Special Issues

2nd Annual Rammy Awards: The Readers have spoken: Meet your 2009 picks for SA's best bands and musicians

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

Best Vocalist Stephanie McVey (Altus) McVey brings elements of pop-diva grandeur to Altus’s indie-rock arrangements without forcing the rest of the band to take a backseat. Runners up: Melissa Ludwig, Kevin DaLuz (Under Nothing) Best Instrumentalist Ron Wilkins ...[MORE]

Lighters Out: 2009's Best Live & Local Shows

By Jeremy Martin

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

Nothing More AT Scout Bar Saturday, February 21 This show began with a merch guy climbing onstage to serenade and then propose to his girlfriend and ended with frontman Jonny Hawkins playing a bass with drumsticks, and bassist Daniel Oliver and guitarist Mark Vollelunga strapping on cymbal...[MORE]

Further Listening: A sampling of 2009's other worthy local albums

By Jeremy Martin

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

Morris Orchids Morris Orchids (Self-released) Irrepressibly light but undeniably beautiful, this EP plays as a single, complex song, nearly worthy of an Elephant 6 release. And, since it’s available for whatever you’d like to pay (even if that’s jack squat) at morrisorchids.band...[MORE]

Real Records: Roland De La Cruz

By Johnny Hernandez

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

If all the contributions that Roland de la Cruz has made to San Antonio’s music scene, Los Mescaleros have been the most constant fixture. De la Cruz has diversified, writing and performing with the likes of the Mechanical Walking Robotboy, Suzy Bravo & the Soul Revue, Azul, and the Master...[MORE]

Rock Solid: Ken Robinson

By Johnny Hernandez

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

On Thursday nights at the Mix you sit back and enjoy the rockin’ sounds of Jar of Flies — a solid cover band specializing in tunes from the mid-’90s through today. Behind their cymbal crashes and backbeats sits a drummer who has kept a steady pace through a long journey of musical evolution and crea...[MORE]

Passing the Mic: THE BEAT PRODUCES AN SA POSSE CUT

By M. Solis

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

One of hip-hop’s longstanding traditions is the posse cut, those boisterous sessions in which MCs flip phrases and trade verses in a celebration of rhyme. Posse joints have been around since the beginning of hip-hop and some classics include Marley Marl’s “The Symphony,” De La Soul’s “Buddy,” LL Coo...[MORE]

THE TEXAS TORNADO: A DECADE AFTER HIS DEATH, DOUG SAHM SOUNDS BETTER THAN EVER

By Enrique Lopetegui

Published: 11/18/2009

Types: Special, Music Issue

Then I saw the Texas Tornados live in LA in the early ’90s, my group of friends and I really went to see Flaco Jiménez, but we all fell for Doug Sahm. If Augie Meyers’s organ was the backbone of the Tornados, Freddy Fender’s voice its sweetness, and Flaco’s accordion its heart, Sahm was the ban...[MORE]

First Annual Rammy Awards: The readers have spoken: Here are the winners of the Current’s 2008 music awards!

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Photo by Jeanna Goodrich   Best Singer Michael Brouillet (Dog Men Poets) Brouillet’s vocal stylings can best be described as a funky mix of poetic rock and hip-hop accents. Best Instrumentalist G-Smiles (Dog Men Poets) With his signature ...[MORE]

Tales From the Front: A local musician’s guide to improving the SA music scene

By Ernesto Olivo

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

I play drums for the band Kick It! and I’ve been involved in the San Antonio music community for more than 13 years. Over the years, I’ve worked with Chapstik, IG-88, The Tonebenders, Dodge, The New Teen Titans, Speeder, and Kowalski, among others. And just as bands come and go, so do musician...[MORE]

Kind of Blue: Azul is a Mexican folk traditionalist who loves Daft Punk and Björk

By Gilbert Garcia

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Romance was in the air. Couples huddled in their chairs as Latina chanteuse Azul Barrientos commanded the stage at Esperanza Peace & Justice Center for a special pre-Valentine’s Day show on February 13. Standing in front of a striking David Zamora Casas stage design and looking like Frida K...[MORE]

Inside Tracks: Vol. 2: A personal mix tape of SA contemporary indie-rock

By Denise Blaz

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Too many people view the San Antonio music scene in a dismissive way, rigidly adhering to some preconceived notion that it lacks the buoyancy found in Austin, or some other music-friendly city. Hopefully the eclecticism and sheer quality of the 12 songs on this local mix-tape will alter that impress...[MORE]

Rhyme Pays: OBX follows in the trailblazing Latino hip-hop footsteps of Big Pun

By M. Solis

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

It’s been eight long years since Cristopher Rios, the Bronx-born lyricist known as Big Punisher, passed away from heart failure at age 28. As Big Pun, Rios was a cultural trailblazer: the first Latino solo emcee to go platinum, with 1998’s Capital Punishment, seven years after Cypress Hill acco...[MORE]

The Accidental Engineer: How Mark Rubinstein stumbled into a career making other people sound good

By Gilbert Garcia

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

It’s unlikely that any San Antonio musician has been in close proximity to fame more than Mark Rubinstein. He played piano at a New York reception for Bill Clinton, provided musical entertainment for Liza Minnelli’s bridal shower, and engineered sessions for everyone from Cher to the Backstreet...[MORE]

Tree Hugging: Blowing Trees go national with a sound that’s intimately huge

By Denise Blaz

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

A year ago this month, Blowing Trees played a show that seriously altered the trajectory of their career. Although they were not part of the official SXSW roster, the four-piece rock outfit played a SXSW-week gig that turned heads to such a degree that they left Austin signed to the New York-based i...[MORE]

Bad Medicine: Local musicians mobilize for affordable health care

By Nicole Chavez

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Less than three months ago, doctors rushed jazz trombonist Ron Wilkins into the hospital when they discovered that his kidneys weren’t functioning well. Though he’s revered in jazz circles, widely admired as an educator, and boasts an impressive musical résumé, Wilkins found himself treated as ...[MORE]

Local Musicians All-Time Favorite Albums

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Hector Saldana I’m still startled by the opening song of The Beatles’ “White Album”:  The jet plane fades in, electric guitars squeal, a piano hammers, and at once with “Back in the U.S.S.R.” the listener is warned this is going to be a wild trip. This is the Beatles stripped-down, rocked-ou...[MORE]

Home School of Rock: Dad’s discipline drives SA’s premier tweener metal band

By Gilbert Garcia

Published: 3/19/2008

Types: Special, Music Issue

Joe Trevino’s kids don’t get startled when he wakes them up at 3 in the morning. They’re used to it by now. They know that dad has a drum beat or a chord progression running through his brain and he has to share it with them before he forgets it. His sons, John, a 14-year-old guitarist, and Joe...[MORE]