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

September 26 • 2008

Sep 26 - Oct 2, 2008 / Vol. 28 / No. 4
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Cover Story

Texas Beats Hogs, Dreams of OU

Play time is almost over for the Longhorns, and they just maybe are ready. That’s a big maybe. Make no mistake, the real season always begins with Bob Stoops swaggering on the Cotton Bowl sidelines, spitting in the turf and grinning. He’s had Mack Brown’s number, and he knows it. So here we are. Texas…

by Joe O'Connell

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Jenny Lewis Acid Tongue (Warner Bros.) Relish Jenny Lewis’ Acid Tongue wherever it flickers. Inserted in the same juicy ear as 2007’s glowing hook-fest Under the Blacklight, “Black Sand” draws its line through similarly piano-whetted tales of romantic dalliances. “Pretty Bird” then lands in Kate Bush’s aviary. So begins the album’s manipulative yin-yang, “The Next…

by Raoul Hernandez

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

White Denim Exposion (Transmission Entertainment) White Denim slips along the edges of definition. The local trio’s debut LP, Exposion, drifts in and out of focus between the convulsive post-punk throbbing on 2007’s Let’s Talk About It EP (“Shake Shake Shake”) and more Animal Collective-esque strawberry jams (“Migration Wind”). Only “Heart From Us All” successfully balances…

by Austin Powell

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Electric Touch (Justice) Consummately professional, inarguably marketable, and instantly forgettable, this Austin-based quartet’s debut proves them masters of the cheap hook, lazy rhyme, and other rock clichés that make the career of a band graced with drive but not inspiration. Electric Touch owes a vague yet obvious debt to the slick 1980s nostalgia of the…

by Daniel Mee

Food-o-File

Maria Maria brings Roberto Santibañez to Austin, renovations continue in local eateries, and more delicious news

by Virginia B. Wood

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

N.E.R.D Seeing Sounds (Star Trak/Interscope) N.E.R.D’s third album, an “Anti Matter” suggestion that devotees “tilt your head back and close your eyes” and try Seeing Sounds, bangs frantic enough to entice one serious auditory seizure. These guys can’t sit still. Hollering “Everybody let’s go,” the rave-ready “Kill Joy” keeps pace with coke-conscious rattler “Everyone Nose…

by Chase Hoffberger

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

Gnarls Barkley The Odd Couple (Downtown/Atlantic) The Summer of Love chorus ringing in “Surprise” has no bearing on the truth at hand: This Odd Couple is from the future, even if Gnarls Barkley’s second LP comes littered with shades of the past. Evoking Nina Simone’s “Four Women” tremble, Cee-Lo Green haunts the reverb-twinge of “Who’s…

by Chase Hoffberger

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Conor Oberst (Merge) Conor Oberst reportedly sidestepped his Bright Eyes moniker and homegrown Omaha, Neb., label, Saddle Creek, to try a different approach, but the eponymous product doesn’t stray far from the trajectory he’s been traveling since 2005’s I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. If anything, the LP is the most straightforward and accessible of his…

by Doug Freeman

Letters at 3AM

This two-year-long campaign of such unprecedented intensity may have been the best proving ground for Barack Obama’s candidacy

by Michael Ventura

Event Menu

Eat chiles to your heart’s content at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market, and head to the swanky Taste of Sixth Street benefit in support of local businesses

by Virginia B. Wood

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

David Byrne & Brian Eno Everything That Happens Will Happen Today The last time Byrne and Eno met on record was 1981’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, a sample-heavy sound collage screwed and chopped in the experimental twilight of NYC. Its follow-up 27 years later shrugs off the avant coil and puts on…

by Audra Schroeder

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

In some countries, new moms are given Guinness beer to drink. The theory is that Guinness increases milk production. Researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center examined the tanning habits of 400 college students and found that 27% showed signs of addiction to getting a tan, or “tanorexia.” New York City’s Saks Fifth Avenue shoe…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Headlines

• Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson led the Bush administration’s financial bailout effort, requesting an oversight-free, $700 billion blank check for Wall Street. See “Point Austin” for the skinny on the squeeze. • The first of three presidential debates occurs Friday, Sept. 26 (assuming there is a debate; see “Postpone the Debate? Let’s Debate…

by Chronicle Staff

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

G. Love & Special Sauce Superhero Brother (Brushfire) Garrett Dutton’s 14-year career has seen many hammocks, and the Philadelphonic G. Love’s first LP with backing band Special Sauce since 2001’s Electric Mile keeps it as laid-back as one’s come to expect from this Superhero Brother. With no thrills or spills on its journey through Dutton’s…

by Chase Hoffberger

Oops!

A printing error in last week’s paper bungled the bylines of staff writer Jordan Smith, author of cover story “Iraq Comes Home,” News, and contributor Doug Freeman, author of “Lunacy and Sorrow,” Music, both Sept. 19. Food and Music section headings in that issue were garbled as well. The Chronicle is bummed about the errors.

by Chronicle Staff

Texas Platters

The Lovely Sparrows Bury the Cynics (Abandoned Love) The Lovely Sparrows’ 2006 debut EP was a beautifully brutal confession of broken love couched in lush pop orchestration. It avoided maudlin self-pity largely through Shawn Jones’ wry, lyrical wit, lifting even the local trio’s darkest emotions with an ironic, playful sneer. Bury the Cynics pivots on…

by Doug Freeman

Brackenridge Scorecard

On one side, you have the UT Regents and proponents of redeveloping the Lions Golf Course. On the other side, you have a long list of folks who want to preserve a piece of Austin history.

by Jacob Cottingham

Igor

Pixar this animated outing isn’t, but neither is it Mary Shelley’s VeggieTales.

by Marc Savlov

Texas Platters

Low Line Caller Hi Def Soft Core Dipping into its genesis as an instrumental post-rock mammoth, local quintet Low Line Caller bubbles up in texture and ambience throughout sophomore EP Hi Def Soft Core, a catchy blend of decades brought to fruition by newest addition Marc Ferrino’s vocals. It’s the perfect title for LLC’s sound:…

by Darcie Stevens

Texas Platters

The Calm Blue Sea Like Austin’s other descriptive instrumentalists Explosions in the Sky, local fivepiece the Calm Blue Sea reaches into the quiet/loud/quiet bag of tricks on its self-titled debut, coming up with a darker, wetter beast. The length of songs certainly doesn’t absolve the band of its “cinematic” proclivities, but the CBS manages to…

by Audra Schroeder

Eagle Eye

Too bad it’s autumn: With its frenetic car chases; near-erotic fascination with explosions, gadgets, and guns; and disposable storyline, Eagle Eye is the very definition of a summer blockbuster.

by Josh Rosenblatt

Texas Platters

The Diamond Center Claws & Flaws (Superfluous Umlaut) Crystallizing the airy, iridescent glow of Great Lake Swimmers and early My Morning Jacket, Diamond Center debut Claws & Flaws dusts off a rough gem of ashen alt.country, soused with reverb-heavy guitar and moonlit atmospherics. The smoky vox of singer Brandi Price recalls Neko Case, particularly in…

by Austin Powell

Nights in Rodanthe

This movie which reunites Richard Gere and Diane Lane is hardly the best chick flick around, but it’s the flick with the best chick by far.

by Steve Davis

Texas Platters

Less than a year after serene debut EP Fort Walnut, San Marcos’ Silver Pines keep the embers burning eloquently with Forces, a masterfully paced seven-song collection of translucent psych-folk, led by the haunting, amber cull of vocalist Stefanie Franciotti and hand-numbered at 250 copies. There’s more organ drone added to the narcotic haze this time…

by Austin Powell

Texas Platters

Pillow Queens Kookoolegit (Monofonus Press) On its debut LP, Austin foursome Pillow Queens takes poppy guitar rock and unfluffs it. Unlike sonic dad Stephen Malkmus, who always manages to sound whiny, singer/guitarist Duncan Malashock sounds genuinely perplexed at the world around him, reflected in vocals that jump from a slurred growl to helium-pitched falsetto. Much…

by Audra Schroeder

DVD Watch

Best known for his vampires, devils, and death-dealers, F.W. Murnau traffics here in the evils of capitalism and human cruelty

by Wells Dunbar

Texas Platters

Militant Babies We’d Rather Have Nothing Than Settle for Less Austin power trio Militant Babies has a real talent in guitarist Geoff Lasch, an uncommonly creative and capable soloist, but aside from that, not much of the quirky, loud indie rock on We’d Rather Have Nothing is better than average. The meat-and-potatoes rhythm section of…

by Daniel Mee

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles (Kemado) Langhorne Slim’s 2005 debut, When the Sun’s Gone Down, was raucous and charming, an off-kilter indie folk introduction whose appeal lay in the Pennsylvanian’s nasal croon unleashed in stomping anthems and fatalistic love letters. The LP worked primarily because of its lo-fi sound, curbing Slim’s urge for sweeping,…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

The New Year (Touch and Go) Matt and Bubba Kadane excel at epic understatement, payoffs that come less in grand crescendos than the slow winding of their encompassing world-view, an approach intrinsic to Bedhead’s brand of Texas slo-core. Though the New Year previously drifted into more familiar rock territory, after a four-year interlude, the group’s…

by Doug Freeman

Texas Platters

Calhoun Falter.Waver.Cultivate Calhoun’s third album finds the Fort Worth group congealing into a solid force, polished by Stuart Sikes’ production into a pop-rock sheen. Tim Locke’s vocals pitch high with a hushed trill, leading the material in a moody but not overly dramatic fashion that recalls Frames frontman and Swell Seasoner Glen Hansard. Opener “Breathe”…

by Doug Freeman

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Jakob Dylan Seeing Things (Columbia) The rootsy rock Jakob Dylan pasted up with the Wallflowers enabled him to escape comparisons to his father. Seeing Things, his first solo work, will draw him back into that ring even though this Rick Rubin-produced collection demonstrates the younger Dylan is still distinctively his own musician. Like Rubin’s work…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

The Fratellis Here We Stand (Interscope) There’s a whole lot of arctic monkey business going on with sophomore Fratellis release Here We Stand. Fans of the band’s poppy, guitar-driven 2006 debut, Costello Music, will again gather ’round to pound pints while jamming energetic tracks such as “Mistress Mabel.” The charm also holds steady on well-marinated…

by Dan Oko

Texas Platters

Naked Empire Bottom Feeders Local quintet Naked Empire turns prog rock on its ear on its first LP, inadvertently revealing that prog was perhaps better off upright. The band plays well, especially guitarist John Stecker and drummer Peter Elko, but it doesn’t deliver many technical fireworks, instead slamming through simple, loud, midtempo songs that sound…

by Daniel Mee

Texas Platters

Scrappy Jud Newcomb Ride the High Country (Freedom) Scrappy Jud Newcomb’s previous disc, 2005’s Byzantine, was a high point in the Austin guitarist’s career. Everything about it – songwriting, guitar play, vocals – was as sturdy and cogent as anything he’s ever done. In it’s wake, Ride the High Country, his third solo album, is…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Jamie Lidell Jim (Warp) Endorphins explode at the onset of Jim. Hands clap, tambourines rattle, and birds chirp on opener “Another Day.” Cheery is putting it mildly. A longtime shaker on the London electronic scene, Jamie Lidell let loose his blue-eyed soul on 2005’s Multiply, and Jim flies higher still. Good times roll on the…

by Thomas Fawcett

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet (Nettwerk) Bringing new meaning to the concept of musical fusion, Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet are virtuosos of the first order. With an unlikely combination of two banjos, provided by Washburn and Béla Fleck; Ben Sollee’s cello; and the five-string fiddle of Grammy-nominated Casey Driessen, the fourpiece draws…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & the True Loves Roll With You (Q Division) Lord, that Eli Reed can sing. A youth spent in Mississippi turned this Massachusetts crooner into a soul machine, and with the True Loves, Reed snaps 1960s with sophomore LP Roll With You. It’s derivative, but when blazing horns introduce slap-yo-face opener “Stake…

by Darcie Stevens

Texas Platters

Infinite Partials End of Begin Infinite Partials singer-songwriter Grant Hudson defines his act’s sound as “folk-fusion.” Apart from the use of djembe, it’s unclear where the “fusion” comes from but not the folk. Fitting, then, that End of Begin was recorded in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, as there’s an evangelical-cum-coffee shop earnestness in…

by Melanie Haupt

Reefer Madness: Drug Czar or Drugged Czar?

In Washington, at least in drug warrior circles, it seems the left hand has no clue what the right hand is doing – or, more to the point, the left has no idea what statistics the right is juggling. Case in point: Earlier this month, federal drug czar John P. Walters held a press conference…

by Jordan Smith

Texas Platters

John Inmon Songs for Heavy Traffic (Music Road) Although best known as a member of Jerry Jeff Walker’s Lost Gonzo Band, John Inmon has lent his guitar playing to a who’s who of Texas music, including Townes Van Zandt, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Marcia Ball, Delbert McClinton, Jimmy LaFave, and Eliza Gilkyson. The all-instrumental Songs for…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Delta Spirit Ode to Sunshine (Rounder) The summer of indie-folk is in full bloom on Delta Spirit’s first LP. Self-released late last year and reissued here with an added track for new label Rounder, Ode to Sunshine lives up to its title. Formed in 2005 after the dissolution of emo outfit Noise Ratchet, featuring bassist…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

Xavier Rudd Dark Shades of Blue (Anti-) Surrounding himself with an array of didgeridoos, Weissenborn slide guitars, percussion, and myriad other instruments, Australia’s Xavier Rudd has become a fixture of the jam-band circuit since his 2004 U.S. debut, Solace, balancing easy acoustic tunes with elaborate jams. Yet as the title of his sixth album suggests,…

by Doug Freeman

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Erykah Badu New Amerykah Part One: 4th World War (Motown) The only thing resembling a pop single on Erykah Badu’s latest opus is an afterthought tacked on as a hidden track. “Honey” is sweet and tasty, but Badu’s brave New Amerykah is a liberated land, a wild embrace of experimentation, and a gleeful if occasionally…

by Thomas Fawcett

Choke

Choke, a forgettable adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 2001 novel, features Sam Rockwell as a man of many hats, all of them off-putting.

by Kimberley Jones

Texas Platters

The Lost Pines Middle of the Morning Austin’s bluegrass bands usually find themselves as sonically displaced as they are geographically, caught between Appalachian old time and Colorado/California new-grass in a usually uncomfortable schizophrenic jumble. The Lost Pines avoid that trap behind Asheville, N.C., native Christian Ward, whose quintet’s local debut primarily tunes toward the Blue…

by Doug Freeman

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Patty Griffin Live From the Artists Den (Artists Den/ATO) Patty Griffin’s albums are usually centered around her vocal and guitar performances – the anomalously loud Flaming Red aside – so a live disc with the same focus won’t be a revelation. That said, Live From Artists Den, mostly comprising songs from 2007’s Children Running Through,…

by Daniel Mee

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

Blues Traveler North Hollywood Shootout (Verve Forecast) On the band’s last true studio disc, 2005’s ¡Bastardos!, Blues Traveler seemed on the threshold of a new direction, one filled with thick soundscapes and a prog rock vision that seemed to fit the band well. It’s disappointing, then, that North Hollywood Shootout moves the partially Austin-based quartet…

by Jim Caligiuri

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

Man Man Rabbit Habits (Anti-) Spoiler alert: The men of Man Man wear funny outfits, have excessive body hair, and tend to go balls-out live. The merry band of Philly pranksters, led by Beefheartian singer/pianist Honus Honus, emcees a three-ring circus on third LP Rabbit Habits. It’s dinged with xylophone, backwoods hollers, and a sense…

by Darcie Stevens

Humboldt County

This fine ensemble piece – thoughtful and cheering, even giddy in stabs – presents a seriocomic, sympathetic portrait of a pot-growing family operating along the coast of Northern California.

by Marc Savlov

ACL Fest Friday Reviews

Mates of State Re-Arrange Us (Barsuk) You’ve got to have respect for a husband-and-wife team that tours the world with a preschooler and an infant in tow. Most co-parenting couples can’t even manage a trip to the grocery store without experiencing a total meltdown. And yet, here’s a couple that turns in a strong fifth…

by Melanie Haupt

ACL Fest Sunday Reviews

Okkervil River The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar) The problem with Okkervil River’s appendix to last year’s The Stage Names is that where the predecessor is a polished and fully realized affair, The Stand Ins doesn’t really figure out what it wants to be until its second half. While “Lost Coastlines” features a lovely back-and-forth between singers…

by Melanie Haupt

ACL Fest Saturday Reviews

CSS Donkey (Sub Pop) São Paulo, Brazil, fivepiece CSS invaded earbuds worldwide when Apple featured the criminally catchy “Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex” from 2006 debut Cansei de Ser Sexy (literally, “I’m tired of being sexy”) hocking the iPod Touch. Like fellow Brazilian lo-fi synth rockers Bonde do Rolê, CSS specializes in bratty, debaucherous…

by Thomas Fawcett

Towelhead

Alan Ball’s film is guaranteed to discomfit and dismay with its dangerous plunge into an adolescent girl’s discovery of sexuality and self-identity.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Luv Doc Recommends: Austin City Limits Festival

This weekend will be an epic smackdown: burnt orange vs. Birkenstocks. 100,000 football fans vs. 60,000 music fans – some of them might even be from Arkansas, but don’t assume they are just because they’re standing barefoot in front of the Drive-by Truckers stage making hog noises. Trying to clear the sinuses of a day’s…

by The Luv Doc

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