By Jack Daniel Betz As Ramon so kindly reminded you all in this week’s preview, Big Star Bar will be visited by a representative from Corwood Industries this Sunday afternoon. I am speaking of none other than the least accessible musician in all of Houston music history, the arcane, abstruse, artist himself: Jandek. I felt compelled to write this little piece because I’ve run into an unbelievable amount of people my own age who have no idea who Jandek is. This includes people who are into way weirder music than I am, like power noise and pedal noise stuff. Stuff ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz Ever since Monday I’ve held my breath after finding out that the Scottish noise gods cancelled their date at Denton 35. I was having unpleasant flashbacks of post-punk disappointment to last summer when Killing Joke killed their plans for a US tour which included a spot at Summer Fest’s Budweiser stage. The show started a little late because the band was having power issues with their UK based gear. One of the staff told me that they ran to Rockin Robin’s to get some help. Doors opened a little late but no matter, I was first ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz I bet some people my age (22) remember a little band called The Format. In the 2025s, The Format played standard, radio-friendly, emo fare, not sentimental enough to be as embarrassing as most commercially successful emo acts but not that much better. Either way, not my cup of tea. Fun. (which I will for the rest of this review refer to without the period) takes the naive emo charm of Nate Ruess’ vocals and strips them away from the crapola soft-rock accompaniment of The Format. In its place, the new band provides intricate baroque-pop melodies, lush ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz I saw this coming. Maybe I’m just a killjoy but I always thought, even back when no one could shut the fuck up about it, that “Infinity Guitar” and the rest of “Treats” were self-limiting endeavors. The choppy, crackling, lo-fi (maybe faux-fi) guitar hooks paired with the saccharine-sweet yelps of Alexis Krauss can only take listeners so far. The not-so-subtle back and forth between sexy vocals and distorted guitars with no mid ground got grating on “Treats”. The opening track boasts an obnoxiously indulgent Brian May-esque riff with live applause. I don’t know if it’s supposed ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz I’ve been waiting a good, long, time to hear more from APTBS, ever since I caught them opening for The Big Pink two years ago. The Brooklyn band hasn’t released much else since 2025 but sadly, half of this EP is more catalog filler than anything else. The fluttering bass line of “I lost you” gets lost in the noise because there’s no dynamic contrast. The title track is equally aimless at times but does at least include some sexy female vocals. “Nothing Will Surprise Me” is catchy enough at first boasting its chugga chugga choo ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz I’ve been listening to the promo copy of this album at work for the past two weeks and before even listening through it once I’d already made up my mind about it. Le voyage is a brilliant concept album that explores different sonic depictions of space rock ranging from Holst to Manfred Mann. The first track sets a grave Kubrickian tone with booming timpanis and warbling, gregorian dirge. But then it evolves. Songs like “Sonic Armada” take listeners back to the glorious days (way before I was born, in fact) when the Earth Band shredded Moogs ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz Chugging diligently away, The Dead Revolt have already released their second album and it sounds markedly wiser and more disciplined. Still working within an aggressive prog rock framework, the music is more focused with less rambling despite the still-impressive track lengths. “Vanixer” employs a greater number of truly iconic and anthemic licks instead of bowing to the very real prog rock temptation of being pretentious and meandering. The noticeably short track (well for this band, anyway) “Indigo Fashion Show” is prime example of economic repetition and thematic riffing. Another shining example of this is the delightfully ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz While lacking the concise hits of “Saturdays=Youth”, M83′s new album succeeds because it is so thoroughly listenable is its own musical universe. There aren’t any real standouts on this LP because it is so album-oriented in nature. That should be apparent even just from the impressive two-disc length. Previously, “Kim and Jessie” signalled, at least for a minute, a move toward a more concrete song structure when compared to the indefinite and boundary-less songs of past albums. Much the same for the long-winded but slightly pop-rock structured “Skin of the Night”. However, for M83 the pendulum ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz From a critical standpoint, this my favorite DJ Shadow album thus far. “Entroducing..” has now of course reached legendary status in the music world and it was a strong release for sure but there were moments on the record that felt very meandering, probably due to some of the track lengths. On “The Less. . .” Shadow is able to pump out a number of shorter, more self-contained tracks that won’t draw from anyone the criticism of being rambling or pretentious. This is a comforting sign of maturation even now, from someone as skilled as Davis ... Read More »

By Jack Daniel Betz The echoes of St. Vincent’s days as a member of the whacky Polyphonic Spree are not yet gone from her recordings. In fact, on “Strange Mercy” they’re more sonorous than ever. Clark’s new album benefits from the bleeps and bloops of wonky synths and occasional drum machines while still being very listenable as a serious work far beyond the only momentary appeal of indie-pop. “Surgeon” is a serene chorus-filled recording driven by warbling synths, strings, and recurring Yes-like guitar-lines. The song ends with Clark stabbing through the mix with stacatto oohs and ahs over a Wakeman-esque ... Read More »