After spending the first part of his professional life performing at rodeos and Wild West shows as both rider and musician, then kicking around Nashville for six years (the telling title of his debut CD: VietNashville), Houston Marchman is only getting more seasoned the longer he lasts. “VietNashville is about…
God bless the BellRays, for they know what it means to rock. No, not “rock” in the same way as those bands slugging it out every weekend who think they rock because they have lots of tattoos, but in an honest and passionate way that blows the competition (if you…
There comes a time in the life of most artists when what they want to do is much more than what they’re allowed to do. When the artist no longer feels satisfied with the traditional instruments of design–the paint, the brush, even the canvas itself. When paint starts spilling over…
Laurie Anderson, you will not be surprised to learn, is a downright charming conversationalist. Furthermore, to the delight of anyone who has appreciated her 20-plus years of storytelling art, she often strays from the trajectory of the central topic to indulge in illustrative narratives that somehow provide the perfect foil…
Away from the spotlight, the former Brian Warner is as soft-spoken and thoughtful as his alter ego, Marilyn Manson, is outrageous and imposing. With a firm handshake and a preternaturally serene demeanor, Mr. Manson blends into the black leather sofa at the West Hollywood office of Post-Human, the record label…
While there are more than enough songs about Christmas, and more every year–Idol Records just released another 18 into the wild on Electric Ornaments, and that’s just locally–there aren’t very many about Chanukah. There’s Adam Sandler’s self-explanatory “The Chanukah Song” and…well…uh…hmmm…that’s about it, unless you wanna count “A Lonely Jew…
Pete sells out, and then some: Since opening his own Internet kiosk (www.eelpie.com), The Who’s songwriter-guitarist has opened the vaults and introduced American shoppers to the value of buying music by the pound (conversion rates being what they are). Earlier in the year, he finally unloaded the Lifehouse baggage he’s…
As the great David St. Hubbins once said, “There’s a fine line between clever and stupid.” The line is equally fine between charming and cheesy–stay on the right side of the line, and you’ve got The Smiths; stray over the line, and you end up with Air Supply. Manchester trio…
There he stands, the anonymous man bookended by two legends, two gods, two immortals. On his right is the man called Bird, with eyes shut and lips clasped around the reed of his alto sax; even in an old photo, you can hear his horn honking, squealing, bleating, blaring. On…
Maybe it was a bad idea to have DirecTV installed on that Saturday, but then again, how could I have known? After almost a year sans tube, I’d finally decided to jump into the 500-channel deep end, return once again to the magical world of nonstop Law & Order reruns…
In the midst of his sixth tour of the United States, Uz Jsme Doma singer-guitarist Miroslav (Mirek) Wanek says he has finally realized why the Prague band, which has visited this country to tour at least once a year since 1995, makes such a deliberate effort to drive a rental…
Bruce Goldberg knows that a Japanese import version of Marilyn Manson’s new Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) exists. He’s seen it, held it in his hands, stuffed it into a bubble-wrap envelope. In fact, his company, Weathermen Records, recently shipped 123 copies of the disc…
Remember that anti-drug commercial with that really hot chick who goes nuts and trashes a kitchen with a frying pan? The ad hit you over the head with its message: Drugs are bad. Well, the British band Electrasy has issued a counterpoint. Their new album, In Here We Fall, also…
Did Beck Hansen really change the layout of the pop cosmos? That is, were folks (or headz or peeps or what have you) mixing and matching genres in three-minute chunks like it was going out of style before it was, um, in style? Like, duh. The Beastie Boys could school…
Born out of the same Boise, Idaho, scene that unleashed Built to Spill, Caustic Resin takes the archetypal “scorched-earth guitar dirge” aesthetic even further, wielding a rambunctious, acidic barroom-blues sensibility and a rather dour sense of humor. “Bring a Mormon to a show and receive 10 percent off at the…
And so it arrives, a century–give or take a few years–later than expected, but worth the wait, as so few things ever are. It seems like forever ago (perhaps because it was) that Kim Pendleton and Paul Quigg and that revolving-door rhythm section stood on the Galaxy Club stage and…
Awake and alert on a Sunday afternoon, Rhythm of Black Lines frontman Clint Newsom interviews like every unfamous rock musician should. He’s enthusiastic about the music and answers without any misunderstanding or aloofness. I don’t have to ask the stupid questions about how the band started and their influences, as…
The great major-label mergings and purgings of the last several years have lost hundreds of people their jobs–but another tragic result is that many artists have been trapped in record-release limbo. The rootsy rock band Whiskeytown is one of them, and that’s left rock fans unable to hear Pneumonia, arguably…
For much of his life, Sun Ra lived in a Philadelphia brownstone. His name was listed in the phone book under “Ra, Sun.” In a photo taken in front of his brownstone, he looks like any other middle-aged man standing in front of his home: Somewhat proudly, he stares into…
Rhett Miller nailed it when former Dallas Observer staff writer and London resident Christina Rees caught up with him (“The sound of Deep Ellum,” June 22) at an open-mike-night performance at London’s Kashmir Club earlier this year: “I mean, you get to England, and you expect the bands to be…
Greil Marcus is a rock-critic legend. A graduate of the late-’60s Berkeley scene, Marcus began his rock and social criticism with then fledgling Rolling Stone magazine and quickly became notable for his highbrow style and brainy approach. His obvious talent and his professorial passion for dissecting rock and roll had…
Named after the nautical pleasure craft of Emilio Largo, Bond supervillain in Thunderball, Disco Volante sounds more like the kind of music Miss Moneypenny might be tempted to blast in the office when M wasn’t around. On the surface, it’s worldly-wise pop; the opening track, “146 Degrees,” takes “The Theme…
