It’s tough to complain too much about the sporadic rain that’s literally watering down the second afternoon of the 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival. Texas needs to drink, y’all. No, it’s not all bad. Another upside: The wet ground makes you feel like less of a jerk for sparking…
Kanye WestBud Light Stage — Austin City LimitsSeptember 16, 2011Better than: what you probably heard about the show, unless you heard it from Kanye. It didn’t take long for Kanye West to buy into his own hype last night, as he headlined the first night of the 2011 Austin City…
Off in the distance, the song of the summer, Foster the People’s can’t-stop-won’t-stop “Pumped Up Kicks,” is blasting away over Zilker Park, blaring from the P.A. over at the Google+ (nee Dell) Stage. There’s a marvelous tag-team effort at play here: Foster the People don’t want the summer to end,…
If it seems like we’ve been waiting forever for the new Sarah Jaffe release, it’s because we kind of have been. Or, at least, we’ve sure been reporting on it for a while — dating back to July 2010, when Jaffe told us that the new disc was likely going…
There are at least two notable local music connections to noted pop experimentalist Todd Rundgren. The first is the fact that Neon Indian’s chillwaves rode not one, but two Rundgren samples on their debut album Psychic Chasms, with “Deadbeat Summer” using some of Rundgren’s “Izzat Love?” track and “Local Joke”…
Earlier this week, the Granada Theater announced a new show coming to its room on Saturday, October 8. The show will feature touring headliners Portugal. The Man, plus an opening set from Dallas locals Air Review. Specifically, the inclusion of Air Review is where things get interesting: Back in August, the…
You know Aaron Eiland’s work. Dude is clearly good at what he does. Here, the Dallas-based graphic designer proves it again…
Over on the Star-Telegram’s music blog this afternoon, music critic Preston Jones posted a nice little Q&A with Hudson Moore, the Fort Worth-based country singer-songwriter who has been tapped to be the very first performer at this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival. It’s either an awesome honor or kind…
Not to keep touting each and every Thursday night gig at Rio Room, but tonight’s offering at the Travis Street lounge is again an intriguing one. After recent Thursday night sets from Diplo, Shuttle (the DJ moniker of new Dallas resident Nate Donmoyer of Passion Pit) and others, the Thursday…
No, James T. Fallon did not join Neon Indian for their performance on his Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show last night. But he did geek out on them. Yes, again.This time, Fallon’s mind was blown by the band’s new PAL 198X synth, which he gave a nice plug before…
Smith Westerns, SundressDadaSeptember 14, 2011Better than: High School Musical. “Sorry, you guys,” a flustered Cullen Omori, the band’s 21-year-old frontman and eldest member, appealed to the crowd. “All our shit just broke. Simultaneously.”He and the rest of his band crouched on the stage floor, fiddling here, plugging and unplugging there…
If you read much about the history of downtown Dallas, an unsettling truth comes to light: Deep Ellum, for the most part, has long been destroyed. The original neighborhood where blues legends Lead Belly, T-Bone Walker and Blind Lemon Jefferson made their names was specific — a stretch of Elm…
Another show not mentioned here, but that’s worth noting nonetheless, is happening tonight. Happens every Wednesday night, actually — the weekly jam session at the Prophet Bar hosted by Erykah Badu musical director R.C. Williams.I’ve written about it a lot — last week, when Badu, Mos Def and Talib Kweli…
Earlier this afternoon, the Denton-sprung Neon Indian posted a note to its Facebook page teasing their return performance tonight on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon: “I think Fallon is joining the band…” the note read. Considering how geeked out on the band Fallon was the last time the band performed…
Sad news out of Paris yesterday, as French electronic producer Dj Mehdi died at the age of 34 after a roof collapsed in his home. The Ed Banger Records-backed DJ had collaborated with a number of big names over the years, including works with Daft Punk and Chromeo (see above)…
Lots of Dave Navarro-related excitement in the local Twittersphere this weekend, as the Jane’s Addiction guitarist and band mercenary (Red Hot Chili Peppers, most notably) was apparently bouncing all around town, hitting Billiard Bar last night and the Double Wide and the Deep Ellum BuzzBrews location on Saturday night, and…
It’s coming up on two weeks now since we dropped the above bomb on you and announced that we’d somehow cobbled together the above four bold-faced names — Toadies, Old 97’s, Centro-matic and Sarah Jaffe — to headline our 2011 Dallas Observer Music Awards showcase on Saturday, October 15, in…
Have you seen the above billboard around town? I haven’t, but apparently it exists, and for the sole purpose of telling AT&T mobile customers how they can get into tomorrow night’s Gym Class Heroes show at the Granada Theater for free. Essentially, if you’re an AT&T customer, you just shoot…
Lots of small items of note worth passing along today before we wrap up the week. So, let’s tackle ’em — in brief form!For starters, lest you haven’t already heard, the love-’em-or-hate-’em Black Tie Dynasty is back, sort of! Two ex-BTDers — frontman Cory Watson, keys man Brian McCorquodale –…
Seems like we’ve been waiting weeks — far longer than we expected — for the scheduled Sunday, October 23, performance at the Kessler Theater from Dallas product Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, to finally sell out. Well, today it most likely will, promises the Oak Cliff theater’s artistic…
Lots of Spune news to share today, the first of which being that the company is hosting its “Fall Social” and return-to-school bash tonight, but in a new location. In Deep Ellum. At Dada. And, notably, not in Denton, where it’s been held in the past. For one thing, that’s…
Earlier this week, the Granada Theater debuted a series of posters on their Facebook page that aim to honor some local music heroes and maybe shed a little light on the their building’s 65-year history. So far, three in this “Support Local Music” series of “Granada Propaganda” designs have been released…
