AltWeeklies Wire
Jamie Lidell Lightly Touches His Soulnew
Betraying his roots in U.K. dance music, Lidell applies a slick veneer to his love songs, which can make their seemingly natural swing feel a tinge antiseptic. But that's assuming any objective bystander won’t be too busy tapping his foot to notice such an insignificant detail.
San Antonio Current |
Tim Grierson |
07-09-2008 |
Reviews
Dog Men Poets Swap Juvenile Lyrics for Something Bluenew
On the back cover of their new CD, Dog Men Poets list the artists who inspired each of the disc's 10 tracks. The roster, which runs from Stevie Wonder to George Clinton to Amy Winehouse to Robert Randolph, is pretty impeccable.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
07-09-2008 |
Reviews
Alejando Escovedo: The Forrest Gump of Musicnew
Whenever seminal events happened, he was usually in the vicinity.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
Coldplay Takes a Stab at Respectabilitynew
Despite some genuinely winning moments, it just doesn't cut deep enough.
San Antonio Current |
Chuck Kerr |
06-18-2008 |
Reviews
The Sound of Autopilot is Weezer's 'Red Album'new
Weezer is bafflingly awful: Cuomo and his crew have made an album completely devoid of charm, wit, and originality.
San Antonio Current |
Chuck Kerr |
06-11-2008 |
Reviews
Leona Lewis is Like Whitney Houston for 2008new
On the plus side, she seems like a nice, self-effacing person who hasn't yet learned to browbeat her associates for handing her a lukewarm Red Bull. Her exotic features play well on VH1, but as a singer, she's strictly a cut-rate generic brand.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
05-07-2008 |
Reviews
Blowing Trees Goes Grandiosenew
They set the bar for themselves pretty high, and on their debut release for the New York-based Glassnote Records, they achieve their objective more often than not.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
04-30-2008 |
Reviews
R.E.M. Finds its Religionnew
The band has acknowledged (in interviews and with the record's title) a need to re-focus and adrenalize things after recent efforts that disappointed aesthetically, commercially, or both.
San Antonio Current |
John DeFore |
04-09-2008 |
Reviews
What Made Milwaukee Famous Branches Outnew
The result is a broad, expansive album that samples widely across the dozen tracks, opening up their perspective from their debut's gloomy, nascent (arguably stillborn) Radiohead-isms.
San Antonio Current |
Chris Parker |
03-19-2008 |
Reviews
The Raveonettes Charm Againnew
The Danish duo uses white noise and distortion with more aplomb than any group since the Jesus & Mary Chain, but there is always a girl-group naivete competing with the feedback.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
03-05-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Lust Lust Lust, The Raveonettes
Vampire Weekend Creates Afro-Pop for the Ivy Leaguenew
Despite its convoluted heritage (or maybe because of it -- hey, those are some good genes!), Vampire Weekend sounds remarkably fresh and fun instead of painfully derivative.
San Antonio Current |
Chuck Kerr |
02-20-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Vampire Weekend
Buttercup's Strong Finishnew
When Buttercup plotted their three-EPs-in-a-year crusade to bring extreme productivity back to music, The Head Sits Upside Down on the Top of the Head was conceived as the weird finale.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
02-13-2008 |
Reviews
Assassination Tangonew
Tango Around the World's complete liner notes (in English, Spanish, and French) score a three-pointer when they correctly state that Argentina has no monopoly on the roots of tango: Cuba and, especially, Uruguay deserve a good piece of the pie.
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
01-09-2008 |
Reviews
Pre-boxed Giftsnew
It's that time again -- time to hunt through record stores for something nice that the music lover on your list doesn't already own, whether it's unheard sounds or a novel collection of beloved ones. Thank you, box sets.
San Antonio Current |
John DeFore |
12-05-2007 |
Reviews
The Hives: 'We Kick Ass and You Don't'new
It's been said that the purpose of all art is to express the inexpressible; to convey something that can't be easily defined. If that's the case, then the music of the Hives may not be art.
San Antonio Current |
Gilbert Garcia |
12-05-2007 |
Reviews
