Most Popular

  • American Girls
    Crossing between American and Egyptian cultures, he Said girls made one deadly misstep: They fell in love
  • The Man Who Would Be King
    Freddy Haynes seemed a shoo-in to lead the NAACP. Then Obama's ex-pastor came to town.
  • Bless Us, Oh Lard
    Damn fajitas and health-conscious eaters. They're killing traditional Tex-Mex.
  • For Whom the Bell Tolls
    Electronic monitoring may dramatically curb truancy. So why isn't DISD interested?
  • Sexy Town
    Imagine a city with flowing creeks, walkable neighborhoods and greenery. No, not Seattle, dummy.
"Most Popular" tools sponsored by:

Recent Articles

Recent Articles by Jesse Hughey

National Features >

  • Broward-Palm Beach New Times

    Sexual Healing

    For Florida's sole remaining sex surrogate, love is a many splintered thing.

    By Michael J. Mooney

  • City Pages

    Your Friendly Neighborhood War Profiteer

    It's not just giant companies cashing in on America's defense industry.

    By Jeff Severns Guntzel

  • The Pitch

    Supersizing Sonic

    How a throwaway idea at the Barkley ad agency became the "Sonic Guys."

    By Justin Kendall

  • Houston Press

    Temples of Tex-Mex

    A diner's guide to Texas's oldest Mexican restaurants.

    By Robb Walsh

PlayRadioPlay

Texas (Island)

By Jesse Hughey

Published on March 20, 2008

Swooping synthesized strings, throbbing bass lines, pounding drum machines and heart-on-the-sleeve vocals: PlayRadioPlay's Texas sounds like what a sensitive, horny teenager would come up with if he were locked in the bedroom with a keyboard and a swimsuit calendar featuring the ladies of One Tree Hill.

Single-handedly created by Dan Hunter, a self-described nerdy straight-edger from Aledo, Texas will likely be piped into every mall in the country. It's the kind of amped-up electronic dance-pop that teenagers lose their virginity to if they get hold of a bottle of Boone's Farm and stay awake past midnight.

Opener "Loco Motion" gets the album off to a running start. Its chorus of "What's up with these conflicting emotions?/I'm on the brink of running commotion" perfectly encapsulates the hormonal turmoil of adolescence. Things slow down with "Madi Don't Leave," a sweetly hopeful love song. Hunter's impressively slick electro-bubblegum pop is perfectly suited to his anxious lyrics about boredom, hating school and teenage love. Overall, this is a very impressive debut, but it probably won't appeal to anyone out of the fake-ID market.



Dallas Observer Insiders

  • Local food, music and news blasts
  • Free Stuff
Backpage.com