earache!

Dave Grohl is having a very busy couple of days. Read More | Comment »

The annual Fader Fort – the four-day party/band showcase/Converse-powered bacchanalia – is now open closed for RSVPs. Read More | Comment »

How does Roy Moore capture the color and texture of Austin, Texas? "It's just," he says, "a matter of going out and finding it." Read More | Comment »

If you've never seen Murnau's 1927 cri de coeur, then you ain't seen nothing yet, human. (Except maybe Nosferatu.) The Oscar-winning silent film will be screened at the Alamo S. Lamar, with epic rockers My Education providing the live score, at 4 and 7pm, Sunday, Sept. 9. That's tomorrow! Trust us: you won't regret it. Read More | Comment »

Welcome back to 'The NFL Beat' fantasy friends. I’m an Austin musician who has teamed up with an unlikely crew of degenerate geniuses to create a certified fantasy football juggernaut. Read More | Comment »

Nearly a quarter century after legendary East Bay/Gilman Street ska-punk stalwarts Operation Ivy imploded, guitarist Tim "Lint" Armstrong and bassist Matt Freeman are still kicking three chords and the truth as the backbone of Rancid, the closest thing to The Clash going these days, and one of the few old-school punk outfits (along fellow Gilman St. alumni NOFX and Green Day) to consistently blow both minds and eardrums. Somewhere, Joe Strummer is grinning. Friday's capacity gig -- peppered with at least three generations of Lookout! Records fans and more than a few punk rock dads, their pre-pubescent offspring atop their shoulders -- was a textbook example of DIY punk rock 101. Sell out? Nah, mate, sold out was more like it, as an instant, nicely apocalyptic dust-storm, kicked up by the furious footwork of 2,000-plus die hard fans, roared their approval to sing-along set opener "Fall Back Down" and anthemic single "Last One to Die," the latter off the new, Brett Gurewitz-produced Let the Dominoes Fall album. Straddling the monitors and , Armstrong's trademark whisky-and-dustbowl vocals have aged like a fine 40 oz., a furious hybrid of joyously hoarse delivery and iconic porkpie-hatted panache that's as remarkable for its consistency and it's overriding spirit of '87. Punk dead? Nah, mate, the smell's something in your underpants. One pressing question, though: Does Armstrong have a Dune stillsuit beneath that omnipresent black leather jacket? At fahrenheit 98, heatstroke would seem inevitable. Read More | 1 Comment »

The holidays are jammed with as many Top Ten lists as there are stars in the heavens, or musicians in Austin, or epithets in Scarface -- pick an analogy, any analogy will do. But when it comes to the holidays, for some reason we always turn back to the late, great BBC 1 DJ John Peel, whose heart skipped a beat (and then another, and then all of them) just over four years back. It was a black day, and a terribly sad and unexpected passing, but thankfully the BBC has always been Johnny-on-the-groove when it comes to archiving past airtime. Jolly good for those of us who miss Peel's avuncular chattiness and preposterously eclectic taste in music. He was the first, after all, to champion the likes of the Sex Pistols, the Fall, the Undertones (their "Teenage Kicks" became his signature track), the White Stripes, Joy Division, the Smiths...and on and on. Peel, who we'd like to think was instrumental in the forming of just as many bands as the Velvet Underground, was always keen to chat up his favorites for the record, and to this end the BBC has streamed a bloody brilliant, two-part Peel Top Ten, here and here. Listen and remember and mourn. And then go start your own band. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]
Episode Six: Talking Star Trek and Steely Dan at Fun Fun Fun Fest, featuring interviews with St. Vincent, Kool Keith, Monofonus Press, Zeale & Phranchyze, Black Joe Lewis, and more. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]
Episode Five: The times, they are a-changin'. Local rapper Bavu Blakes' chance encounter with Barry O. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]
Episode Four: Dude, where's my solo? Lions tackle Guitar Hero 3. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]

Episode Three: 999 Eyes Freakshow and That Damned Band keep Austin weird. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]

Episode Two: We go shoe shopping with local rappers Phranchyze and Zeale. Read More | Comment »

[video-1]

The Austin Chronicle's new music video blog, "Earache in My Eye" (Episode One), showcases Charles Potts Magic Windmill Band, including a performance at Mohawk and outtakes from a fireside chat with the group. Read More | 3 Comments »