Is Piñata Protest Ready for Bigger Things?
“It might get a bit loud,” Álvaro del Norte tells me, as I proceed to sit in the middle of Piñata Protest’s 8 x 10 rehearsal space at a secret...
| 5/22/2013
A Punk Rebel's Defense of the Pit Bull
Christine Rebel always liked dogs, but her love of pit bulls became an obsession after she met Farrah Fawcett. Not the Charlie’s Angel, but Rebel’s...
| 5/8/2013
Savages: 'Silence Yourself'
The dark songs come at you like a bulldozer and embrace you like a black octopus. Singer Jehnny Beth is a Patti Smith-meets-P.J. Harvey wailer...
| 5/7/2013
Lucas Jack: 'Sun City'
Chicago piano man Lucas Jack recently moved to San Antonio, and we can thank him for that. More Billy than Elton, he shares with both a penchant for...
| 5/8/2013
La Santa Cecilia: '30 Días'
If you’re going to put out an EP, make sure it’s as good as La Santa Cecilia’s latest. Eight freaking singles, each one stronger than the next, by the...
| 4/24/2013
Metric in SA: Emily Speaks
“I really want our art guy to win,” Metric singer-keyboardist-songwriter Emily Haines told the Current on April 16 from the Honolulu airport on her way...
| 4/24/2013
Metric at The Pearl Stable
Metric is a great band not just because of how they sound, but how they think. The Canadian band has been racking up their country’s Juno Awards...
| 4/24/2013
Julieta Venegas: 'Los momentos'
Julieta Venegas is back! Not that she had gone anywhere, but this is her darkest, most daring record since 2000’s bueninvento, her last before she became an...
| 4/9/2013
Todd Rundgren: 'State'
In spite of a long, significant career, Todd Rundgren’s greatest hit has been his talent as a producer (an eclectic and influential list that includes names...
| 4/9/2013
'Evil Dead'
Is 'Evil Dead' the bloodiest R-rated movie ever made?
| 4/10/2013
Is 'Evil Dead' the bloodiest R-rated movie ever?
How Evil Dead, the “reinvention” (as Uruguayan first-time director Fede Álvarez likes to call it) of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult classic The Evil...
| 4/4/2013
Blackbird Sing: 'Enemies From Years of Loving'
The recording took about 10 days in 2012 (plus a few weekends for last touches), but the actual release took forever. Nevertheless, Blackbird Sing’s debut LP...
| 4/3/2013
Sexto Sol plays with the old Chicano soul masters
There used to be a time when the young looked up to the old. Dylan looked up to Guthrie, ’70s rockers went back to the ’60s, and classic rock stations...
| 3/27/2013
Nick Shan: 'Music Therapy Vol. 1'
Even at its weakest (the first four tracks, filled with chorus-less songs or tracks that are nothing but aimless choruses)...
| 3/27/2013
Los Rakas bring the Great Panama Bacchanal to SA
Panama is a wonderfully weird place. For starters, it is simultaneously equal parts the U.S. (by way of history and the Panama Canal), Central...
| 3/13/2013
A guide to SXSW Film 2013
Even if you don't have $650 to buy a film badge (which would allow you to enjoy nine days of movies and five days of panels and Q & A sessions)...
| 3/6/2013
The Copper Gamins: 'Los niños de cobre'
The first full-length by Mexican (and honorary San Antonian) duo The Copper Gamins has more of what they showed in their acclaimed 2012 EP: a dark, analogue...
| 2/27/2013
Unmasking CineFestival 35
Filmmaker Jim Mendiola's decision to move back to San Antonio after years in Los Angeles is not only good for CineFestival...
| 2/20/2013
Illya Kuryaki & The Valderramas: 'Chances'
IKV's first full-length since 2001 is a return to form for the Argentine funk/rap/rock duo that reunited in 2009. Meaning: it contains their usual...
| 12/12/2012
Emerson, Lake & Palmer: 'Live in California'
ELP's April 6, 1974 appearance at the Ontario Motor Speedway's California Jam was a highlight for a band already accustomed to routine arena sell outs.
| 12/12/2012
Chico Ocaña: 'Canciones de mesa camilla'
In his first solo album, the ferocious singer of the disbanded Mártires del Compás (the coolest, edgiest alternative flamenco band ever)...
| 12/5/2012
How The Heroine became SA's next big thing
The Kid was livid. Two days after the San Antonio Scorpions were eliminated from the North American Soccer League's semifinals by the Minnesota Stars...
| 11/20/2012
The Heroine according to themselves
Lynnwood Presley King (vocals) "He makes the show," The Kid says. "We write our music and then he comes back and puts his spin on it. Without his...
| 11/20/2012
AG: 'The Beatles' (EP)
After her publishing company ended up with the rights to the only six songs not owned by Sony, singer-songwriter AG (Adrianne González, from LA band...
| 11/14/2012
Tony Bennett: 'Viva Duets'
This album is tolerable only because the playing is top notch and the 86-year-old Bennett's vocals are intact. Too bad the usually infallible...
| 10/31/2012
The complete 'All in the Family' is out on DVD
All you need to know about All in the Family is in its first episode aired by CBS on January 12, 1971. That episode introduced an ultra-conservative Archie Bunker and his takes on...
| 10/31/2012
V/H/S
Despite meager box-office earnings, V/H/S brings big-time thrills at the theater
| 10/24/2012
Gary Clark Jr.: 'Blak and Blu'
Austin-based Gary Clark Jr.'s first major full-length album came preceded by a lot of hype. "Saviour of the Blues," "Gold Corndog" winner (given by Spin magazine for...
| 10/24/2012
Cafe Tacuba.: 'El objeto antes llamado disco'
Mexico's Café Tacuba (also known as "Tacvba") hasn't released a new album since 2007's Sino, but they came back with a vengeance. Reuniting with Oscar- and...
| 10/24/2012
Riff House celebrates three years of intimate concerts
If you've never been to the Riff House Concerts, this is a great time to discover it: Little Brave (Stephanie Macías, guitar, vocals, and keyboards, my favorite...
"Ri
| 10/24/2012
The original (and best) 'Halloween' returns
Thirty-four years after its release, John Carpenter's original Halloween remains the best in the Michael Myers series. By today's standards...
| 10/24/2012
'V/H/S', the scariest film only a few have seen
V/H/S opened on October 5 in only 16 theaters nationwide, earning a pale $36,402 so far. As of this writing, there’s no information on whether the movie will...
| 10/17/2012
Hiroshima headlining SAGE Music Fest (we hope)
As I'm writing this, local hip-hop duo Mojoe is listed as one of the performers in the SAGE Music Festival, which benefits San Antonio for Growth on...
| 10/17/2012
Gary Clark Jr., the hottest bluesman alive
Just like when he's on the stage, 28-year-old Gary Clark Jr. doesn’t talk much on the phone. It's as if he’d rather be playing or...
| 10/7/2012
Mrs. Howl thanks fans after a year in SA
Mrs. Howl is having the time of their lives. Who can blame them? In a little more than a year, the Dallas transplant (Laurel Dagger on guitar, Chelsea Dagger on vocals...
| 10/3/2012
Langton Drive, a love story
It was love at first sight. Newcomer Langton Drive hooked me from their very first shows. They're supposed to be a punk band, but they always made me feel...
| 10/3/2012
Want to see The Heroine for free? Here's how
If you think the ticket price for Sunday's Kiss Fall Fest at Sunken Gardens is a little steep, you're not alone. But there is something you can do if you and...
| 10/3/2012
90 days of music: Fall CD Releases
SEPTEMBER 25: Mumford and Sons, No Doubt, Deadmau5, Chris James, Cypress Hill, and a collaboration between Yoko Ono and Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and...
| 9/26/2012
Little Brave: 'Wild' EP
"I want to be a bitch/ I want to live with all my heart/ I want to finish all I started/ then rip it all apart," sings Little Brave (Stephanie Briggs) in...
| 9/26/2012
Three recommended films confirmed for San Antonio
October 5: Chicken with Plums. An imported delicacy that, though marinated in weltschmerz, manages to be more savory than cloying. From Marjane Satrapi and...
| 9/26/2012
Movies that will (or should) come to SA this fall
Typically, the movies opening in San Antonio have already opened elsewhere first, thanks to that strange studio policy that mistakes our fair city...
| 9/26/2012
A 'bigger-than-ever' Melody Fest comes to AT&T Center
It doesn't get any harder than this, unless The Panic Division turns it up to 11. But they don't need to: Colton Holliday's band has enough to go toe-to-toe with...
| 9/19/2012
Bob Dylan: 'Tempest'
Time Out of Mind (1997) started the best chapter of Bob Dylan’s late career, thus setting a new, unbelievable standard for himself and his...
| 9/11/2012
Los Super Seven are back, and they start here
I see nothing wrong with the word "supergroup" (a band with its members being well-established soloists or coming from other, well-established bands)...
| 9/12/2012
Agent Ribbons: not your average two-piece band
I always imagined Agent Ribbons as that seldom-seen two-piece drum/guitar band that surprises at every turn. The partnership you expect something from, but...
| 9/5/2012
Mike Birbiglia survives it all in 'Sleepwalk with Me'
At first I thought it was going to be a bad attempt to present Annie Hall in a contemporary way. Everything was there — the odd couple (in this case, a slob who...
| 9/5/2012
Gigantes Tour: The Latin fever in SA continues
MARC ANTHONY
Unlike his famous former flame Jennifer López, singer-actor Marc Anthony has solid musical credentials. By the time he released his first (and best) salsa album (1993’s Otra nota) he was already established as an English-language dance-orient
| 9/5/2012
Ry Cooder: 'Election Special'
Ry Cooder is as pissed off (if not more so) about the current political climate as, say, Tom Morello or even Bruce Springsteen. Yet, three months before the...
| 8/29/2012
Best of the free stuff
All events take place at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center. For complete...
| 8/29/2012
The heavyweights: Daddy Yankee
In 2004, the release of Daddy Yankee's Barrio Fino marked the official birth of reggaetón's first superstar...
| 8/29/2012
The heavyweights: Luis Miguel
Crooners come and crooners go, but Luis Miguel stays untouched, ever-effulgent, his voice and looks intact.
| 8/29/2012
Frank Zappa: 'You Are What You Is'
Was that really Frank Zappa's face last week on the front page of the iTunes store? I couldn't believe my eyes. After the Beatles (who are now, finally...
| 8/22/2012
Local band to watch: Sugar Skulls
Jeff Escamilla was the only sober person at a party a couple of years ago, and Alyson Alonzo was about to pass out when she heard something. While everyone else...
| 8/22/2012
Girl in a Coma returns to TMA on their own terms
OK, the Tejanos haven't done much to attract the rockeros, but the rockeros haven't given too much of a damn about the Tejanos either. Enter Girl in a Coma.
| 8/15/2012
Tejano Music Awards show signs of life
For the first time in 10 years, the Tejano Music Awards (which is to say: Tejano music) is showing signs of life. For its 32nd edition, the event returns to...
| 8/15/2012
Incubus: 'Incubus HQ Live'
To celebrate both the release of 2011’s If Not Now, When? (their first studio album in five years) and the fact they’ve been together for 20 years, Incubus...
| 8/15/2012
Crosby, Stills & Nash: 'CSN 2012 (Live)'
Time hasn't been kind on CSN, judging by their first live performance in 20 years. Here the trio (each twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...
| 8/15/2012
Here's the top nominees for the 32nd Annual Tejano Music Awards
6
Jay Pérez
(Song of the Year for “Invencible,” Male Vocalist, Entertainer, Tejano Album of the Year for The Voice of Authority, and duets of the year for “Tus ojos castaños” with David Marez and “Te quiero así” with Stefani Montiel)
5
Shelly Lares
| 8/15/2012
Café Tacuba 101: Key albums by a key band
Tacuba's second album is a masterpiece that doesn't leave any stone unturned: from polkas to banda, from bossa to mambo, from Giorgio Moroder to Helmet and...
| 8/13/2012
The return of Café Tacuba, Mexico's artsy roots rockers
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the self-titled debut of Café Tacuba, the band that turned the world of Latin alternative music upside down with an unusual...
| 8/13/2012
Neil Young Journeys
An extremely close encounter with a folk-rock hero
| 8/9/2012