Too much pork for just one fork America’s fascination with the South comes from the curious notion that somewhere down there, amid the humidity, kudzu, polyester, cheese grits, and firearms–it’s just more fun to be Southern. That’s the perception that gave Billy Beer and CB radios their nanosecond of marketability,…
Giving in Jon Langford Skull Orchard Sugar Free Jon Langford made his legend pouring delicious doses of fear and whiskey, crafting unexpected rock and roll for a major label that never appreciated his genius, becoming the kind of Waco Brother that David Koresh could never appreciate, and looking for ancient…
Olivia Rojas knew she was in trouble when she saw the look on her 10-year-old daughter’s face that morning. In the annals of the age-old power play between parents and their children, her suggestion that Nydia get up and sing at a little taco stand not too far from their…
The taillight-yellow 10-inch vinyl disc starts out with an almost-ambient collection of various electronic noises–just what you’d expect from Spoth, a group that’s a collaboration between Lithium Xmas alum Mark Ridlen (experimental musician and platterman-about-town when he assumes his DJ Rid identity) and Brian Peterman. Ridlen is credited as “conductor”…
One giant leap for mankind Transaction de Novo Bedhead Trance Syndicate Musik Von Tone Float MIT Timothy’s Brain c/o Avant Garde The big trend these days in experimental music–at least locally–has been to move away from hazy impressionism and zero-G soundtracks and into actual songs. Mazinga Phaser, Transona Five, and…
Head ’em up Technology–unlike money–seems to genuinely trickle down to folks who were never imagined as beneficiaries. Yet there’s a cruel joke. Several items in recent Dallas Observer music sections have mentioned the fact that technological advances are enabling more and more people to make their own albums. That’s the…
Chad Lovell, drummer for Course of Empire, has a barely noticeable habit: Whenever he discusses the history of his band, he tends to laugh a lot–as a person will when later recounting a terrifying or trying experience. You can’t really blame him. After a host of troubles–including its record company…
In the business of alternative music–where the clock is always ticking on a band’s continued relevance and getting to the point is considered bad taste–Ben Folds Five is an unlikely success story. Any other focused, passionate, guitarless band that writes show tunes for headbangers would have easily been branded a…
All rocked out Pearl Jam Yield Epic Eddie Vedder has always been a better star than artist. He’s best at grand gestures, belting out “Alive” or vowing to bring a concert-ticket monopoly to its knees. But these days, “Ed” (as he now calls himself) seems desperate to prove he’s just…
An hour before Denton’s Grown-Ups are set to take the stage at Emo’s in Austin–the second show of their three-date reunion tour of Texas–an episode reminiscent of the “mods vs. rockers” scene from Quadrophenia breaks out. Two rival packs of kids square off, but instead of beating each other senseless,…
You know what they done? Bill Kirchen finally had to change the way he sang “Too Much Fun,” the signature party tune he wrote during his stint as the guitarist for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. The singer–in that band the all-too-credible Commander–marveled at being incarcerated simply because…
If Forest for the Trees had been recorded in 1997, it would surely spur interest, if only for its position at the musical intersection of the moment, pulling together such current themes as studio wizardry a la Beck, trip-hop, and Eastern sounds. But Carl Stephenson laid down the foundations for…
The flustered clerk stood there with slack-jawed confusion, as if someone had just asked him whether he could mow the linoleum in the store. “You mean, you’re supposed to play them all at the same time?” he asked, still not fully grasping the concept. Yes. That’s the idea behind the…
Two for Texas Shadows Where the Magic Was James Hand Self-released When the music that James Hand loved–in this case, the stark traditional country of the post-war era–changed and moved on, he stuck with it. It’s appropriate, then, that Hank Williams Sr. is the name most often used to describe…
After almost four years of steering promising local bands through the straits and around the shoals of outrageous music-biz fortune, David Dennard–director of Crystal Clear’s steve records label and president-for-life of his own Dragon Street Records–has quit his CC post and gone to work in Dallas as the graphics manager…
The rhythm of the saints Many Americans became acquainted with South Africa’s Ladysmith Black Mambazo through its appearance on Paul Simon’s Graceland album, but remain unaware of the band’s importance as a cultural force. From the group’s familial beginnings in 1960, through its country’s polarizing political and social unrest, and…
Coming out, growing up Ten Cent Wings Jonatha Brooke Refuge/MCA Records Jonatha Brooke can zing eloquent barbs at her self-absorbed lovers and spill poetry like water when smacked with a doe-eyed crush. She’s also blessed with a beautiful cornflower-colored voice that cartwheels and jigs on command like a circus monkey…
Lock and… Reload Metallica Elektra Records On a dreary winter day in 1994, MTV ceased airing Headbanger’s Ball, signaling the end of an era of heavy metal dominance. Alternative rock bands flooded the airwaves and left heavy metal fans in something of a lurch. Metallica weathered that storm of alternative…
It was an odd, unexpected sight at the Christmas party thrown this year in Austin by Hamstein Publishing and Lone Wolf Management: the four members of Sixteen Deluxe–Austin’s great white (pop) hope–gushing about their brief encounter with ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill at the shindig. In an era dominated by unabated…
Captain Fantastic rides again Back in 1975, when my best friend and I were screaming, weeping, Tiger Beat mad about Elton John, our small grade-school hearts raced faster the minute one of his songs came on the radio or one of his antics made the news. Although I acquired an…
If you don’t know what a “wet line” is, check out Samuell Boulevard between Sibley and Boone, the boundary that separates where liquor may and may not be sold. Of the 16 establishments that line this section of street, 12 are either liquor stores, beer stores, or bars. One of…
More than HoJo mojo Voodoo Love The Voodoo Kings Virtual Records The borders of genre are often cliche or even worse, especially when you start dealing with questions of cultural imperialism–like taking the blues and turning it into good-time party music for white people. Voodoo–or as they say in Haiti,…
