Album:
The Stand InsRecord Label:
Jagjaguwar
A companion piece to last year’s The Stage Names, The Stand Ins further represents the blossoming of Austin alt-rock heroes Okkervil River into an act with far greater breadth of scope and appeal. Okkervil’s lift from lo-fi to higher sonic and musical realms may not be the trendiest of moves, but Will Sheff’s poetic, conversational lyrics and fecund melodic sensibility rightly deserve the greater clarity and treatment they enjoy on this and the previous album.
At first pass, Sex & Gasoline sounds like the minor stumble Rodney Crowell was due for after putting out arguably the three best albums of his life: 2001’s The Houston Kid, 2003’s Fate’s Right Hand and 2005’s The Outsider.
The taller brother Robison’s latest may not bring anything new, per se, to the world of his musical vision, but his gift for creating something that feels both comfortably familiar yet somehow fresh is a talent not to be discounted. Like his hero Don Williams, Robison summons up dynamism from a generally laid-back approach, offering an album here that has the ambience of the back porch, albeit one with electrical outlets at the ready.
If you want one good reason to root for the Eli Young Band — or even just to understand their leap from regional up-and-comers to major-label openers for the Dave Matthews Band — skip past the first eight tunes on Jet Black & Jealous and dig right into the title track.
After their good-intentioned but unnecessary Under the Influence of Buck outing — honestly, hasn’t every Derailers album been a tribute in some way to Buck Owens?
Alejandro Escovedo has made a lot of exceptional albums in the 15 years since 1993’s Gravity, but never one quite as perfect from start to finish as that devastatingly beautiful solo debut. Until now. While 2006’s mostly meditative The Boxing Mirror marked the San Antonio-born songwriter’s welcome return after being sidelined by a harrowing battle with hepatitis C, Real Animal finds him blasting full bore through the most thrilling music of his life.
Any act foolhardy enough to name an album Bullet-proof is cruising for a critical bruising. And having never been fully on board the Reckless Kelly bandwagon — I remember the parts of 2005’s Wicked Twisted Road that I loathed more than the parts I liked — I approached the Austin band’s latest ready to shoot it full of holes.
With Let’s All Go To Bed, Austin’s Mother Truckers officially earn status as one of the best bands in Texas alt-country — heck, let’s just take out the Texas and call them what they are: one of the best bands on the Americana scene, period. “Dynamite,” the album’s first track, packs a wallop with Josh Zee’s almost shredder-like guitar attacks and Teal Collins’ equally confident vocals; it’s a hint of the explosive moments to come.
As its title suggests, Susan Gibson’s third solo album is a one-step-forward, two-steps-back affair, comprised mostly of re-recorded oldies from her salad days in the Groobees. Diehard fans may argue that the originals hardly needed updating, and side-by-side comparisons — especially with the seven tunes that first appeared on the late Amarillo band’s ultra-confident 2001 swansong, Buy 1, Get 11 Free — certainly do underscore what a special group the Groobees were.
In a city where talent runs like tap water, and a singer-songwriter can be found at every street corner, coffee shop, and hipster’s sofa, it’s hard to stand out. With Ostrich, Austin musician Brent Adair not only stands out, but shines. Adair’s second release is full of lush imagery, depicting life and love, restlessness and renewal, travel and settling down.
