AltWeeklies Wire
Cake: Showroom of Compassionnew
Grunge may be dead, but Cake is still alive, serving up their first album of originals since 2004’s Pressure Chief.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
01-14-2011 |
Reviews
Tags: Cake
Aether's 'Artifacts'new
San Antonio hip-hop producer Diego Chavez’s first solo outing creates a MacBook-powered soundscape that falls quietly between Handsome Boy Modeling School (minus humor) and Brian Eno (minus sleepiness).
San Antonio Current |
Matt Ramos |
02-04-2009 |
Reviews
Nina Simone Box Set Reveals Struggles of Strong Female Musiciansnew
To Be Free begs to be read like musical literature, telling the tale of a woman who built a sturdy foundation for strong female artists everywhere and makes the listener ask when the rest of the building is supposed to go up.
San Antonio Current |
Abbie Kopf |
10-01-2008 |
Reviews
Why Didn't Ben Folds Release an EP Instead?new
If Ben Folds' third solo disc had been pared down from 12 tracks to say, six or seven, Way to Normal might have ranked among the top releases of the fall season.
San Antonio Current |
Clint Hale |
10-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ben Folds, Way to Normal
Ani DiFranco Infuses 'Red Letter Year' with Jazznew
Deep, layered arrangements of jazz-infused rhythms have replaced her trademark staccato, fierce-fingerpicking concoctions.
San Antonio Current |
Jessica Ramos |
10-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ani DiFranco, Red Letter Year
TV on the Radio Want to Sex You Upnew
If Death Cab For Cutie wants to possess your heart, then TV On The Radio wants to possess your phone number.
San Antonio Current |
Chuck Kerr |
10-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: TV on the Radio, Dear Science
For Jenny Lewis, It's All About the Castingnew
When the former child star plays Lucinda Williams, Blue period Joni Mitchell, or even Stevie Nicks-led Fleetwood Mac, she nails the role, but when she's cast against type, the results aren't so hot.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
09-24-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue
Kings of Leon Find Inspiration in Americananew
With songs conjuring trips along dusty back roads or, at the very least, a night chalking up pool cues, Only by the Night doesn’t veer far from the southern-fried rock Kings listeners have come to expect.
San Antonio Current |
Cynthia Hawkins |
09-24-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Kings of Leon, Only by the Night
Calexico Favors Mariachi-meets-folk Groove on 'Carried to Dust'new
While Calexico's previous studio release -- 2006's Garden Ruin -- was an attempt to break into the mainstream, Carried to Dust sheds such polish
San Antonio Current |
Clint Hale |
09-10-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Calexico, Carried to Dust
Don't Call Okkervil River's 'The Stand Ins' a Sequelnew
It's really a collection of deleted and extended scenes, scrapped when frontman Will Sheff, fearing overkill, nixed releasing Stage Names as a double album.
San Antonio Current |
Chuck Kerr |
09-10-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
Examining Re-issued Soul From James and Otisnew
I Got the Feelin': James Brown in the 60s gathers three DVDs of live footage from 1968 and is anchored by a documentary about his historic Boston show on the day after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination -- a concert many credit with helping to keep nationwide riots from taking hold there.
San Antonio Current |
John DeFore |
09-10-2008 |
Reviews
The Walkmen Perfect Their Own Stripped-down Post-bender-rocknew
The bare-bones drone that defined previous albums’ least accessible tracks still forms the basis for many of the songs on their latest release, but the edges have been smoothed with a warm and fuzzy vintage sound.
San Antonio Current |
Jeremy Martin |
08-20-2008 |
Reviews
Sam Phillips Strips Down for 'Don't Do Anything'new
As on all of her best work, Phillips is humble and open-hearted, invitingly tuneful but unsparing in her assessment of the emotional wreckage she sees.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
08-13-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Sam Phillips, Don't Do Anything
The Jacksons' 'Destiny' Reissues Foreshadows the Rise and Fall of Michaelnew
After an awkward stretch which saw them leave Motown, split with brother Jermaine, and languish in bad-song hell, Destiny found them taking over the production reins, writing their own material, and re-establishing themselves as the first family of bubblegum soul.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
07-23-2008 |
Reviews
Jay Reatard: Wonderfully Messynew
When you get past Reatard's productivity (17 original tracks over a two-year period), you notice how seamlessly these disparate singles flow together, as if one song picks up a thought he left unfinished three months earlier.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
07-16-2008 |
Reviews
