Listening to Soul Coughing songwriter-guitarist Michael Doughty sing is like cranking up the garbage disposal just for fun. No, wait — it actually sounds as if Doughty has already swallowed the garbage disposal whole. His choppy, nearly spoken-word mode of singing only serves to reinforce the analogy. But that’s not…

OK, So We’ll Never do this again. It seemed like a swell idea at first: Do away with the so-called “local music-industry insiders” (i.e., guys who work for Sam Paulos) who have traditionally selected the Dallas Observer Music Awards nominees, and simply let the voters fill in the blanks. That’s…

Tim DeLaughter, Tripping Daisy frontman and newly anointed father, is one of the most optimistic people ever to have been dropped from a major label. Sure, he’s done his share of bad-mouthing Island Records, the label that signed the local outfit in 1993, promised the moon and stars, then last…

Put on your break-up madami’madam Meredith Miller Band Binkey Records Meredith Miller’s second album (pronounced “Madam, I’m Adam”) is her first with her band, singer-guitarist Reed Easterwood and ex-Tripping Daisy drummer Bryan Wakeland. Sharing music-writing duties with Easterwood, Miller is finally fleshing out the smart acoustic numbers she penned as…

Michael Corcoran Makes Stuff Up As a critic gets older — and this one is 43 — certain tasks become more difficult, like trying to show any interest whatsoever in the latest R.E.M. release. But other activities become a breeze, such as making a year-end list of the 10 best…