Rihanna

The Is the End Takes Comedy's Go-To Trope to its Ultimate Conclusion

And it brings many, many dick jokes with it.

Billboard Now Counts YouTube Plays, so "Harlem Shake" is Number One

"Harlem Shake" is the No. 1 song in the United States of America this week, which means that now is your chance to listen to more than fifteen seconds of it. Baauer's meme soundtrack is the beneficiary of a Billboard rule change--YouTube views have been added to the Hot 100 calculations, joining phy ... More >>

Dave Brubeck, Ray Wylie Hubbard and More of Last Week's Top Sellers at Local Record Stores

This is not your everyday top 100 Bilboard list. Each week, we'll tell you what bands are selling in the fine record shops in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, where we consumers of music have impeccable taste. Kicking off this roundup are last week's top ten albums at CD Source and Bill's Records, ... More >>

A Few Questions with Kiernan Maletsky, the Dallas Observer's New Music Editor

Yesterday we welcomed to Observer HQ Kiernan Maletsky, our new music editor. Kiernan is the former music editor at the Riverfront Times in St. Louis and has contributed to Denver's Westword and other publications. He plays the drums and is slightly too tall for my tastes. I asked him a few question ... More >>

Lights All Night - Fair Park - 12/29/12 & 12/30/12

Lights All Night Fair Park Saturday, December 29 & Sunday, December 30 I remember when they were called raves -- not that I was ever old enough to attend one, but I remember when these types of electronic music fests were known as such. There was even a whole film subgenre in the '90s that document ... More >>

Five Rap Albums That Changed the Game in 2012

Before the storm of best of lists start hitting the blogs, I wanted to take a second to put aside the artistic merit aspect of the year in review, and take a look at what happened in the cultural landscape of rap music. Some of these albums were really good, some of them were really not, but all of ... More >>

Get To Know Your 2012 DOMA Best DJ Nominees

Leading up to our November 10 showcase, we'll be getting you familiar with some of our Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, either via past features we've done on them, or new ones. You can vote for your favorite acts, venues and more right here. They are all hunched over the jukebox, scanning ti ... More >>

EDC 2012: Calvin Harris Plays CDs of Himself Singing

Dance music is fighting for its soul. The charts are filled with tracks (Rihanna, Flo Rida) that borrow from the ecstatic trance and pulsing grooves of electronic dance music. The last time pop was so infatuated with the dance floor was 1979, the year disco died. This time around fans are more sa ... More >>

Battleship: Because Every Generation Needs an Armageddon

Riley Gale of Power Trip: "If We Fail, We Fail. We'll Just Come Back Home and Get Day Jobs."

Led by the energetic and enigmatic Riley Gale, Dallas metal-punk trio Power Trip has been stuck in a creative lull since releasing the killer Armageddon Blues EP back in 2010. However, since changing drummers and getting the guitarist to commit full time, Power Trip is once again forging ahead, havi ... More >>

Perfume Genius: "I Think All Gay Men Are Used To People Saying No To Them, To People Not Giving Them Choices."

Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius, is a talented, young singer-songwriter who has made quite a mark with his sophomore effort, Put Your Back N 2 It. However, the release was not without controversy. Perfume Genius' 16-second ad for the new album was deemed inappropriate by YouTube because it feature ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Wednesday 3/14/2012

​If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving musi ... More >>

Preview: Drake at College Park Center

Friday, March 2, at College Park Center, Arlington

In Defense of... Drake's "Take Care"

At the end of last year, I took back misgivings I had about Drake since his studio debut, Thank Me Later, dropped a couple years back. One of reasons I changed my mind "aboat" the Canadian rapper was the title track from his sophomore album, Take Care, released last year. "Take Care" follows a chai ... More >>

The Best and Worst Performances of Last Night's Grammys

Five Best Performances 1. Jennifer Hudson Grammy host L.L. Cool J had a hard enough job presiding over a celebration undercut by tragic circumstances, and he achieved a perfect, almost pastor-like tone from the get-go. But Miss Hudson's musical tribute to Whitney Houston - a subtly searing but stil ... More >>

Calvin Harris

Saturday, January 28, at Zouk

Best Musical Trends of 2011

OK, Sexy Sax Man. Just 15 more minutes. ​Tell the world, rock is coming home This year saw a wave of rock bands catching up to a new generation. We got Soundgarden touring again, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blink-182 and even less renowned bands like Urge Overkill and Bush releasing new albums. Aft ... More >>

In Defense of... Nicki Minaj's "Fly" feat. Rihanna

After releasing a few lackluster singles that relied on sampling and riding the coattails of artists with bigger stars than her own, Nicki Minaj discovered her voice in her Pink Friday album late last year. When I reviewed one of her other tracks, I remarked that Nicki will probably represent ... More >>

2011 Dallas Cowboys Training Camp Day 7: My Top 10 Observer-ations

​10. For a couple of anxious minutes last Friday the Cowboys thought they'd signed Nnamdi Asomugha. Then on Monday for a curious second we thought they'd acquired Bears' receiver/returner Devin Hester. Huh is right. DallasCowboys.com sent out a text/Tweet yesterday announcing "Cowboys Si ... More >>

In Honor of Nicki Minaj's Dallas Hotel Skirmish: The Ten Best Musician Fights of All-Time

​By nature, musicians are a rowdy bunch. When tempers run high, as they often do with this hot-blooded bunch, stuff gets broken. And by "stuff," we mean musicians themselves. When musicians fight, it's often very public, very bloody, and the source of national news.Such was the case this week when ... More >>

The 20 Best Dallas Concert Photos of the Year (So Far, Anyway)

Sara KerensMy Chemical Romance at House of Blues in May​Here we are at the midway point of the year, or something. The heat's at blow-torch temperatures, The Rapture's well on the way (not the 2012 one), and DOMA's gonna rear it's wicked head soon.In honor of this half-year-ish thing, we'd like to ... More >>

Good Friday: Steve Earle at Billy Bob's Texas, Plus The Rest of This Weekend's Shows

Steve Earle​There are some pretty big shows coming to town this weekend -- massive ones, actually. But you'll be hard-pressed to find a more important singer than Americana legend Steve Earle, who will perform at Billy Bob's Texas on Saturday night.He's not the only legend playing in town this wee ... More >>

The Problem With... Maroon 5 and Christina Aguilera's "Moves Like Jagger"

I gotta tell you something, readers. I haven't really followed The Voice, NBC's singing competition show. It was never a conscious decision. I just haven't really followed reality shows since the first couple seasons of Survivor. I guess, as a writer, I want to support my peers who work on scripted ... More >>

Grand Prairie's Own Selena Gomez Is Officially The Biggest Music Star on The Web Right Now

We don't really get it either, Selena.​...says Billboard, at least. This week, the Disney starlet, from straight outta Grand Prairie, took over the No. 1 slot on the trade magazine's launched-in-December "Social 50" chart, which combines all sorts of web-centric information -- Twitter followers, M ... More >>

The Problem With... Beyonce's "Run the World (Girls)"

After a year away from music, Mrs. Sean Carter is now looking to get back on the spotlight. Tracks from the 2008 release I Am... Sasha Fierce endured for a while. With "Video Phone," she pushed the gadget industry to include video phone functionality, which the iPhone eventually did. "Single La ... More >>

Three Shows You May or May Not Want to See Tonight

If you're a fan of dub step, heavy metal or a little Puerto Rican reggaeton, tonight's musical offerings are right in your wheel house.

The Problem With... Lady Gaga's "Judas"

Last week, a new Lady Gaga track called "Judas" premiered. And, with it, she released a new, tacky cover image for her upcoming album (see it after the jump).This week, Lady also pulled a "faux ga" of sorts with Weird Al. The story goes like this: Gaga's manager snubbed his parody of her last singl ... More >>

Watch: Bleeckie The Puppet Takes On Rebecca Black's "Friday," Turns It Into Ode About Fries

Rebecca Black​ Colin Quinn made a great point on Conan last week. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this: For all this talk of stopping bullying and cyber-bullying, America sure is willfully beating up a lot on Rebecca Black.The counter-argument, of course? That poor little Black is th ... More >>

The Problem With... Black Eyed Peas' "Just Can't Get Enough"

The last time we saw the Black Eyed Peas, they were offering up the sensory violation that composed their performance at the Super Bowl halftime show a couple of months ago. Their massive lights so bounced off the snow, I could see it from Denton.Yet another example of the Peas placing style over su ... More >>

The Problem With... Katy Perry's "E.T. (Futuristic Lover) feat. Kanye West"

​ Here's the thing about Katy Perry: She tries write songs that are thematically diverse, which is nice. Unfortunately, very few of these themes pay off into complete ideas. Take, for instance, her latest single, "E.T. (Futuristic Lover)," which features one Kanye West and tries for a dark, myster ... More >>

Unexpected Influences: Dem Southernfolkz Finds Inspiration In Folk, The Jungle Fever Soundtrack and Jerry Seinfeld's Stand-Up

Welcome to Unexpected Influences, where we talk to musicians about the music no one expects them to like. ​Local hip-hop trio Dem Southernfolkz have provided a breath of fresh air in the local scene, laying down the groundwork for the current fire-hot trend that has seen artists such as Sore Loser ... More >>

Watch: Another Area Puppet Sings Justin Bieber and Britney Spears on Chatroulette, Parodies Eminem and Rihanna's "Love The Way You Lie"

So. Puppet culture in Dallas? Way bigger than I ever realized -- or bigger, at least, than I realized before posting yesterday's item about Will Schutze's Mr. Bonetangles marionette. Let's just suffice to say that there are a lot of puppeteers in Dallas. And, no, I'm not going to post about all of t ... More >>

The Problem With... Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home"

Diddy had a pretty busy year in 2010, what with a starring role in Get Him To the Greek and keeping up with his brands. Oh, and he also released an album called Last Train to Paris with his new group, Diddy-Dirty Money. The latest single from the group is the reflective and sentimental "Coming Home. ... More >>

Grace Potter's Bringing Sexy Back

The Problem With... Chris Brown's "Deuces"

Chris Brown is back with a new hit? What the deuce is this?

The Busy, Super Interesting Weekend of Disney Superstars Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers

The whole Disney gang​It wasn't exactly a slow weekend for local tween pop tarts. For starters, Joe Jonas celebrated his 21st birthday onstage in Pennsylvania. His birthday wish? Not a nice wine glass full of Jagermeister. Rather, he asked for something sure to make his loyal fanbase of tween girl ... More >>

Show Announcements: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Carrie Underwood, The Hold Steady, The Script, More...

Ariel Pink​My all-time favorite music list is riddled with bands that started out being a little too weird and "out there" for me. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is on that list of bands. The band started off sounding like a slightly out-of-tune AM radio to me, but the blissed-out melodies enticed ... More >>

Idol Rich: There's No Saving Casey James of Tim Urban Now...

​K, you know how I said yesterday that because I was kinda-sorta nice about Tim Urban's Beatles performance, that he'd either get kicked off or one of my faves would be? Well, I was was right. Someone was trying to punish me. But not really. But kinda. Because, see "Big Mike" Lynche, the badass wh ... More >>

Since Everyone Loves Lists, Where Does Dallas Rank on "Riskiest Online Cities"?

​According to Symantec, Dallas does rank fairly high on the list of American cities "under the greatest threat from cybercrime" -- 22 out of the top 50, which makes us the Adam Lambert to Seattle's Rihanna. There's one significant reason Dallas doesn't rank higher: We're not so connected to the Wi ... More >>

The Five Most Interesting Things You Didn't Know About Soulja Boy

Today In Music News: Weezy Loves Kobe, Rihanna Gets Her Diss Track On, LeAnn Rimes Is Clingy

Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, June 8, 2009...Lil' Wayne has such a affinity for Kobe Bryant that he's penned a song about him called, shockingly, "Kobe Bryant."  Word is it's the best song ever about a once-alleged rapist.I guess Rihanna has officially moved on--she's writi ... More >>

Today in Music News: Axl Speaks! Rihanna No-Shows! Blink Reunites!

Your daily dose of national music news for Monday, February 9, 2009... Axl Rose says the lack of press he did had nothing to do with why Chinese Democracy didn't sell big, it's the lack of marketing by the label. Oh, and W. Axl Rose also stated that he will never, ever, und ... More >>

The End Of The End Of Year Lists (No, Really, This Time): The Top Concerts Of 2008

Melanie GomezFind our slideshow of our favorite concert photos of 2008 right here.I didn't get to Dallas until February, so apologies to any great shows that took place in January--I missed them. But over the past eleven months, I saw plenty of live music--both with touring bands and locals. How man ... More >>

Top Ten Pop Songs of 2008

Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles ... More >>

Is Girl Talk's Rebellion A Sign Of The Times?

Just how out there Is Girl Talk's Feed the Animals?

Stereolab

Chemical Chords (4AD)

Giveaway: Tickets To Tonight's Glow In The Dark Tour

Video: Lupe Fiasco at House of Blues

Handicapping the Grammys with a Foo Fighter