Blogs
  • Go! 3/7-3/9
    06:00PM 03/07/08
  • R.E.M. Accelerate: An Advance Review and Song-by-Song Analysis of the Band's New Album
    04:06AM 03/08/08
  • The Morning Brew: Monday, 3.10
    10:12AM 03/10/08
  • This Is Hawkwind -- Do Not Panic
    06:08PM 11/09/07
Recent Articles

Recent Articles By Roy Kasten

  • The Campbell Brothers
    8 p.m. Friday, February 15 and 11 a.m. Saturday, February 16. Edison Theatre, 6445 Forsyth Boulevard
  • Nina Nastasia
    8:30 p.m. Saturday, February 9. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Richard Thompson
    8 p.m. Monday, February 11. The Pageant, 6161 Delmar Boulevard
  • Parachute Musical
    9 p.m. Friday, February 1. The Bluebird, 2706 Olive Street.
  • Giant Bear
    9 p.m. Wednesday, February 6. Off Broadway, 3509 Lemp Avenue.

National Features

  • Houston Press
    "It Was Like an Armageddon Movie"

    For days after Hurricane Rita, a Texas prison was hell on earth.

    By Chris Vogel
  • SF Weekly
    The Candidate

    Our columnist knows Ralph Nader's running mate all too well.

    By Matt Smith
  • The Pitch
    How Not To Be a Rap Star

    First of all, lay off the Ecstasy.

    By Nadia Pflaum
  • Village Voice
    Project Runaway

    What becomes a gossip columnist most?

    By Michael Musto

Like Paul McCartney without the existential cluelessness, Ron Sexsmith is a low-key melody-maker capable of small, shining stays against the chaos of modernity. Still, there's never been enough sardonic humor to cut Sexsmith's acoustic sweetness, never enough salt water in his slowly-melting-taffy sound. Fault him for lack of ambition, but he never over-reaches and never succumbs to the rank nostalgia of the conservative wing of Americana. The U.S. release of Time Being (available overseas since May 2006) is a further study in restraint. Sexsmith patiently tackles the big theme of Time, relying on producer Mitchell Froom's lo-fi juxtapositions — shitty-sounding electric guitars duet with banjos of gold — and seasonal images, including a final snow angel from a departed lover, a cold-hearted wind blowing straight into "the face of love" and a sun disappearing before the day "had even begun." "The world is a very small place," Sexsmith sings without a trace of irony. "Dusty things...remind us of our time on earth." Sometimes his miniaturist portraits get the big picture.

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