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Texas Platters

Sara Hickman Absence of Blame (Sleeveless) Although pegged by most as a folkie, Sara Hickman is an unrepentant pop artist. Absence of Blame finds her enjoying nearly every stripe of that rainbow with a zeal she hasn’t displayed since 1998’s Adrian Belew-produced Two Kinds of Laughter for Shanachie Records. The local song activist opens with…

by Jim Caligiuri

The Dry Land

Home from Iraq, a soldier suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has trouble reintegrating into small-town Texas life in this scorching film.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Event Menu

Between screaming for ice cream and sharing heirloom recipes, it’s a busy week for Austin foodies

by Virginia B. Wood

Get Low

Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Bill Murray all in one odd drama: What more is necessary?

by Marc Savlov

The Expendables

Sylvester Stallone helms this clash of the titans of action cinema that coasts on its concept while blowing up lots of stuff.

by Marc Savlov

Oops!

In last week’s “Media Watch” column, “Shiver Me Timbers,” about a local unlicensed radio station’s fight against the Federal Communications Commission, we reported that the broadcasters were selling advertising spots to the Internet radio networks carried on the station. RuleofLawRadio.com’s Deborah Stevens says she is in fact only selling spots for her own local “network”…

by Chronicle Staff

TV Eye

MTV anoints its first-ever Twitter jockey, while the screen loses a slow-burn icon

by Belinda Acosta

Texas Platters

The 1966 voice of Willie Nelson that kicks off Setlist: The Very Best of Willie Nelson Live (RCA/Columbia/Legacy) is itself worth the price of a picnic, rollicking through “I Gotta Get Drunk” with a vitality that rejuvenates the familiar concert tune. One of 11 acts inaugurating Sony’s Setlist series, Nelson’s best live cuts cull from…

by Doug Freeman

Eat Pray Love

Julia Roberts stars in this adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s novel about a journey of self-discovery, but the result is undercooked.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

Blaze Foley The Dawg Years (Fat Possum) Check under your couch cushions – if you ever knew the late Blaze Foley during his lifetime, there might be yet more lost recordings down there. Reviewed here last month was Sittin’ by the Road (see “Texas Platters,” July 16), a collection of homemade Foley recordings lost for…

by Lee Nichols

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

The goliath tigerfish is the only fish in Africa unafraid of crocodiles. In fact, it eats them. Potato yogurt is being made in North Korea. According to the official July 2010 press release, it is good for the prevention and treatment of diarrhea and indigestion. Leathermakers in Victorian England used a substance called “pure,” found…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Household Names Stories, No Names The bane of modern-day pop purists like Austin’s Household Names is never being able to transcend the sum of the genre’s most venerated influences. To the local vets’ credit, the only obvious name-check on Stories, No Names is a swell version of XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel.” Otherwise, it’s a…

by Greg Beets

Texas Platters

Red Horse (Red House) Contemporary folk supergroup Red Horse is a collaboration between Austin’s Eliza Gilkyson and John Gorka and Lucy Kaplansky. Taking turns interpreting one another’s songs while covering Neil Young (“I Am a Child”) and affectionately taking on the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger,” the trio’s harmonies are surprisingly cogent, the tunes effective and filled…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Markov This Quiet On the cover of Markov’s debut, we’re alerted that math rock will indeed be part of the equation – the quartet’s even named after a Russian mathematician – but the post-punk rumble on This Quiet never quite reaches the dynamic state of some of the band’s 1990s forebears. The 10 songs fly…

by Audra Schroeder

Texas Platters

Mancarter My American Friend Austinites know Gary Claxton from his work with trad-country outfit Heybale!. Mancarter finds him partnering with Andrew Scaturro for a stripped-down sound that defies categorization. Acoustic based, it’s not quite folk music but an intricate brand of Americana that alternately wobbles and strums. Brief at eight tracks, tunes like back porch…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Masonic Live Like a Millionaire Five albums in, Masonic’s formula remains steadfast: handcrafted dream pop melancholia gilded by effects pedals and keyboards scavenged from across the decades. Despite its overlong run time, Millionaire’s high ground successfully expands on the long-running local quintet’s 2003 masterstroke, Too Far. Too Fast. Too Soon. Millionaire snaps to life with…

by Greg Beets

Texas Platters

Ouachita (‘wah-shi-tah) With the local Southern rock and blue-eyed soul scenes consistently on the rise, it makes sense that someone would try to fuse the two. Ouachita makes a valiant effort at it, but the sextet is undermined by a lethargic lead vocalist and rote songwriting. While musically adept, the results come across as second-rate…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

The Victor Mourning A Handful of Locusts (BMI) The Victor Mourning consciously steeps its aesthetic in a bygone era, exhumed in fiddle, guitar reels, and haunted folk ballads and conjured by the sepia-toned locust artwork prophesying plagues. Despite the harrowing starkness of biblical brimstone and Southern Gothic outcasts that shade the local trio’s debut LP,…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

The Sideshow Tragedy (Nondescript) The Sideshow Tragedy’s first two discs found them traveling from explosive to overblown. Their latest is a return to frontman Nathan Singleton’s more melodic tendencies, combining Chris Whitley’s blues and the Waterboys’ anthems into something that’s distinctive, dark, and ultimately uplifting. For the first time, the trio accurately captures their live…

by Jim Caligiuri

Texas Platters

Subrosa Union One Night Stand Credit producer Mike Cosgrove for the giant leap Subrosa Union takes away from the faux-reggae of 2007’s Looking Forward. The Alien Ant Farmer co-wrote and arranged much of the local trio’s sophomore outing, adding more structure and polishing the results for alt-rock radio (“Laces Loose”). The Union caters too much…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Brian Alan Talisman With Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Rob Hooper, and Mark Addison assisting, Brian Alan’s initial effort should possess some lasting firepower. Other than Alan’s attractive tenor, however, Talisman’s five songs lack any distinguishing personality from that of other singer-songwriters. The closing “Where the Ravens Land,” a morose Southwestern soundscape, stands apart, indicating Alan’s potential…

by Jim Caligiuri

Day Trips

Bright Brewing and Eola School Restaurant in Eola is a little rough around the edges, but you have to admire the chutzpah that brought it to this little farming community on the West Texas prairie. Don’t get me wrong, Mark Cannon serves a good hamburger and fries. His fresh beer is a tasty treat in…

by Gerald E. McLeod

Texas Platters

The Blind Pets Smashed If Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge as Mudhoney decreed, then the Blind Pets just earned a second helping. The local trio’s debut offers a sweaty throwback to the glorious barbarism of grunge – lean, convulsive, and with no shortage of broken strings or instruments. It’s a kick in the pants that…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

David Ball Sparkle City (E1) Nationally, David Ball’s known as a country traditionalist who had a couple of songs hit the charts. Locally, he’s best remembered as a member of Uncle Walt’s Band, the none-of-the-above band that also featured Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood. Sparkle City, his first disc in three years, finds him mingling…

by Jim Caligiuri

TexArts

Co-founder Todd Dellinger takes a new job, so two new directors take over for him

by Robert Faires

Texas Platters

Love at 20 Time To Begin With the earnestness of Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World and the dance-rock backbone of his former project Clap! Clap!, Mike Groener cleans up nicely with Love at 20. The local quartet’s finely tuned debut, originally released as a free download last year, never surpasses standard Urban Outfitters fare, but with…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

The eponymous six-song debut from Holy Wave, recorded by Shapes Have Fangs guitarist Skyler McGlothlin, is a great soundtrack to standing in front of an A/C unit and letting your face go numb. The local quartet’s got a psych mind, and its wash of reverb and volume creates a dreamlike state, namely within the jangly…

by Audra Schroeder

Headlines

� City Council is off this week, with its next meeting scheduled for Aug. 19. Although last week’s meeting was a light affair, council formally set a $90 million transportation bond election for November. See “City Hall Hustle.” � Meanwhile, work continues behind the scenes on the city budget, as council’s questions are answered online…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Look Mexico To Bed to Battle (Vinyl Collective/Suburban Home) Tallahassee, Fla., transplants Look Mexico arrived in town earlier this year, fully formed and with this second full-length in hand. The quintet’s a welcomed addition at any rate, balancing Don Caballero math-rock guitars (“No Wonder I’m Still Awake”) and Warped Tour sincerity (“You Stay. I Go.…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Superlitebike Away We Go The concept album is a major undertaking for any band, especially as a debut offering. Featuring former members of A Pocketful of Deng and the War Against Sleep, Superlitebike has credentials, multipart harmonies, and ambition in spades but lacks the hooks necessary to anchor such a feat, though the sprawling “Home”…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Rajamani King of Pearls The Two Lovers (Rajamani Productions) Born in rural India and now a Texan of 15 years, multi-instrumentalist Oliver Rajamani is one of Austin’s most universally respected musicians. The Pearl King’s latest is “an album for lovers, romantics, yogis, poets, spiritualists, therapists and all.” Accompanied by Carnatic violinist V.V. Murari, Rajamani crafts…

by Thomas Fawcett

Luv Doc Recommends: Top Drawer’s 17th Birthday Party

Need some new clothes? If you’re going to drop coin on that David Bowie “Let’s Dance” button-down shirt at Target, you might as well strap on a pair of golf cleats and do a river dance on a litter of baby seal pups. Oh yeah, and if you truly are that heartless, at least make…

by The Luv Doc

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