This last weekend marked the opening of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s 2014-2015 classical season. Saturday evening kicked off with an honorary video commemorating musical director Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s 15th season with the FWSO, followed by a short talk with new composer-in-residence Anna Clyne (on her composition Rewind) and the National…
Gorilla Vs. Bear Fest IV With Panda Bear, SOPHIE, Ejecta, Doss and Blues Control Granada Theater, Dallas Friday, September 12, 2014 The first song I recall falling in love with was “Kokomo,” the ’88 Beach Boys radio hit. I was four or five and in my mom’s car on the…
Drake vs. Lil Wayne Gexa Energy Pavilion, Dallas Sunday, September 7, 2014 Cards on the table, I think Drake is shit. For the life of me I can’t see the appeal, and it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve peered inside the music, taken a few strolls, and always came…
There’s a lot of Beethoven in the bloodstream this month. Just in time too. In the wake of summer’s blast-furnace oppression, a whole lot of Beethoven is just the ice bath we need to ready ourselves for another season of classical offerings. We have prodigies, a world-class violinist, some Shostakovich,…
Islands With TEEN, 7 p.m. Thursday, September 4, at Dada, 2720 Elm St., dadadallas.com, $12-$14 For better or worse, this is the type of future Zappa saw for pop, a contraption as regressive as it is disarming, music as sour candy. Rising from the ashes of cult act the Unicorns,…
I never thought I’d see a jazz show at a taqueria, much less a great one. To be fair, Saturday’s bill at Taqueria Pedritos, including Unconscious Collective, HEX CULT, Drug Mountain and Baring Teeth, boasted a wide array of experimental offerings. Free jazz, no-wave, power electronics and metal were all…
The thing about house venues is that they’re always more interesting than public ones. Idiosyncrasies are the décor. Little trinkets here, deliciously askew lighting there — tonight it’s horror film reds and greens, like watermelons and glow sticks. The colors spill through the windows, out onto the creaky deck and…
No list concerning music books could ever be definitive. There’s simply far too many writers, artists and genres one could choose to explore: everything from the better autobiographies (say, Bob Dylan’s Chronicles or Miles Davis’ Miles) and top tier hip-hop books (like Book of Rap Lists) to jazz guides (The…
In case there’s any confusion: Da Mafia 6ix (formerly Three 6 Mafia) are not conscious rap. Twenty-three years into the crew’s storied career and it remains one of Three 6’s only constants. Lineup shifts, name changes, reunions, even death haven’t changed that, but just in case, on new release 6ix…
In a new series, Choice Cuts, Jonathan Patrick talks with artists – both local and international – about their favorite records. Most jazz musicians fall into one of two avenues. They either approach their performances with the instincts of a sculptor or with those of a bulldozer. Dallas’ Dennis Gonzalez,…
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order. Know an artistic mind who deserves a little bit of blog love? Email lauren.smart@dallasobserver.com with the whos and whys. Save for his disarming charm, were you to meet Michael Cain in person you’d never guess…
“When you play electronic music, you have control of the imagination of the people in the room, and it can get to an extent where it’s almost physical.” These words, spoken by Ralf Hütter of pioneering electronic outfit Kraftwerk, ring no truer than today. And although Dallas is far removed…
Stefan González is the oldest 28-year-old in Dallas. At least in musical terms, that is, which by his own admission are the only terms he understands. Best known as the drummer of jazz trio Yells at Eels, which he plays in with his father Dennis and older brother Aaron, Stefan…
It sounds like cathedral music at first. Then, like modern classical. A drone of swinging chimes and rumbling gong is Swans’ overture. Each tone is so exactly measured that, initially, it sounds like stock music pouring forth from the venue speakers. Look closely though, there to the back-left of the…
Every photo of Michael Gira shares a set series of features: a stern grimace, a stoic, crag-like rigidity and a fiercely penetrating gaze — a look that tunnels straight to your instincts, sets your nerves on edge. Even when a hint of a smile cracks its way across his face,…
Reverend Horton Heat is one of Dallas’ gems. The stage name of artist Jim Heath (as well as the moniker of his backing band), Rev. Horton Heat is arguably the most recognizable psychobilly outfit of all time. Forgetting for the moment Heath’s legendary pedigree and white-hot ’90s heyday, he’s more…
Die Antwoord House of Blues, Dallas Saturday, May 31, 2014 No music reflects our ever-fragmenting, post-internet cultural condition quite like hip hop. The last ten years have seen the genre in constant flux, splintering and contorting into some of the most bizarre and fascinating shapes music has ever taken. Case…
Sand blankets a warehouse floor in west Dallas, a space aglow with the fluorescence of artificial tree-life. There’s three bikini-clad women bathed in blood. An audience convulses like spirits locked in exorcism pangs. On the horizon sits the Dallas skyline, shimmering and stoic, like massive sticks of studded jewelry. At…
In a new series, Choice Cuts, Jonathan Patrick talks with artists – both local and international – about their favorite records. As dusk lingers in the sky, DJ Gabriel Mendoza — one Dallas’ richest resources for music knowledge — meets with me to discuss soul music. He’s upbeat and enthusiastic…
We love Morrissey. We love his coiff, we love the tactless way he shoots off his mouth. We even love his supposed plan to have his band show off their new “Meat is Murder” T-shirts as a gesture of protest during his Thursday night show at the Majestic. And did…
Austin Psych Fest is an experience that’s hard to take measure of. I camped there for three days and saw well over a dozen acts. In other words, I ate and breathed this festival for 72 consecutive hours. I came back to my tent each night with a sweat-drenched notebook,…
Reptilian croaks — guitars distended through echo effects — tickle the ear; I’ve been offered a pharmacy’s worth of chemicals and pot smoke is a potpourri that clots the air. I’ve arrived at Austin Psych Fest 2014. There’s every shade of weird here, and every shape of fascination. Each person…
