Best of SA 2012 Critic Pick:
Countless food shows featuring celebrity chefs have cast a bright light on the "back of the house," the kitchens that create the artful delicacies that drive restaurant success.
4/25/2012
Music:
If San Antonio is the mecca of conjunto, then the Tejano Conjunto Festival serves as the genre’s hajj — a chance to pay homage to accomplished...
By Jeffrey Wright
5/15/2013
Arts & Culture:
A quarter of the way through The Flu Season, Will Eno’s 2003 absurdist exercise set in a psychiatric hospital, patients in the TV room watch a report on how an entire family fell through early-winter ice and died. Skating on a thin dramatic surface, the pla
By Steven G. Kellman
5/17/2013
Mad Season: 'Above'
To understand why the deluxe reissue of Mad Season’s Above seems like such a big deal, you have to flash back to the days when grunge was a...
| 4/8/2013
Gary Clark Jr. gives a little Austin love to SA's music scene
The birth of a new music festival is always cause for some excitement, especially when the king of music festivals chooses San Antonio to start a new musical extravaganza...
| 3/20/2013
Jimi Hendrix: 'People, Hell, and Angels ' (EP)
One of the great unanswered questions in rock history: What direction would Jimi Hendrix's music have taken if he hadn't died young? 'People, Hell and Angels'...
| 3/20/2013
Melina Narezo: 'Melina'
The debut album from this local singer-songwriter stands out from a swamp of similar releases on a number of levels...
| 3/13/2013
Single of the Week: David Bowie "Where Are We Now?"
Bowie's recent single — a shocking birthday present, considering he was all but retired from public life — is a vivid and rich return to his glory days of...
| 1/16/2013
Phil Anselmo's Down leads metal feast at Backstage
It shouldn’t be this easy to jump back in the saddle after a five-year hiatus from recording. But then, Down isn’t just any supergroup. The New Orleans-based metal...
| 1/9/2013
10 great moments when music met alcohol
It's easy to pick the top booze-fueled moment in music history: all of them (there's a reason live shows take place in bars instead of libraries). But...
| 12/19/2012
Sarah McLachlan: Find Your Voice
This free holiday single is meant to raise awareness of the Canadian music school Sarah McLachlan runs for disadvantaged kids, a number of whom...
| 12/12/2012
AC/DC: 'Live at River Plate'
The release of this double-disc set of ferocious recordings from dates in Buenos Aires a few years back should be a treat for rock fans. It finds...
| 12/5/2012
Soundgarden: 'King Animal'
The first album of new material by these grunge heavyweights since reuniting in 2010 was hotly anticipated by fans and just as dreaded by listeners...
| 11/20/2012
The Heroine: So far, so good
The new Heroine album (and first original one with EMG) will come out next year. But you don't have to wait — besides catching them live...
| 11/20/2012
Aerosmith: 'Music From Another Dimension'
Bands that have been around as long as Aerosmith rarely have the talent, inspiration, and dedication to remain creatively relevant after 30-plus years in...
| 11/14/2012
Killer Kill: 'Act Your Age' EP
Killer Kill's sound is hard to put a pin in — and its unpredictability is a good thing. Its strengths are in a shifty, dynamic sound, especially when the rhythm section of John Guest and Mason Macías play around with tricky time signatures (as on the openin
| 11/7/2012
Kiss: 'Monster'
The new Kiss album is out and it's exactly what fans were expecting. Building on the throwback format they established three years ago with Sonic Boom, the...
| 10/17/2012
Van Morrison: 'Born to Sing: No Plan B'
Van Morrison's best release in ages is bound to invite an unfair comparison. No, it's not as good as Dylan's Tempest, but it's surprisingly agile and lively.
| 10/10/2012
Michael Jackson: 'Bad (25th Anniversary Edition)'
Any successful '80s artist with the good sense to stay alive in the 21st century is bound to get the deluxe reissue treatment. That's what makes the 25th...
| 9/26/2012
Strung Out: SoCal punk heroes revisit two key albums
Punk's not dead, but it's getting frightfully close to retirement age. SoCal hardcore legends Strung Out weren't even part of the first wave of...
| 9/5/2012
Strung Out again: SoCal punk for your earholes
Strung Out's second album – and the first of two they'll be playing in their entirety on their current tour – is definitely their finest work, and pretty...
| 9/5/2012
Alvin Lee: 'Still on the Road to Freedom'
Forty years after Ten Years After made a name for itself at Woodstock, guitarist Alvin Lee returns with a sequel to his career-making 1973 solo album. While his chops are as...
| 9/5/2012
Yes, Inferno: 'I Hate Myself and I Want to Die'
After a brief hiatus and a lineup change, local post-everything instrumentalists Yes, Inferno are back with an impressive new release. Recorded as a live set...
| 8/29/2012
Mötley Crüe: Never too old to rock 'n' roll
You're only as old as the bands you feel, and when one of those bands wrote a song called "Dr. Feelgood," well, that's a clue, isn't it? There's almost an infinite number...
| 8/1/2012
Sohns: 'Ripe/Rot' EP
Gloomy sounds of struggle and organ washes open up this EP from Sohns, a quartet of local racket-raisers, but it jumps right into some rewarding noise on...
| 7/25/2012
POC: 'Rise Above'
The debut album by 21-year-old Mexican POC is a pure throwback. From her damaged blonde-hair-and-leather look to the album’s glammed-up shouters (like the fuck-you-dad anthem...
| 7/18/2012
Baroness: 'Yellow & Green'
The release of Yellow & Green made a lot of people nervous. For one thing, Baroness had already put out two terrific records, and the odds of lightning...
| 7/18/2012
Kiss: "Hell or Hallelujah" (Single)
With their first new album in three years set to pop in October, Kiss is getting fans in the mood with "Hell or Hallelujah," the leadoff single from Monster.
| 7/11/2012
Ernie Kovacs: 'Percy Dovetonsils... Thpeaks'
Ernie Kovacs didn't care for the Golden Age of recorded comedy that peaked in the early '60s — or so he said in an interview, just before hawking his own Percy Dovetonsils LP. Trouble is, the album didn't seem to actually exist until collector Ben Model un
| 7/3/2012
Ernie Kovacs: 'Ernie Kovacs: The ABC Specials'
Accompanying the treasure trove that is the 2011 six-disc Ernie Kovacs Collection, Shout Factory has just released a single-disc anthology of TV specials the legendary comedian...
| 7/3/2012
Tool's Maynard James Keenan wants you to eat his Puscifer
When Puscifer rolls through town in support of last year's Conditions of My Parole, the band's second album, they'll be playing some of Maynard James Keenan's best and...
| 6/27/2012
Hacienda: 'Shakedown'
The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach's influence is clear on Hacienda's third album; his production hallmarks stand out, as when he pushes the drums to the forefront and...
| 6/20/2012
Back and forth with the Front Bottoms
Hailing from the shores of Bergen County, the Front Bottoms project the pure pop sounds of North Jersey, with a sunny saturation of humor and a catchy...
| 6/6/2012
Rather than a supergroup, Kill Devil Hill is the real deal
The word "supergroup" gets applied so readily and so reflexively, especially in the world of hard rock and heavy metal, that it's pretty easy to distrust instinctively.
| 5/16/2012
The Grasshopper Lies Heavy/God Townes: 'In Love' (Split 7”)
Record Store Day was made for releases like this: The Grasshopper Lies Heavy (the name is a reference to Philip K. Dick’s classic novel The Man In The High Castle...
| 4/18/2012
Immortal Guardian: 'Super Metal EP'
Power metal and prog metal have more in common than the fact that Immortal Guardian flips effortlessly between the two; they're also high-proficiency genres...
| 4/4/2012
2012 Latin Alternative/Rock Artist/Band: Piñata Protest
Self-taught acordeonista Álvaro del Norte's norteño-soaked squeezebox dancing drunkenly over Matt Cazares' hardcore guitar: that's the simple essence of Piñata Protest's sound.
| 3/28/2012
2012 Best Heavy Metal Band: Immortal Guardian
From chili to conjunto, Texas' best cultural exports are usually the result of taking a handful of bold ingredients and whirling them together until something delicious drops out.
| 3/28/2012
2012 Best Keyboardist: Gabriel Guardiola (Immortal Guardian)
You'd have to be a pretty hot player to draw attention away from Gabriel Guardiola's hyper-drive guitar work. So it's no surprise that his only competition is Immortal Guardian's keyboard player...
| 3/28/2012
2012 Best Bassist: Foster Minor (Immortal Guardian)
Being a bass player can be a thankless task in any band, but in heavy metal it can be an absolute burden. (Don't believe us? Ask Jason Newsted.)
| 3/28/2012
