RECOMMENDED (05/20/06 @ Carousel Lounge)
Local pop attack with openers Parks & Wildlife. -

RECOMMENDED (02/28/06 @ Emo's)
“I spent a lot of money on booze, birds, and fast cars,” said legendary Manchester United winger George Best, who died earlier this year. “The rest I just squandered.” Perpetually heartsick UK mope-popsters the Wedding Present, led by mercurial genius David Gedge, then christened their finest album after the footballer. Gedge’s latest, Take Fountain (Scopitones), continues to plumb the shadowy depths of the heart and again answers the burning question: What if Mark E. Smith had fronted Morrissey’s version of the Jam? Brooklyn genre-jumper Tim Fite and locals Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves open. - Marc Savlov

RECOMMENDED (10/27/05 @ The Parish)
Indie rock stalwart, San Francisco resident, and friend of Spoon Vanderslice can often be seen skulking around Austin while concocting some dark musical cocktails in Jim Eno’s studio. This time, he’s in town in support of his latest brew, Pixel Revolt (Barsuk). Recorded at Tiny Telephone studios in San Fran, Pixel sports many of the same unusual instrumental sounds as its predecessor, Cellar Door, but is a much happier (relatively speaking) affair. Mac McCaughan’s Portastatic supports with Bright Ideas, and locals Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves open. - Melanie Haupt

RECOMMENDED (07/15/05 @ Emo's)
There’s a special place in punk rock heaven for bands that broke up before they broke open; karma comes back to reward those who, well, “keep it real.” Boston’s Mission of Burma is one of those bands. Drummer Peter Prescott, bassist Clint Conley, guitarist Roger Miller, and tape manipulator Martin Swope were only together from 1979 to 1983, when Miller quit due to tinnitus. And yet, the band’s catalog (most notably 1981’s Signals, Calls, and Marches and 1982’s Vs.) produced “Academy Fight Song” and “That’s When I Reach for My Revolver,” two songs that broke open the Eighties post-punk scene.

“It was an exciting scene,” Conley remembers. “The bands we knew and hung around with were considered the ‘artsier’ side of the punk scene. Boston, when I moved there, was known for rootsier stuff – the Real Kids, DMZ – and they all sort of came from that Chuck Berry school of loud, blistering, fast, and fun, the stuff we liked a lot. We were considered the art scene, even though we didn’t go to art school.”

MoB reunited in 2001, playing a few sporadic shows before releasing OnOffOn in 2004 and showcasing at SXSW. Although Conley also has tinnitus, the group still plays as loud as they ever did.

“It’s really been an incredible thing,” admits Conley. “In a lot of ways it’s hard to believe. We were conditioned to just brace ourselves for struggle. The first go-round in the early Eighties, we had a blast. We were absolutely filled with righteous conviction. But we learned early on that it wasn’t a ticket to broad appeal. We were going to find people who liked us, but they would be few and far between, and they were going to be the true believers.”

Conley feels optimistic about the reunion not for financial reasons, but because he – gasp – genuinely enjoys playing music.

“I was proud, because the band was known for having integrity and doing it our way,” he says. “There’s something kind of pathetic and tawdry about a lot of reunions and comebacks. I’d like to think that we’ve sort of picked up where we left off. On stage, it feels as intense as it ever did.”

Local pop maven Sally Crewe opens the show with her Sudden Moves, and I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness roll through the middle. - Audra Schroeder

RECOMMENDED (06/25/05 @ Stubb's Bar-B-Q)
“I recently read some interview with Frank Black where he was talking about how everybody in music today wants to talk about their problems and how their girlfriend dumped them and bitch and moan and whine,” Spoonman Britt Daniel related in April, a month before the release of the exquisite Gimme Fiction. “Nobody wants to hear that. What about the rhythm of the language? What about having fun with words?”

Easing into a second decade of acclaimed output with Spoon’s fifth LP, the third on indie heavyweight Merge, Daniel has become a master of wordplay. Flowing with patented storylines and characters – losers, lovers, and beasts – Fiction is as literary as its name implies. From the tale of an overwrought actor basing his life on a role in a play to a lonely man missing his true love, Gimme Fiction touches on eccentrics and realists, weighing words with as much importance as most punks weigh power chords.

“There was a time when I wanted to do hip-hop,” Daniel admits of his logophilia. “I thought hip-hop was all I wanted to do. This was like ’92 when The Low End Theory came out and Check Your Head, and I was always a big Public Enemy fan. All I bought that summer was hip-hop records and jazz records, and I was just like, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’”

Although the rhythms and rhymes are there, Daniel hasn’t entered Jay-Z territory quite yet, though he has written a personal, free-form rock album that balances lyrics with Jim Eno’s beats, protecting the song and driving it along, perfectly strong and simple. Blending funky Prince with Wilco roots, Spoon has blossomed into indie lifeblood this time around, and onstage, all those characters come alive.                                                            

British labelmates the Clientele put the Squeeze on in support, with local pop fourpiece Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves opening. Get there early! - Darcie Stevens

RECOMMENDED (05/26/05 @ Emo's)
Sally Crewe’s preparing the launch sequence for her new pop album, Shortly After Take-Off. Local British transplant Crewe and her Sudden Moves are playing the LP, beginning to end, and chances are hearing it live will bring it into focus. Crewe’s star-studded supporting acts include Crewe benefactor Mr. Britt Daniel Himself, rising stars What Made Milwaukee Famous (catch these guys before they fly the coop!), and Fab Four mockers the Dung Beatles. - Melanie Haupt

RECOMMENDED (01/08/05 @ Emo's)
Santa Claus isn’t done with Austin just yet. Tonight’s show, one of the last of Emo’s Free Week, features the cream of the local indie-rock crop. Outside, recent road dogs Zykos take the stage for one of their first shows sans guitarist Jarod Harmeier. While his Euro tennis-pro slouch will surely be missed, there’s no doubt the kids will do fine without him. Mod-squadders This Microwave World will sneer gorgeously, and odds are that new faves What Made Milwaukee Famous will decide to rock those socks, with the Chapters opening. Canoe leads the charge inside, supported by Svengali, Spoon cohorts Sally Crewe & the Sudden Moves, and Pompeii. Free! - Melanie Haupt

RECOMMENDED (12/18/04 @ Emo's)
Local sensations I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness have a lot to celebrate this holiday season. The band has garnered more acclaim and recognition in the last year than most acts do their entire career. What better way to end 2004 than playing the venue that helped launch them? Local indie rock will be flowing, with an indoor/outdoor show that includes the spacey Experimental Aircraft and experimental ST 37 inside. Voxtrot and the Glass Family open outside. - Matt Dentler