Social Distortion, Lucero and Frank Tuner House of Blues – Dallas, TX November 20, 2010 Better Than: A show that Frank Turner wasn’t opening. Saturday night at the House of Blues, the social skills of Mike Ness and his crew of rockabilly punks were anything but distorted. Orange County’s timeless…
Punk rock, perhaps more than any other musical style in recent times, has evolved into a multi-pronged and tough-to-define assault. What began as a vehicle for the principles of incendiary, raging youth has become, in many cases, an outlet for hoodie-wearing adolescents who have just graduated from the Tiger Beat…
Felice BrothersThe LoftNovember 13, 2010Better than: wondering how far TCU will fall in the BCS standings because they didn’t win by 50 points. For the second consecutive night at The Loft in Dallas, a band showed up and gave the crowd not only more than it bargained for, but almost…
Freelance Whales, Miniature Tigers, GenerationalsThe LoftNovember 12, 2010Better than: helping my wife put up the early Christmas decorations in our house (for real). It’s sometimes easy to forget how powerful of an impact that buzz can have on a young band’s existence. And, yes, buzz is a bit of an…
At once vaudevillian and also contemporarily raw, New York’s Felice Brothers have been perhaps the key cog in the recent surge of indie roots rock. Their varied sound, featuring horns, ragtime piano and fiddle (among other distinctive noisemakers), lends the group a sincere diversity that even folk-intensive indie acts, such…
As The Will Callers’ Jake Murphy adjusted to a bit of bracing, life-altering news, he was already making up his mind about his group’s immediate future. He didn’t have any choice but to make a decision in quick order—the band was set to play a show just a few days…
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.The Chieftains featuring…
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…
Mumford & SonsNovember 4, 2010House of Blues Better Than: Going to a show at House of Blues when the Mavericks or Stars are in town. The frenzy that currently envelopes English folk-rockers Mumford & Sons is as clear as it is impressive. Last night at the House of Blues in…
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,…
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)…
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.Gemma Ray (London,…
Shiner Rising Star Competition FinalsLove & War in Texas, PlanoOctober 21, 2010After 14 weeks of competition between 24 bands that cover the entire, vast realm of country music, the Shiner Rising Star contest ended last night at Plano’s Love & War in Texas. And, many times throughout the evening, it…
Frightened Rabbit, Plants & Animals, Bad VeinsThe LoftOctober 19, 2010Better Than: How most people spend random Tuesday nights. Frightened RabbitScott 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…
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,…
Shiner Rising Star Semi-Final Round, Week 4 T-Bones Bar & Grill, Denison TX Perhaps the most intriguing element to the annual Shiner Rising Star competition is the length of the contest: In years past, the winners have been the acts that lit the stage on fire not once, but…
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.Stax: Number Ones…
Lissie, the Midwestern girl who is now one of the U.K.’s favorite adopted songwriters, understands the value of unpredictability. What many see as unpredictable, Lissie views as a natural need to adapt–at least when the situation, or her feelings, requires her to do so.When her EP, Why You Runnin’?, came…
Shiner Rising Star Competition: Round Two, Week ThreeThe Ranch in Las ColinasOctober 7, 2010Getting back into the swing of things after a week away, I was treated to a kickass night of tunes as a judge for last night’s semi-final round of this year’s Shiner Rising Star competition, hosted by…
Shiner Rising Star UpdateLove & War in Texas in Grapevine September 30, 2010Semi-Final Round, Week TwoAs was the case a few weeks ago, we weren’t able to sit in as judge for the latest Shiner Rising Star happening–a shame, really. One of the two best bands from the first round…
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…
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 TruckersIt’s always interesting to see and hear how a beloved band’s newest material is received by its crowds. Often times, even the most…
