Cover Story
Ain’t Messin ‘Round
Gary Clark Jr. kisses the sky
UT Volleyball Star Hannah Allison
A normal superhuman
Headlines: Bonus Round
White House interns, Red Ribbon Week, and breaking Council news
BREAKING: DOMA Unconstitutional… Again
Oops, they did it again
Party Rockin’
Judging the Presidential race by its iPod playlists
Down With Netflix! Down With Redbox!
Saturday is Independent Video Store Day
What’s Earp in the World of Animation These Days?
Craig Staggs & company break the legendary OK Corral’s funnybone
IFP Gotham Awards Announced
Linklater, Zellners among Texans who score nods
What to Expect From Game On Austin
A clickable guide to the participating studios and their games
The AggreGAYtor: October 18
Your daily dose of LGBTQIA news
Open Meetings: Case Closed?
A deal is near for seven current and former City Council members
How I Got Hitched
A twentysomething sees his first Hitchcock, and he likes what he sees
Mo’ Music Slices
Beat cream flowin’ like waterfalls
Verts: Berlin-Inspired Success Story Grows Beyond Campus
Austin’s putting the bap in döner kebap (shoo bap).
Food-O-File Is On the Range This Week
There’s a red hot serving of local restaurant news right here.
Everything Went Black: I Was Dead Before Dead Was Cool
Shoot him in the head. He’s dead, he’s all messed up
Budget Cuts and a Ban on Planned Parenthood Leads to Decline in Services for Texas Women
Numbers show decline in clients served
Old School and High Tech
TVs, iPads, laptops: watching Texas State football
The AggreGAYtor: October 17
Your daily dose of LGBTQIA news
Celebration Day
Led Zeppelin reunion film lands in Austin tonight!
SXSW Film Conference Unleashes First-Wave Programming
Introducing the Startup Alley and Come & Capture Film Factory
Rat Race: ACL 2012 Musings
What two weekends of ACL next year could solve
Lance Armstrong Resigns From Livestrong
Last week a report accused Armstrong of orchestrating doping scandal
How I Got Hitched
Margaret Moser finally says sorry to Stephen for ‘The Birds’
Mondo Exclusive: First Look at Cute Monsters For Universal Show
Pop art master Mike Mitchell chibis the count and the creature
Without Planned Parenthood, Texas Women’s Health in Jeopardy
GWU considers impact of ban on PP from Women’s Health Program
‘There’s No Place Like Home’
One superfan’s quest to bring the rules of basketball back home
Face to Face with Chris Gerniottis
Zakary Thaks frontman parties like it’s 1969
The AggreGAYtor: October 16
Your daily dose of LGBTQIA news
VOD Watch
‘Paul Williams Still Alive’ trains the camera on the wrong guy
Wild Game Cooking Videos Debut
Chef Jesse Griffiths appears in Texas Parks & Wildlife video series
Austin Wine & Food Alliance Grant Applications Due
Friday, October 19th is final date for grant applications.
Big Money Hits AISD Elections
Huge cash from IT millionaires, teacher PAC in trustee reports
DVD Watch
‘Kati With an i’ is a transfixing documentary portrait
How I Got Hitched
Richard Whittaker on Hitchcock when he was so very British
Austin Officer Fired for Shooting at Fleeing Suspect
Chief says actions were reckless
‘The Walking Dead’ Returns: But Where’s Merle?
Michael Rooker teases the return of the zombie-slaying badass
Barnburner: A Hot Time in Shreveport Saturday Night
Aggies refuse to lose
What Really Rocks the Vote
Teaching your children about the presidential election
SXSW Interactive Announces 2013 Programming
Hundreds of names drop in ramp-up to SXSWi 2013
The AggreGAYtor: October 15
Your daily dose of LGBTQIA news
How I Got Hitched
Marc Savlov on how Hitchcock was a family affair
Austin ISD: Brister Exit Changes the Game
District 3 trustee withdrawal rewrites board dynamics
ACL Photos: Day 3
Live updates from the photo pit
HOPE Farmers Market
Check out what’s happening Sunday morning at the HOPE Market
ACL Photos: Day 2
Live updates from the photo pit
Texas/OU Halftime Report
Horns halftime speaker Joel Osteen: ‘I got nothing’
Next Man Up for Cushing-less Texans
Protecting and pressuring the QB is key
‘The NFL Beat’: ACL Edition
Art mirrors life mirrors NFL
Somebody That I Used to Know
An interview with Australian hitmaker Gotye
From the Vaults: When Shirley Clarke Met Roger Corman
Shirley Clarke was to direct “Crazy Mama”
Emily Hagins Wants to Kickstart ‘Tony Phillips’
Mondo, ‘Red Vs Blue’ and more offering incentives
ACL Photos: Day 1
Live updates from the photo pit
The AggreGAYtor: October 12
Your daily dose of LGBTQIA news
La Dolce Vita Escapes the Rain, Delivers a Lovely Evening
21st festival celebrates the art of good eating at Laguna Gloria.
Candidate Sack
Friday Night Lights’ Peter Berg bites back at Romney campaign
Stoops and Franchione
Just between coaches
Texas Craft Brewers Festival
Dirndl-clad, I investigate craft beer “explosion” at Fiesta Gardens
ACL Grrrl Power
More female headliners, please, but we like these four acts
Exhibitionism
An earnest and timely, if uneven, effort to bring Americans up to speed on presidential history
Home’s a Brewin’
Our new beer writer takes the plunge
Latest Homeless Initiative: Bust ‘Em?
Austin Police Department launches ‘public order initiative’ Downtown
Argo
Ben Affleck directs this entertaining thriller about an unbelievable-but-true mission to extricate American hostages from Iran in 1980.
Studio Visit: Ben Ruggiero
Asking questions about photography in the commercial studio
Wine of the Week
Vintner Randall Grahm turns his eye to Texas grapes
Houston Has Problem With APD Occupy Case
Parties return to court Oct. 31
Seven Psychopaths
A knockout cast of oddball actors seize the reins in Martin McDonagh’s smart comedy about dumb people doing really awful things.
Jeff Garlin
The comedian enthuses about easing the pain, Larry David, and ex-roomie Conan O’Brien
American Independents
Shirley Clarke and Ornette Coleman’s common ground
Med School Campaign Goes High-Speed
The campaign for a UT-Austin medical school accelerates
Wake in Fright
Originally released in 1971, this Australian oddity has been recently restored to its waking-nightmare intensity.
Your Word Is Your Bond
Travis County moves toward broader pretrial release of the accused, but commercial bondsmen say it will never work
Playback: ACL Doubles Down
ACL’s dual weekend model next year will feature the same line-ups. Plus, ACL weekend tidbits.
Sinister
Mix a doomed house with found footage and supernatural explanations and you have a horror movie that borrows smartly and has a strong lead in Ethan Hawke as a conflicted true-crime writer.
Texas Platters
Dana Falconberry Leelanau (Antenna Farm Records) Among the isolated folks in the rural parts of northern Michigan, there’s a pet name for the fanny-pack wearing vacationers who visit during warm months to relish the water and woods: “fudgies” – so named for the tourist-trap fudge shops they support. Dana Falconberry’s second full-length and fourth release…
New on the Menu
Tasty new eats in the central city for hungry ACL fans
Environmentalism: Uncomfortable and Scratchy?
Thinking outside the (burlap) box at SXSW Eco
English Vinglish
This Bollywood picture was mostly filmed in Manhattan and tells the story of a wife and mother who discovers her self-confidence.
Texas Platters
Will Johnson Scorpion (Undertow Music) Anyone coming to Will Johnson’s first solo work in eight years expecting another side of his rock band Centro-matic or standard singer-songwriter fare is in for a surprise. At first blush, this “grower,” as Johnson has called it, sounds disjointed and impossibly moody. Adjust your ears, and it comes into…
New on the Menu
Pelón’s Restaurant & 508 Bar 802 Red River; 243-7874 Daily, kitchen 11am-10pm; bar 11am-2am www.pelonsaustin.com Though the name Pelón’s won’t be familiar to frequent Austin visitors, this new Mexican eatery occupies one of Austin’s oldest restaurant spaces: the low-ceilinged, brick and stone building at Eighth and Red River that for decades housed Jaime’s Spanish Village,…
Can Dems Flip the Suburbs?
Democratic challengers target two vulnerable Central Texas House districts
Texas Platters
San Saba County Broken Record San Saba County plays on the outskirts of alt.country, and while retaining a distinctly rootsy orientation, Broken Record bends toward mellower indie rock. The local quintet’s first release in four years, this single-sided 12-inch EP perfectly melds to its vinyl warmth, with credit going to Danny Reisch’s production and Erik…
New on the Menu
Cherry Street 1612 Lavaca; 284-9954 Mon.-Thu., 11am-10pm; Fri., 11am-12mid; Sat., 5pm-12mid; Sun., 5-10pm www.cherrystreetaustin.com This cozy and comfortable restaurant is a couple of blocks south of the UT campus, in a space formerly occupied by the Hog Island Deli, whose owners recently struck a deal for restaurateur Rob Pate and chef Jason Dodge of Peche…
Council: Of Public Power and Inside Chess
Council takes up the MACC, TXI, etc.
Texas Platters
Kin Songs by Mary Karr and Rodney Crowell (Vanguard) It seems unlikely that Mary Karr, author of mega-successful book The Liars’ Club, and Rodney Crowell, renowned songwriter from Texas, would put out an album together. Then Crowell name-checked Karr in “Earthbound” from 2003’s Fate’s Right Hand and they met soon thereafter, united by similar, alcohol-affected…
New on the Menu
Lucy’s Fried Chicken 2218 College Ave.; 297-2423 Daily, 11am-12mid www.lucysfriedchicken.com Last year, Olivia chef James Holmes opened Lucy’s, which has become a haven for those who love the fried chicken at Olivia but want something a little more casual and comfort-food-oriented. Obviously, the can’t-miss item here is the aforementioned yardbird, which arrives in a seemingly…
Rick Perry Death Watch
State appealing court’s decision
Texas Platters
Crooked Bangs (Western Medical) Despite working in the familiar medium of dark-hearted post-punk, Crooked Bangs leaves no room for spot-the-influence on its debut LP. The youthful Austin trio’s succession of melodic wallops land at breakneck speed, conjuring breathless, back-alley excitement too immediate to succumb to nostalgia. The upfront delineator is vocalist/bassist Leda Celeste Ginestra, who…
New on the Menu
Mercury Pizza 2107 Kinney; 447-4992 Sun.-Tue., 5-10:30pm; Wed.-Thu., 5pm-1am; Fri.-Sat., 5pm-3am www.mercurypizza.com Mercury Pizza, located in a little house on Kinney Avenue a few hundred yards from the intersection of South Lamar and Oltorf, has just recently reopened after a brief hiatus while ownership was transferred from the pizzeria’s original investor to Blake Moffitt, the…
The Hightower Report
Did you know Kellogg owns Kashi?
Texas Platters
Zlam Dunk Balcones (Mission Social Club) Zlam Dunk will shake you to your bones. The Austin quintet rubs joy and anxiety together, then feeds off the friction. Sophomore vinyl Balcones spins a powder keg of nerve endings, with Brett Thorne’s frenetic, spidery guitar angling for most danceable neurosis in the South. Even the instrumentals crackle.…
New on the Menu
Liberty Tavern Hilton Austin, 500 E. Fourth; 493-4901 Daily, 6am-1am www.libertytaverntx.com The recently revamped Liberty Tavern inside the Hilton Hotel (on the Fourth Street side, facing the Convention Center) should be a hopping spot during ACL, as it’s open all but five hours of the day, serving Texas-style breakfast (6-11am), lunch (11am-5pm), and dinner (5-10pm),…
Civics 101
Thursday 11 VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE WATCH PARTY Join the Austin Young Republicans as they watch VP Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan face off in this debate. Congressional nominee Roger Williams will be there too. Refreshments provided. 7:30-9:30pm. Third Base, 1717 W. Sixth. Free. www.austinvpdebate.eventbrite.com. ANOTHER VICE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE WATCH PARTY Watch Biden and Ryan…
Texas Platters
Any grass growing under ex-Austinite Angela Strehli’s feet gets stomped the moment she opens her mouth to sing. And in the company of Dorothy Morrison, Tracy Nelson, and Annie Sampson, the four Blues Broads are an army of powerhouse voices. The quartet’s lifted up to heaven (“Oh, Happy Day,” “Mighty Love”) and anywhere else within…
Food Events
Where will you dine this ACL weekend?
Point Austin: What’s Not on the Ballot
The ballot has some choices, but not all choices
After a Fashion: The Dish
Your Style Avatar gets all guidance counselory and might have gotten snubbed…
New on the Menu
Banger’s Sausage House & Beer Garden 79 & 81 Rainey; 386-1656 Sun.-Wed., 11am-11pm; Thu.-Sat., 11am-2am www.bangersaustin.com Since opening just ten weeks ago, Banger’s has quickly gained a loyal following in that sardine can of popular cocktail lounges known as the Rainey Street Historic District. Owner Ben Siegel struck liquid gold with his first-ever concept, which…
Quote of the Week
“A reversal will have a devastating impact, and anyone who says otherwise is simply not telling the truth.” – Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, as the Supreme Court prepared to consider the appeal of Fisher v. the University of Texas at Austin, after lower courts had affirmed the university’s affirmative action admissions procedures
A Good Sense of HUMORdy
The filmmaking collective spreads the word of Austin comedy to the world wide web
Day Trips
Gourmet pizza on the High Plains
Learning Desire
MindPop thinks about arts education in whole new ways, and what a difference it makes
Mr. Smarty Pants Knows
Babe Ruth once lived in Itzhak Perlman’s apartment. According to the Harper’s Index, as of March 2000, there were 12 Playboy centerfold models since 1959 whose bios claimed their favorite book was by Ayn Rand. According to author Colin White, companies like Ikea design products not around things like aesthetics, but to ensure that, for…
Gay Place: Two Words
Come out! Come out, you adorable queer!
Headlines
� City Council meets today (Thursday), with a brace of annexations on the agenda, as well as the postponed and now wobbly Rainey Street deal for a parking garage across from the Mexican American Cultural Center. For more, see “Council: Of Public Power and Inside Chess” and “Then There’s This.” � Austin police are joining…
Exhibitionism
A brief but poignant experience that touches the soul – and plants seeds for action
In Play: ‘Dishonored’ & ‘God of Blades’
Two new games from local developers
Hornucopia
UT plays the role of Ned Beatty. Where’s our Burt Reynolds?
Then There’s This: MACC Attack Averted?
Council to settle whether to sell or keep Rainey Street tract
Exhibitionism
A real wedded couple illuminated the roles of Kate and Petruchio in Stephen Mills’ well-loved ballet
Food-O-File
The Culinary Institute of America brings Latin flavors to American kitchens
Soccer Watch
U.S. men feeling some unexpected pressure in WC Qualifying, and more
The Luv Doc: Being Snotty
LuvDoc, Last Saturday, my boyfriend and I went to a tailgate party. After we were there for a while, I started to get really bad allergies. I couldn’t even talk to people without snot running out of my nose. I was miserable. When I asked my boyfriend to take me home, he told me that…
Farmers Market Report: October 13th, 2012
News and Information about the Saturday Farmers Markets
Remembering Harris Savides
Frequent DP of Fincher, Van Sant dies at 55
Gospel Tent
Three good reasons to camp out at the Gospel Tent: shade, chairs, and the Lord. Austin’s own Stapletones commence the Friday proselytizing, covering the spiritual sides of the Staple Singers and Curtis Mayfield, before ACL veterans Shields of Faith, led by founding-member Brother LeeRoy Owens, draw on three decades of righteous song. The highlight of…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Gotye Making Mirrors (Universal) If all you’ve heard from this Belgian-Australian is “Somebody That I Used to Know,” you might be tempted to write him off as that skinny creep who got dumped. Making Mirrors, Gotye’s international breakthrough, comes as his third full-length and showcases a risk-taking, self-possessed artist, with mixed results. The sultry “Smoke…
Blitzkid Bop: Austin Kiddie Limits
Hullabaloo Fri., 11:30am; Sat., 2:30pm San Diegans Steve Denyes and Brendan Kremer met in elementary school, and fittingly that’s where the duo cull most of their fans as Hullabaloo, an acoustic project that aims to bridge kids rock with its parental equivalent. Rocknoceros Fri., 12:30pm; Sat., 11:30am These D.C. kids-music mainstays bring their folk tunes…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
First Aid Kit The Lion’s Roar (Redeye) For two Swedish sisters born on the cusp of the Clinton administration, First Aid Kit comes soaked in traditional custom. Second album, The Lion’s Roar, builds on sacred ground – rugged country and fertile folk as fresh as it was originally conceived. “Emmylou” arrives as a love song…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Antibalas Antibalas (Daptone) Five years have flown by since Brooklyn’s Antibalas dropped an LP’s worth of Fela Kuti-inspired polyrhythms. In the interim, its bandmembers have occupied Wall Street, forged a myriad of side projects (Chico Mann, Austin’s Ocote Soul Sounds), and supplied a soundtrack for the Fela! Broadway musical, for which trombonist Aaron Johnson served…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
Patrick Watson Adventures in Your Own Back Yard (Domino) Patrick Watson darts amid elegantly ethereal tones, expanding and contracting chamber pop arrangements that demand deeper listening. The Montreal songwriter’s fourth LP offers no exception, but as recorded in his apartment, Adventures finds Watson’s broad cinematic swaths bundled into a persistently intimate experience. Drama and intrigue…
ACL Interview: First Aid Kit
“I’m really happy you can hear the respect in our music.” Johanna Söderberg’s being beamed to my office from Stockholm, but I can scarcely sense an accent. As First Aid Kit with her sister Klara, 19 to Johanna’s 21, she’s half of the most exciting new folk act in recent memory. The singer’s also pretty…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
Esperanza Spalding Radio Music Society (Concord) Last year, when Esperanza Spalding became the first jazz musician to win the Best New Artist Grammy – beating out Justin Bieber to the outrage of a nation of Beliebers – she catapulted from the obscurity of her genre to the international stage. The part-time Austinite and full-time bassist…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Kimbra Vows (Warner Bros.) More than just the voice of the woman Gotye used to know, New Zealand chanteuse Kimbra has such powerful pipes it’s hard to believe that someone with a voice so worldly and womanly is just 22. Vows, released Down Under more than a year ago but only just landed stateside this…
ACL Interview: The War on Drugs
There’s a running joke in the War on Drugs that no matter how good a take is in the studio, it’s likely not going to make it onto the album. That’s simply how Adam Granduciel operates – approaching things from alternate angles, letting it sit, then beginning anew. “I’m always searching for a feeling,” offers…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
Soul Rebels Unlock Your Mind (Rounder) They’ve been a band for almost 20 years, but only recently have New Orleans’ Soul Rebels gained a reputation outside of Louisiana. Unlock Your Mind digitizes an earnest representation of what the eight-piece brass band can do, although it isn’t disrespectful to say they’re better appreciated onstage. Guest turns…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Stars The North (ATO) Despite the quintet’s aging membership, mortgages, marriages, and kids, Montreal-based Stars continues its quest for love only to get caught up in the turmoil of romance. Sixth platter The North returns to the group’s twentysomething love songs, weighted by classic duets between vocalists Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. “The Theory of…
ACL Interview: Ben Howard
Ben Howard’s music exposes a delicate intimacy braced by surging power. The UK songwriter’s debut LP, Every Kingdom, given stateside release this spring, finds a dynamic tension between acoustic picking and meditative, José González-like vocals, and a broiling turmoil. It’s an introspective approach that he’s had to reconcile with his increasing popularity. “The music you…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
Patterson Hood Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance (ATO) Patterson Hood’s third solo album shares obvious similarities to what he brings to the Drive-By Truckers, but Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance delves deeply into personal and emotional territory in ways his Georgian marauders could never approach. Immediate about this collection is its intimacy, Hood…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Freelance Whales Diluvia (Frenchkiss/Mom+Pop) Some bands work hard at putting their liberal arts degrees to good use, deploying humanities-based critical-thinking skills beyond sophomore literature. Case in point: Queens, N.Y., quintet Freelance Whales, whose second LP Diluvia opens with the dreamy “Aeolus,” named for, as we all know, the Greek ruler of the winds. Naturally, the…
ACL Interview: Esperanza Spalding
Austin’s musical mojo permeates throughout the bulk of bassist Esperanza Spalding’s two most recent works, 2010’s Chamber Music Society and March’s Radio Music Society. It was at the piano in her Travis Heights home that the 2009 transplant wrote both albums. “I feel very comfortable there,” reveals the 27-year-old Portland, Ore., native from the road.…
ACL Music Fest Friday Reviews
Florence + the Machine Ceremonials (Universal Republic) Took longer than she would’ve liked, but Florence Welch entered 2012 as an important pop star. Her misty, powerful voice has its tendrils wrapped around both modern rock and NPR frequencies even though sophomore disc Ceremonials throws off any prayers of discreet songwriting. Her Machine thrives on omnipotence,…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Lera Lynn Have You Met Lera Lynn? (Slow Records) Probably not. That’s the answer implicit in the title of Have You Met Lera Lynn?, which makes sense given that the Athens, Ga., guitarist and songwriter has just begun gathering a fan base. A testament to the staying power of Americana, her debut works best when…
ACL Interview: Tegan & Sara
Three years after 2009’s Sainthood, Canadian indie-rock twins Tegan & Sara finally have a seventh full-length, Heartthrob. The pair made “Closer,” a sexy new single, available on their website last month, and it previewed a slightly tweaked sound: less guitar, more pop-oriented, but with those distinct interlocking vox. “[‘Closer’] is really representative of what we’ve…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Moon Duo Circles (Sacred Bones) Three years ago, Wooden Shjips guitarist Ripley Johnson left his already spacey environs and pulled into his orbit Sanae Yamada for a psychedelic pairing that combines the fuzz and wandering tendencies of grand space rock with friendlier vibes. Think a heavier Vaselines, maybe, or the Jesus & Mary Chain after…
ACL Interview: The Afghan Whigs
“Hold on, let me turn down the music,” is the first thing Greg Dulli says. He’s a man dedicated to sound, and though it’s been a decade and change since his most visible project, the Afghan Whigs, Dulli’s hardly been off a stage since his teens. “I’ve been playing in bands since I was thirteen,”…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Rufus Wainwright Out of the Game (Decca) Following the sparse piano poetry of 2010’s All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, Rufus Wainwright’s latest reclaims the dramatic with at times bombastic pop arrangements. And yet, the portrait of Wainwright as he pushes 40 is necessarily different from the young, Byronian recklessness of his early work,…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Poliça Give You the Ghost (Totally Gross National Product) Smeared in synth, auto-tune, and scarlet neon fonts, Give You the Ghost doesn’t exactly betray the fact that art-rocking quintet Poliça hail from perpetually frozen Minneapolis. Then again, its debut gets a lot of traction out of being crisp and clean. The barreling “Lay Your Cards…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
the Avett Brothers The Carpenter (Universal Republic) The maturation of North Carolina’s the Avett Brothers that began on their last disc I and Love and You continues to flower with The Carpenter. In fact, the duo’s punkish roots are left behind to such an extent that latecomers to the band might not even be aware…
ACL Interview: Trampled by Turtles
During South by Southwest 2011, thrash bluegrass quintet Trampled by Turtles showcased in a shot bar on Sixth Street in front of about 40 people. A little more than a year later, they’ve performed before a nationwide audience on Late Show with David Letterman. In between, they released Stars and Satellites, a moody meditation on…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
The Whigs Enjoy the Company (New West) In 2006, Rolling Stone named them one of “10 Artists To Watch.” The Whigs haven’t risen to unsung heights in the ensuing years, but the Athens, Ga., trio continues making big, noteworthy noise. With Enjoy the Company, their fourth overall and first for New West, the Whigs continue…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Two Door Cinema Club Beacon (Glassnote Records) After 2010 debut album Tourist History, North Irish synth rockers Two Door Cinema Club slotted in at every major festival. Sophomore slump hanging in the balance, Beacon opens strong atop “Next Year,” anthemic pop perfect for both the dance floor and as a fist-pumping concert closer. After that,…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Red Hot Chili Peppers I’m With You (Warner Bros.) Josh Klinghoffer. He’s the new guy. The one you need to know. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ fifth guitarist is no stranger to Flea and Anthony Kiedis’ La La Land, providing backing tracks on much of the band’s 2006 Stadium Arcadium tour before John Frusciante left.…
ACL Interview: Alabama Shakes
No band came into South by Southwest this year with more hype than Alabama Shakes. Considering that the quartet had released only a single EP, its sudden ascent to must-see status could’ve precipitated a massive backlash. “I think if we got sucked into the hype as much as everybody else did, then it could be…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Dry the River Shallow Bed (RCA Victor) Caught in the wake of Anglophiled Americana, this East London quintet’s debut LP runs on more power than its calculated harmonies suggest. Shallow Bed feels intentionally restrained, with the band wanting to rock more than stomp, but employing that tension well, no doubt partly influenced by National producer…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
The Dunwells Blind Sighted Faith (Playing in Traffic) Debuting on Austin indie Playing in Traffic, UK rockers the Dunwells shoot a big, polished sound tuned towards the indie folk revival. An uplifting swell in attitude and arrangements pulses across the Leeds quintet’s full-length bow, yet lines like, “I could be a superhero staring down the…
ACL Music Fest Friday Listings
Megan McCormick 11:15am, BMI stage Not to be confused with the Travel Channel host, 25-year-old Megan McCormick is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter-guitar goddess who writes bluesy rock tunes in the grand tradition of Bonnie Raitt. While her grandparents are immortalized in the Western Swing Hall of Fame, on her 2010 debut Honest Words (Ryko), McCormick weds…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Big K.R.I.T. Live From the Underground (Def Jam) Southern pride ain’t no joke. A Mississippi MC whose style bites big on Memphis speed, UGK sauce, and David Banner’s snarl, Big K.R.I.T.’s the metalloid conglomeration of the Dirty South ideal, a fiery rapper who recognizes the appeal for dousing an 8Ball & MJG collaboration with a…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Die Antwoord Ten$ion (Zef Recordz) Long weird, South African rave-hop duo Die Antwoord’s gone weirder. So weird, in fact, that the tag team of Ninja and otherwise inconceivable Yo-Landi Vi$$er ran out on their freshly minted deal with Interscope Records so that they could weird out all they wanted on their independent label Zef Recordz.…
ACL Aftershows
Wednesday 10 Gary Clark Jr., Wheeler Brothers, Stubb’s Thursday 11 Alabama Shakes, Lee Fields & the Expressions, Stubb’s, SOLD OUT Band of Skulls, Black Pistol Fire, La Zona Rosa Black Lips, Not in the Face, A Giant Dog, Antone’s Laura Marling, Lamberts, SOLD OUT The Soul Rebels, Stubb’s inside Wild Child, the Dunwells, Wanderlust Live…
ACL Interview: Zola Jesus
“I’ve thought about making music under my birth name going forward, but I think that might just confuse people.” Nika Roza Danilova dubbed herself Zola Jesus when she was 19, almost four albums ago now. She’s practically grown up right before our eyes, and like most human beings, she doesn’t feel as connected presently to…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Andrew Bird Hands of Glory (Mom+Pop) Andrew Bird’s March release, Break It Yourself, climbed the Billboard Top 10 and prompted the Chicago whistler’s whirlwind of late-night television appearances. Always the overachiever, the fiddler and multi-instrumentalist has something more. Companion piece Hands of Glory restructures the old and new alike in dusty-trail cowboy swag. “Three White…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Willis Earl Beal Acousmatic Sorcery (XL) Chicago’s Willis Earl Beal is a weirdo. A broken voice in a sprightly young body, he croaks over cobbled, DIY beats, yet sounds relentlessly old-fashioned. He was happy to live homeless, but he also went on X-Factor. It’s a strange path to notoriety, but debut Acousmatic Sorcery arrives with…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Listings
Quiet Company 11:15am, Austin Ventures stage Quiet Company scored 10 Austin Music Awards this year, including Band and Album of the Year, behind their third album, 2011’s We Are All Where We Belong. The awards testify not only to the local quintet’s growing fanbase, but also the anthemic pull of their rousing barrages. Taylor Muse…
ACL Interview: Father John Misty
In his national TV debut – performing a spectacular, full-band rendition of “Only Son of the Ladies Man” on Late Show with David Letterman – Josh Tillman did jazz hands. Twice. “It’s only jazz hands for a lack of a better phrase,” he scoffs from his home in Los Angeles. “I forgot I was supposed…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Michael Kiwanuka Home Again (Interscope) Home Again introduces Michael Kiwanuka as an enormously gifted UK songwriter and old soul in the body of a twentysomething Londoner. At its best, Kiwanuka’s rich voice conveys a universality reminiscent of Bill Withers and Richie Havens, singing about nothing and everything all at once. Opener “Tell Me a Tale”…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Reviews
Old 97’s Too Far To Care: 15th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) Are you ready for some alt.country nostalgia? The Old 97’s’ major label debut, arguably the Dallas combine’s best album, has expanded the original 1997 disc with four bonus tracks, including a gut-busting rendition of Homer Henderson’s “Pickin’ Up Beer Cans on the Highway.” Some of…
Clash of the Titans
Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Saturday, 8pm, Bud Light stage) vs. Jack White (Saturday, 8pm, AMD stage)
ACL Interview: Metric
Almost a decade has passed since Metric released its debut disc, but the Montreal quartet crests another creative peak with fifth disc Synthetica. It’s a dark, brooding album, and a great reminder of how fantastically intense Metric can get. “I’m not synthetica,” asserts Emily Haines on the title track. What does that mean? “The theme…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Lee Fields & the Expressions Faithful Man (Truth & Soul) Lee Fields comes blessed with many things, but timing isn’t one of them. The North Carolina native first cut a cover of James Brown’s “Bewildered” as a teenager in 1969, but his debut long-player of JB-styled hard funk and soul ballads didn’t see release until…
ACL Music Fest Sunday Listings
The Eastern Sea 11:20am, Austin Ventures stage While this local octet’s seemingly cursed debut LP Plague faced building condemnation and fire before its June release, a two-year production cycle that left captain Matt Hines in mental anguish results in tight, layered bursts and swells of strength despite the setbacks. Intricate and driven by prose-type pop,…
ACL Interview: Iggy & the Stooges
In 1974, the Stooges couldn’t stand any more abuse from fans, the pop music infrastructure, or themselves, so they disbanded. While Iggy Pop went to rehab and later became a pop star, guitarist James Williamson studied engineering, worked at Advanced Micro Devices, and eventually became a VP at Sony (see “Shake Appeal,” May 28, 2010).…
ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews
Kishi Bashi 151a (Joyful Noise) Kaoru Ishibashi emerges as a new indie stylist after toiling away as a multi-instrumentalist for Sondre Lerche, Regina Spektor, and Of Montreal. The Seattle native’s debut full-length, 151a, branded by a phonetic representation of loosely translated Japanese phrase “live every day as though it were your last,” indeed offers a…
