Maybe it’s overly typical to remember a year glowingly in year-end review material. Still, I’ll say it without devolving into broad fawning: I really enjoyed the music of 2021. Picking my 10 favorite albums of[…]
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Category: music opinion
On Jackie Venson’s all-Black Blues on the Screen, and Blackillac’s music of the moment
(Photo by Nicole Berlin Photography) Blackillac released a blistering tribute to being Black in 2020. Jackie Venson, the always-smiling queen of guitar, put that trademark joy on the shelf and took a principled stand. And now,[…]
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Local album reviews while social distancing: Pure X self-titled, Pike & Sutton – Heart is a Compass
So much is unfolding socially this week that’s bigger than music, although it will inevitably become inspiration for music in short order. I believe that soon, commentary on the issues and unrest of this turbulent[…]
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An ominous Shady shoe
I’d be disingenuous if I wrote about Shady Grove as though I’m an Austin long-timer, or as if I made Unplugged at the Grove a personal weekly ritual each summer. In fact, now I’m cursing my[…]
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Spread the donations, not the COVID; and the Austin Music Awards, aka my last congregation (for awhile)
It’s March 22, 2020 as I finish this latest entry in this disease-free (as far as science knows) digital space. Seems important to note the date, because COVID-19 news is so fluid that even if you[…]
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The HI-35: Ear Traffic’s top tracks of 2019
Took me a little while to finalize Ear Traffic ATX’s HI-35 for 2019. I’ll offer no extensive year-summing preamble for my annual ranking of the year’s best tracks (as opposed to my previous ranking of my favorite[…]
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