FOR the SAKE of the SONG by Doug Freeman the FACE Phase After Seemingly SUSAN GIBSON GARRETT T

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NOT IN FOR THE SAKE OF THE SONG by Doug Freeman THE FACE Phase After seemingly SUSAN GIBSON GARRETT T. CAPPS The Hard Stuff All Right, All Night (Shotgun House) packing up their guitar Susan Gibson’s songwriting doesn’t pull Space cowboy Garrett T. Capps builds and drums despite the any punches. Hook-laden and emotionally upon last year’s In the Shadows (Again) by popularity of lone 2011 sharp, the Wimberley songwriter’s first expanding his San Antonio brand of cosmic LP Bikini, Not in the Face full-length of new songs since 2011’s country. The second installment of a pur- surprised local fanatics with Phase this fall. The Tightrope delivers the kind of character ported trilogy kicks out from the dance halls dynamic duo of suave cowboy Jonathan Terrell portraits and narratives that elevated for more hard-driving and hard-twanged and hard-hitting beat-keeper Wes Cargal returns her “Wide Open Spaces” to Dixie Chicks- ballads. Electric guitar swirls “Sunday Sun,” precisely to form with their quartet on gutter level success. The real treat of The Hard while “A Beauty in the Horizon” rambles slick anthems of bad love and scenester sleaze Stuff is the range of melody beyond most singer-songwriters, with the affectionately. Jamie Lin Wilson joins for the frolicsome “Alone With that are lovingly crafted. The moaning, breath- center run of the title track, “Lookin’ for a Fight,” and “The Big Game” You” and Carson McHone guest on the drawling “Lonely Heart.” Capps less rock of opener “Skin on Skin” sets pace winding unexpected yet infectious. Gibson returns as poignant and swings all over the map, but seven-minute closer “Brand New Dance” into the grooving “XXX$$$” and garage-punked vital as ever. ★★★★■ elevates a clearer view. ★★★★■ “Dumb Fun.” At its best, the band sinks into raw but soulful riffs that lick like Reigning Sound (“Pains of a Teenage Heartthrob,” “Rhonda”). TEX SMITH CHRISTINE SMITH Through charging boogies (“Suicidal Love”) and Kinfolk (Whippoorwill) Meet Me on the Far Side of a Star Simultaneously released with the (Foxy Lady) jagged jams (“Along for the Ride”), NITF pays sparser Fair-Weather Friends, Tex Smith’s Crooning and swooning, Christine Smith’s obvious Seventies and Eighties homage, but Kinfolk mines an earnest core, whether in piano ballads deliver a winking and weary kicked with their own irresistible fervor. the restless “Traveling Tune” and “Now cabaret pop, melancholy without melodra- ★★★★■ – Doug Freeman It’s Time to Go” or the soothing ode to ma. From the light touch of “You Can’t Hurt his late producer Seth Gibbs on the title Me Anymore” and “Feels Like Yesterday” to HANS track. The song wrangler’s voice flows the dark, fiery “Trying Not to Fall in Love” GRUBER direct and tender, from the Johnny Cash- and swelling bittersweet title track, the & THE DIE touched “Old Paper Bags” to a Hank Williams lope on “I Can’t Live local singer crafts her own binding for the Great American Songbook. HARDS Without You.” Piano licks and pedal steel swing across the 12 Centerpiece highlight “Happily Never After” wrangles Tommy Stinson 2 (Paper + Plastick) tunes and the backside’s “Rise Up Bones and Walk” kicks an electric on guitar, his warped slide matching the songstress’ wry sense of Behind 2017’s self- boogie. ★★★ humor and immaculate fluctuating vocals. ★★★ titled debut, Hans Gruber & the Die Hards – spastic vocalist TJ Robinson, even ponder a premium cable hero (“Real Life old-fashioned synthesizers, and flute riffs hear- ROCKET drummer Chris Thompson, bassist/trombonist Walter White”) over what sounds like a Dead ken back to a time when psychedelia evolved Kurt Armstrong, guitarist/trumpeter/keyboard- Kennedys outtake. Tap into the funniest, into progressive rock. Only some keyboards 808 ist Hans Emanuelson, and tenor saxophonist/ most inventive of young local punk outfits. and cheeky titles like “Singing a Single Song (12XU) “Rocket 88” is Ike co-vocalist Rosey Armstrong – bridged the ★★★★■ – Tim Stegall of Satan” and “Dosing the President” indicate Turner’s contribution chasms between hardcore, punk, pop, and ska. Nightmare Forever wasn’t recorded in 1969. to the birth of rock With the second in what will apparently be a It would come off as all too precious if not for NOLAN & roll. Then there’s numerical series of full-lengths, these skacore conviction. Potter and his cohorts lay down the POTTER’S the Roland TR-808 wiseguys faithfully cover Lord Kitchener’s lush proto-prog of “A Wizard of the Wind” and Rhythm Composer, calypso classic “Jump in the Line” until the NIGHTMARE double-header “Elf Curse/Seahorse Retreat” the first programmable drum machine that Ritalin kicks in and they blitzkrieg it. They also BAND with obvious love and devotion. It’s a refreshing wound up driving Eighties albums from imagine an alternate Antiques Roadshow theme Nightmare Forever stance to take in a music-crazy town that’s nev- Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” to all man- song (“Tune in to the Antiques Roadshow”) (Castle Face) ertheless managed to deny prog rock any real ner of early hip-hop classics. Once you dig that might give anyone involved in the PBS The debut album from standing. The next step, of course, is to aim the etymology of local garage genius John perennial a coronary. They also fold in spy film Nolan Potter’s Nightmare Band sounds like a less for nostalgia and more for timelessness. Schooley’s latest brainstorm, his intentions guitar (“The Ballad of Burro the Man”), and long-lost private press from the early Seventies. Until then, the Nightmare Band’s breezy, expan- become apparent: lo-fi/high-atmosphere Analog production warmth, breathy harmonies, sive psych rock goes down smooth and tasty. technobilly, with primitive rhythm generator and a guileless fusion of gnarly guitar riffs, ★★★ – Michael Toland patterns backing Link Wray/Duane Eddy guitar slashing. It’s been done before, but not in JAZZ SIDES by Michael Toland this decade. (Reference early solo works by Suicide singer Alan Vega like Collision Drive, JEFF LOFTON Jericho Wray’s brief experiment with digital drums, or Veteran jazz trumpeter Jeff Lofton demonstrates his versatility and range at every breath. even mega-cheesy synth-punks Sigue Sigue “You Blues You Lose” looks back to Kind of Blue-era Miles Davis, while “NOLA Beat” employs Sputnik!) Schooley makes the connection a funky N’awlins groove. Even when the punches aren’t telegraphed, the program shifts plen- blatant on a cover of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” ty of gears. The Austinite’s cover of “What a Little Moonlight Can Do” offers frisky hard bop with the Sun Records-isms cranked up high. in contrast to “Rose,” highlighted by sublime piano from Dr. James Polk, which settles into For the most part, the trash auteur stays easy swing, cocktail in hand and fingers ready to snap. The album also touches on Latin and silent, letting his tube-amped hollow-body soul jazz. Occasionally the cornucopia feels forced; two versions of Eugene McDaniels’ social guitar do the talking. Rocket 808: twang-n- protest anthem “Compared to What,” one sung by Carolyn Wonderland and the other by late roll for Blade Runner fans. guitarist Larry Coryell’s blues-singing son Murali, are probably two too many. Yet Lofton’s pure ★★★★ – Tim Stegall tone and stylistic ease keep Jericho from sounding like a highlight reel. ★★★

60 THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE NOVEMBER 29, 2019 austinchronicle.com