By Jason Cohen
Top Music Events - Mid May
"Six Ways to Sunday," the second album by this Austin foursome, is out this week on Mercury Records, and in this age of radio-ready, cookie-cutter alterna-bands, it's a blistering burst of freshness. Onstage "P-Wolf" mostly kicks out the jams with punk rock energy and muscular guitar blasts, but "Six Ways to Sunday" is a more varied affair, equally suffused with hook-happy anthems, queasy Texas twang and a good-natured sense of ominousness.
2. Sincola
New release #2 in this big week for Austin bands is "Crash Landing in Teen Heaven," the second Caroline recording from the manic-impressive band of outsiders known as Sincola. The successor to "What the Nothinghead Said" offers up the group's usual blend of prickly guitar lines, pogo-inducing rhythm work and entrancing lyrical psychodramas, pulled together in a sweet, sinewy structure of weirdly unforgettable pop songs. And it's all sealed with a kiss--or maybe a blood-drawing bite on the lip--from vocalist Rebecca Cannon, who is simultaneously neurotic and erotic, innocent and murderous, playful and plaintive.
3. Our (presumably) final Butthole Surfers item of the spring
With "Electric Larryland" finally in the stores, the Buttholes have tapped a bass player to replace Jeff Pinkus (who quit after the last tour) and Andrew Weiss (who filled in on parts of the new disc). He is Owen McMahon of the Cherubs, a band that made its records for the Trance Syndicate label--which would suggest that he and his rhythm section battery-mate, label boss King Coffey, already have a certain rapport. As for "Electric Larryland," it's got some not-to-be-missed booklet art (cartoon-horrific cover, gross interior photographs) as well as 13 fine examples of all things Butthole, including a semi-naughty hip-hop nursery rhyme (the first single, "Pepper") as well as old-fashioned punk rock, heavy metal thunder and jingle-jangle country songs.
There's always more Buttholes news, like the fact that Erik Estrada is featured in the band's video for "Pepper." He plays a kidnap victim. The band plays the kidnappers. The video should air on MTV in the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime, the Butts' MTV commercials for their "Electric Larryland" record are more entertaining than most of the clips (though that's always been the case with MTV's in-house ads too). The band will be back on the road this summer, with a kick-off gig in Austin June 13. According toCapitol Records, the opening bands will beReverend Horton Heat and theToadies, with a fourth band to be added soon, but at the moment, the Austin gig is scheduled to feature theSupersuckers and Reverend Horton Heat, so stay tuned...
4. The Hunger
No, not the movie, but the Houston industrial-dancerock band. Said outfit, which is led by two vocalist/keyboardists, brothers Jeff and Thomas Wilson, come on all strong and flashy, as if grunge never happened. The band has just made the switch to big-time Universal Records (part of the MCA empire) after two successful independent releases. Produced by the group's guitarist, Steven Bogle, record #3 is "Devil Thumbs A Ride," and its bubbly, retro-futurist sound--cheesy new wave keyboards and drumbeats, vocals that go from a monotone to a scream, metallic six-string wanking that seems to come out of nowhere--just might thumb its way onto MTV and radio soon. Perfect for fans who think Nine Inch Nails is just a little too noisy or depressing.
5. Soak
Following in the footsteps of theNixons andDeep Blue Something, this band has hooked up with manager andRainmaker Records head Paul Nugent, who was interested in signing them. He did, but it was a much bigger deal than either Nugent or Soak originally imagined. Instead of releasing an independent record on Rainmaker, Soak have latched right onto Interscope, the sometimes controversial MCA-imprint that is also home to those Deep Blue people (even they did an indie release first, and look what happened to them!). Soak's Interscope debut may be out as early as September.
6. Austin Guitar Hero Makes Good
Craig Ross was originally one half of Storyville with vocalist Malford Milligan; he's also played instrumental whiz for countless other Austin artists. But now Ross has struck out on his own--completely, as it happens, by making the most solo of solo records. Ross plays all the instruments on "Dead Spy Report," and he did most of the recording in his home. What's more, he too has set up a shingle in the MCA neighborhood, though his deal is with MCA proper. The record is due out in June.
Frank Orrall and his cohorts have long since relocated from Austin to Chicago, and when you live in the big city, funny things happen. For example, you might find yourself hanging out in dance clubs, and grooving on the sonic tapestry of fast beats, scrambled noises and urban jungle rhythms. That might explain Poi Dog's brand new release "Electrique Plummagram." It's what they used to call a disco record, as Orral finds himself collaborating with various Chicago house and techno bigwigs for four brand new tracks as well as three remixes from the recent "Pomegranate" album.
Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys is featured in this brand new film, which pits blaxploitation pioneers Foxy Brown (Pam Grier), Super Fly (Ron O'Neal), B.J. Hammer (Fred Williamson) and Slaughter (Jim Brown) against modern day urban youth.
9. Ed Hall
One of Austin's longest-running, least predictable bands has packed it in. Over its five album, eight year career the band recorded for a national independent label (Boner), did seminal work with producer Brian Beattie (of Glass Eye) and then brought it all home by serving as elder statesmen in the Trance Syndicate line-up. The band will make one more record and stick together until August, when it will play its final show. One reason the group is breaking up is because bassist Larry Strub is moving to Thailand; after that, drummer Lyman Hardy decided to rejoin 16 Deluxe, making him that band's first and fourth timekeeper.
10. Hoosegow
is the latest project from New York City avant-garde figure Elliott Sharp. Hoosegow is an excursion into the semi-acoustic vocal blues, and the vocals are provided by one Queen Esther, a performance artist who was formerly a denizen of the Austin theatre scene. She's also a UT dropout--and isn't it always the case that the University's finest artistic alumni are usually the ones who didn't get their degree? Hoosegow's first record, "Might," is out now on Homestead Records.
11. Dale Watson
First there was Don Walser and Junior Brown, and now there's Watson, a pompadoured Austin honky-tonker whose second album is "Blessed or Damned" (Hightone Records). The 13 track disc has just hit the stores, and it looks like it will make Watson the next hard-hitting, anywhere-but-Nashville country artist to take his sound from Texas to the rest of the world.
12. Flaco Jimenez
"Buena Suerte, Senorita" is the new release from the undisputed king (or, at the very least, the best-known public face) of conjunto music. Flaco's secondArista/Texas effort is out May 21st, and features guest appearances from C&W mavericksLee Roy Parnell, Raul Malo (of theMavericks) andRadney Foster. Jimenez's self-titled Arista/Texas debut won the 1996 Grammy for "Best Mexican-American Performance."
The vocalist laureate of Lubbock soul has wrapped up his third album forElektra Records, "Braver New World." It was produced by T-Bone Burnett, and features the crack studio rhythm section of Jim Keltner and Jerry Scheff, along with guitarists Tony Gilkyson (formerly of X) and Stephen Bruton. Gilmore wrote or co-wrote six of the tracks; the record is rounded out with two A.B. Strehli compositions, one byJoe Ely, a traditional Blind Lemon Jefferson blues adaptation and a tune by singer-songwriter (and Mrs. T-Bone Burnett)Sam Phillips. The record is due out in June.
14. Get thee to the used record store
If you're a Kelly Willis fan. The Austin country princess has a new four-song EP out, but it's only available as a promotional item, which means scouring the racks for stray copies and radio cast-offs. The EP features Willis's track from the "Boys" soundtrack (a movie that did not open in Austin, though local actors Lukas Haas and Wiley Wiggins are the two stars opposite Winona Ryder) with the members of Son Volt. TheSon Volt gang teams with her for two other tracks - "What World Are You Living In?" by Willis andJayhawks/Golden Smog guitarist Gary Louris (who also appears on the recording) and "He Don't Care About Me" by Austinite Bruce Robison. The final track, "Aren't I True," teams Willis with the Colorado roots-rock band16 Horsepower, who just happen to be her A&M labelmates.
15. Willie Nelson
With all this other fine Texas country activity going on, it is of course time for another effort from the genre's current reigning forebear. The red-headed stranger has struck a deal withIsland Records and made "Spirit," a plaintive, song-strong effort that harkens back to Nelson's finest mid-'70s work. What's more, Willie already has his next move figured out--he's working on a reggae record with producer Don Was, a decision that was made well before he signed with Island, a label that is best known for its rasta sounds (and for Bob Marley, specifically). Incredibly, Nelson is the first country artist Island has ever worked with.
16. Billy Joe Shaver
Justice Records may have lost Willie, but they've gained another great cowboy rocker by signing Shaver, who previously recorded for Zoo. A new record is expected in July.
17. Eric Johnson
The Austin guitar hero is on the cover of the May issue of "Guitar Player," where he gives a sprawling interview about the playing and recording process. Said process, by the way, has finally come to a close for Johnson--supposedly, he will release his first record in five years, "Travel One Hope," onCapitol Records in August.
And speaking of the Right Rev., the amped-up Dallas bluesabilly trio has their own new release to flog across America this summer. "Rev. 1," the band's second album for Interscope Records, hits the stores in June.
19. Kris McKay
The former Wild Seed and Austin rock diva will release her new record, "Things That Show" on June 15. In the meantime, fans all over Austin are clamoring for her to reunite the "Too Many Girls" amalgam -- McKay, Sara Hickman, Kelly Willis, Abra Moore, and Barbara K -- that appeared at the Austin Music Awards.
