This week is pretty stacked with some great shows. One of the best we've had in Dallas in a while. Lionel Richie does the whole casino in Oklahoma thing, the English Beat plays Trees, as does Run the Jewels and Ratking. Death from Above 1979 is set to play a surely rambunctious show at the Granada. Thee Oh Sees play what is surely a minuscule room for them in Denton (which is absolutely awesome). And... Yeah there's just a bunch of great stuff this week. We'll stop talking and let you carry on with the picks.
The English Beat 7 p.m., Monday, November 3, at Trees, 2709 Elm St., 214-741-1122 or treesdallas.com, $25-$30 The English Beat -- or simply just the Beat to fans in the know -- were part of the two-tone ska revival movement in late-1970s England. They're best known for their catchy, skank-friendly tune "Ranking Full Stop" and for "Mirror in the Bathroom," a sax-driven meta-ska classic. Their sound is a mash of tropical reggae rhythms and stree-wise singalong lyrics that made them a little more accessible to pop music fans than their peers. They're a;sp one of the surviving bands out of a scene that garnered similar groups like the Specials, Madness and the Selector. As ever, when they make a stop in Dallas on November 3 for a visit to Trees, heckered ska-wear should be considered mandatory. Pablo Arauz
Ms. Lauryn Hill 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, November 4, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar, 214-421-2021 or southsideballroomdallas.com, $65 Lauryn Hill is unquestionably a monolithic figure in music. She was one third of the Fugees, a classic and important rap group from the '90s. After the Fugees broke up, she released one of the greatest albums ever conceived in The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill which quickly entered not only the R&B canon, but the canon of contemporary music, and won Album of the Year at the 1999 Grammys. Lately, Lauryn Hill has caught some flack for her live show, but close friend andf BlackStar member Talib Kweli says shit, it's Ms. Lauryn Hill, you peons should be honored. Is he right though, or is Lauryn Hill washed? H. Drew Blackburn
The Briefs With The Applicators, PEARS, Blank-Men, Tuesday, November 4, at Three Links, 2704 Elm St., threelinksdeepellum.com, $12-$15 The Briefs would've been perfect for a venue like the CBGB, but alas -- they missed their time. Fortunately, Three Links should more than suffice. The Briefs make the type of punk music you're all too familiar with: Loud, quick, and galvanized by a knack for criticizing the establishment. The band was founded in 2000 in Seattle and released four albums between then and 2005. Since the Briefs don't exactly tour all too often these days, you've stumbled upon some true luck; Dallas is the first stop on a string of five Texas shows for their current tour. HDB
alt-J 8 P.M., Wednesday, November 5th, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar, gilleysdallas.com, $35-$40 If only life could be as charmed for the rest of us as it is for the members of alt-J. The band formed when the original four members met and started working on songs while earning degrees at Leeds University. After graduating, they moved to Cambridge, claimed Jobseeker's Allowance, spent a couple years rehearsing, released a debut album that sold a million records and played sold-out shows across the globe. They played Granada, then House of Blues and now South Side Ballroom. Perhaps it will be Verizon next time? This band is still rising with no signs of stopping, even after losing a member and returning with their sophomore album as a trio. Their live shows are tight enough to hush any naysayers and their sound combines several genres (pop, folk, dub, indie rock, etc.) and draws comparisons to a plethora of very different bands. Jeremy Hallock
Run the Jewels with Ratking, and Despot, 7 p.m., Thursday, November 6, at Trees, 2709 Elm St., 214-741-1122 or treesdallas.com, $17-20 Run the Jewels is the meow meow meow hottest thing in music right meow. EL-P and Killer Mike's meow meow collaboration is so popular meow that they were able to fund a remix meow album that will consists of nothing but cat noises meow meow through Kickstarter with ease. Meow meow meow, meow. They leaked their own album to the meow meow internet, and Twitter meow decided that it's so good meow that people meow are spontaneously combusting. Honestly a meow show meow meow preview isn't needed. Meow. This is the meow show of the week, the month, meow and most likely the year. Trees meow meow holds around a thousand meow people, so make meow damn sure you're meow one of those meow at this show. Meow meow purr. Would hate meow to see you out there meow meow frontin' like you were six months from meow. Hiss. Jaime-Paul Falcon
Lionel Richie 8 p.m. Friday, November 7, at Choctaw Casino Resort, 4216 S. Highway 69/75 Durant, OK, 800-788-2464 or choctawcasinos.com, $95-$195 Lionel Richie is a legend. First, he and a few friends formed the Commodores at Tuskegee University after combining the Mystics and the Jays. What followed was a slew of hits like the funk staples "Machine Gun," "Brick House" and those beautiful ballads like "Easy" and "Three Times a Lady." Richie left the group in 1982 to pursue a solo career, only to give us classic track after classic track: "All Night Long (All Night)," "Hello," and "Dancing on the Ceiling" all immediately come to mind. All hail Mr. Richie, fan of brick houses that are once, twice, no, no, no -- three times a lady. HDB
Dum Dum Girls With Ex-Cops, 8 p.m. Friday, November 7, at Club Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $15-$17 Kristin Welchez, better known by her stage name Dee Dee Penny, has been operating the Dum Dum Girls since 2008 with a rotating cast of players who create smart and often dreamy music. Earlier this year her third long player, Too True, dropped on Sub Pop. The album has a bit of a retro '90s alt-rock vibe to it. This is reinforced by Penny's name checking Siouxsie & the Banshees, Suede and Stone Roses as sources of inspiration behind her latest effort. It is not hard to imagine any of the songs from Too True on a playlist from MTV's 120 Minutes back in the early '90s. Despite the distinct nostalgia the album is overflowing with ambitious pop bravado. Powerful hooks with occasional nods to a Phil Spector-style wall of sound gives enough gravitas to the Dum Dum Girls' overall sound to hint towards a dramatic and endearing live show. Wanz Dover
Death from Above 1979 With Biblical, 8 p.m., Saturday, November 8 at Granada Theater, 3524 Greenville Ave., 214-824-9933 or granadatheater.com, $34.50/$36.50 at the door Ten years is a hell of a long time to go silent. After just two years touring on 2004's You're a Woman, I'm a Machine, Death From Above 1979 split and the album eventually became a posthumous classic, heralded as an utterly unique and heavy experience that was gone far too soon. The breakup likely added to the mystique, but either way this was a band with a following that knew exactly what it expected from DFA. Which makes a comeback album all the more dangerous. 2014's The Physical World holds plenty of moments that feel pulled straight from their first album, but many more moments that feel alien to anyone who has a shrine to You're a Woman constructed in their closet. But all the long-time fans muttering the words "sellout" and "mainstream" under their breath should still be excited at the chance to see DFA live, as they were meant to be experienced. A band this heavy shouldn't be heard on recordings alone. No, DFA is best heard while getting your feet stomped on and wondering if the blood on your hands is yours or someone else's. Matt Wood
Bastille 8 p.m., Saturday, November 8, at Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Pl., Grand Prairie, 972-854-5111 or verizontheatre.com, $39.50 The English band Bastille is named after a French holiday to commemorate the Storming of the Bastille, which was a fortress and prison, at the beginning of the French Revolution. The triumphant, grandiose, celebratory nature of the band is encapsulated from the start, all by a name. It's the sort of mega arena-ready pop found in latter-day Coldplay or current-day Imagine Dragons, packed with nods to mythology, torn cites and the Bible, which is, as we all know, perfect for music tailored to car commercials. HDB
Thee Oh Sees With Jack Name, Dead Mockingbirds and Birds of Night, 9 p.m. Sunday, November 9, at Hailey's Club, 122 Mulberry St., haileysclub.com, $15-$20 This is an incredible show, well-worth the drive to Denton from Dallas or Fort Worth, and I'd be saying that even if Thee Oh Sees were playing alone. It is also worth noting that Thee Oh Sees will be performing as a trio with frontman John Dwyer backed by two new musicians, rather than the usual four-piece band that recorded their latest album, Drop. If you have never seen this garage/psych rock band live, expect a chaotic live show that could change your life. Landing a band like Thee Oh Sees at Hailey's is nothing short of a coup. But Drag City recording artist Jack Name should also be quite interesting. He has worked with Ariel Pink and White Fence and his 2014 album, Light Show, is a very strange trip into a world that Brian Eno may have visited at some point, complete with some bizarre (in a good way) music videos. Dead Mockingbirds and Birds of Night are both assets to the regional music scene and they are getting better with every single show, so there are no weaknesses in this diverse lineup. Jeremy Hallock
