For such an accomplished musician, Ray Benson, the frontman for western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, is hardly pretentious. In fact, he concerns himself with the worries of the common man. During the interview he was keeping an eye on the election results, ruing another four years of Gov. Rick Perry. Perhaps this every-man attitude has led to his extended success as a musician, keeping him clean of the tabloid drama that ruins so many musicians’ careers. This Friday he will be celebrating his success with the current members of Asleep at the Wheel, alumni of the band and Willie Nelson as they play a 40th anniversary concert for the band.
Brooklyn-based duo Matt and Kim do not know what restraint is; stuffing drumbeats, major chords, piano melodies, synths, lyrical hooks and shouting vocals into a blender and sticking whatever comes out on an album. It sounds like one hell of a time, and the duo keeps the good times rolling with its third album, Sidewalks.
At midnight on a Tuesday in early October at Mi Casa, a bar on Sixth Street, there is a crowd of people packed in, all in anticipation for Austin-based rapper Zeale’s performance.
Zeale’s third mixtape, Disasterkrft, is littered with an assortment of songs that run the gamut of what occurs within the hip-hop world. This time around, he has tightened things and set the bar even higher than in his previous installment, Haterz and Robotz.
Doomsayers of the state of pop music may prophesize the end of the world because of the emergence of Ke$ha, but they don’t have to look too far for a savior in Robyn.
For the myriad of bands gunning for a resurgence in ‘60s surf pop (Best Coast) and girl group harmonies (Dum Dum Girls, Tennis), it’s almost unnatural that DâM-FunK would jump in with his brand of ‘80s neo-funk.