Seeing 40 concerts in 40 different cities over the course 40 consecutive nights. Sound cool? Sure does. While such a trip would be an unrealistic fantasy for most of us, former senior writer from Paste Magazine, Steve LaBate and his good friend, filmmaker Scott Sloan, decided that they would turn…
The Besnard Lakes, Woven Bones, Binary Sunrise Granada Theater May 20, 2010Better Than: Hanging anywhere near the pavilion at the Bryon Nelson. I hear douchebaggery is contagious. The Besnard Lakes really know how to bring the drama. The Canadian quartet’s show at the Granada Theater on Thursday night was a…
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 Service Industry…
It’s a cry as somber as the one Americana artists often sing about: “The business of music sucks the reason you even started to play music out of you,” says Rebecca Scott, wife and manager for Dallas-based Americana artist Jay Johnson. Her husband, along with fellow area music vets Merrol…
It’s that time of year, again. The Austin City Limits Festival line-up was unveiled early this morning via the fest’s official website. There isn’t any question: This year’s docket will have people gabbing–whether it’s vitriolic hate or nostalgic, warm-fuzzies. Sure, for many, bashing on the chosen collection has become as…
Doug Burr CD Release ShowMay 14, 2010Kessler TheatreBetter than: Sifting through the relatively meager Tivo selection I had to choose from at home. After walking into the beautifully restored and recently reopened Kessler Theatre in Oak Cliff, there was a surprising and extremely welcome sight: Doug Burr with a full…
Pop hooks can be tricky little suckers. Upon initial approach, they often appear to be mildly hummable little ditties. Then, before you’ve realized what has transpired, the seemingly innocuous tune has morphed into a full-fledged parasite, feeding on your middle ear, refusing to relent until it has taken over your…
Often, a musician’s personality mirrors that of their chosen sound. Take a couple of examples: Quiet folkies tend to be sensitive and soft-spoken; peace-loving, trippy jam band members share a mellow soul and herbal-scented flow with the prolonged solos they so fluidly unfurl upon their twirling and euphoric admirers. So…
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.Peter Wolf CrierInter-Be…
Remember when bands used actual instruments in order to create their art? With apologies to Girl Talk and other laptop-toting blog darlings that have ensconced themselves into the Urban Outfitted army of hipster clones, there is still much to be said for the time-capsule treasure that is Dallas’ current sultans…
If The Strokes are considered a garage-rock band, and Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears are regularly labeled as a garage-soul collective, then Denton’s Delmore Pilcrow must be garage-twang. Keep an Eye, the Denton quartet’s second album, is a rambunctious affair that’s also an effectively non-countrified honky-tonk record. Sure, the…
There’s a grand—or not so grand, depending on your tastes—tradition of bands naming themselves after their place of origin. Alabama, Kansas, Boston and many other proud sons have made a point to state their allegiance up front and center. Add These United States to that esteemed list. While using the…
The title of The Album Leaf’s first LP in four years, A Chorus of Storytellers, may sound a tad ironic given that lead man Jimmy LaValle has a penchant for lush, dreamy soundscapes that aren’t what one would ever describe as “chatty.” While the fifth album from the Sub Pop…
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.Meat LoafHang Cool…
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 four or five at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.The 5…
Murder By Death bassist Matt Armstrong is a Dallas native. So, really, he was just the natural choice to talk to us when we reached out and scheduled an interview with the band. Speaking on the first day of Murder by Death’s tour in support of its excellent new record,…
Bloomington, Indiana’s Murder by Death is clearly composed of four fervent fans of music. As such, chief songwriter and distinctive lead vocalist Adam Turla and his band have been able to work, and excel, in the medium they love so dearly for a decade, now. And they know what they’re…
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.Serj Tankian &…
1100 Springs, Roger Alan Wade, Lucero & Shooter Jennings at MusInk’s Second nightFair Park Centennial BuildingApril 10, 2010Better than: Watching the Rangers continue to fail to come anywhere near our already low expectations. Seeing a lively crowd enjoying the beautiful weather at the outdoor music stage for MusInk festival, it…
Seryn, Doug Burr, Telegraph Canyon & the Old 97’sFair Park Centennial BuildingApril 9, 2010Better than: getting a forehead tattoo like one of the guys I saw get ink last night. A bringing together of skin and ink wasn’t the only attempted matrimony on the first night of Dallas’ Musink Festival…
After the recent announcement that the Old 97’s will soon be recording new material for an upcoming album, now comes word that a country-rocking contemporary of that act will also be releasing some long-awaited, new material. Thanks to the blog NineBullets.net, our attention is directed towards a post on Slobberbone’s…
John Grant, like Joe Cocker before him, gets by with a little help from his friends. The former leader of Denver’s The Czars ensconced himself with North Texas torch-bearers Midlake in a Denton studio for his new release, relying on guitarist Eric Pulido and the rest of the group to…
