Authors: Alexander Ortega
Local Reviews: Thunderfist
Since visiting my 8th-grade Career Day class 10 years ago, singer Jeremy Cardenas scream-sings just as viciously as in those initial Thunderfist recordings. But now, I’m more afraid he’ll beat me with an ugly stick, shrieking, “I’m all fucked up tonight!” in “Hit the Bottle Again.” With the addition of the prodigious Matt Miller, Thunderfist’s guitar dynamics are fleshed out in a kaleidoscopic way, balanced so that each guitar complements each other just enough, such as in the riffy “Back Down.” … read more
Local Review: Accidente
With an opening track eye-catchingly titled “Listen Bitch,” Accidente kick off their most recent endeavor with a chunky bass line as frontman Peter Mackowski emits sarcastic, guttural growls that build into a riffy number. … read more
Local Review: Worst Friends
Having recorded this album as a two-piece, (pre bassist Elliot Secrist), Mike Cundick and Jarom Bischoff exhibit their impeccable knack for creating rock songs that are both virtuosic and passionate without lapsing into cheesiness. Opener “Nah Dude” pulsates with a riff that sounds like it is finger-picked, oscillating betwixt the lower and higher strings, which moves in a consistent, choral way, which explodes into erratic strumming. … read more
Sandria Miller Photography @ Tin Angel
As light reflects off of the cheeks of smiling teenagers, a foot plants defiantly in front of the raging crowd. A tattooed snake slithers from the ankle of that foot, up a bare leg, while a black cord coils around a pelvis with short black gym shorts, down and around the calf of the opposite limb. This is Henry Rollins. Sandria Miller has immortalized this moment in a black and white photograph at the Tin Angel Cafe. … read more
Teen Daze, Beat Connection and White Arrows @ Kilby 07.18
Teen Daze evinces the same sort of tactile relationship with his equipment as does a guitar player as he fiddles with the knobs, a coy simper on his face. … read more
Culture Confidential @ The Rose Wagner, Leona Wagner Black Box...
Aaron Moulton took the limelight (as the most interesting panelist of the evening, in my estimation). Moulton made “An Art Newspaper” called The Naughties that features deliberately stolen art, reframing them as pictures and advertisements to accompany fictional news stories. Moulton blocked most of his contributors’ names to evince a relinquishment of ownership, only allowing people for whom he has the utmost respect to have their name filter through, which I found somewhat hypocritical. Moulton said that he aims for this magazine to be The Onion of the unregulated art world. Moulton was amusingly indignant throughout the discussion, and seemed to be audience critics’ favorite target in a playful way. … read more
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Andrew Jackson Jihad with Future of the Left, Jeff Rosenstock...
The torrents of snow last Friday, Nov. 9, didn’t make an exception for Kilby Court that evening, but that just gave the merch tables for Andrew Jackson Jihad and Jeff Rosenstock more pre-show traffic (Future of the Left was running late on account of the weather). … read more
Arrivals/Departures @ the Rio Gallery 01.18
Friday, Jan. 18, the Rio Grande hosted the opening of loveDANCEmore’s Arrivals/Departures before an audience who was free to migrate from piece to piece at their leisure, whether it be videos of dancers that play on hanging screens or live dance works that the dancers repeated over and over from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. … read more
SXSW 2013: The Geeks @ The Elysium K-Pop Night Out...
I entered The Elysium at dusk. The bar was dark and had great black-lighting. Although the crowd let me down, I was able to look past them and sense the genuineness that The Geeks offer, who got me pumped for the rest of my night. … read more
SXSW 2013: Assacre @ The Metal & Lace Lounge 03.12
Assacre was a motherfucking komodo dragon. As I entered the Metal & Lace venue, he paced to the entrance and looked me square in the eye through goggles and a black shawl-mask. He held his performance across the whole bar rather than the stage, and knelt down to execute thrash-y riffs reminiscent of Slayer. … read more