Strung Out sets out a big task for themselves: bridging metal, punk, and prog-rock, three approaches which at one point were mutually exclusive, though not anymore (for better or for worse). They set metal riffing atop a rhythm section that switches effortlessly…
Yep, a new batch of reviews up to kickstart August. And while we honestly didn’t plan it that way to begin with, we’ve got two reviews up for the same damn show, Fri., August 3rd at Warehouse Live — H-town’s own awesomely excellent Riff Tiffs (to whom I have only recently been introduced, amazingly…) are […]
Okay, I give. I’ve been listening to The Riff Tiffs’ Afflictinitus for several weeks now, off and on, and I’ve had quite a time getting a handle on it, somehow. I don’t know how to take these four H-town kids — are they part of the whole nu-space-rock movement…
The name My Loving Tiger gives you no hint of what to expect of this band’s self-released EP, Problem Set. What you’ll find is poppy (yet mellow) rock filled with quirky keyboard harmonies and well-written lyrics…
While New Erections, the latest disc from SoCal hardcore freaksters The Locust, is not exactly tame, it doesn’t quite bear the same oppressive weight of their previous material. While certainly heavy, daunting, and at times frightening…
One of Iron and Wine’s strengths is the band’s ability to grab hold of a humble, deceptively simple motif, idea, or sound and just repeat it ’til it’s driven like a railroad spike through your skull. That’s not as bad as it sounds, honest…
It’s amazing what a shift in the musical climate can do to your supposed musical singularity: e.g., fuck you over completely. Death of a Party could once have been as easily lauded as condemned for the very thing that now knees their necks to the ground…
Bobcrane represents the foray of Ryan H, better known as the mastermind behind the epic drone-rock unit Vopat, into the world of electronic music. The basic element of Bobcrane’s sound is what would be labeled as ’90s industrial…
The quintet Spraydog, comprising of Steve Robson (vocals, guitar), Maria Fontana (vocals), Phil Tyler (guitar), Cath Tyler (bass), and Chris Lanigan (drums), hail from across the pond…
Drummer Jason Tortorice, guitarist Erik Westfall, and bassist Johnny Todd made some of Houston’s most ambitious and endearingly wacky hard rock as the Slurpees, and then as the Squishees after being threatened with legal action by 7-11…
The music industry loves to stumble upon bands like Daphne Loves Derby. This Seattle-based trio churn out the kind of polished, amphitheater-ready indie-rock that would appeal to the Death Cab for Cutie set. Lead singer Kenny Choi is easy on the eyes…
I’ve had this record on rotation for weeks, mostly because I wanted to come up with something better than this: “Yeah, it’s okay, but it sounds a lot like the last record and not really in a surprisingly illuminating way or anything…
One CD plus two great bands equals nothing but politics-filled punk/ska fun, doesn’t it? Citizen Fish and Leftover Crack. Two great bands, one split album, expectations are high. 15 tracks with Citizen Fish covering Choking Victims’ “Money”…
Bernard Allison, son of bluesman Luther Allison, plays in a more contemporary style than his dad on his new record, Energized: Live in Europe. Most of the songs here are in a funk or rock style as opposed to a traditional blues groove…
“Helsinki Vampires are ready to take over the world with a sleazy blend of post- apocalyptic rock’n’roll … and they’re out for YOUR blood, baby”…
Tired of the modern metal scene? Do bands like P.O.D. and Hoobastank make you yearn for the power metal days of the ’80s? Look no further; Space City Rock has got a band for you!…
Departing partly (but not entirely) from previous breezy and sunny sounds of earlier albums Birds Make Good Neighbors and Make Out, The Rosebuds pleasantly surprise us…
“Johnny Depp has a band?” I’ve heard that question a lot lately. He doesn’t really have a band anymore, no, but he did have one. In fact, he’s had a few bands…
Sometimes, little children, prayers do get answered. A while back, we at SCR had a weird-looking little CD in our mailbox from an Ohio-based one-man-band of sorts…
[Ed. Note: Sorry, y’all; this was supposed to go online last night, but thanks to fucking Blogger/FTP problems that seem to pop up every few months, it didn’t. Hopefully it’ll get posted soon…] Yep, it’s update time — just got a bunch of new reviews online (some current, some not…), one of which is a […]
I’m trying to cut these guys some slack, honest. The Inevitable Backlash’s new Sex For Safety EP bears a sticker that says “Featuring Members of Rollins Band + Saccharine Trust,” and technically, that’s true…
Fake Problems’ comparisons to fellow Floridian musicians Against Me! are too obvious, so I’ll do my best to avoid comparing them to each other. But think Against Me! without a political slant and with fewer exclamation points…
Though songwriter Mark Matos was raised in central California, he now resides in San Francisco, and in between, he seems to have stopped in Tucson to make Goodbye, Oklahoma. His vehicle Campo Bravo owes debts to Calexico…
“I put the needle down and in between the crackles and pops, I hear the way it used to be.” This is the way it used to be: catchy pop songs…
Mirrored, the debut album by Battles, has been hotly anticipated, partly because it took nearly three years to finally appear, but mostly because the band unites…
At first blush, it’s tempting to shrug and dismiss these five North(?) Houston guys as just another wannabe alt-rock band, taking its cues from Taking Back Sunday, Fall Out Boy, and all the other bands currently swirling around out there…
Over the past decade and a half, Bill Callahan has gradually evolved from his roots as a lo-fi weirdo into one of the most confident and recognizable voices in the freak-folk movement. With Woke on a Whaleheart, Callahan has stepped, finally…
Is it possible at this point to create a new form of pop-rock that is more serious than the norm, maybe even adult? With its debut album What Is It About This Place?, Secret Annexe makes a valiant effort but don’t quite hit the mark…
If Daft Punk and Weird Al took some X and collaborated and then the asshole-womanizing-cokehead-singer of Koufax and Herbie Hancock decided to get in on it, the result would probably sound something like Jascha Ephraim…
I need sleep. Gah. Day-job deadlines have eaten me alive these past couple of weeks, as has my three-year-old refusing to sleep through the night, and on top of that, I’m currently blogging/putting crap online on a work laptop, sitting on the couch at my folks’ house in San Antonio, surreptitiously using a neighbor’s wireless […]
Yep, we’ve got a review of the new Maserati album up, just in time for their show tomorrow night, 6/12, up at Walter’s with badass locals Sharks and Sailors and cool Austinites My Education. Danny’s review of the album is a wee bit lukewarm, admittedly, but others of us here like the band, nevertheless, and […]
Cloud is a great name for Cyan’s new EP, since this album is soft, fluffy, and light. The love-saturated subject matter, the soft major chords, and upbeat singing made me think of Shakira and Cheyenne, and it would’ve made more sense to hear a poppy diva…
This is an interesting release by ’60s boogie blues band Canned Heat. Known for classic rock staples “Let’s Work Together” and “Goin’ To The Country,” this retrospective concentrates on legendary guitarists Henry Vestine and Alan Wilson…
Okay, so I know damn well The Pogues didn’t invent Irish folk, but they sure as hell dragged it kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Because of that, I find that I have a very hard time not holding up any band that plays Celtic-style folk mixed with rock…
One of the best things about instrumental music, to me, is that it lets you visualize your own little picture of what it’s all about, without any of those pesky lyrics getting in the way. Sure, I love lyrical music, too, but there’s something inherently cinematic…
Like Mono and Explosions in the Sky, Georgia’s Maserati interpret instrumental post-rock as a vehicle for the delay pedal. Though less famous than their artistic peers, Maserati have become masters of the genre in their own right. Inventions for the New Season is easily Maserati’s best album…
Wasn’t Lisala an American Idol finalist? I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case, because she can really belt out those vocals. Or she can really layer those vocals, at least; she seems to enjoy doing that. She layers them on every song…
Hey, all you Asian fetishists: Mummy the Peepshow just put out their first full-length album, School Girl Pop, in the U.S., on Records of the Damned! There’s Maki, who sings and plays the guitar, Naru the bassist, and Mayu, the drummer. Three lovely, bubbly Japanese women performing poppin’ tunes…
New month, new reviews (live and otherwise) & such. A number are actually fairly timely, this week: New Atlantic is playing 6/3 @ Java Jazz out in Spring with theAUDITION, Monty Are I, The Graduate, & 1997(!); Illinois is playing 6/7 with the fuckin’-A Hold Steady(double-!) & Blitzen Trapper; Julie Doiron is playing 6/8 @ […]
Alcibiades Jones is a power trio that plays instrumental rock. Although a lot of the music on Refraction Mirage is funky in sort of a John Scofield vein, harmonically it’s pretty straightforward. With instrumental music there’s no singer to make or break the songs…
