BallerStatus.com, which bills itself as an urban lifestyle network, just posted a lengthy Q&A feature on producer, MC, Strange Fruit Project member, Cannabinoid member and all-around hip-hop man about town Symbolyc One , talking to the Waco native about his work with Erykah Badu, his collaborations with Speech of Arrested…
Roky Erickson, The Black Angels, Dove Hunter Granada Theater October 4, 2008 Better than: Sitting around my house, listening to records by legendary loons like Daniel Johnston and Nick Drake instead of seeing a real kook live. Roky walked with a zombie last night. (Dylan Hollingsworth) Although it’s almost a…
Let’s call a spade a spade here, folks and admit that there have been better weekends of shows than this one. Hell, four of the would-be best shows of the weekend took place last night (Jonathan Richman, The Whigs/The Kooks, Ra Ra Riot/The Morning Benders/Walter Meego, and Mom/Voices & Organs/Florene)!…
(Meredith Hebenstreit) Let’s just go ahead and put it out there. With the exception of meeting peeps at live shows, few other places have consistently given me fodder for this column than Myspace Music. It’s like going to Wal-Mart, for me; I’ve got my mind set on what I’ve come…
Jonathan Richman Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios October 2, 2008 Better than: Catching a more stoic artist pretend to be unaffected by the crowd. No strap. No pick. No problem. (Pete Freedman) Imagine, for a moment, that you’re not in Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios. The concrete floors and walls and overall…
…and, OK, I’ll say it: The game kinda sucks. I don’t really understand why sometimes I get a perfect score and sometimes I get a “No Good!” when it seems like I’m scratching the decks at just the right time. The press release announcing the game doesn’t really give me…
This week we’ve got another great poster from John Iskander’s booking company, Parade of Flesh. Von Dada’s design, which shapes band names and dates into skulls, is so good that Parade is using it for three separate shows at The Lounge on Elm Street: Bible of the Devil on October…
This Sunday, Superpages.com Center will host something called the Music Builds Tour, which aims to benefit local affiliates of Habitat for Humanity. Now, that’s a worthy cause and all, helping low income folks build their own homes, but one has to ask if it is worth suffering through acts as…
Smile, guys! You should be sorta pleased about this. (Mike Fuentes) PopMatters.com, the same people responsible for the exhaustive Salim Nourallah we linked to, um, back in April (for those of you scoring at home), bring us a much more concise take on Sorta’s upcoming self-titled fifth disc today, focusing…
Astronautalis’ “The Trouble Hunters” paints a vivid picture of The Battle of Trenton. You’ll find my glowing review of Astronautalis’ new album, Pomegranate, in today’s issue. One of the songs I mention is “The Trouble Hunters,” which puts the listener in George Washington’s camp as he and his men prepare…
I’m not gonna say the “Quit Your Day Job” interview Stereogum posted with Midlake’s Eric Pulido today necessarily treads through any undiscovered territory–it doesn’t–but it is still a nicely packaged piece that allows fans and readers a quick entree into Pulido’s two non-band entities: Cappulido (his fair-trade, home delivery coffee…
If you haven’t yet seen it, let me please point you toward what is probably the greatest piece of music journalism ever produced by the Dallas Morning News. Here’s the gist of it: Three members of the Van, Texas, high school twirl team have been suspended from performing at the…
Given the amount of love that we here at the Dallas Observer tossed the Dallas Theater Center’s way over its The Who’s Tommy—a cover story previewing the show (“Enter Stage Right,” August 28), a glowing review of the show (“Who Knew,” September 4) and multiple blog posts under both our…
Today, in music news that, really, comes as absolutely no surprise to anyone who’s ever bought or downloaded an mp3, Dallas-based company Crystal Clear has announced the closing of its distribution department. “At the end of last year, we deleted about 90 percent of our catalog, or 450 titles,” explains…
Kool Herc, the father of hip hop, will make his first-ever Dallas appearance Friday, October 31, at minc with Busy B. The booking coup was announced less than a week after Instrumental Entertainment bought the Exposition Park club. Creo Jones, marketing director for Instrumental, said the appearance will include an…
Robert Wilonsky came across the above trailer this morning for the upcoming (although I don’t know when it’s due) documentary called Dallas Electric: The Texas Blues Story, a film currently being produced by The Still Kickin’ Foundation. Yes, that’s famed area blues musician Hash Brown in the clip, but the…
Someone got all arty with his angles last night… (Patrick Michels) As Lance Lester wrote in last week’s print edition, L.A.-based indie pop act The Broken West is “one of the greatest unsung indie acts around.” So, on that note, our new-ish Web editor, Patrick Michels, decided to hop on…
Cut Copy, The Presets Granada Theater September 30, 2008 Better Than: Chocolate-covered kittens. Last Night, the Granada Theater was buzzing with an eclectic array of people and fashion senses: clubbers, frat boys, and of course, a handful of aspiring hipster, perhaps hoping to reign over the less fashionable show-goers. Unfortunately…
I dunno. Maybe I’m overreacting a bit. But, surely, I can’t be the only person who’s excited about the fact that various members of two GREAT (but kinda-on-hiatus) area bands, Pleasant Grove and Baboon, have teamed up to form a new band called The Boom Boom Box. And I can’t…
When it rains, it pours. (Erica Fellicella) Seems Dallas’ own little alt-country diva Kristy Kruger is out on a national tour with former Verve Pipe frontman Brian Vander Ark. And, actually, Kruger isn’t only opening the shows; she and her two able sidemen (drummer Richard Hewett and guitarist Dylan Sneed)…
Way back in March, about a month after I’d arrived in town, I met with Tami Thomsen and Dale Brock of Kirtland Records. Nothing too formal, just a few drinks at the Idle Rich, I believe, to talk about what each of us did and what each of us hoped…
Let’s be honest with ourselves: The 13-year-in-the-making Guns N’ Roses maybe-masterpiece Chinese Democracy probably won’t be coming out on November 25, no matter the reports. But if–if!–the recent rumors of a Best Buy-exclusive release are, indeed, true, you can credit a Dallas-held Best Buy vendor convention for being the source…
