Results tagged “blues”

Let's not mince words: when Cat Power comes to town, it's pretty much mandated by law that you attend. This is because not only will you be able to witness one of the most shockingly talented vocalists in the world, but you also may learn a thing or two. For those who don't remember, let's do a brief recap of what we learned last time the timeless (and timelessly eccentric) soulstress was in town: that Chan Marshall, the woman behind the voice, is on steroids, that she was born deaf, that she wants to shoot her monitors, that she likes to apologize to the crowd, that she was born deaf, that steroids make you angry (and that's why they make you stronger), and on and on she went with her pearls of wisdom. Pretty much, she's a spectacularly unpredictable bounty of non-sequiturs and stunning musicianship.

Every week, Le Diamant Brut shuffles through our inbox, unearthing musical MySpace gems for you -- here at home and beyond. Enjoy.

Covers are inherently ballsy, and Lord knows Chan Marshall is no coward. She's already released one full length's worth of odes to her varied inspiration, 2000's Covers Record. In general, the songs Marshall covers are tiny glimpses into what we gather is her inner life, and they're almost always hit or miss, just like the lady herself. Her version of Pavement's "We Dance" was withered, but her rendition of Lou Reed's "I Found a Reason" was emotionally devastating. "I Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" was inspiring and combined her natural strut with a legend's perfectly, but here we find her opening number, "New York New York" an uncomfortable, shallow mess.

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring...

Fun Fun Fun Fest captured more than a few hearts last December on a cold winter evening with a three-stage-pronged attack that provided ample genres for everyone in attendance. Some of the stand-out acts included Spoon, The Black Angels, The Octopus Project, Peaches, and Prefuse 73. This year, the fest is back, bigger than before, and a month earlier to boot. November 3rd and 4th will see Waterloo Park transformed into a musical carnival featuring...

Henry Rollins is tearing across the country on the "Provoked" spoken word tour, billed as "An evening of quintessentially American opinionated editorializing and storytelling." With over a dozen spoken word albums under his belt, Rollins has definitely proven his skill as a storyteller and cultural commenter, particularly on works like Black Coffee Blues and Get in the Van. He's also done some brilliant television work. For example, check out the potentially misogynistic letter to Ann...

Since 1975, Grammy Award winners BeauSoleil have charmed audiences as being one of the most heralded and esteemed Cajun groups in American music history. Band leader Michael Doucet artfully takes the rich traditions of Louisiana culture and blends other southern folk elements such as Zydeco, Jazz, Tejano, Country, Blues to astonishing effect. Beau Soleil have played The Grand Ole Opry, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the Newport Folk Festival in the past....

ACL Previews Interview: Ghostland Observatory Previews: The Broken West, Big Sam’s Funky Nation & Rose Hill Drive Previews: Billy Joe Shaver and Fionn Regan Previews: Brandon Rhyder and Ocote Soul Sounds Interview: The Broken West Previews: Sylvia St. James, Jeffrey Steele, and Amy Cook Interview: Bloc Party ACL Fest Updates: Google Mashup, Contests, Eco-Chic Previews: Augustana, Amos Lee Interview: Peter, Bjorn, and John ACL Band Clash, Round 3: Wilco Vs My Morning Jacket Travis...

What a difference a year makes—certainly in the case of this fledgling music festival. Last December's inaugural Fun Fun Fun Fest featured over two dozen bands and DJs, and showcased a good variety of indie rock, punk, and electronic music. This year, they've grown even bigger, better, and bolder: the second annual installment will span two days and has been pushed ahead by a month, to November 3rd and 4th. Staying true to their...

Kurt Vonnegut was the little booger hanging on the up-turned nose of literature. He kept the sci-fi and fantasy genre from getting too one-dimensional, and he helped reel the “literary world” back in from too much self-aggrandizement. For decades his cynical humor and desperate energy pulled at the spindly awkward adolescent us, and gave us something we could claim as our own. He got us to suspend our disbelief and see the same-old same-old...

The Funniest Filmmaker in Austin contest returns to Cap City Comedy Club, with semifinals emceed by Bryan Gutmann, winner of the 2007 Funniest Person in Austin contest NYC's uber-scenesters The Misshapes hold court at Beauty Bar with Riot in Belgium and KidIndie Zilker Park hosts the very last installment of KGSR's Blues on the Green, featuring Marcia Ball & Band DJ Mel spins the killer 80s jams at the quarterly Rock the Casbah dance...

Nearly a year after the release of Drive-By Truckers’ magnificent A Blessing And A Curse, Jason Isbell departed (in friendly fashion) from the band in April of this year. In July, he emerged with his first solo effort, Sirens Of The Ditch on New West Records. Recorded at the Fame Studios (graced in the past by the likes of Little Richard and Aretha Franklin) in Alabama, the album is chock-full of bluesy alt-country balanced...

In a (somewhat) surprising announcement via press release mid-afternoon Monday, Austin's legendary venue Emo's, announced a partnership with local talent buying firm, C3 Presents. The announcement arrives on the heels of another announcement: Transmission Entertainment's official bid in the Austin talent buying and event booking business. In many ways, the partnership between Emo's and C3 is a match made in heaven: Stubb's, which is co-owned by Charles Attal, a partner at C3, is a neighbor...

You’ve got to possess a certain amount of bravado or at least a total lack of giving a shit about current trends to bust out the white denim and strut down the street, or Mohawk Friday night. And that’s exactly how the band must feel about their music, taking long strides with their heads held high. Because White Denim has created something that is uniquely alarming in all its post-whatever, garage-ish experimentation. My comrades...

One of Austin's best-known solo performers is back in town. Through June 16th, Rob Nash performs College Freshman Year Sucks at the Vortex. His immensely successful shows feature him playing various characters inspired by his parochial, Texas upbringing. Continuing our monthly series on comedy performers, we talk to Rob about keeping characters straight, Lily Tomlin and the quality of a certain prop comedian's stash. How long have you been doing solo shows? Twenty years...

White Denim are sort of an anomaly in Austin: they aren't iPod dance-rock, they don't have a gimmick, and they haven't been consumed by the scene's self-conscious rock elite. They seem to be making it based on the purest of rock 'n roll fantasies: a live show that makes people turn around and smile at each other, and songs which catalyze that in more ways than one. But describing their sound can be difficult....

Ola Podrida (Plug Research) David Wingo splits his time between Brooklyn and Austin composing the soundtrack to the Polaroid taking, scarf wearing community of slow-moving coffee sippers and film lovers. Literally. His work with director David Gordan Green (All the Real Girls, Snow Angels) has provided him with an outlet for his soft and subtle odes, but his new project under the name Ola Podrida offers a bit of a broader spectrum, at least...

FRIDAY [30] music • The Skeletons at South Austin Speedshop (7pm) fashion/music • Couture de Amore with fashions by Loves, Mariessa; Stiletto Gold; Sea and Enemies; Amy Kline (Jewelry), and Clap!Clap!, Golden Bear, Haunting Oboe Music, The Valentines at The Parish Room ($10) music • Video/CD release for "The Projeckt" at Latitude 30 music • Bluebonnet Blues Festival, benefitting Historic Main Street Association of Marble Falls, at Marble Falls music • 3rd Annual Global...

Blues Traveler frontman John Popper was arrested in Washington earlier today, after state patrol officers clocked the vehicle he was in going at 111 miles per hour. The driver of the black Mercedes SUV was 34-year-old Austinite Brian Gourgeois.

FRIDAY [19] film • AFS presents a new 35mm print of The Rules of the Game at Dobie Theatre film • Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival 2007 at Alamo Downtown (7pm, 9:30pm, 11:58pm) Most events are probably back on schedule, but call ahead just to be sure. music • The Weird Weeds, W-S Burn, Brian Sookram, Jonathan Horne at The Peacock ($3, 9pm) art • Two Mongolian Artists From Two Generations: D....

Some people marry for love. Some for companionship. And yes, there are some thrifty evil souls out there who marry for riches. But we romantics at the Austinist are happy to know that at least two people in this hardened nation of ours have married for a reason even purer than true love: rock and roll. Back in 2001 Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel decided to ditch their day jobs, get hitched, and begin...

Mundane societies often pave the way for artistic innovations and highly creative individuals. Not to imply anything about various areas in England, but one frequently hears murmurs about its bleaker areas, be it Sheffield or Nottingham. And it was the latter’s working class culture that gave rise to IV Thieves.

Primal Scream - Riot City Blues (Columbia): The Primals seem to have found a time machine. This disc sounds more like a follow-up to 1994's Stones-rock Give Out But Don't Give Up rather than anything they've done in the decade since. The electronics and experimentation from Vanishing Point on are all gone, replaced by throwaway lyrics like "Gotta keep on keepin' on," Rod Stewarty 'Maggie May'-style mandolins, and blues shuffles that place them firmly in Dadrock territory. While there's no doubt that the noisy sample-heavy phase of the Primals had run its course, it's hard to see this album as anything but a placeholder or (worse) a retreat. It sounds like it could've been made in a week, and while the songs are mostly fun, there's a lot of filler. Our advice: Primals fans should head for iTunes to grab 'Country Girl', 'Dolls', 'When The Bomb Drops' and 'Hell's Comin' Down' for four bucks, and let the rest of this one be.

Well, I posted the last of my guest previews last night, and I want to once again thank John, JD, Jeff, Chris and Becky for helping me out this year. Together they wrote 28 previews for me, and I wouldn't have been able to finish the site without their help. Well... it's not actually finished left, I have six previews left to write. While I work on those, here's an additional set of previews...

Verdict: Well done, and great for Bob's followers. Expect KGSR to play this to death.

WEDNESDAY [23]

WEDNESDAY [9] [film] Weird Wednesday: Wild Pussycat at Alamo Downtown (11:55pm, Free) ® [film] By the People at Dobie (5pm) ® [film] Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia at Alamo Downtown (7pm) ® [film] Dirty Harry at Paramount Theatre (7pm) ® [film] Live and Let Die at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) [film] Rolling Roadshow: Monty Python & The Holy Grail at Central Market (8pm, Free) ® [film] Bullitt at Paramount Theatre (9:10pm) [film] Blanks...

WEDNESDAY [26] [film] AFS 20th Anniversary: Eric Rohmer's Summer at Alamo Downtown (7pm) LINK [party] Sidebar's turning two, and they're rockin' it out with a full BBQ spread, raffle, commemorative tees, guest DJs, slushy shots, a keg of Lone Star, cake, and (hopefully) Antonio, our favorite door guy in Austin. At Sidebar (7pm) LINK [books] Texas Monthly BookGroup presents Will Clarke, author of The Worthy at BookPeople (7pm) LINK [film] Adam's Rib at Paramount Theatre...

Check this week's IST list to see when these artists will be performing. Miranda Sound [mp3] Close Calls [mp3] The Lull of Youngsters [mp3] Midas Black Heart Procession [mp3] Not Just Words Peel [mp3] Moxy Blues Buttercup [mp3] Hot Love [mp3] We're Easy [mp3] Anti-Antarctica Diplo [mp3] Gold Lion (remix) [mp3] Bloc Party's "Helicopter" (remix) [mp3] Staring At the Sun (remix) CSS [mp3] Lets Make Love and Listen to Death From Above The Theatre...