Antone’s, Wednesday 5 & Thursday 6
Despite the fact that it has little commercial appeal and could very
well just
flat-out suck, Chris Whitley’s second album Din of Ecstasy will
probably end up on many a year-end “best of” list – including mine.
I’ve
listened to the damn thing over and over trying to get some kind of
grip on the
dissonant tangle of acid-wash guitar that sounds more like Nirvana than
anything on the Louisiana guitarist’s well-received debut Living
with the
Law. “Modern-day blues guru does an alternative about-face,”
screamed the
initial headlines. Pigeonhole pull-out? Whatever the case, Whitley’s
droning
din is among the most intriguing sounds heard all year, and with the
paper-thin
longhair kicking off Antone’s 20th anniversary music fest with a
three-night
stand (he’s there Friday 7 as well), there’s plenty of time to try and
untangle
whatever he’s up to. Seed opens the show Wednesday while the Borrowers
do the
honors Thursday.
TOADIES, MESH, HI FI & THE ROADBURNERS
Back Room, Friday 30
Dallas’ wart-covered pond-dwellers are finally beginning to make
folks sit up
on their lily pads and take notice of this quartet’s taunt, galloping,
Pixiemetal attack. Could have something to do with the fact that the
Toadies
have been touring constantly since the release of their Interscope
debut
Rubberneck. Their SXSW showing last March was a fine ass-
kicking, so
drop trou’ and come prepared for a wuppin’. Austin’s jam-rock trio Mesh
are in
the middle, and Chicago’s Hi Fi & the Roadburners open with
slick-back
rockabilly hellfire.
81/2 SOUVENIRS, EARTHPIG, LIQUID MICE
Flipnotics, Friday 30
While Antone’s turns 20, Flipnotics Coffeespace is barely outta
diapers at
three, which is nevertheless an age that enjoys a party, so the proud
parents
have invited 81/2 Souvenirs and their wonderfully organic
jazz jams
(Austin’s answer to Medeski, Martin & Wood?), as well as Earthpig
and his
guitar-bound moon howls, and Sheela Murthy’s performance art troupe,
Liquid
Mice.
CHRIS SMITHERS, HEALTH & HAPPINESS SHOW
Cactus Cafe, Friday 30
Chris Smither is a Southern-bred boy who’s spent the last 25 or so
years
spreading the Delta gospel according to Mississippi John Hurt. With
some fine
New Englander songwriting tempering those acoustic blues, he sounds
positively
Austin on his new Stephen Bruton-produced Hightone release Up on the
Lowdown. He may have his hands full following guitarist Richard
Lloyd who
joins Hoboken’s Health & Health Show, who, like the Jayhawks
or Blue
Rodeo, ply a magical blend of everything country-rock and make it seem
like the
heartland – a good way to describe their new Bar None CD Instant
Living.
BRAVE COMBO, HORSIES
Liberty Lunch, Saturday 1
“Certainly, these are hard times, but positive feelings are allowed
as well.
And that’s where the power of polka comes in.” What else could I add to
that
other than it comes from Brave Combo’s new Rounder release Polkas
for a
Gloomy World, and that their seventh album is business as usual for
polkageists. The only band that could possibly open this show does.
SLEEPY LABEEF, DALE WATSON
Continental Club, Saturday 1
There but for the graceland of Elvis Presley goes Sleepy LaBeef.
The
Arkansas-born rockabilly singer-
songwriter/guitarist was a part of
Sun
Records’ stable long after Cash, Lewis, & company left, and is
still
cranking out his bluesy swampbilly as he turns 60 years old. Wildly
popular in
– guess where? – Europe, LaBeef never quite enjoyed the stateside
success
of his peers, but that just makes his performance all the more genuine.
– Margaret Moser
BUICK MACKANE, PORK
Hole in the Wall, Monday 3
Best thing about the holiday weekend is that Monday becomes Saturday,
because
Tuesday’s off. That leaves no excuse not to get tanked up for another
Buick
beerfest at the Hole, where the black shiny beast snarls like rabid
badger.
Pork, who was last seen blowing away Yo La Tengo, open what is easily
one of
Austin’s best double bills.
THE APPLES
Electric Lounge, Monday 3
Think of a big, fat, red apple, so shiny and smooth you don’t want
to bite
into it – so sweet you can barely finish it. That pretty much describes
the
Sixties Brian Wilson-wannabe fuzz-pop of Denver’s Apples. Easily the
most
sunshine-smile- drenched pop to come down the pike in a while, and if
that’s
your sweet tooth, don’t miss the Apple’s new Fun Trick Noisemaker.
They
make applesauce between the headlining Hot Wheels and the opening
Killing
America.
TISH HINOJOSA
Symphony Square, Wednesday 5
Another Children’s Day Art Park at Symphony Square, and who better
to soothe
all that childhood angst than Mama Hinojosa, and her rock-a-bye voice.
The
“Instrumental Petting Zoo” opens at 9:30am with Hinojosa going on
shortly
thereafter, and the whole youth-oriented affair lasts ’til 11:30am.
JOHN RENBOURN
Cactus Cafe, Wednesday 5
Although he’s been touted as a “Celtic Guitar Guru,” the truth about
what
Renbourn has done in his 30-plus years of performing and recording is
vastly
more complex and heroic. I mean, really, what else can you say about a
former
Davy Grahm disciple whose vast repertoire includes all manner of
original
fingerpicking delights as well as inspired renditions of tunes from
such
sources as Turlough O’Carolan, Blind Willie Johnson, Charles Mingus,
and Bob
Dylan to name but a few. – Brian Berger ALSO PLAYING
Friday: The Derailers, Broken Spoke
Saturday: John Wesley Harding, Cactus Cafe
Sunday: Monte Montgomery, Saxon Pub
Monday: Ugly Americans, Breedlove, Antone’s
Tuesday: Toni Price, Continental Club
Wednesday: Miss Universe, Blue Flamingo
Thursday: Big Fish Ensemble, Electric Lounge
This article appears in June 30 • 1995 and June 30 • 1995 (Cover).