The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 2008 Page: 17 of 28
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THE THRESHER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THE RICE RADIO FOLIO.
SPRING 2008
Houston's Local Artists:
2007's Best Albums in Review
People often say that there isn't much good music in
Houston. They are wrong, and getting wronger by the
minute: 2007 was one of the best years for Houston music
in recent memory. In no particular order, KTRU runs
down 10 of the year's most notable releases in this quick
guide to a banner year in a burgeoning music scene.
Jana Hunter
There's No Home
Gnomonsong
Erstwhile Houstonian Jana Hunter,
an Arlington native who recently mi-
grated to Baltimore, is a key player in
the national New Weird America/Freak
Folk Scene. However, this album is less abstract than
some of her contemporaries'work—delicate meandering
guitar, tasteful reverb, and occasional backing strings or
steel make this album appropriate in any laid-back set-
ting. Her voice gives the album a curious modern tinge,
unduplicated elsewhere and worth checking out.
Insect Warfare
World Extermination
625
Over the past two years, Insect
Warfare have become one of the most
respected names in the Gulf Coast
heavy music scene, exploring the
speedy, uncompromising blend of hardcore and grindcore
known as power violence. Their first "full-length" crams
20 impossibly violent songs into just 22 punishing min-
utes. It's complex, brutal, and unstoppably amazing.
Devin the Dude
Waitin' to Inhale
Rap-a-lot
Waitin' to Inhale is relaxed and
humorous—that is, weed-fueled—rap.
Devin's most recent release didn't sell
much more than its predecessor, 2004's
To Tha X-Treme, but has cemented Devin's position as
one of the most friendly, talented and downright fun
rap artists in the South. The Dude, during his leaner
years referred to as "your favorite rapper's favorite
rapper," is now Houston's very own favorite rapper.
4
Linus Pauling Quartet
All Things Are Light
Camera Obscura
Linus Pauling Quartet reminds us
that barbarians, aliens, malt liquor, 24-
hour Mexican food, and motorcycles
all lie at the foundation of rock and roll's
hallowed temple. Don't call it tongue-in-cheek—every
track is backed with dead-serious Jimmy Page-grade
Marshall-stack ass-kicking. Veterans of Houston's psych
heyday LP4 mix hard rock imagery with utter electrified
competence, the way unpretentious rock was meant to be.
Balaclavas
Balaclavas EP& Inferno EP
Self-released
This young band debuted in 2007
with two surprisingly strong EPs that
are really halves of a full album. Their
pseudo-Gothic punk combines the
brooding minimalism of Joy Division with the unsettling
oddness of the Residents for one of the most unusual,
idiosyncratic and affecting sounds in Houston.
UGK
Underground Kingz
Jive
This album from the "country rap"
duo was among the most anticipated
and then the most celebrated hip-hop
albums of 2007. Bun B and Pimp C
had one of the sharpest one-two punches around, set-
ting off a real counterpoint of vocal styles with swampy
production and a rare political consciousness. John
Lomax of the Houston Press called it "a very promis-
ing kickoff for the second phase of UGK's career—"
a phase that, sadly, will never materialize: Pimp C was
found dead in a Hollywood hotel room on December 4.
Fatal Flying Guilloteens
Quantum Fucking
French Kiss
Once a costumed gag, this aggres-
sive, unpredictable punk band is now
getting national attention. See the
reviews section later in the folio for a full synopsis.
Bring Back The Guns
Dry Futures
Feow!
After changing names and winning
three Houston Press Music Awards
(Best New Act '00, Best Indie Rock
'03, Best Indie Rock '05), Bring Back
the Guns have finally released a full album, and it was
easily worth the wait. Their guitar-driven sound is
heavy but still quick on its feet, framed by constantly
shifting time signatures, punctuated with guitar hooks
that never end like you'd expect. Vocals are strained,
overdriven. Bring Back The Guns are at the vanguard
of Houston indie rock.
Kay
The Talk Show
Self-released
Kay, leader of the underground soul/
hip-hop groupThe Foundation, stands
out in the Houston rap scene because
of his introspective lyrics and jazzy,
atmospheric production. Intelligent and urbane, his music
looks back to independent rap acts from the early '90s
like ATribe Called Quest, updating them with a smooth,
modern sound. Kay is undoubtedly one of the figures to
watch in underground hip-hop, in part for his unorthodox
approach to promotion: he offered the entire album as
a free download on The Foundation's MySpace page.
Motion Turns It On
Rima
Self-released
Motion Turns It On may just have
the most apt name in Houston: their
instrumental rock is both suffused
with joyous motion and profoundly
turned on. Combining the scope of prog with the energy
of math rock, the band races through dynamite riffs that
evoke masters of jammy guitar rock from Hendrix to
Explosions in the Sky. Their first full-length release is
expansive and roomy yet, at just over half an hour, lean
and easily digestible.
Ian Wells, Daniel Mee, Matthew Wettergreen and
Dennis Lee contributed to this article.
The Houston Experiment
By Mark Flaum
'Weird?' 'Experimental?' Those ad-
jectives might apply, but the real word
behind the outer limits of the Houston
underground is 'unstoppable.' There is a
fountain of creativity in the sounds of this
city, and when a musician hits the mainline,
the flow cannot be stemmed. Record after
record, song after song, the true innova-
tors of Houston music stretch the word
'prolific' until it begs for relief.
Take for example DJ Screw—no longer
underground, the music of Robert Earl
Davis Jr. has finally fallen from the sky
and changed the face of hip hop. Shift the
pitch down, let the beats float gently like
hammers made of cloud, let the voice of
the MC blow up like a balloon, like the
words you can't quite understand in those
quicksand dreams, let it all get screwed
up. Screw music might relate to hip hop
today the way shoegaze did to rock in
the early '90s—it's an inescapable sound
that changed everyone who listened but
disappeared as soon as it began. And yet
today, a rapper can't pass through Houston
without dropping the name of DJ Screw,
though he left the world seven years ago.
His legacy lives, and so does his back
catalog—hundred of hours of mixes and
freestyle backing tracks. So prolific was
Screw that an entire storefront has been
established (7717 Cullen) to market noth-
ing more than his back catalog.
Not all of Houston's outer voices have
been so charmed by public attention.
Another true original has managed to
escape the limelight since releasing his
first album to almost universal inatten-
tion back in 1978. Jandek's blues is unlike
any other the world has ever known. His
music is a metaphor for itself—at times
broken, unmusical, and staggering, at
times wretched and tremendously sad. He
is earnest and honest, and while he'll tell
you everything you could possibly ask him
about his soul, you will never understand
him. For decades he was dismissed as
amateurish and untalented, but ears have
finally started to turn back to Jandek;
we're starting to realize that his music is
his music, not my music or your music.
Fortunately, Jandek was prolific, too—45
studio albums and seven live recordings.
The latter are particularly remarkable in
that, prior to 2004, Jandek never performed
a note in public. At a music festival in
Glasgow, he was finally persuaded to break
his silence unannounced and shocked
fans worldwide. To this date he has only
performed once in his hometown, also
unannounced, back in 2006. Curious fans
will find a little insight into the myth of
Jandek in the documentary Jandek on
Corwood.
Even further from the mainstream lies
one of the early originators of the sub-base-
ment genre known as harsh noise. Richard
Ramirez first created explosive feedback
assaults and collages in 1989, inspired by
Japanese innovators such as Hijokaidan
and Merzbow, as well as by a broad sweep
of less harsh outsiders such as Nurse with
Wound. Ramirez has stayed active since
then, moving through group and solo
projects of his own (Black Leather Jesus,
Priest in Shit, and Werewolf Jerusalem,
as well as a number of releases under his
own name) and in collaboration with a
huge range of performers. For music so
determinedly un-listenable and abrasive,
harsh noise has stayed surprisingly alive
through two decades of development, and
is surely as popular today as it has been at
any other point in its history. After a flood
of compact discs, records, tapes, CD-R's,
and 7"s, I doubt even Ramirez himself has
a clear sense of how much music he has
created over his career. He still performs
live regularly in Houston and elsewhere.
Lastly, Rotten Piece, composed of two
musicians who have been a creative force
in Houston since the early '90s, has also
never earned enough attention outside of
city limits. The duo has been performing
since the early '90s, moving comfortably
between noise, wild collages of sound
and video, rumbling drone music, and
free improvisation. They've recorded at
least 50 compact discs, perhaps a dozen
tapes, and a number of videos—most of
which were self-released. They run a local
label called Lizy Squid Rekkids, which
releases their own work as well as music
from a number of other performers who
explore similar musical terrains. Live,
Rotten Piece performances have featured
dual electronics, guitar-synth histrionics,
and even a duet for saws—one singing,
one chain-style. Moreover, the group has
jeen very active in supporting touring
noise musicians, and performs regularly
at Super Happy Fun land.
These are just a few examples of local
musicians at the city's creative core, past
and present. Acts that have since moved
away from H-town, such as Charalambides
or the mystery man behind most of the
Ventricle Records catalog, should also
be honored for their innovation. So many
Houston musicians have provided hours
upon hours of original music to intrigue
your ears and mind.
What is the
Rice Radio Folio?
The Folio is first and foremost a pro-
gramming and listening guide designed
to help you keep up with what's on
air. For your pleasure, our DJs also
generate a healthy serving of album
reviews, playlists, band profiles, concert
calendars, interviews, and news and in-
formation about KTRU and the Houston
music scene.
The Folio was a more regular feature
from the 1980s through the early
1990s, when it educated and enter-
tained readers on a weekly basis. The
station's boost to 50,000 watts and
resultant lack of a reliable on-campus
signal until the late 1990s contributed
to its (partial) abandonment. This year,
the folio lives again, in a longer, if less
frequent form. If you are new to KTRU,
the Folio is an excellent place to begin
what will no doubt be a long and fruitful
love affair. If you're already hooked, the
folio is just another way to get more of
what you love.
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Whitfield, Stephen. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 95, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, January 18, 2008, newspaper, January 18, 2008; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443186/m1/17/: accessed June 22, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.