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Music and armadillos are both found in abundance here in South Central Texas.
Click here for other photo-pair similes of armadillos with the guitar/oud/lute family, where you'll see that their linkage can be more than just imagination!
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THE SKINNY ON AROUND THE TOWN SOUNDS - Digging deeper into Austin music - Since its inception some dozen years ago, this three-time winner of KOOP's Silver Mic Award for "Most Austin" Show has spanned the full breadth of work by Austin area musicians past and present, exposing during this period more genres, artists, and fields of musical endeavor from the Austin area than any other weekly radio show anywhere. (more)
Once Brothers...
A couple of the tracks from today's show come from members of the LeRoi Brothers band.
Don Leady
[website] [Ponty Bone interview referring to Leady and Bone/Leady project Zydeco Loco]
As one of the original members of the LeRoi Brothers and as leader of his own swampy roots band, The Tailgators, Mississippian Leady (or Missourian, depending on your source) was at the forefront of the retro rock scene in Austin in the '80s and '90s. It so happens that in both bands he played alongside another key figure in Austin roots music, Keith Ferguson, bassist in the Tailgators and on the first LeRoi Brothers album.
In '98, Leady released an album of retro guitar trio instrumentals under his own name, and the name of the album, Alamo Suite, is the name of the classic blues and jazz standards band he leads today. He also fronts a Latin jazz band and plays solo classical guitar.
The Naughty Ones
[good description of the band during their prime]
This group revered naughtiness in its name and in its performances. Even compared to the burlesque resurgence of recent years, the Naughty Ones was perhaps the most "Austin" of all lounge bands, preserving the city's barroom rawness while showcasing an exotic, sophisticated, jazzy flair behind Ted Roddy's powerful Elvis-in-Vegas vocals on their classic local album from 1994.
Another LeRoi Brothers original (and continuing) member, Mike Buck, pounded out the band's seductive, "tribal" beats. (As mentioned previously, Keith Ferguson was bassist on the first LeRoi Brothers album. Not only were Buck and Ferguson bandmates in this era, but they were also drummer and bassist bandmates beforehand in the early years of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.) Ted Roddy, Corpus Christi native and later Dallas blues harmonica player and rockabilly singer, fronted the Naughty Ones with his bongos and deep, earnest vocals. He had moved to Austin with his Dallas rockabilly band Teddy and the Talltops, which at some point included Jim Heath (the Reverend Horton Heat) and future Bad LiverDanny Barnes. The twangin' guitar of the Naughty Ones was wielded by veteran Mark Korpi, a member of Washington, D.C.'s wild, garage-a-billy band Evan Johns and His H-Bombs (He had followed Johns after his 1984 move to Austin, where the H-Bombs reformed to record and plunder anew).
Where have the members of this short-lived supergroup ended up? Vocalist Roddy continues in Austin with his cross-pollinations of country, soul, and rock-&-roll [good bio of Ted Roddy up to 2000]. Bassist Dave Wesselowski played on Roddy's Full Circle ('95) and was an original member of Jim Stringer's AM Band in 1997, a nostalgic recreation of the fast, articulate, swinging, jazzy guitar pickin' sideshow of the '50s and '60s country scene. Over the years he has often played, recorded, and toured with Austin harmonica master Gary Primich. Korpi also collaborated with Roddy on Full Circle, and with Primich over the years, and now plays blues-&-roots in Central Florida's Space Coast Playboys (along with former Austin blues slinger Guitar Lin). Mike Buck continues with quintessential Austin roots band the LeRoi Brothers and the 21st Century-born roots band of blues and early rock sounds, Eve and the Exiles, fronted by singer and guitarist Eve Monsees. Naughty dancer Donna Pearl sings and plays maracas with Eve and the Exiles. I can find no references to her naughty dancing partner Kristi Marie. Saxman Michael Sweetman recorded a stereophile recording of "Texas strip joint" r&b in the mid-'90s, similar to facets of the Naughty Ones sound, with fellow Naughty Ones bandmates Korpi and Buck under the moniker Sweetman with his Southside Groove Kings, Austin Back Alley Blue, which received airplay on my local music show in the early years of KOOP Radio. I can find no other references to Sweetman.
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Once a Dick...
Also on today's program we listened to a couple of tracks from members of the Dicks, legendary Austin punk band.
The Shootin' Pains
[myspace] [YouTube]
Floyd's old Dicks bandmates Buxf Parrot and Pat Deason continued on the Austin scene in the Punkaroos along with Mark Kenyon and Todd Kassens (who was in Shoulders), and all four are in this countrified outfit which is to Texas honkytonk music what the Pogues were to Irish pub music. The band released the gem Mean Old Moon last year.
Artist / "Song" / Album:
(All gigs are in the Austin, Texas area unless stated otherwise.)
Set 1 - Dicks, Brothers, and sons of Shreveport:
01. Don Leady/ "Blue Northern" / Alamo Suite
[website] [Ponty Bone interview referring to Leady and Bone/Leady project Zydeco Loco]
As one of the original members of the LeRoi Brothers and as leader of his own swampy roots band, The Tailgators, Mississippian Leady (or Missourian, depending on your source) was at the forefront of the retro rock scene in Austin in the '80s and '90s. It so happens that in both bands he played alongside another key figure in Austin roots music, Keith Ferguson, bassist in the Tailgators and on the first LeRoi Brothers album.
In '98, Leady released this album of retro guitar trio instrumentals under his own name, and the name of the album, Alamo Suite, is the name of the classic blues and jazz standards band he leads today. He also fronts a Latin jazz band and plays solo classical guitar.
03. The Shootin' Pains / "She's Not Your Baby" / Mean Old Moon
[myspace] [YouTube]
Floyd's old Dicks bandmates Buxf Parrot and Pat Deason continued on the Austin scene in the Punkaroos along with Mark Kenyon and Todd Kassens (who was in Shoulders), and all four are in this countrified outfit which is to Texas honkytonk music what the Pogues were to Irish pub music. The band released this gem last year.
04. The Gourds / "The Gyroscopic" / Noble Creatures
[website] [good band autobio at unofficial site]
Keeping with the hybrids of country and roots rock which have characterized the first set on today's program, here are the Gourds, which evolved from Shreveport's, then Dallas's, Picket Line Coyotes before rooting in Austin. This upbeat and slightly naughty tune is from their album released earlier this year. Gigs:
_Tomorrow, August 31, in Portland, Oregon, at the Doug Fir
_Saturday, September 1, in Seattle, Washington, at Bumbershoot
05. The Naughty Ones / "Pretty Plaid Skirt" / I Dig Your Voodoo!
[good description of the band during their prime]
Speaking of naughtiness, this group revered it in its name and in its performances. Even compared to the burlesque resurgence of recent years, the Naughty Ones was perhaps the most "Austin" of all lounge bands, preserving the city's barroom rawness while showcasing an exotic, sophisticated, jazzy flair behind Ted Roddy's powerful Elvis-in-Vegas vocals on this local classic from 1994.
We have come full circle in this set, as another LeRoi Brothers original (and continuing) member, Mike Buck, pounds out the band's seductive, "tribal" beats. (As mentioned previously, Keith Ferguson was bassist on the first LeRoi Brothers album. Not only were Buck and Ferguson bandmates in this era, but they were also drummer and bassist bandmates beforehand in the early years of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.) Ted Roddy, Corpus Christi native and later Dallas blues harmonica player and rockabilly singer, fronted the Naughty Ones with his bongos and deep, earnest vocals. He had moved to Austin with his Dallas rockabilly band Teddy and the Talltops, which at some point included Jim Heath (the Reverend Horton Heat) and future Bad LiverDanny Barnes. The twangin' guitar of the Naughty Ones was wielded by veteran Mark Korpi, a member of Washington, D.C.'s wild, garage-a-billy band Evan Johns and His H-Bombs (He had followed Johns after his 1984 move to Austin, where the H-Bombs reformed to record and plunder anew).
Where have the members of this short-lived supergroup ended up? Vocalist Roddy continues in Austin with his cross-pollinations of country, soul, and rock-&-roll [good bio of Ted Roddy up to 2000]. Bassist Dave Wesselowski played on Roddy's Full Circle ('95) and was an original member of Jim Stringer's AM Band in 1997, a nostalgic recreation of the fast, articulate, swinging, jazzy guitar pickin' sideshow of the '50s and '60s country scene. Over the years he has often played, recorded, and toured with Austin harmonica master Gary Primich. Korpi also collaborated with Roddy on Full Circle, and with Primich over the years, and now plays blues-&-roots in Central Florida's Space Coast Playboys (along with former Austin blues slinger Guitar Lin). Mike Buck continues with quintessential Austin roots band the LeRoi Brothers and the 21st Century-born roots band of blues and early rock sounds, Eve and the Exiles, fronted by singer and guitarist Eve Monsees. Naughty dancer Donna Pearl sings and plays maracas with Eve and the Exiles. I can find no references to her naughty dancing partner Kristi Marie. Saxman Michael Sweetman recorded a stereophile recording of "Texas strip joint" r&b in the mid-'90s, similar to facets of the Naughty Ones sound, with fellow Naughty Ones bandmates Korpi and Buck under the moniker Sweetman with his Southside Groove Kings, Austin Back Alley Blue, which received airplay on my local music show in the early years of KOOP Radio. I can find no other references to Sweetman. LeRoi Brothers gigs:
_Monday, September 3, 9 pm, The Continental Club
Set 2 - Two sides of Ruben Ramos:
06. Ruben Ramos / "Caminos del Olvido" / Ultimate Oldies Tejano
We start the set with the smoldering Tejano sound of Ruben Ramos from this compendium of Latin classics from the vaults of Corpus Christi's legendary Freddie Records. The compilation was released last year. Gigs:
_Tonight, August 30, at Antone's - a tribute to Rocky Morales of San Antonio's Westside Horns, with Ruben Ramos and the Flames, Larry Lange, Sauce and the Westside Horns, and more.
_Sunday, September 2, in Sacramento, California, at Caesar Chavez Plaza Park
_September 7, in Tucson, Arizona, at the Casino Ballroom
_September 8, in San Jose, California, at the Moose Lodge
_September 9, in Pico Rivera, California, at A Mi Hacienda
_September 14, at Tejano Ranch
07. John Platonia (narration by Ruben Ramos) / "Child Heroes" / Blues, Waltzes and Badland Borders
We hear another side of Ramos in his touching narration on this tribute to the child warriors of the Mexican revolution written by Chip Taylor, brother to actor Jon Voight and singing partner to Austin's Carrie Rodriguez. Platonia often plays the role of Taylor's guitarist, and on this album on Taylor's Train Wreck Records, has the chance to shine in the spotlight.
Set 3 - Mood swings and swing moods:
08. Terri Hendrix / "Mood Swing" / The Spiritual Kind
Hendrix closes her new, mostly-Americana album with the jazzy vocal gymnastics and serious swing of this tune. Gigs:
_Tomorrow, August 31, 7:30 to 11 pm, Nutty Brown Cafe (Hwy. 290 West, about halfway between Oak Hill and Dripping Springs) - CD release show
_Saturday, September 1, 8 pm, in Marble Falls, Texas, at Lorrain's (909 3rd St.)
09. Bee vs. Moth / "TJMALS" / Soundhorn
The bebop of this instrumental also swings. It's found on their album of experimental fusion of rock and other elements released earlier this year.
Set 4 - Hiphop ATX and approval by the hiphop nation:
10. Franco B / "Culture" (studio version) / untitled demo CDR
Franco B grew up in San Antonio and came to Austin to study at the University of Texas. A few weeks ago I brought you a recording of a live version of this tune as Franco B was vying for the hiphop crown against almost 200 other acts in an online competition of artists and bands in various musical genres in season two of Famecast. Unlike the live version, the studio version lays its rap down on a sample of Manu Chao's cool-vibe tune "Me Gustas Tu."
The Famecast.com site garnered a million unique hits by July 1, so it's quite an honor that in the past few days, Franco B was announced the winner of the hiphop category, which nets him a $10,000 prize.
11. Muchos Backflips / "Snackntackle" / The Reckit
Like Bee v. Moth above, Attack Formation below, and other local groups like the Invincible Czars, Muchos Backflips proudly flies the experimental flag in its fusions of rock and other styles. Here they prove they can also lay down a hypnotic rap groove on their album of this year. Gigs:
_September 6, 11 pm, Dirty Dog
_September 7, 9 pm, Ruta Maya
_September 8, 10 pm, in San Antonio, at Hemmingway's Tavern
_September 13, 9 pm, in San Marcos, Texas, at the Triple Crown
Set 5 - On the leading edge of Austin's alternative pop-'n-rock:
12. Attack Formation / "The Truth Moves Out" / We Are Alive in Tune or Recording #9
This April-released album continues the band's freeform assault on standard rock idioms.
13. Belaire / "You Really Got Me Goin'" / Exploding Impacting
Cari and Christa Palazzola charm with their retro-yet-fresh mix of girlish harmonies and synths on their 2007 album. They are backed by two members of Voxtrot. Voxtrot gigs:
_Wednesday, September 5, 6 pm, in New York, New York, at Central Park Summerstage
_September 6, 6:30 pm, in Providence, Rhode Island, at Lupos Heartbreak Hotel
_September 8, 6 pm, in Toronto, Ontario, at the Virgin Festival
_September 9, 8 pm, in Montreal, Quebec, at the Osheaga Festival
14. Black and White Years / "Wetter Sea" (show outro fade-out) / Real! In Color!
Unique and unusual in their musical choices, my favorite new find of 2007 nonetheless creates catchy melodies and textures on this album introduced earlier in the year. Gigs:
_October 5, 9 pm, the Parish, with What Made Milwaukee Famous
Austin squeezebox latinos display their skills on the masterful originals which comprise the first set on today's show.
The accordion on today's tune from Patricia Vonne [website, myspace] is played by Austin's Michael Ramos, best known these days for his cutting edge Latin project Charanga Cakewalk, which will be a part of the CD release party for Vonne's Firebird on September 28 at the Continental Club. Other musicians on the tune include Rick del Castillo of Del Castillo and Tito & Tarantula musicians Tito Larriva and Steven Hufsteter, favorite soundtrack artists of Vonne's Austin filmmaker brother, Robert Rodriguez. Once again Vonne has created a bilingual mix of fairly polished rock, Latin, blues, and Americana. Besides the excellent musicianship, perhaps the most striking thing about the album is Vonne's interest in historical and contemporary issues at the core of several of the songs: sexist criticism that pains a female bullfighter who feels destined to follow her grandfather and father into the tradition, James Dean's character - Jett Rink - in the motion picture Giant, the disappearance of women in the mean streets of Juarez, and the beautiful, sad ballad from today's show evoking the Andalusian gypsy atmosphere of Frederico Garcia Lorca's Romancero Gitano, even enfolding in this aura the city and tragedy of Lorca's murder in 1936 at the hands of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Local musician and producer Joel Guzman of Kyle is featured today on his own album with wife Sarah Fox, Latinology. Like Vonne, they create their own bilingual hybrids of latin and norteamericano musics, with standard pop and rock forms, soul, gospel, reggae, rumba, latin folk music, and more coming into play. This album features an incredible array of Austin's finest musicians in the band and as guests, such as Glenn Fukunaga, Mike Longoria, Rey Arteaga, Russell Scanlon, Bradley Kopp, John Mills, Jon Dee Graham, and Stephen Bruton.
Guzman and Fox have also released recordings under the name Aztex, where they forged similar fusions, and the Mexican Roots Trio with former Austin bajo sexto player Max Baca, Jr. of San Antonio, where they played more traditional TexMex forms. Guzman also produced and played on the 2005 grammy-winning Polkas, Gritos, y Acordeones, a collection of TexMex classics, with two other hotshot accordionists, David Lee Garza and Sunny Sauceda [YouTube of the three accordionists in concert]. Reviews and samples of these albums can be found here. Guzman was also deeply involved with another grammy-winning project, Los Super Seven. Fox sang background vocals on several tunes recorded by this superstar ensemble.
Guzman was an accordion prodigy from Washington State, but he often played gigs in Texas while growing up in the band of his father who had come from Texas. Fox grew up in Temple, with family roots in Mexico and Cuba. The two, long married, met when Guzman was a member of Temple-based Little Joe y la Familia, when Little Joe would invite Fox to sing with the band. Here's a video clip of a very young Guzman in his days with Little Joe y la Familia.
More links related to Guzman and Fox:
[myspace]
[YouTube1- in concert] [YouTube2- in concert] [YouTube3- in concert] [YouTube4- Guzman in hotel room] [YouTube5- blues at workshop]
[one of the better bios of the two musicians]
I'm going out on a limb to proclaim that the uncredited hot accordionist on the Tom Russell [myspace] [website] song "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall?" - Russell's insightful take on the U.S. decision to build more walls along the border with Mexico - is also Guzman, the accordionist on Russel's version of this tune found on the 2006 EP of the same name, according to a description at JukeboxAlive. Guzman has appeared on several Russell CDs in the last few years. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, contrary to the liner notes for the album sampled today, Wounded Heart of America (Tom Russell Songs), this is the same version of the tune that appeared on last year's EP. The liner notes claim this version of the song is one of four tunes on the album featuring Russell and a handful of top Austin musicians recorded in February by Mark Hallman at Hallman's Congress House Studios here in Austin. (Except for these four tunes featuring Russell himself, the new album is a compilation of tunes written or co-written by Russell that are covered by other artitsts.) The new album's release two days ago was given a mighty kick that same night by the broadcast of Russell's rousing performance of the tune on David Letterman's show (as captured in this apparently no longer valid video link, so here's a link to another live version of the tune from 2006). Russell was part of the Austin folk scene back in the '70s, and he's been a Texan again for some years now, having relocated to the El Paso area after living all over the world.
______________________________
II. The deft pop production of Stephen Orsak and two superb objects of his attention
Suzanna Choffel's Shudders & Rings was my favorite singer/songwriter album of last year, a category designation I hate to use as no one is going to picture her indefinable urban folk pop when they hear the term. As with Jade Day's latest, Stephen Orsak also produced and played on this wonderful work, making him a producer and musician to carefully watch.
Choffel is a woman of many talents. You may also want to check out her incarnation as Honey Bee Blue with Austin burlesque troupe Kitty Kitty Bang Bang.
III. John Pointer [website, myspace] is the subject of a great story by Michael Corcoran. Surprisingly, the Pointer album sampled today is the first solo album from one of the most talented multi-taskers in Austin music, announced on July 26 on his myspace blog as finally being completed. Pointer moved to town in '91 and got a music degree in cello at the University of Texas. I have long enjoyed his post graduate work with the a capella/human percussion group he created called Schrodinger's Cat, the chamber fusion pop of Woodwork, for which he played cello, the acoustic romantico of Trio Los Vigilantes, for which he sang lead vocals and played cello, and his nationally televised work in commercials, such as for Chili's Baby Back Ribs. I was surprised to learn that he has also worked with Ozomatli and Sixpence None the Richer, and in mid-August he finished a run at Zach Scott Theater as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar. Boombox, apparently now called BoomboxATX, is Pointer's long-time project with Carlos Sosa, a founder of the Grooveline Horns (who backed Kelly Clarkson at Live Earth), and the band has a CD release party set for September 7, 8 pm, at the Parish, although Pointer is apparently no longer involved with the band.
_____________________
IV. Keister [website, myspace], a duo of guitarist/producer Charlie Guidry and DJ/Remixer Ritchie Wallace, was formed in 2001. Bassist and programmer Dave Sellars (SmoovD), who had remixed some of their work, is now also a full-fledged member of the electronica group. All three are originally from southern Louisiana. Their myspace page also lists Daysha Taylor as a member of Keister.
In 2006 Keister compiled 12 of their more than 50 tracks into this, their debut CD, which reached national distribution through many major online retailers by June of this year. Remixes of one of the tracks on Doobie Careful are available here.
__________________
V. Tammany Hall Machine [website, myspace] was born in 2003 south of Austin in Buda, releasing its first CD in December of 2004 [reviews and samples of this album]. Based on the late '60s pop leanings of much of their work, it's no wonder that the favorite album of three of the members was put out by the Beatles or George Harrison.
Their sophomore effort Amateur Saw (streaming here) hit the scene in January of this year (Congratulations to our listener who won a copy of the CD during today's broadcast!), recorded by Scott Oliphant (of Halley) and mixed by engineer/producer wunderkind Erik Wofford [my Wofford profile from earlier playlist], and relying mostly on songs polished live in the clubs over the previous year.
Here's a video for the tune "Mega Lamb" from the new album.
__________________________
VI. Harold King's exemplary work
Flowers for Human [website, myspace] is the second solo project CD of mid-20s musician Harold King of Round Rock, a recent or current student of music at the University of Texas in Austin who played almost all the instruments on this art rock album. It is one of 4 CDs released this year on his own new record label, Exemplary. Earlier, King's high school band Featherlite played clubs in the Austin area, and their CD is also available on Exemplary.
The Fever Dreams [website, myspace], King's full band art rock project, is another of the 2008 Exemplary releases. With fresh, unique, unpredictable textures and structures, Tregan of Polycorns was released August 7. The latest CD release show for the CD was last night at Beerland with the Dirty Noises and Thousand Foot Whale Claw, but you can catch the band September 6 at Flamingo Cantina in a show with Haunting Oboe Music and the Joy Bus.
Fever Dream drummer Nick Whitfield is also a member of Clap!Clap! and Haunting Oboe Music.
Scroll down past playlist for details (including upcoming gigs).
Artist / "Song" / Album:
Set 1 - Woes on the Mexican border, bloodletting in Granada, and the grace of la cumbia - Austin Latin accordion masters on masterful originals:
01. Tom Russell / "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall?" / Wounded Heart of America (Tom Russell Songs)
02. Patricia Vonne / "La Huerta de San Vicente" / Firebird
03. Sarah Fox & Joel Guzman / "Cumbia Mundial" / Latinology
Set 2 - Premier pop with Stephen Orsak's deft touch:
04. Jade Day / "Bow to Reason" / Of Waking...
05. Suzanna Choffel / "Messenger" / Shudders & Rings
Set 3 - Rhythm in voice, rhythm in electrons:
06. John Pointer / "The Holy Trinity of Rhythm - Part 1" / Schizophonic
07. Keister / "Keep on Movin" / Doobie Careful
Set 4 - Harmonies & horns - The polished pop of Tammany Hall Machine:
08. Tammany Hall Machine / "The Jesus Chrysler" / Amateur Saw
09. Tammany Hall Machine / "In a Blonde Wig" / Tammany Hall Machine
Set 5 - Art rock from Harold King and his Exemplary Records:
10. Flowers for Human / "When Stars Align" / Winter Savory
11. The Fever Dreams / "Plastic Soldiers" / Tregan of Polycorns
-----------------------
DETAILS FOR 8/23/2007 PLAYLIST
All gigs are in the Austin, Texas area unless noted otherwise.
Artist / "Song" / Album:
Set 1 - Woes on the Mexican border, bloodletting in Granada, and the grace of la cumbia - Austin Latin accordion masters on masterful originals:
01. Tom Russell / "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall?" / Wounded Heart of America (Tom Russell Songs)
[myspace] [website]
[video of Russell performing this tune live on David Letterman 2 days ago]
Russell's insightful take on the U.S. decision to build more walls along the border with Mexico first appeared a year ago on his EP of the same title according to a description at JukeboxAlive. It resurfaced again with this full-length album, whose release two days ago was given a mighty kick that same night by the broadcast of Russell's rousing performance of the tune on David Letterman's show (as captured in this video). Russell was part of the Austin folk scene back in the '70s, and he's been a Texan again for some years now, having relocated to the El Paso area after living all over the world. The hot accordionist on the tune is not credited on the full-length album, but the liner notes claim this version of the song is one of four tunes on the album featuring Russell and a handful of top Austin musicians recorded in February by Mark Hallman at Hallman's Congress House Studios here in Austin. (Except for these four tunes featuring Russell himself, the new album is a compilation of tunes written or co-written by Russell that are covered by other artitsts.) However, according to the above-referenced description at JukeboxAlive, the accordionist on the EP version is local musician and producer Joel Guzman of Kyle, who has appeared on several Russell CDs in the last few years. I would bet that Guzman also plays the squeezebox on the song on the new album. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the liner notes are wrong and this is the same version that appeared on last year's EP. Gigs:
_Tonight (August 23), 7:30 pm, in New York, New York, at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette)
02. Patricia Vonne / "La Huerta de San Vicente" / Firebird
[website] [myspace]
This is a preview of an album that Vonne will release on September 25. Once again she has created a bilingual mix of fairly polished rock, Latin, blues, and Americana. Besides the excellent musicianship, perhaps the most striking thing about the album is Vonne's interest in historical and contemporary issues at the core of several of the songs: sexist criticism that pains a female bullfighter who feels destined to follow her grandfather and father into the tradition, James Dean's character - Jett Rink - in the motion picture Giant, the disappearance of women in the mean streets of Juarez, and this beautiful, sad ballad evoking the Andalusian gypsy atmosphere of Frederico Garcia Lorca's Romancero Gitano, even enfolding in this aura the city and tragedy of Lorca's murder in 1936 at the hands of the Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War.
The accordion on this piece is played by Austin master Michael Ramos, best known these days for his cutting edge Latin project Charanga Cakewalk, which will be a part of the CD release party for Vonne's album on September 28 at the Continental Club. Other musicians on the tune include Rick del Castillo of Del Castillo and Tito & Tarantula musicians Tito Larriva and Steven Hufsteter, favorite soundtrack artists of Vonne's Austin filmmaker brother, Robert Rodriguez. Gigs:
next listed gig:
_Wednesday (August 29), 10:30 am, in Pasadena, Texas, at San Jacinto College
next listed Austin gigs:
_September 25, 5 pm, Waterloo Records - CD release show
_September 28, 10 pm, the Continental Club - CD release party with guest Charanga Cakewalk
03. Sarah Fox & Joel Guzman / "Cumbia Mundial" / Latinology
[myspace]
[YouTube1- in concert] [YouTube2- in concert] [YouTube3- in concert] [YouTube4- Guzman in hotel room] [YouTube5- blues at workshop]
[one of the better bios of the two musicians]
Sarah Fox and Joel Guzman, like Patricia Vonne, create their own bilingual hybrids of latin and norteamericano musics, with standard pop and rock forms, soul, gospel, reggae, rumba, latin folk music, and more coming into play. This album features an incredible array of Austin's finest musicians in the band and as guests, such as Glenn Fukunaga, Mike Longoria, Rey Arteaga, Russell Scanlon, Bradley Kopp, John Mills, Jon Dee Graham, and Stephen Bruton.
Guzman and Fox have also released recordings under the name Aztex, where they forged similar fusions, and the Mexican Roots Trio with San Antonio bajo sexto player Max Baca, Jr., where they played more traditional TexMex forms. Guzman also produced and played on the 2005 grammy-winning Polkas, Gritos, y Acordeones, a collection of TexMex classics, with two other hotshot accordionists, David Lee Garza and Sunny Sauceda [YouTube of the three accordionists in concert]. Reviews and samples of these albums can be found here. Guzman was also deeply involved with another grammy-winning project, Los Super Seven. Fox sang bacground vocals on several tunes recorded by this superstar ensemble.
Guzman was an accordion prodigy from Washington State, but he often played gigs in Texas while growing up in the band of his father who had come from Texas. Fox grew up in Temple, with family roots in Mexico and Cuba. The two, long married, met when Guzman was a member of Temple-based Little Joe y la Familia, when Little Joe would invite Fox to sing with the band. Here's a video clip of a very young Guzman in his days with Little Joe y la Familia. Gigs:
_Sunday (August 26), One World Theatre on Bee Cave Road
Set 2 - Premier pop with Stephen Orsak's deft touch:
05. Suzanna Choffel / "Messenger" / Shudders & Rings
[website] [myspace] [YouTube] [AOL videos] [concert photos]
This was my favorite singer/songwriter album of last year, a category designation I hate to use as no one is going to picture her indefinable urban folk pop when they hear the term. As with Jade Day's latest, Stephen Orsak also produced and played on this wonderful work, making him a producer and musician to carefully watch.
Choffel is a woman of many talents. You may also want to check out her incarnation as Honey Bee Blue with Austin burlesque troupe Kitty Kitty Bang Bang. Gigs:
_Tonight (August 23), 8 pm, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at Santa Fe Brewing Company
_Tomorrow (August 24), 9:30 pm, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at Ralli's 4th Street Pub & Grill
_Saturday (August 25), 8 pm, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at Fusion
_August 31, 304 E. 7th - as part of Will Taylor & Strings Attached's last concert set of the season: A tribute to the music of Peter Gabriel
_September 1, 304 E. 7th - as part of Will Taylor & Strings Attached's last concert set of the season: A tribute to the music of Peter Gabriel
Set 3 - Rhythm in voice, rhythm in electrons:
06. John Pointer / "The Holy Trinity of Rhythm - Part 1" / Schizophonic
[website] [myspace] [great story by Michael Corcoran]
This tune demonstrates why Pointer is known as the Human Beatbox. Surprisingly, this is the first solo album from one of the most talented multi-taskers in Austin music, announced on July 26 on his myspace blog as finally being completed. Pointer moved to town in '91 and got a music degree in cello at the University of Texas. I have long enjoyed his post graduate work with the a capella/human percussion group he created called Schrodinger's Cat, the chamber fusion pop of Woodwork, for which he played cello, the acoustic romantico of Trio Los Vigilantes, for which he sang lead vocals and played cello, and his nationally televised work in commercials, such as for Chili's Baby Back Ribs. I was surprised to learn that he has also worked with Ozomatli and Sixpence None the Richer, and in mid-August he finished a run at Zach Scott Theater as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar.
Boombox, apparently now called BoomboxATX, is Pointer's long-time project with Carlos Sosa, a founder of the Grooveline Horns (who backed Kelly Clarkson at Live Earth), and the band has a CD release party set for September 7, 8 pm, at the Parish, although Pointer is apparently no longer involved with the band. Gigs:
_Monday (August 27), 9:30 pm, Cedar Creek Courtyard - with full band
_August 30, 8 pm, Onion Creek Country Club - with Chelle Murray, benefitting Life Works
_August 31, 304 E. 7th - as part of Will Taylor & Strings Attached's last concert set of the season: A tribute to the music of Peter Gabriel
_September 1, 304 E. 7th - as part of Will Taylor & Strings Attached's last concert set of the season: A tribute to the music of Peter Gabriel
07. Keister / "Keep on Movin" / Doobie Careful
[website] [myspace]
The duo of guitarist/producer Charlie Guidry and DJ/Remixer Ritchie Wallace formed the Keister production team in 2001. Bassist and programmer Dave Sellars (SmoovD), who had remixed some of their work, is now also a full-fledged member of the electronica group. All three are originally from southern Louisiana. Their myspace page also lists Daysha Taylor as a member of Keister.
In 2006 Keister compiled 12 of their more than 50 tracks into this, their debut CD, which reached national distribution through many major online retailers by June of this year. Remixes of one of the tracks on Doobie Careful are available here.
Set 4 - Harmonies & horns - The polished pop of Tammany Hall Machine:
08. Tammany Hall Machine / "The Jesus Chrysler" / Amateur Saw
[website] [myspace] [video for tune "Mega Lamb"] [streaming Amateur Saw]
The band was born in 2003 south of Austin in Buda, releasing its first CD in December of 2004 (see next entry on playlist). Based on the late '60s pop leanings of much of their work, it's no wonder that the favorite album of three of the members was put out by the Beatles or George Harrison.
This sophomore effort hit the scene in January of this year (Congratulations to our listener who won a copy of the CD during today's broadcast!), recorded by Scott Oliphant (of Halley) and mixed by engineer/producer wunderkind Erik Wofford [my Wofford profile from earlier playlist], and relying mostly on songs polished live in the clubs over the previous year. Gigs:
_Saturday (August 25), 10 pm, La Zona Rosa - with Sounds Under Radio
_Saturday (August 25), 1 am, Ruta Maya - playing Sgt. Pepper's at Hoot Night honoring the Summer of Love, 1967
09. Tammany Hall Machine / "In a Blonde Wig" / Tammany Hall Machine
[reviews and samples of this album]
This tune comes from the band's debut CD, released December 2004 (see listing for song #8 for more about the band).
Set 5 - Art rock from Harold King and his Exemplary Records:
10. Flowers for Human / "When Stars Align" / Winter Savory
[website] [myspace]
This is the second solo project CD of mid-20s musician Harold King of Round Rock, a recent or current student of music at the University of Texas in Austin who played almost all the instruments on this art rock album. It is one of 4 CDs released this year on his own new record label, Exemplary. Earlier, King's high school band Featherlite played clubs in the Austin area, and their CD is also available on Exemplary.
11. The Fever Dreams / "Plastic Soldiers" / Tregan of Polycorns
[website] [myspace]
This powerful song soars in the full band art rock project featuring the afore-described Harold King. With fresh, unique, unpredictable textures and structures on an album released August 7, this is yet another of the four recordings King has put out on his Exemplary Records this year. The latest CD release show for the CD was last night at Beerland with the Dirty Noises and Thousand Foot Whale Claw.
Drummer Nick Whitfield is also a member of Clap!Clap! and Haunting Oboe Music. Gigs:
_September 6, 9 pm, Flamingo Cantina - with Haunting Oboe Music and the Joy Bus
I. Older psychedelic sounds - re-imaginings and the real thing:
VietNam's new nostalgia
At the core of this now Brooklyn-based (via Philadelphia) band are two musicians from Austin, lead singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Michael William (Michael Gerner) and lead guitarist Joshua Garrett (Joshua Grubb), whose original incarnation of the band formed in New York in 2000 before they moved back to Austin for a while. This catchy, classic rock album for moderns, their first full-length recording, was released in January. It includes Mike Foss on drums, another friend from Austin who was turned on to the band in their Philly days when he saw them play in New York. Although by no means a carbon copy of past eras, their music recalls the heavy side of 1969 as the spacey, psychedelic guitar transports us through a hanging bead door into a blacklight-bathed inner sanctum where Dylan, Reed, and Lennon front the bluesy rock of Moby Grape. And what's this, Phil Spector's wall of sound snagged from behind the Righteous Brothers?
Here's a slew of links that will keep you happily occupied for some time: [website][myspace, including video and links to limited edition vinyl][guitar details & best bio I've seen of the band (& a cool video, to boot)][the big crash and burn in San Francisco][record label band site, including video links][Memphis interview][Daily Texan interview/article]
Turning on a new culture & preserving an old one: Austin's musical magi of the '60s bear gifts for the world (The Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Powell St. John, Janis Joplin, and Tary Owens)
On today's show we featured the Elevators' "Tried to Hide" (whose inspiration is described below), the January 1966 B-side to their first single and biggest hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me," and found here on a 2001 CD compilation from the British psychedelia and garage label Past & Present. The tune was apparently transferred from a vinyl copy of the album released on the American label White Rabbit in 1983. The original 1966 release has been described as a non-album B-side, but since the song also appears on the first Elevators album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, perhaps it's a different version.
There is very little I can add to the legend and literature of this band. You can find tons of material on the web and in bookstores, but I have included below a few choice, fascinating links. For neophytes, this band was at the heart and front of the psychedelic rock movement (which was fed in large part by the bounty of Austin transplants to San Francisco), and, in fact, was the first act to use 'psychedelic' as a musical description. Singer Roky Erickson still lives here in his hometown of Austin, and has had a major personal and musical resurgence in the past few years.
Other key players in Texas music who would join the fertile Austin-to-Frisco migration included a trio of musicians steeped in the old blues and folk of earlier generations. Janis Joplin and Powell St. John honed their singing and playing of these tunes in their band the Waller Creek Boys, part of the Threadgill's music scene on North Lamar (then at the far north edge of Austin), while Joplin's high school bud Tary Owens, following in the world-renowned tradition of the Lomax family, began to record and archive the music of the old bluesmen of Texas with a grant obtained through the help of famed folklorist Dr. Americo Paredes of the University of Texas. St. John and Joplin would become world leaders in fusing those old sounds into the psychedelic hippie culture with her wild and primitive electric blues and blues-rock and his songwriting for both Joplin and the Elevators, as well as his formation of the classic San Francisco band Mother Earth (with its own blues belter, Tracy Nelson, and its own versions of St. John's psychedelic classics like "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You"). Genesis of the Elevators' song "Tried to Hide" - According to the Allan Vorda interviews referenced below, here is how this song came about:
"[interviewer]: The liner notes to "Tried to Hide" state it was written about those people who "for the sake of appearances take on the superficial aspects of the quest." Huh?
[Powell St. John]: As I understand it, it's about those who pretend to be hip, those that try to fake it. Not long after the Elevators formed an incident took place that [Elevators' band leader] Tommy [Hall] said later was one of his inspirations for this song. One afternoon I was approached by a kid named Sally Mann who was around the scene. She is the same Sally Mann who later was featured in Rolling Stone magazine's famous groupie issue. At the time of that publication she was living with the Jefferson Airplane in San Francisco, but she was on the scene in Austin well before that. She knew that I knew Roky and that I knew where he lived. She asked me to take her there on the pretext of giving him something. I didn't ask what it was and so in the interest of helping two deserving young people I took her to Roky's apartment. Roky wasn't in as it happened so I left Sally and went on home. I heard later from a slightly irritated Tommy that he and [his wife] Clementine had come in later bringing Roky home to his place from one of his first acid trips and who should they find in Roky's bed but Goldilocks herself: Sally Mann---bummer. Tommy was irritated because, as he saw it, this was a disruptive incident and it didn't fit the kind of LSD experience he was trying to provide for Roky. And so, according to Tommy, "Tried to Hide" was written with that incident in mind for all the Sally Mann's of the world. I know I left the girl at Roky's apartment; beyond that I don't know how much of the story is true. I was just following The Golden Rule."
Note that Danny Thomas, in the audio monologue referenced below, ascribes this tune to Stacy Sutherland of the band. Drop these on your tongue:
[13th Floor Elevators' myspace] [psychedelic rock in Austin, including interviews with Powell St. John and Elevators bassist Ronnie Leatherman, & monologue from Elevators drummer Danny Thomas (audio, giving the story behind the tunes on the Bull of the Woods album as they play in the background, and answering a list of written questions)]
[Allan Vorda interviews: Click here for the most amazing and personal account of the Elevators and their scene that I have ever read - compiled from interviews from 1981 through 1992 with members and friends of the band, including Clementine Hall and giants of Austin music, Tary Owens (profiled in this heart-wrenching story) and Powell St. John (YouTube, myspace, website bio, Austin Chronicle feature, Austin American Statesman feature about the Threadgill's folk and country scene of which St. John and his Waller Creek Boys' bandmate, Janis Joplin, were a part).]
-------------------------
II. Progeny and cross-pollinations in the Austin indie pop/rock landscape:
Spreading yellow fever
[myspace] [YouTube1] [YouTube2]
Today we played from the 2006 debut release from Yellow Fever, the minimalist indie pop band formed last year and fronted by the lowkey harmonizers Isabel Martin and Jennifer Moore. It's not surprising that some of their tunes hint at '60s girl groups since Moore, besides harmonizing with Voxtrot, is also a member of retro '60s-styled girl group The Carrots. Martin and drummer Adam Jones are former members of Robots, Please! (which made my best albums list of 2003) and several other groups that followed (a more detailed history of Yellow Fever and its antecedents can be found at Austin Sound).
Yellow Fever released Cats and Rats, its second CD, no later than July.
Sixteen Deluxe begets Hit Space
[myspace]
The alt pop/rock band Hit Space features two former members of Sixteen Deluxe (YouTube video 1, YouTube video 2), guitarist/singer Carrie Clark and bassist Jeff Copas (here's a Sixteen Deluxe webpage which looks like it hasn't been updated since the '90s, but it's the closest thing to a band site that I could find). We played "Trash" from their debut, (verb), released in December or January, although several 2007 recordings can be heard at their myspace page.
Angel in a monster movie
[myspace] [website]
Monster Movie is a London duo whose lush and dreamy pop recordings have been augmented beautifully by the vocals of Austin's Rachel Goldstar ([website], [myspace]) of Experimental Aircraft ([website], [myspace]). All Lost was released in April of last year and is one of at least two albums from the band to feature Goldstar prominently. Rachel has also been a member of Austin bands the Swells, the Black Angels, the Weirding (referenced in this 2003 Austin Chronicle article about the synth band scene), and Bees are Black, and has also recorded and performed as a solo artist. Her latest project is All in the Golden Afternoon ([myspace]).
------------------------------
III. Dangling from the 'lectronic ledge:
Kosmodrome
[myspace] [website]
This is the experimental electronic duo formed by Peter Telckavich and Justin Sweatt in 2003, two musicians influenced by Russian history and imagery, and the art movements of the fluxists, dadaists, and situationists.
The album All My Space Heroes Are Dead reached our music library in April 2006. Here's how Kosmodrome describes it:
"All My Space Heroes Are Dead are the shortest single songs by Kosmodrome. We created them with the idea that maybe we needed some radio tracks. Although we wish that there was some way that a radio could play a whole Kosmodrome song. We do realize that it would be quite hard to do so because of time constraints.
These nine songs represent some edits that were done to the original song whose run time was about twenty six minutes in length."
Proem
[artist description & in-depth interview] [album description/reviews]
Proem is Richard Bailey, an electronic artist often placed under the IDM (Intelligent Digital Music) umbrella, although his music has a more melodic element than many in this genre. In fact, this piece is one of two on the CD revolving around an almost classical music piano keyboard sound. This track is from his latest of many releases, available since early this year.
Jgrzinich
[website]
Jgrzinich is John Grzinich, an experimental ambient/electronic artist from Austin who has been living in Estonia for several years now. Today we played an excerpt from "Fluid Itinerancy" from his first full-length solo album, Intimations, which was released in New Zealand in 2004. It incorporates environmental recordings made in various locations around the world, including Austin while he still lived here.
---------------------------------
IV. Jennifer Warnes communes at Jacob's Well in her famous blue raincoat - a thoroughly Austin story:
[website]
Famous Blue Raincoat 20th Anniversary Edition
It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the original release of Jennifer Warnes' most acclaimed CD, Famous Blue Raincoat, which firmly established her as a leading interpreter of the songs of Leonard Cohen, a territory which Judy Collins had staked out in the '60s. The album was re-issued on August 7, remastered and with four additional tunes, three of which involve Austin artistry, including this track. I first heard "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" in 1988 on bassist Rob Wasserman's then brand-new Duets CD, and the duet on that track was Wasserman's bass and Warnes' quiet vocals [find Wasserman's website here]. The version appearing on the Famous Blue Raincoat re-release is a much fuller production arranged by none other than Austin's own Stephen Barber, keyboardist of Austin's most legendary 1970s jazz fusion band, the Electromagnets, a band which featured a very young Eric Johnson on guitar. Hidden among the instrumentalists on "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" is another well-known Austin musician, blues rocker Doyle Bramhall II (see next section) on guitar. Two of the other bonus tracks on the new version of Famous Blue Raincoat feature accompaniment from Austin's Mitch Watkins (Antones interview [scroll past Bob Schneider]), and on the nine tracks from the original album you'll find several other current or former Austinites as producers, arrangers, or musicians, including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Roscoe Beck, Paul Ostermayer, and Bill Ginn. Some of these artists were also found on her following two albums, The Hunter and The Well, along with other past or current Austin musicians Eric Johnson, Doyle Bramhall (senior), David Grissom ([website], [myspace]), and Rob Meurer.
The Passenger connection
In researching this feature, I learned that the story of the connection between Warnes and many of the above-named musicians began long before her collaborations in the mid-'80s on Famous Blue Raincoat, but went back to 1979 when Leonard Cohen recruited members of Austin's second-most legendary '70s jazz fusion band Passenger (which included Beck, Ginn, Ostermayer, Watkins, and drummer Steve Meador) to record on his album Recent Songs and be part of his band in the tour to promote it, roles which they have reprised for decades now (here's a link about the 2001 album of the tour with mini bios of the band members; here is a great series of backstage and on stage photos from the tour; and a rare documentary of the tour was also filmed). Warnes attended studio sessions for the recording of Recent Songs, and was a back-up singer on the tour afterwards. In fact, through the relationship that Warnes began with Passenger bassist Roscoe Beck, she moved to Austin after the '79 Cohen tour and lived here absorbing the sounds and stories of Austin's music scene until her return to L.A. in '81. She also lived in Austin during the mid-'90s while working on the music that led to her album The Well, her collaboration with Doyle Bramhall (father of Doyle Bramhall II), whose centerpiece song was inspired by the natural beauty of the spring at Wimberley's Jacob's Well near Bramhall's Wimberley home. The story of Warnes' Austin connection, especially how it led to the creation of The Well, is beautifully told in an article by Brad Buccholz (accessed from the bottom of Warnes' home page by clicking on "about the well"), and her 2002 interview with Jody Denburg covers some of the same topics.
Postscripts Rob Meurer is now writing musical comedy with the Knack's Berton Averre!
Paul Ostermayer (scroll down here) is a respected musician and musical educator in New Jersey and New York City.
Scroll down for playlist details, which are complete. All listed gigs are in the Austin area unless stated otherwise.
Artist / "Song" / Album:
Set 1 - Latin, from Big Band to Hip Hop:
01. The Nash Hernandez Orchestra / "El Pincel" / Tenderly
02. D'Va / "Wanna-Be's" / Lonely Beat
Set 2 - '60s garage and psychedelia, re-imagined and genuine:
03. Ugly Beats / "(I Don't Wanna Be the One to) Bring Her Down" / Take a Stand with the Ugly Beats
04. VietNam / "Step on Inside" / VietNam
05. Thirteenth Floor Elevators / "Tried to Hide" / Mind Blowers, Vol. 1
Set 3 - From the mundane surfaces to the soulful depths - DIY alt-pop, space pop, and Cohen's subtle interpreter:
06. Yellow Fever / "Donald" / Yellow Fever
07. Hit Space / "Trash" / (verb)
08. Monster Movie / "Hope I Find the Moon" / All Lost
09. Octopus Project & Black Moth Super Rainbow / "Elq Milq" / The House of Apples and Eyeballs
10. Kosmodrome / "All of My Space Heroes are Dead, Part 3" / All of My Space Heroes are Dead
11. Proem / "Social Piranha" / A Permanent Solution
12. Jgrzinich / "Fluid Itinerancy" (excerpt) / Intimations
13. Jennifer Warnes / "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" / Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition
Set 4 - Another songwriting diva interprets an icon:
14. Kim Richey / "Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father" / Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman
-----------------------
8/16/2007 PLAYLIST DETAILS:
Set 1 - Latin, from Big Band to Hip Hop:
01. The Nash Hernandez Orchestra / "El Pincel" / Tenderly [website]
The longest-running big band in Austin is this outfit which has enlivened dance floors since 1949 with styles ranging from big band swing to Latin romantico. Trumpeter Nash Hernandez founded the band after moving to Austin following service in World War II, and after his passing in '94, the band has continued under the baton of his son Ruben, drummer for the band. Originally an all-Hispanic band, the band's membership has become as diverse as its music, serving as a stepping stone for such bandleaders and musicians as Tim Torres, Dave and Abel Gutierrez, Ruben Sanchez, Mike Mordecai, John Mills, Tomas Ramirez, Martin Banks, Mitch Watkins, Larry Williams, and David Chenu. Tenderly, their second modern album, was released in 2001.
02. D'Va / "Wanna-Be's" / Lonely Beat [bio, CD reviews & samples]
On the other end of the Latin music spectrum in Austin is the bilingual hiphop of a sassy gal from San Angelo, D'Va (pronounced "diva"), who dropped this disc in 2005.
Set 2 - '60s garage and psychedelia, re-imagined and genuine:
03. Ugly Beats / "(I Don't Wanna Be the One to) Bring Her Down" / Take a Stand with the Ugly Beats [myspace]
I never realized how much I love the garage rock of 1965 until I heard this band, who blast me with nostalgia in their original recreations of the sounds of that era. In June, fast on the heels of this latest CD's May release, they toured Spain for the second time in less than 7 months. Gigs:
_Tomorrow, August 17, 10 pm, in San Antonio, Texas, at the Limelight
_Saturday, August 18, 10 pm, Beerland
_September 15, 10 pm, The Carousel Lounge
_September 22, 11 pm, Beerland
04. VietNam / "Step on Inside" / VietNam [website][myspace, including video and links to limited edition vinyl][guitar details & best bio I've seen of the band (& a cool video, to boot)][the big crash and burn in San Francisco][record label band site, including video links][Memphis interview][Daily Texan interview/article]
The core of this now Brooklyn-based (via Philadelphia) band are a couple of musicians from Austin, lead singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Michael William (Michael Gerner) and lead guitarist Joshua Garrett (Joshua Grubb), whose original incarnation of the band formed in New York in 2000 before they moved back to Austin for a while. This catchy, classic rock album for moderns, their first full-length recording, was released in January. It includes Mike Foss on drums, another friend from Austin who was turned on to the band in their Philly days when he saw them play in New York. Although by no means a carbon copy, I feel the heavy side of 1969 in their music as the spacey, psychedelic guitar transports us through the hanging bead door into a blacklight-bathed inner sanctum, where Dylan, Reed, and Lennon front the bluesy rock of Moby Grape. And what's this, Phil Spector's wall of sound snagged from behind the Righteous Brothers?
05. Thirteenth Floor Elevators / "Tried to Hide" / Mind Blowers, Vol. 1
[myspace] [psychedelic rock in Austin]
[Allan Vorda interviews: Click here for the most amazing and personal account of the Elevators and their scene that I have ever read - compiled from interviews from 1981 through 1992 with members and friends of the band, including Clementine Hall and giants of Austin music, Tary Owens and Powell St. John (YouTube, myspace, website bio, Austin Chronicle feature, Austin American Statesman feature about the Threadgill's folk and country scene of which St. John and his Waller Creek Boys' bandmate, Janis Joplin, were a part).]
Here's the real thing, released to the world in January of 1966 as the B-side to the Elevators' first single and biggest hit, "You're Gonna Miss Me," and found here on a 2001 CD compilation from the British psychedelia and garage label Past & Present, which was apparently transferred from a vinyl copy of the album released on the American label White Rabbit in 1983. The original 1966 release has been described as a non-album B-side, but since the song also appears on the first Elevators album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the Thirteenth Floor Elevators, perhaps it's a different version.
There is very little I can add to the legend and literature of this band. You can find tons of material on the web and in bookstores. For neophytes, this band was at the heart and front of the psychedelic rock movement in Austin and San Francisco, and, in fact, was the first act to use 'psychedelic' as a musical description. Singer Roky Erickson still lives here in his hometown of Austin, and has had a major personal and musical resurgence in the past few years. Genesis of this song - According to the Allan Vorda interviews referenced above, here is how this song came about:
"[interviewer]: The liner notes to "Tried to Hide" state it was written about those people who "for the sake of appearances take on the superficial aspects of the quest." Huh?
[Powell St. John]: As I understand it, it's about those who pretend to be hip, those that try to fake it. Not long after the Elevators formed an incident took place that [Elevators' band leader] Tommy [Hall] said later was one of his inspirations for this song. One afternoon I was approached by a kid named Sally Mann who was around the scene. She is the same Sally Mann who later was featured in Rolling Stone magazine's famous groupie issue. At the time of that publication she was living with the Jefferson Airplane in San Francisco, but she was on the scene in Austin well before that. She knew that I knew Roky and that I knew where he lived. She asked me to take her there on the pretext of giving him something. I didn't ask what it was and so in the interest of helping two deserving young people I took her to Roky's apartment. Roky wasn't in as it happened so I left Sally and went on home. I heard later from a slightly irritated Tommy that he and [his wife] Clementine had come in later bringing Roky home to his place from one of his first acid trips and who should they find in Roky's bed but Goldilocks herself: Sally Mann---bummer. Tommy was irritated because, as he saw it, this was a disruptive incident and it didn't fit the kind of LSD experience he was trying to provide for Roky. And so, according to Tommy, "Tried to Hide" was written with that incident in mind for all the Sally Mann's of the world. I know I left the girl at Roky's apartment; beyond that I don't know how much of the story is true. I was just following The Golden Rule. " Roky Erickson gigs:
_August 31, in Vitoria, Spain, at the Azkena Festival - Roky Erickson & the Explosives
_September 3, in Seattle, Washington, at the Bumbershoot Festival - Roky Erickson & The Explosives
_September 6, in Portland, Oregon, at Music Fest Northwest - Roky Erickson & _The Explosives
_October 28, in Los Angeles, California, at El Rey Theater
_October 31, in San Francisco, California, at the Great American Music Hall
Set 3 - From the mundane surfaces to the soulful depths - DIY alt-pop, space pop, and Cohen's subtle interpreter:
06. Yellow Fever / "Donald" / Yellow Fever
[myspace] [YouTube1] [YouTube2]
This is the 2006 debut release from Yellow Fever, the minimalist indie pop band formed last year and fronted by the lowkey harmonizers Isabel Martin and Jennifer Moore. It's not surprising that some of their tunes hint at '60s girl groups since Moore, besides harmonizing with Voxtrot, is also a member of retro '60s-styled girl group The Carrots. Martin and drummer Adam Jones are former members of Robots, Please! (which made my best albums list of 2003) and several other groups that followed (a more detailed history of Yellow Fever and its antecedents can be found at Austin Sound).
Yellow Fever released Cats and Rats, its second CD, no later than July. Gigs:
_Tuesday, August 21, 8 pm, Emo's
_August 25, 10 pm, Mohawk - KVRX benefit
_August 30, 8 pm, Emo's - with Horse + Donkey
07. Hit Space / "Trash" / (verb)
[myspace]
This alt pop/rock band features two former members of Sixteen Deluxe, guitarist/singer Carrie Clark and bassist Jeff Copas. This is from their debut, released in December or January, although several 2007 recordings can be heard at their myspace page. Gigs:
_August 25, 12:30 am, Hole in the Wall
_September 21, 8 pm, Scoot Inn
08. Monster Movie / "Hope I Find the Moon" / All Lost
[myspace] [website]
This is a London duo whose lush and dreamy pop recordings have been augmented beautifully by the vocals of Austin's Rachel Goldstar ([website], [myspace]) of Experimental Aircraft ([website], [myspace]). All Lost was released in April of last year and is one of at least two albums from the band to feature Goldstar prominently. Rachel has also been a member of Austin bands the Swells, the Black Angels, the Weirding (referenced in this 2003 Austin Chronicle article about the synth band scene), and Bees are Black, and has also recorded and performed as a solo artist. Her latest project is All in the Golden Afternoon ([myspace]). All in the Golden Afternoon gigs:
_Saturday, August 18, 9 pm, The Rocking Tomato
09. Octopus Project & Black Moth Super Rainbow / "Elq Milq" / The House of Apples and Eyeballs
[Austin Sounds review of CD]; Octopus Project links: [myspace] [website] [YouTube]
The Austin theremin-and-synth band Octopus Project collaborated for a year by internet with Pittsburg's Black Moth Super Rainbow to produce this mash-up released on Halloween last year. Octopus Project's latest CD, Hello, Avalanche, will be released on October 9. There's a lovely tune from the new CD with multiple, harmonizing theremins on their myspace page. Octopus Project gigs:
The band is playing 75 shows across North America from August 17 through November 16 (when they finally return to Austin for a show at Emo's). They will have copies of their new CD available at their shows before the official CD release date in October, just as soon as they arrive from the plant, according to an August 16 announcement on their blog. Show listings can be found at their myspace page.
10. Kosmodrome / "All of My Space Heroes are Dead, Part 3" / All of My Space Heroes are Dead
[myspace] [website]
This is the experimental electronic duo formed by Peter Telckavich and Justin Sweatt in 2003, two musicians influenced by Russian history and imagery, and the art movements of the fluxists, dadaists, and situationists.
The album reached our music library in April 2006. Here's how Kosmodrome describes it:
"All My Space Heroes Are Dead are the shortest single songs by Kosmodrome. We created them with the idea that maybe we needed some radio tracks. Although we wish that there was some way that a radio could play a whole Kosmodrome song. We do realize that it would be quite hard to do so because of time constraints.
These nine songs represent some edits that were done to the original song whose run time was about twenty six minutes in length."
11. Proem / "Social Piranha" / A Permanent Solution
[artist description & in-depth interview] [album description/reviews]
Proem is Richard Bailey, an electronic artist often placed under the IDM (Intelligent Digital Music) umbrella, although his music has a more melodic element than many in this genre. In fact, this piece is one of two on the CD revolving around an almost classical music piano keyboard sound. This track is from his latest of many releases, available since early this year.
12. Jgrzinich / "Fluid Itinerancy" (excerpt) / Intimations
[website]
Jgrzinich is John Grzinich, an experimental ambient/electronic artist from Austin who has been living in Estonia for several years now. This track is from his first full-length solo album which was released in New Zealand in 2004. It incorporates environmental recordings made in various locations around the world, including Austin while he still lived here.
13. Jennifer Warnes / "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" / Famous Blue Raincoat: 20th Anniversary Edition
[website]
It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since the original release of Jennifer Warnes' most acclaimed CD, and the one which firmly established her as a leading interpreter of the songs of Leonard Cohen, a territory which Judy Collins had staked out in the '60s. The album was re-issued on August 7, remastered and with 4 additional tunes, 3 of which involve Austin artistry, including this track. I first heard "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" in 1988 on bassist Rob Wasserman's then brand-new Duets CD, and the duet on that track was Wasserman's bass and Warnes' quiet vocals. The version appearing on the Famous Blue Raincoat re-release is a much fuller production arranged by none other than Austin's own Stephen Barber, keyboardist of Austin's legendary 1970s jazz fusion band, the Electromagnets, a bad which featured a very young Eric Johnson on guitar. Hidden among the instrumentalists on "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" is another well-known Austin musician, blues rocker Doyle Bramhall II ([website], [myspace]) on guitar, known for his work with the Arc Angels, his solo career, and guest spots with artists like Eric Clapton, B.B. King, and Roger Waters. Here are some interesting video excerpts of Bramhall playing at the Alamo (with the Arc Angels) and at the Great Wall of China (with Eric Clapton's highly complementary voice-over). Here's a DVD source for the Alamo concert and a listing of other internet material of interest regarding Bramhall.
Two of the other bonus tracks on the new version of Famous Blue Raincoat feature accompaniment from Austin's Mitch Watkins, and on the nine tracks from the original album you'll find several other current or former Austinites as producers, arrangers, or musicians, including Roscoe Beck ( [website], [myspace]), Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Bill Ginn.
Set 4 - Another songwriting diva interprets an icon:
14. Kim Richey / "Texas Girl at the Funeral of Her Father" / Sail Away: The Songs of Randy Newman
[website] [myspace] [October 2002 interview, where she states that she has moved to Austin]
Kim Richey, who became established in Nashville in 1988, has been lumped with the contemporary country crowd, several of whom have scored with her songs, even though her own style is much more inclusive, including pop and Americana. She moved to Austin from Nashville in 2002, but apparently she has returned to Nashville, as more recent information on the internet once again lists Nashville as her current home. On an album paying tribute to the songs of Randy Newman released in May of last year, she sings this mournful, subdued, Newman-penned tune. Her latest album under her own name, Chinese Boxes, became available in stores on July 10th. Gigs:
_Tonight, August 16, 8 pm, "Unplugged at the Grove" series
_September 6, in Chicago, Illinois, 9 am, at Schuba's
_September 7, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at Cedar Cultural Center
_September 8, in Madison, Wisconsin, at the High Noon Saloon
_more gigs listed on her myspace page
Set 1 - Under the Influence of Buck & the Beatles:
01. The Derailers / "Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass" / Under the Influence of Buck
02. Freda and the Firedogs / "Today I Started Loving You Again" / Freda and the Firedogs
03. The Derailers / "Soldier of Love" / Soldiers of Love
Set 2 - New extroverted music, new introverted music:
04. The Story Of / "EMT" / The World's Affair
05. The Dark Water Hymnal / "Wheel Within Wheel" / The Dark Water Hymnal
Set 3 - Lane, Beattie, & Ross:
06. The Horsies / "Afro Tree" / Trouble Down South
07. Glass Eye / "Comeback" / Bent By Nature
08. Craig Ross (or The Greater Good) / "Trouble" / The Greater Good
09. Shearwater / "Red Sea, Black Sea" / Palo Santo
Set 4 - The edge of the late '90s:
10. XX / "Treadmill to Heaven" / The Lives and Loves of Mr. Jiveass Honkey
11. Bo Bud Greene / "Bubblezoid in My Garage" / Las Olas
12. The Valentine Six / "Tucson" / The Valentine Six
13. Brown Whornet / "Tricky Lipp" / Brown Whornet
Music and armadillos are both found in abundance here in South Central Texas.
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