PLUS: Austin Chronic & 4/20 Merch • Summer Camps

Texas Platters

Black Books (Believe Recordings) We last left local quintet Black Books happily playing supporting sets for the Flaming Lips in the UK. No surprise they’re scoring points overseas and leaving the hometown circuit in the dust; hypnotic pop with a galactic sheen generally works better in the frosty Atlantic than a humid gulf. Following an…

by Luke Winkie

Pelican

Pelican Forever Becoming (Southern Lord) Hardly the sole rock band to discover that heavy sounds better sans an annoying frontman, Pelican gets downright artistic about its “post metal” on fifth LP Forever Becoming. The Chicago quartet morphs the heavy crush of doom into compositions, and its ability to lay down the crunge in a painterly…

by Michael Toland

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

The idea for an electronic monitoring device was inspired by a story­line in a Spider-Man comic in which one of his enemies, Kingpin, put an electronic bracelet on the superhero to follow his movements. After seeing the comic, in 1983, a district court judge persuaded a computer salesperson to develop a system to monitor five…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Texas Platters

Church Shoes Loves (KMJ Records) Four decades after the fact, channeling the early Seventies Stones/Faces axiom through the lens of nascent punk remains a recipe for pleasant-but-pointless pastiche. So why does this economical 10-song set from Fort Wayne, Ind., transplants Church Shoes sound so fresh? Despite its weatherbeaten touchstones, Loves brims with an eager, cathartic…

by Greg Beets

M.I.A.

M.I.A. Matangi (Interscope) January 2012: Maya Arulpragasam emerges from sulking “retirement” with the Middle Eastern-laced, speaker-blowing single “Bad Girls.” Political, pervasive, and imminently catchy, it repeats the formula that launched the Sri Lankan rapper’s 2007 sophomore LP Kala up the charts. Now, after butting heads with Universal for over a year after its release, the…

by Abby Johnston

Deltron 3030

Deltron 3030 Event 2 (Bulk Recordings) Y2K failed to bring about the technological catastrophe doomsayers predicted, but it did birth a fictional future where Deltron Zero threatened to “crash your whole computer system and revert you to papyrus.” Stardate 3040: Event 2 begins 10 years after Deltron 3030’s eponymous debut began, with Left Coast underground…

by Thomas Fawcett

Texas Platters

BP Fallon & the Bandits Still Legal (Vibrosonic Records) After a lifetime as a force behind much of rock & roll’s past greatness – being press officer for Island Records, Led Zeppelin, and T-Rex (he’s “purple-browed Beep” in “Telegram Sam”); managing Johnny Thunders circa So Alone; testing Paul McCartney’s stash as an employee at Apple…

by Tim Stegall

Sparks

Los Angeles-born brothers Ron and Russell Mael launched Sparks in 1971, moving through impish iterations of glam, New Wave, synth pop, and art rock years before the rock world did the same. Sparks scored hits and huge audiences in Europe, but never hit the big time here at home. Happily, that never stopped the Maels,…

by Michael Toland

MGMT

MGMT (Columbia) On the sanity scale, MGMT’s orbiting comfortably somewhere between Diamond Dogs-era David Bowie and Syd Barrett. Having committed commercial seppuku with 2010’s Congratulations, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser attempt once more to redefine themselves on third LP MGMT with varying degrees of success. This is the sound of a high-minded band left to…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Baby Robots The Dream Beaver (Catland) A veteran local band that jammed “psych rock” before it was back in vogue, Baby Robots’ outsider, post-punk take on the genre resembles the third-eye-dilation of ST 37 more than the spiritual Xanax of the Black Angels. On the Dream Beaver EP, the bots emerge mightily with opener “Broken…

by Kevin Curtin

Local Fun

Phranchyze (Fri., 12:10pm, Blue stage) This battle-tested MC has confidence and character as dictated by his aliases: “The Black Larry Bird” and “Phranye West.” Spray Paint (Fri., 12:20pm, Black stage) Angular, bassless trio brewing highly caffeinated post-punk. The Impossibles (Fri., 4:05pm, Black stage) Nineties ska and power-pop, the Imps recorded for trendsetters Fueled by Ramen…

by Kevin Curtin

The Julie Ruin

In 1997, Kathleen Hanna reacted to the breakup of Bikini Kill by retreating to her Olympia, Wash., apartment and futzing around with electronic sounds and layers. “I was trying to discover who I was as a person separate from the bitch from Bikini Kill,” she explains. The project morphed into feminist-queer electroclash trio Le Tigre,…

by Melanie Haupt

Bonobo

Bonobo The North Borders (Ninja Tune) Bonobo is rightfully recognized as a UK auteur. Simon Green’s written too many memorables to be called anything else, but there’s something particularly prescient about The North Borders. Like a time capsule, it wanders through drum and bass, trip-hop, and downtempo, all smeared in the same misty, mountainous rhythms…

by Luke Winkie

Texas Platters

Brandy Zdan steps out from the Trishas’ for her solo debut, Lone Hunter. Though enlisting some of the gals’ harmonies on the cooing “O Where,” she largely keeps the tunes sparse and essential, standout “Does Everything Break” shattering softly with Ricky Ray Jackson’s pedal steel, and closer “I Remember When You Used to Love Me”…

by Doug Freeman

Descendents

Descendents drummer and noted coffee enthusiast Bill Stevenson has a full cup for this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest. Besides his pioneering South Bay pop-punk quartet, Stevenson’s bashing skins for Black Flag offshoot Flag and revived garage-pop progenitors the Last. This is a man who drummed in Descendents and Black Flag concurrently for a brief…

by Greg Beets

Slayer

Kerry King needs no introduction, but here’s one anyway: co-founding guitarist of Slayer, responsible for the most extreme thrash metal this side of heaven. Terrifying. Austin Chronicle: You scare me. Kerry King: That’s a good thing, right? AC: How do children react to you? KK: Children don’t usually give two shits about me. They don’t…

by Austin Powell

King Khan & the Shrines

King Khan & the Shrines Idle No More (Merge) Five years have passed since the apt and boldly named The Supreme Genius of King Khan & the Shrines was unleashed on unsuspecting stateside ears. The compilation of breakneck R&B and gut-bucket garage rock – culled from previous European releases – came from the warped mind…

by Thomas Fawcett

Punk Fun Fun Fun

Ceremony (Fri., 3pm, Black stage) Former hardcore spazzes have downshifted into psychotic garage punk. No Age (Fri., 5:15pm, Black stage) Drummer/vocalist Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall make fast, hazy dream punk with thick guitar effects and lo-fi vox. Flag (Fri., 8:55pm, Black stage) The working-class, Greg Ginn-less, Rollins-less, version of Eighties hardcore greats Black…

by Kevin Curtin

Record Review

Wild Child The Runaround (Noise Company) What a difference production makes. 2011 debut Pillow Talk proved Wild Child chieftains Alexander Beggins and Kelsey Wilson can produce playful, pleasing melodies in their sleep, but its stripped-down style arrived somewhat too simplistic. Second LP The Runaround doesn’t reclassify the local sextet’s folk-pop as biting or fierce –…

by Chase Hoffberger

Five Songs Television Has To Play

Saturday, 5:50pm, Orange stage With an unreleased album’s worth of new songs under their belts, don’t expect Television to perfunctorily trot out 1977 landmark Marquee Moon at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Aside from an Australian date where the definitive NYC art-punk quartet performed the LP debut in toto, Television’s recent overseas shows have drawn heavily…

by Greg Beets

Quote of the Week

“We relied too much on technology and gauges that were not working properly instead of relying on you.” – Art Acevedo apologizes to flood victims for the city’s response to recent storms.

by Chronicle Staff

The Luv Doc: Are Texans Too Nice?

Dear Luv Doc, I’m fairly new in town, and I’ve got a question for you about Texan dudes, because I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about ’em. I’m certainly not a player hater. I like to do my own share of playing the field, and admittedly, I am largely a commitment-phobe and am not…

by The Luv Doc

Beach Fossils

Beach Fossils Clash the Truth (Captured Tracks) The sophomore LP from Beach Fossils directly challenges the lo-fi, woozy sound of their eponymous 2010 debut, with Dustin Payseur looking to capture the expanded live sound of the Brooklyn quartet with production from the Men’s Ben Greenberg. Clash rings more confidently from the opening title track, even…

by Doug Freeman

All Is Lost

In this near-wordless film, Robert Redford is compulsively watchable as a man trying to save himself from his sinking ship.

by Kimberley Jones

Metal Fun Fun

Code Orange Kids (Fri., 1:10pm, Black stage) One jackboot in hardcore, the other in dissonant doom, Pittsburgh’s Code Orange Kids spews venom. Venomous Maximus (Sat., noon, Black stage) Houston squadron warms up for LP No. 2 by blasting through its occult metal nightmares. Unlocking the Truth (Sat., 12:50pm, Black stage) Though its members are only…

by Michael Toland

Lemuria

Lemuria The Distance Is So Big (Bridge 9) Lemuria refuses to settle for the easy hook. The Buffalo trio produces slacker-lilted jams on command, yet across this third LP, they disrupt and overturn tunes into jittery, unnerved digressions intended to unhinge an apathetic audience. The sputtering “Brilliant Dancer” charms behind Sheena Ozzella’s tweaking vocals only…

by Doug Freeman

The Underachievers

“People talk about us bringing the Nineties back, but if anything we’re trying to bring the Sixties back.” So explains Issa Gold, formerly Issa Dash, one half of Brooklyn rap duo the Underachievers alongside partner AK. The Flatbush crew’s debut mixtape, Indigoism, comes coated with a thick resin of East Coast grime. “I love psychedelic…

by Thomas Fawcett

Johnny Marr

Johnny Marr The Messenger (Sire) Johnny Marr’s previous solo showing was 2003’s flat arena-rock experiment, Boomslang. For The Messenger, the ex-Smiths axe genius returns to the guitar pop of his youth. Marr chimes, jangles, strums, and crunches, using whatever tricks best serve the song. Not that The Messenger trucks in nostalgia, mind you. His vision…

by Michael Toland

Civics 101

Friday 08 CAN POLICY FORUM Commun­ity leaders discuss the future of the Austin area. 8:30am-3:30pm. UT Commons Learning Center, J.J. Pickle Campus, 10100 Burnet. $20. www.eventbrite.com/event/7998625103. Saturday 09 AUSTIN BLACK LAWYERS ASSOC. LEGAL CLINIC Free legal consultations. 8am-noon. African-American Chamber of Commerce, 5407 N. I-35, #304. Free. www.austinblacklawyers.org. TEXAS CONFERENCE ON CIVIC LIFE Discuss working…

by Chronicle Staff

The Armstrong Lie

What’s a filmmaker to do with all the footage shot during Lance Armstrong’s inspirational bicycling comeback in 2009 but reshape it into a documentary about a sports hero who couldn’t stop lying?

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Johnny Marr

“I was almost too comfortable in Portland, Oregon,” muses quintessential British rock guitarist Johnny Marr about his new solo release, The Messenger. “I needed to get a bit uptight, and Manchester is a good place to get a bloke uptight!” He laughs. Marr revisited the city where he grew up and formed arguably the best…

by Tim Stegall

Dessa

Dessa Parts of Speech (Doomtree Records) No one listens to Dessa for her singing. Until now, perhaps. In her proper follow-up to 2010’s A Badly Broken Code, the Minneapolis rapper demonstrates an increasing comfort in the nuances and juxtaposition of narrative storytelling. Between smoky alto first-person accounts and demure blues, Parts of Speech creates characters…

by Abby Johnston

Headlines

› With much of the city still recovering from the recent floods – and a formal declaration of emergency – City Council’s meeting today (Thursday) will be very brief, with all zoning and planning matters postponed, and adjournment scheduled for noon so officials and staff can get back to recovery work. For more on emergency…

by Chronicle Staff

Big Freedia

Oxford defines twerk as a “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.” When asked if anything about that white-bread definition should be changed, New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia pauses for a minute, then adds, “No hands on the floor. No hands on anything…

by Abby Johnston

Small Black

Small Black Limits of Desire (Jagjaguwar) With 2010 debut full-length New Chain, Small Black sank amid the chillwave swell of the turn of the decade. While the Brooklyn quartet’s sophomore effort proves lustrously polished and the rhythms more pronounced, it still treads in lukewarm waters that lull comfortably numb. The relentless yearning in its dreamlike…

by Doug Freeman

The Julie Ruin

The Julie Ruin Run Fast Maybe it’s her off-kilter scream/singing, but Kathleen Hanna has a way of transporting you right back to where you left off. Derailed by Lyme disease since 2007, she refuels the Julie Ruin banner with an expanded lineup ready to party. Run Fast melanges the hit-and-run brevity of Bikini Kill (“Stop…

by Abby Johnston

Easy Wins for Nine Props

The Texas Constitution may read more like a particularly dry epic poem than a working governing document, but that didn’t stop state voters from adding nine more amendments on election day. Wide margins developed for the props early in the night. Prop. 6, which creates a State Water Imple­ment­a­tion Fund, sailed to victory with 73.4%…

by Brandon Watson

Thee Oh Sees

San Francisco garage-psych quartet Thee Oh Sees supply insane energy to every stage they plug into. Keyboardist Brigid Dawson fielded our questions. Austin Chronicle: You’ve been called the silver lining in Thee Oh Sees sound. Brigid Dawson: I’m a caveman piano player. I’d never played an instrument before John Dwyer said, “You’ll have to learn…

by Kevin Curtin

Thee Oh Sees

Thee Oh Sees Floating Coffin (Castle Face) After years of plying a twisted but uneven dalliance between psychedelia, garage punk, and noise, San Francisco’s Thee Oh Sees distilled their focus to fine effect on 2011’s Carrion Crawler/The Dream. That sweet streak continues on Floating Coffin, whose darker, more foreboding tone covers a lot of stylistic…

by Greg Beets

Bill Callahan

Traveling in support of 2011’s Apocalypse, the typically reticent and private Bill Callahan allowed videographer Hanly Banks to create a tour film after she reached out with a brief proposal. The result, last year’s Apocalypse: A Bill Callahan Tour Film, provided a poignant portrait of the former Smog auteur, both for audiences and Callahan himself.…

by Doug Freeman

Snoop Lion

Snoop Lion Reincarnated (RCA) In 2008, Snoop Dogg’s Ego Trippin’ prompted questions of whether the G/hustla could still be considered a rapper. With April’s Reincarnated, we know for sure he’s not. The Doggfather’s 12th reincarnates the celebrated G-funk playboy into full reggae righteousness, pushing that “Rebel Way” with a fat Kingston blunt on his Rastafari…

by Chase Hoffberger

Hornography

Texas plays West Virginia on Saturday in the first-ever meeting between the two schools in the Mountaineers’ home city of Morgantown. Thanks to a bit of conference realignment, and WVU’s 2012 move into the Big 12, the game also doubles as the two teams’ third contest since 1956. Last year’s Mountaineers were undefeated, ranked eighth,…

by Russ Espinoza

Velasquez Park: ‘A Model That Works’

If there’s one type of parks expansion endorsed by every invested party, it’s one in which a public space is created on a previously underutilized plot of land, that simultaneously enhances public life, and that costs the city no money to develop or maintain. That’s the story of Roy and Matias Velasquez Plaza*, a multi-tiered…

by Chase Hoffberger

White Lung

“The right answer is to act all modest and be like, ‘Oh, I’m just doing what I do and not thinking.’ But that’s bullshit. Frontpeople are frontpeople because they’re fucking frontpeople. You know? We chose to stand up in the front and be ‘the face’ for a reason. If there are like five girls who…

by Luke Winkie

Soccer Watch

St. Edward’s women host the Heartland Conference Tournament this Thursday and Saturday, Nov. 7 & 9 at Lewis-Chen Family Field. Semifinals are Thursday: Dallas Baptist vs. St. Mary’s at noon; top-seeded St. Edward’s vs. Newman at 2:30pm; the final is Saturday at 1pm. The Hilltoppers ended their regular season at 14-0-2, 9-0 in conference, and…

by Nick Barbaro

Food Events

Farmshare launch brunch Enjoy a country brunch on the farm to raise money for a new nonprofit called Farmshare Austin, the mission of which is to improve access to organic, sustainably grown food. Drinks include a mimosa bar, Texas Coffee Traders, and BeeSweet Lemonade. Music from Shinyribs, farm tours, and kids’ activities. Sat., Nov. 9,…

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

Mirror Travel Mexico (Modern Outsider) Following three singles and a name change, the local trio formerly known as Follow That Bird finally takes flight on a dark and dreamy disc overlaying heavenly hooks on monochromatic tones. “Feel it! I want you to see my heart!” murmurs Lauren Green, her warm, mellow voice casting a hazy…

by Kevin Curtin

Flag

“I need you to know immediately that we’re Flag,” emphasizes Keith Morris. “We’re not Black Flag.” At one time, four of these gentlemen – singer Morris, bassist Chuck Dukowski, guitarist/vocalist Dez Cadena, drummer Bill Stevenson – were in Black Flag. (Flag is rounded out by Stevenson’s fellow Descendent, guitarist Stephen Egerton.) Yet there is no…

by Tim Stegall

Melt-Banana

Melt-Banana Fetch (A-Zap Records) Shonen Knife assaulting Animal Collective? Double-decade Tokyo trio Melt-Banana still stymies conventional codification as it approaches a dozen discs, but within this tribal drum chase of helium vocals, grindcore guitars, and songbombs, Fetch brings back raw mosh. Japanese bees (“The Hive”) could’ve titled this stinging circle pit (“Lie Lied Lies”), Yasuko…

by Raoul Hernandez

Washed Out

Washed Out Paracosm (Sub Pop) Ernest Greene seems like a pretty happy guy. He’s married, never felt the need to leave Georgia, and he’s signed to Sub Pop. Washed Out doesn’t need to prove much to anyone anymore, and maybe that’s why Paracosm stands as an especially blissful outing in an already winsome career. He’s…

by Luke Winkie

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