Josh Ritter Gets All Shakespearean

Folk troubadour Josh Ritter isn’t all that concerned with baring his soul for all to see. He knows that sharing his personal thoughts on love isn’t a path toward writing a song that’s particularly memorable. “I’ve never been thrilled with the idea of someone reading my diary,” says the Idaho…

Mumford & Sons, The Middle East

A plucky banjo and weary vocals does not a bluegrass or folk band make. And, sure, the predominantly string-based sound of English quartet Mumford & Sons makes it somewhat easy for the uninitiated to hastily lump them into simple folky groupings. But their bigger-than-the-Atlantic choruses and their ability to turn…

Last Night: MGMT, Tame Impala at the House of Blues

MGMT, Tame Impala House of BluesJune 8, 2010 Better than: Hearing these songs yet again in a movie trailer, commercial or clothing store. ​For anyone keeping track of MGMT these days, this most likely won’t come as a shock: The band’s sold-out show last night at the House of Blues…

Plants & Animals Evolves Naturally.

When deciding what to name their trio, Warren Spicer, Matt Woodley and Nic Basque came up with a tag that they, at the time, felt was relatively innocuous and meaningless moniker as it pertained to their collective future. In short: Deciding on Plants & Animals wasn’t exactly an earth-shattering experience…

Clearing Out The Mailroom: Thursday, May 20, 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.The Service Industry…

Living Under The Red Dirt

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…

Austin City Limits Announces 2010 Lineup…

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…

Fate Lions

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…

Harlem Laughs About Its Genre Tags

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…

Clearing Out The Mailroom: Monday, May 10, 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.Peter Wolf CrierInter-Be…

Shoot Low Sheriff

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…

Delmore Pilcrow

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…

These United States Earn Their Name

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 Album Leaf, Sea Wolf

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…