AltWeeklies Wire
Cartographers Get By With a Little Help from Their Friendsnew
The lyrics for every Cartographers song, personal or poetic as they sound, begin as "placeholders," Jackson Albracht says, strung together to chain all those chord changes into songs, coherent musically if not always lyrically.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
07-29-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Cartographers, San Antonio
Industrial Stalwarts VNV Nation Haven't Changednew
Based on a cursory glance at the imagery on VNV Nation's new album, you could easily dismiss Ronan Harris and Mark Jackson as yet another cold, industrial-rock band lacking any sense of connection to its fans. Harris would beg to differ.
San Antonio Current |
Norm Narvaja |
07-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Apple Miner Colony Is Out to Make 'Awesome Shit' Happennew
While Polyphonic Spree's robed chanting kicks into Valium overdose mode sometime during mic check, 23-member Apple Miner Colony's songs proceed like an orgy you have to sit through an awkward blind date to be invited to, and the emotional payoff is greater because of it.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
05-20-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: indie rock, Apple Miner Colony
Detroit Rap's Fastest-Rising Star Creates Her Sonic Calling Card from Activism and Dissentnew
Invincible is one of the best emcees in the country, as many will tell you, gender notwithstanding, though the odds are stacked against her. Politicking in a pop world often spells fiscal failure.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Smith |
04-22-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Argentina's Los Fabulosos Cadillacs Release Their First Studio Album in 10 Yearsnew
In the modern history of Latin alternative music, no other band has been more successful and influential in mixing different rock streams with Afro-indigenous rhythms than the Argentine now-six-piece combo.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
04-01-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
El Moz: The Mexican Morrisseynew
Thanks to his ability to soothe an immigrant’s heart without even trying, in the world of rock no one is more Mexican than Morrissey.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
03-04-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Boston's Dropkick Murphys Find Success in 'The Meanest of Times'new
As Elvis is to Memphis and the Beatles are to Liverpool, the Dropkick Murphys are to Boston, Massachusetts. Need proof? Check out The Departed.
San Antonio Current |
Johnston Farrow |
11-13-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
James McMurtry Taps into a Collective Angernew
Singer/songwriter McMurtry had toiled for 15 years, releasing bluesy country-rock albums and playing shows, and was getting discouraged. In advance of the 2004 election, he released the powerful, "We Can't Make It Here Anymore," as a free download on his site, and it launched him into greater prominence.
San Antonio Current |
Chris Parker |
10-01-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
South Texas Destroyers Combine Diverse Backgrounds for Kick-ass Debutnew
South Texas Destroyers' beginnings come straight from the When Harry Met Sally handbook.
San Antonio Current |
Clint Hale |
09-17-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Chicago's Dianogah Returns With a New Sound and a Hard-to-pronounce Albumnew
Who can retreat for six years, shake off the residue from abrupt turnabouts and false starts, and return polished?
San Antonio Current |
Francesca Camillo |
09-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Owen Duggan Aspires to More Than Good-natured Kiddie Popnew
I haven't even met Duggan yet, and already my conscience has gotten the best of me. The man is a music minister at a local church, an accomplished children's musician, a devoted family man, and I've invited him to where else but the booze-filled, smoke-tinged dregs of happy hour in the Alamo City.
San Antonio Current |
Clint Hale |
09-03-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Gary Allan's Music Evolves an Emotional Edgenew
Last year's Living Hard followed, highlighted by the hit "Watching Airplanes," in which Allan lays on his car hood at the runway's edge, watching the lights go overhead, knowing his baby's gone, 30,000 miles above, and a million miles away.
San Antonio Current |
Chris Parker |
08-13-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Offbeats Finally Found a Producer They're Happy With--Themselvesnew
The Offbeats have released several EPs over the years, recorded and produced by friends and professionals, but lead singer and second guitarist Bryan Foster says the band continually left the studio disappointed in the final product.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
08-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: The Offbeats
Bubba Hernandez Finds Life After Brave Combonew
Two decades of Brave Combo beat deconstruction--turning "Satisfaction" into a cha-cha or "Stairway to Heaven" into a swing tune (with Tiny Tim on lead vocals, no less)--provided Hernandez with an invaluable musical education, but it also made him hungry for a chance to explore his own ideas.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
08-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
What Laura Says Brings Together Baroque Pop and Rustic Folknew
What Laura Says is really the product of two different bands -- an offbeat pop duo called What Laura Says Thinks and Feels, and a dirty blues trio, called the Expatriates.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
07-30-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
