Bestowed with characters at their respective nadirs, “Expectations” from Texas singer/songwriter AJ LeGrand is a lesson in hard truth. All relations of the sage narrator, “Expectations” is a wispy shake of the family tree. A musical kin to the pre-Oscars…
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There is a restless energy that reverberates throughout Disintegrator, the third solo album from Denton, Texas singer/songwriter Daniel Markham. Shrouded in a diaphanous casing, the songs on Disintegrator exist in the blackened outskirts of town, their solemn narrators — voicing…
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No matter how much studio gloss Bawcomville slathers over its dismissive new single “Aluminum Hands,” the Dallas band’s punk roots show through. With apathetic melodies and skronking guitars, “Aluminum Hands” is paired with cerebral b-side “Dissolve” and its warbling synths…
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Harkening back to the last vestiges of college rock before the fringe became the short-lived mainstream, Dallas, Texas five-piece Missing Sibling embody rock and roll without the frills. “Mary’s Rashers,” the first single from the band’s forthcoming debut LP, is…
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A musical generation or two removed from Aimee Mann and Natalie Merchant, Vanessa Peters has one element neither artist can claim: a prolific streak. An independent artist with multiple releases credited to her name in the last decade, as well…
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Like the mythic phoenix, Cross Record returns with “High Rise,” the first video from the duo of Emily Cross and husband Dan Duszynski’s forthcoming sophomore album, Wabi-Sabi. Cross’s undertone repeats the title mantra over sparse guitar and crashing drums that…
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Returning with their 12th under-the-radar release of irreverent truth, the political father/son band Refried Ice Cream has delivered Cosmic Comic Book. A jazzy cacophony of Miles Davis, Tom Waits and Southern Culture on the Skids with a Texas drawl, “Solar Plane” cuts through…
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Truth in advertising comes courtesy of Welcome to Hard Times, the new double album from The Demigs. A bleak questioning of existence on Earth that was “spurned from the wreckage of a war and a hurricane”, Welcome to Hard Times…
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Plain to see we are all damned For what we’ve come to be Paid to sell others’ own hell Victims all are we A thief of hearts is on the lam in New Orleans in the Kubrick-esque video for “Criminal”…
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Singer/songwriter Christy Hays shows her roots on her brief but beautiful new EP, O’ Montana. The midwest-born Hays, who now calls Austin, Texas home, traverses the miles between the two, culling musical rhythms along the way. From the zydeco-tinged opener…
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A reluctant soul, Daniel Markham spends the bulk of time recusing himself from society and relationships on his latest opus, Pretty Bitchin’. Forever juggling his penchant for doom rock with the more polished sound of mid-’90s alternative pop, Markham channeled…
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A busy soul during the recent South By Southwest Music Festival in her native Austin, Jess Williamson took time for a free beer or two by performing for BTR Live Studio. Having set up a backyard performance space stocked with…
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