Update: Judy Garland’s “Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead” is forecast to be #1 on the British charts on Sunday, the day the official charts are released. I’m not even shitting you. This means that it will end up being played on Radio 1’s Sunday Chart Show. Radio 1 is…
British Sea Power’s new record Machineries of Joy is out this week, and it’s everything you’d hope for from one of the most underappreciated and upbeat indie rock acts of the last few years. Marking ten years since their debut The Decline of British Sea Power, Machineries of Joy beguiles…
Louis CK’s been popping up all over the place, which must mean he has a special coming out soon. *checks listings* Aha! It says here there’s a new HBO special this Saturday night, in fact, called Oh My God. Which is lucky, because I was just compiling the following excellent…
Now, we all know concerts, quite aside from genre, come in varying degrees of loudness. There are the kind of gigs (has anyone here seen Unsane?) where, even if you shout as loudly as you can directly into your friend’s ear from an inch away, they will not be able…
It’s nothing short of astonishing that an ambient Icelandic band who don’t sing in English or write songs in a verse-chorus structure are filling arenas across the US. Some of the next acts to play this same arena are Shinedown, The Lumineers, Styx and the Killers. Sigur Ros are a…
Odom’s BBQ is an interesting site. I really like it. You pull up outside, having driven past the vastly inferior Babb Bros. just a mile down the road (over the bridge of many names), and realize you have gone from the Babbs end of Singleton (nicely landscaped, trees with lights…
Coacapalaroo Festival is new to the United States this year. No, “lying on the internet day” was Monday. Instead, the three major US alternative music festivals, Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo, all seem to have shared the same bookers this year. They may as well be an extremely large touring festival…
While we might have done some wonderful things for y’all with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath and Radiohead, we have also sent you some terrible crimes against music. And while none of this really compares to Canada foisting Avril Lavigne and Nickleback on you, it’s still not great. I’m…
When I say to you “pop-up restaurant,” you might envision such things as an experienced chef temporarily occupying an artful and attractive space in a prime location somewhere to try out a new concept or two. Perhaps you think of a fun new approach to dining testing out the commercial…
You, as a resident of Dallas, should know the story of the Relatives by now. For anyone that doesn’t, a quick refresher — formed in the 1970s and dissolved in 1980, the Relatives, led by the Reverend Gean West, left little evidence of a mesh of gospel and funk that…
So, you want to be in a band, right? The thing is, you have little to no ability or skill with a guitar. Me too! There is, however, one easy way to go about this that doesn’t really require learning to actually play your instrument properly. All you have to…
Now, let’s say you want to combine the heavy, meat-based joys of barbecue with the relatively light, raw fish-based delights of sushi. You’re clearly having a boring day. Nothing’s gone right for you so far. You tried combining Vietnamese and Mexican food. That fell down at the pho burrito. Korean…
You did St. Patrick’s day. Now you feel rough. If only, you think to yourself, there was some sort of beach where I could relax with a cheap cocktail on the sand and maybe listen to some music. But you’re in Dallas, and you’re at least five hours drive from…
You want to appear the most Irish out of all your friends, right? That’s kind of the point. St Patrick’s Day is a “who can tenuously claim the most Irish heritage” festival. Well, my friend, have I got the solution for you. Here is some entirely true traditional Irish food…
A spitting, snarling, unbridled Nick Cave stalked McFarlin Auditorium last night, displaying the same unmatched punk fury he’s been doling out since The Birthday Party. Audience members got abused. Cave thrust his crotch everywhere. He sung particularly intense lyrics directly into the faces of people in the front row, leaning…
Beer is a lovely word. We can all agree on that. Beer. There it is. If you had to add an adjective in front of such a glorious noun with the aim of improving it further, what would it be? Delicious? Cheap? Gold-plated? What about free?! FREE BEER. That is…
The new currency of big festivals is electricity. You, might, if you wanted to make a terrible pun, say it is the current-cy. No, keep reading. It gets better, I promise. A few years back, we all had cell phones that could seemingly hold a charge forever. The trade off…
Eels offered up a set delivered in matching tracksuits at the Granada last night in celebration of their new album Wonderful, Glorious. And it was a celebration, as a clearly contented and happy band offered up new tracks and re-imaginings of old. I’ve seen Eels a few times now, and…
Eels (no “The,” just “Eels”) have had a long, storied, interesting, musically adventurous career, but for a lot of people it stopped in 1996. Hell, for a fair amount of people most things alternative rock stopped in 1996, but I digress. The thing is, they’ve released a full nine albums…
The Dallas Observer cannot guarantee you survive 35 Denton, due to the presence of giant amp stacks, drugs, rattlesnakes and sludge metal fans. It can, however, provide you two scientifically proven lists (disclaimer — lists are in no way scientifically tested) which are guaranteed (guarantee void in Denton, Texas) to…
I have tried to get to Baby Back Shak so many times. It keeps eccentric hours for someone who lives far away, and I’ve just never managed to sort it out. The other day though, I found myself in southern Dallas with an hour to kill, and hey presto. I…
In Death by Microphone, local Brit and barbecue blogger Gavin Cleaver attended stand-up comedy classes at the Dallas Comedy House and reported back for our amusement and education. Then, on Friday, it happened: His stand-up debut, at DCH’s showcase for class graduates. Inexplicably sideways video evidence is above. Read his…
