two reissues from the late ’80s represent a well-hidden underbelly of local debauchery. Formed by John Perez of Rotting Corpse…
East Dallas resident Darryl Lee Rush is the kind of gritty and straightforward songwriter that gives country music a chance to escape its seemingly endless fixation with bodacious blondes and mullet-addled super patriots. Instead of the slick gloss of contemporary Nashville or the big hat/no brains bravado of the likes…
In the increasingly complicated zoology of indie rock, the tracks of artistic San Francisco outfit Deerhoof remain easy to spot, but difficult to follow. At times resembling playful finger-painting, at others, emotive and abstract expressionism, the trio’s latest album, Friend Opportunity, like The Runners Four and Milk Man before it,…
