The double album Houston 2012 captures a two-day encounter in October 2012 between English tabletop guitarist Keith Rowe and the experimental-music community of Houston, Texas. Rowe’s visit came about thanks to the initiative of Saint Louis double bassist Damon Smith, who lived in Texas at the time. While there Smith developed a strong working relationship […]
Tag: Texas
Posted inMusic
Your Arms Are My Cocoon pulls off a strange combination of bedroom pop and screamo
Before Tyler Odom moved to Chicago this year, he had the wild idea to take bedroom pop’s fragile instrumentation and whispered vocals and mash them together with screamo’s bleating hollers and grenades of frisson. On his recent self-titled solo debut as Your Arms Are My Cocoon, Odom fuses those incongruous styles with pluck, charm, and […]
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Exhalants transplant the sounds of New York and Chicago into their muscular Austin noise-rock
On their self-titled debut full-length in 2018, Austin’s Exhalants sounded oddly like a Chicago band. Austin noise-rock has a very specific feel: whether we’re talking about the unhinged no wave of the Butthole Surfers, the loose-limbed pummeling of Cherubs, or the deadpan country-fried twang of Spray Paint, it always feels more slippery and acid-laced than […]
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Willie Nelson offers end-of-the-road life lessons on First Rose of Spring
Melancholy shoots right out of the gate on Willie Nelson’s new full-length, First Rose of Spring. The album opens with its title track, a sweet but ultimately tragic love song by a trio of stalwart Nashville songwriters: Allen Shamblin (Bonnie Raitt), Marc Beeson (LeAnn Rimes, Blake Shelton), and Randy Houser (who hit number two on […]
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Nicole Mitchell and Lisa E. Harris explore soulful Afrofuturist visions on EarthSeed
A friend in Houston recently described multidisciplinary artist and space goddess Lisa E. Harris as a “force of nature” in the Texas scene and beyond. Upon investigation, I had to concur. Harris channels the Afrofuturism of Sun Ra, the transcendent devotionals of Alice Coltrane, and the deep-listening experiments of Pauline Oliveros—all while maintaining her own […]
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Khruangbin make sophisticated sounds from far-flung places on their dynamic third album
If you’ve ever wondered what Motown would sound like if it had been born not in Detroit but on the streets of Karachi or Kingston or in the surf dens of late-60s southern California, you might like Houston collective Khruangbin. On their new third album, Mordechai, bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer […]
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Texan interdisciplinary artist and guitarist Sandy Ewen releases her first solo LP
Sandy Ewen’s music is a constant series of negotiations. She’s constantly seeing what new sounds she can get out of her guitar, using found objects such as steel-wool scrubbing pads, dowels, bolts, cat-grooming brushes, and lengths of chalk. She’s also an inveterate collaborator who relishes chances to test her compatibility with new acquaintances or to […]
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Black Pumas create the music of true soul mates
Update: To help slow the spread of COVID-19, these shows have been postponed until August 27 and 28. Tickets already purchased will be honored at that time. Contact point of purchase for refund or exchange information. Black Pumas are an electrifying six-piece neosoul band led by Adrian Quesada and Eric Burton—a musical partnership made in […]
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Nonpareil improvising guitarist Sandy Ewen returns to Chicago
Ever since guitarist Sandy Ewen moved from Texas to New York City in 2017, she’s been a prolific performer, both at conventional venues (Bushwick Public House, Downtown Music Gallery) and at house shows. Sometimes she’ll gig more than once a day, improvising with the likes of Stephen Gauci, Daniel Carter, Maria Chavez, and Michael Vatcher. […]
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Houston rapper Maxo Kream excavates his past for one of 2019’s best hip-hop releases
Few rappers sound as comfortable with introspection as Houston’s Emekwanem Ogugua Biosah Jr., aka Maxo Kream. Even the title of his recent second album, Brandon Banks (RCA/Big Persona/88 Classic), references his troubled past: his father, Emekwanem Ogugua Biosah Sr., ran scams under that name and spent much of Maxo’s childhood serving time on fraud charges. […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Women are the most powerful political force in America right now,’ Cecile Richards says
The Planned Parenthood leader will be in town this weekend to talk with David Axelrod about her memoir Make Trouble.
Posted inBlogs
This week on FilmStruck: Deep in the heart of Texas
FilmStruck finds more than western films deep in the heart of Texas.
Posted inBlogs
Up yours! A satanic Kermit takes over a good Lutheran kid in Victory Gardens’ Hand to God
Alex Weisman is masterfully schizoid in a dark comedy written by Robert Askins and directed by Gary Griffin.
Posted inBlogs
A brand-new ripper from OBN IIIs, who play a CIMMfest show on Saturday
OBN IIIs wear their love of Thin Lizzy on their sleeves on the new “Rich Old White Men.”
