USA/Mexico – ‘Live In Paris’ (12XU 146-1)
out January 24, 2025
‘Live In Paris’ is the 4th album from the Austin TX trio USA/Mexico, and their first since 2021’s ‘Del Rio’. As the title suggests, the album was recorded live at Paris’ Le Petit Bain in March of this year.
As on their prior studio albums, the group remains guitarist Craig Clouse (Shit and Shine), bassist Nate Cross (Water Damage, Marriage) and drummer King Coffey (Butthole Surfers).
Again, in keeping with established tradition, the album is being released by 12XU in North America and Riot Season Records in the UK and Europe.
Water Damage – ‘Repeater’ (12XU 133-1)
out April 29, 2022
There is something really special about music based on drones. Whether it’s the vocals of Pandit Pran Nath, the ARP 2500 of Eliane Radigue, or the nearly-blown amps of Sunn O))), by changing the listeners’s focus on details to one that favors flow, drones are uniquely capable of transporting our brains far far away. The debut LP, ‘Repeater’, by this loudly droning Austin septet is a goddamn splendid example of how the process works. Using the motto, “Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation,” Water Damage create glowing fields of post-rock lava that pretty much suck you right in and boil you alive.
Water Damage, while technically a septet, actually operate in various configurations, with the proviso there should always be two drummers and two bass players on hand. They prefer if each of their sonic ideas takes up a whole reel of tape, and once they start they don’t look back. Everything proceeds towards an imaginary end point that is only achieved when the tape starts flapping. What a way to run a railroad!
But the folks in the band are all vets of various projects – Spray Paint, USA/Mexico, Marriage, Black Eyes, Thor & Friends, among others — so let’s assume they know what they’re doing. And why not? They sound fucking great. Their approach to the form is less front-loaded than most of their peers, and the surface of their sound is sometimes ruffled by aural events of an un-drone-like nature. But the main gush is usually a blend of harmonic tones and textures pointing towards a goal that is just out of
ear-shot, just over the next bluff, and perhaps forever just beyond our reach.
So remember to drink plenty liquid while you spin this fine album. Nobody wants you to parch. –Byron Coley
photo by Angela Betancourt
Bass : Nate Cross
Bass : Jeff Piwonka
Bowed Guitar : Travis Austin
Drums : Thor Harris
Drums : Greg Piwonka
Drums : Mike Kanin
Synthesizer : George Dishner
Engineered and mixed by Max Deems at Diseased Tapes Billion Dollar Studio
preorder (first 200 on brown opaque vinyl ) : 12XU Bandcamp
‘Del Rio’ is the third album from the Austin triumvirate of guitarist Craig Clouse (Shit and Shine), bassist Nate Cross (Marriage, Expensive Shit) and drummerKing Coffey (Butthole Surfers) and the band’s first release to feature vocals from Colby Brinkman (Taverner). While their two prior albums (2017’s ‘Laredo’ and 2019’s ‘Matamoros’) were somewhere on the periphery of rock music , ‘Del Rio’ is a step or several beyond and a real testament to human imagination (maybe you’re impressed by Tesla Powerwall batteries but that’s because you’ve not heard “Soft Taco”, yet)
Coming off a pair of records their respective labels could barely keep in stock and critical assessments that put reviewers’ own chops to the test (see below), USA/Mexico have delivered their most fully realized statement to date.
(if ordering from the UK/EU, ‘Del Rio’ is available from Riot Season)
As a young person I frequently heard tales that high-end stereo shoppes used Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ as a demonstration disc, in order to fully document the prowess of their impossibly-expensive wares.
I rarely frequented any of these establishments but always took these stories on faith. I’m no audio guru, but it seems to me that someone attempting to do the same thing in 2019 could do a whole lot worse than adopting USA/Mexico’s long-awaited 2nd album, ‘Matamoros’ for similar purposes. The trio’s first album 2017’s ‘Laredo’ might’ve been a worthy candidate for a test-spin in the Bang and Olufsen showroom, but the successor is the sort of record that really makes sense if you’re the sort of person who can appreciate the BACKES MÜLLER BM 100 loudspeaker (list price $500,000.00 USD)
Once you’re comfortably settled in, you’ll find that the all-star team of guitarist Craig Clouse (Shit & Shine) drummer King Coffey (Butthole Surfers) and Nate Cross (Marriage, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth) have done everything possible to help you expand your sonic palette — some might say they’ve even done too much! Either way, these guys are as unselfish as they are loud. Or perhaps they’re as selfish as they’re quiet — i do hope you’ll agree their motives are less important than the results, and in this instance, those results are nothing less than a staggering sensory overload.
George Dishner (Spray Paint) and Kevin Whitley (Cherubs — on a rendition of his band’s “Shoofly”, as previously heard on 1992’s ‘Icing’) make cameos. The entire affair was engineered by budding genius Ian Runndell (he of every other great record recorded in Austin) and is available via the 12XU and Riot Season record labels in North American and UK/Europe respectively.
Bass – Nate Cross
Drums – King Coffey
Guitar and vocals – Craig Clouse
Vocals on “Shoofly” – Kevin Whitley
Extra Guitar on “Matamoros” – George Dishner
The long-awaited/rumored/feared debut recordings from Austin, TX trio USA/MEXICO are finally upon us. Guitarist Craig Clouse (Shit & Shine, Todd), drummer King Coffey (Butthole Surfers, Rubble, Hugh Beaumont Experience) and bassist Nate Cross (Marriage, When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth, Expensive Shit) have somehow created a musical landscape that exceeds present day reality for absurdity and nightmarishness. There’s faint (oh ok, try “loud”) echoes of their past works but their combined forces have resulted in an album as bludgeoning and all-encompassing as any that’s occupied shelf space in my home or yours.
First 100 on translucent green vinyl – includes download card. Preorder here. (UK/EU customers — please take your business to Riot Season they can get you the album faster and for cheaper shipping)
