Over The Weekend: Monotonix at The Loft

Monotonix, Joan of Arc, J. Roddy & The BusinessThe LoftNovember 5, 2010 Better than: going to a concert and not getting a trashcan thrown in my direction. A Monotonix concert took place at The Loft in Dallas on Friday night. But to only use the term “concert” to describe this…

Q&A: Monotonix’s Yonatan Gat Defends His Native Israel Against Bands That Boycott It, Describes Letting Himself Go During His Band’s Notorious, Off-The-Wall Performances

For astute music fans in the North Texas region, the name Monotonix has become quite familiar. In the last couple of years, the Israeli garage-punk trio has made a few stops here, including a 2009 NX35 slot that got the ball rolling pretty hard on their Metroplex buzz. Perhaps unsurprisingly,…

Clearing Out The Mailroom: Monday, November 1, 2010

We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Bertell (Houston, TX)…

Last Night: Frightened Rabbit, Plants & Animals and Bad Veins at The Loft

Frightened Rabbit, Plants & Animals, Bad VeinsThe LoftOctober 19, 2010Better Than: How most people spend random Tuesday nights. Frightened Rabbit​Scott Hutchinson, the lead Scotsman for Glasgow-based indie band Frightened Rabbit, is one sensitive dude. Sure, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to detect a sensitive, aching soul when listening to…

Clearing Out The Mailroom: Monday, October 18, 2010.

​We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take a few at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.Buckcherry (Los Angeles,…

Raul Malo

The most impressive and distinctive quality to Raul Malo’s latest solo record, Sinners and Saints, isn’t that he basically operated as a one-man band during the recording of the self-produced project. (Well, almost a one man band—the ex-leader of The Mavericks did have help from some stellar players, including Augie…

Over The Weekend: Drive-By Truckers, The Henry Clay People at House of Blues

Drive-By Truckers, The Henry Clay PeopleHouse of BluesSeptember 25, 2010Better Than: The Drive-By Truckers’ SXSW show in March, when they methodically rushed through their new album. Drive-By Truckers​It’s always interesting to see and hear how a beloved band’s newest material is received by its crowds. Often times, even the most…

Grace Potter’s Bringing Sexy Back

Groove-heavy American rock and mature, up-front sexuality are two things that have practically disappeared from the pop-culture landscape in recent years. But it’s making a comeback thanks to Vermont native Grace Potter and her band, The Nocturnals, who have clearly decided that it’s high time to dust off some lusty…

Drive-By Truckers, Henry Clay People

Generally speaking, whiskey-swilling, dark-alley-dealing Southern rock doesn’t fit the typical musical storyteller definition. Unless one is discussing the Drive-By Truckers, that is. Sprouting from the scorched, sweat-soaked soil that spawned their long-departed heroes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Truckers’ Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and the rest of the crew have never fallen…

Ronnie Fauss

Many have discussed the so-called demise of alt-country, and, sure, as a general entity, it isn’t exactly cutting-edge fresh. Fact is, though, alt-country—hard to define as it is—is still being offered in exemplary ways by a growing number of artists. It’s far from deceased. Ronnie Fauss’ latest work serves as…