The Informed Drinker: In the Beginning, There Was Rum
![Preview: Legs Against Arms EP Release [Club de Ville / Saturday]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/deville_28nov2009_250-thumb-110x110-460659.jpg)
Preview: Legs Against Arms EP Release [Club de Ville / Saturday]
Why We Don't Like You: Texas A&M Aggies
![SXSW Announces a Couple Hundred More Showcasing Bands for 2010 [Lots of Austin Bands in the Mix]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/sxsw2010-music-thumb-110x110-460952.jpg)
SXSW Announces a Couple Hundred More Showcasing Bands for 2010 [Lots of Austin Bands in the Mix]
![Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]](http://austinist.com/assets_c/2009/11/beerland_27nov2009_250-thumb-110x110-460924.jpg)
Weekend Music Preview: Woven Bones Tour Kick-Off [Beerland / Friday]
Erika Wennerstrom and her Bastards have come into their own locally thanks to Austin's admiration for bluesy classic rock filtered through more traditional Southern compliments like misery and slide guitar. There's a sort of challenging discomfort that accompanies Wennerstrom's music: one the one hand, her voice is definitely interesting to listen to, and yes, it earns her a lot of compliments. On the other hand, it's not because she's a particularly talented vocalist. At the same time, her guitar playing isn't virtuosic, but like another local artist with a release this week (who is black and named Joe), she makes the stripped-down compositional naivete work for her. Both Joe Lewis and Ms Wennerstrom are playing the kind of music that succeeds in its own grit and insecurity. Soulful, heartfelt blues and rock don't need to be academic to be good, and like many succeeding in the pool of 30-something rock'n'blues nostalgics, Wennerstrom thumbs her nose at the book in favor of the truth. Like stalwarts before her (most notably PJ Harvey), she captures her audience in a stealthy grip of -- perhaps ironically -- heartfelt triumph and loss delivered in old soul's aching simplicity.
Heartless Bastards [Official] [MySpace]
Listen: "The Mountain" (mp3)
Andrew Bird: Noble Beast (vinyl)
Antony and the Johnsons: The Crying Light (vinyl)
Astronautalis: Pomegranate (vinyl)
The Bad Plus: For All I Care (vinyl)
Ben Kweller: Changing Horses (vinyl)
Black Gold: Rush (vinyl)
Brian Eno & David Byrne: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (remastered vinyl)
Cannibal Corpse: Evisceration Plague
Crosby Stills Nash & Young: Reflections (3-CD box set)
A Day to Remember: Homesick
Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele: Good Feeling Music of Dent May (vinyl)
Diplo: Decent Work for Decent Wages
Duffy: Rockferry (deluxe edition with bonus CD)
Fiction Family: Fiction Family (vinyl)
The Fray: The Fray (vinyl)
The Gris Gris: Live at the Creamery (vinyl)
Heartless Bastards: The Mountain
Howlies: Trippin' with Howlies
It Hugs Back: Inside Your Guitar (import)
Jim White: A Funny Little Cross to Bear
Joe Jackson: Live at the BBC (import)
Joseph Arthur: Temporary People (vinyl)
Josh Reichmann: Life Is Legal EP
Josh Wink: When a Banana Was Just a Banana
Julian Lennon: Valotte (reissue)
The Kinks: Picture Book (6-CD Japanese import box set)
Ladyfinger (ne): Dusk
Lisa Hannigan: Sea Sew
The Loved Ones: Distractions EP
Marco Benevento: Me Not Me
Marykate O'Neil: Underground
Metallica: All Nightmare Long EP (Australian import)
Mike Bones: A Fool for Everyone (vinyl)
Morrissey: Southpaw Grammar
My Chemical Romance: I Brought You My Bullets You Brought Me Your Love (vinyl reissue)
Nico Vega: Nico Vega
Nous Non Plus: Menagerie
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez: Despair
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez: Megaritual
Ozric Tentacles: Erpland (2-LP vinyl reissue)
Owen: The EP (vinyl reissue)
P.O.S.: Never Better
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (vinyl)
Phantom Band: Checkmate Savage
Phosphorescent: To Willie (vinyl)
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (vinyl)
Roger Manning: Catnip Dynamite
Ruthie Foster: The Truth According to Ruthie Foster
Secret Machines: Secret Machines (with bonus tracks)
Silt: Cat's Peak
Sole & the Skyrider Band: Remix Album
Squarepusher: Numbers Lucent EP (import)
Telefon Tel Aviv: Immolate Yourself
Two Tongues: Two Tongues
U2: Rattle and Hum: I Love the 80's Edition (dvd)
Various Artists: He's Just Not That Into You (soundtrack)
The Von Bondies: Love Hate and Then There's You (vinyl)
Vulture Whale: Vulture Whale (vinyl)
Wavvves: Wavvves
Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel: Willie and the Wheel (vinyl)
Wintersleep: Welcome to the Night Sky (import reissue with bonus tracks)
Yeasayer: All Hour Cymbals (vinyl reissue)
Zero Boys: History of Zero Boys (reissue) (vinyl)
Zero Boys: Vicious Boys (reissue) (vinyl)
Zombi: Spirit Animal
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