Well before the announcement that Billie Eilish’s next record would be titled Hit Me Hard and Soft, the phrase “heavy hitters” had been on my mind this entire year when it comes to a category[…]
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Category: album review
Album review: Tearjerk, Face to Face (EP)
Perhaps knowing that Vanessa Jollay is part of Sailor Poon, and seeing this project branded under the forceful, punk-ish sounding name Tearjerk, you might expect Face to Face to offer something along the lines of[…]
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Album review: Van Mary (self-titled EP)
Little by little, one or two choice tracks at a time, Van Mary has seemingly climbed toward the top tier of Austin rock. If quantity is less of a relevant criterion than quality, then perhaps they’ve officially arrived[…]
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Album review: A. Sinclair, South Padre
The last 30 seconds or so of “Lean Into It,” the opening offering on A. Sinclair’s new album, are an awakening, gravel-coated cannon shot of noise-rock tacked onto a standard-issue, slow-burn acoustic tune. It emerges[…]
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Album review: Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa
Britt Daniel is 50 now, about to be 51 pretty soon. And it’s hard not to look at that age, for an indie rock legend/general rock should-be-legend, and wonder how much he and his otherworldly[…]
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Album review: James McMurtry, The Horses and the Hounds
At age 59, James McMurtry still has the fire. The Austin Americana-rock institution still has the voice full of command, pessimism, jaundice and sometimes disgust. His pen comes reliably loaded with stories, observations, and mitigated[…]
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