Ideally, before reading this review, you would have already played Before the Dawn Heals Us at exceedingly high volume on the best speakers you could find. Sure, that would make reading difficult–seeing as how your mind would be blown to bits–but opening track “Moonchild” works much better without knowing that…
Dallas, what is wrong with you? As of press time, tickets are still on sale for Saturday’s Arcade Fire show; other cities would murder for a chance to see the boisterous, symphonic band behind Pitchfork’s top-rated album of 2004, Funeral. “We booked a show [in San Francisco] and it sold…
If comparing Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst to Bob Dylan seemed like a stretch before, then take a look at his latest two-album release, which may be the LP equivalent of Dylan’s infamous “Royal Albert Hall” concert. Omaha’s 24-year-old musical savant has ridden waves of praise for heartfelt, Americana-filled albums, but…
“Best show of the week” could be a stretch, but “most interesting show of the week” without question. Jad Fair sat in with the biggest DIY band of the past 25 years, Half Japanese, and made a career out of ignoring the notion that talent is necessary to rock. The…
Dallas drummers don’t get enough credit. The metroplex is home to amazing skin-smiths, and while Adam Vanderkolk may not necessarily be the best to highlight during such a discussion, he plays a crucial role on The Hourly Radio’s debut EP. You won’t hear much in the way of crazy fills…
It’s our job to get excited about famous events with local ties. Sports teams winning championships, TV shows based on our city, JFK’s death–good or bad, we love it. That’s why we have a special fondness for former Poison lead singer Bret Michaels. Did you know he wrote “Every Rose…
New Year’s Eve concerts? No thanks. Overpriced tickets and drunken crowds are hardly worth a free glass of champagne, but the worst comes when the music stops while couples sneak midnight kisses. Lucky for bitter, single music fans, the Gypsy Tea Room concert on the day before New Year’s Eve…
Local music didn’t take its true form for me until the year 2000. I’d heard great bands and great albums around here for years, but until I found Everything You Thought Was Right Was Wrong Today, I naïvely assumed local bands were less significant than bigger indie bands around the…
Austin’s Grand Champeen puts on such exciting rock concerts that they shame the band’s albums. Thus, it was a bit odd to hear singer-guitarist Channing Lewis open the show by saying, “We’ll be playing some new songs tonight. Not that any of y’all care.” Actually, the crowd did: Champeen fans…
It’s been a banner year for Sam Beam, thanks largely to his band Iron & Wine’s touching musical cameo in Garden State. The attention resulted in serious sales for his latest album, Our Endless Numbered Days, which proves fans can never get too much of a sensitive singer and his…
When I first heard Autolux’s Future Perfect, I checked the CD for a copyright date. 2004? No way. This album sounds trapped in Matador Records’ golden years, when FP’s slow semi-grunge would’ve fit somewhere between Pavement and Helium. Then again, Autolux has encountered many delays en route to this album,…
In the spirit of Spune Productions, known for its diverse indie-rock catalog, Denton’s Silver Arrows were the perfect start to the promotion group’s Christmas concert. The genre-hopping quintet went all over the map–surf-rock, jazz, Latin, fluff-pop–but the catchy, punk-meets-Zappa mess came together so well, largely because of dual-lead guitar lines…
Critics loved to believe that Pantera made music for slack-jawed, beer-guzzling stereotypes. But in reality, I was the target demographic for the group–a wimpy, pissed-off 12 year-old in the suburbs. When I moved back to Dallas for middle school, the preppy kids quickly tagged me as the isolated nerd, and…
It looks like the end of the world in here. Technological debris is scattered all around–stacks of computer cases, cables that would stretch for miles if hooked end-to-end, hundreds of adapters, chips and motherboards–and Paul Slocum digs through the middle of it to find a keyboard controller for his second…
“Everyone knew Zack was gay. Admit it.” With those few words, Dustin Diamond screws with my head. What’s Screech from Saved by the Bell trying to pull? Back in the ’90s, I watched SBTB three times a day, memorized entire episodes and still never picked up on that possibility. But…
“There are family things that I should’ve attended to, but I said, ‘No. You knew what you were getting into when you got involved with me.'” Those words are as close as metal mastermind Kerry King, guitarist and co-songwriter for Slayer, comes to opening up about his two-decade career. Family…
Looking for an awe-inspiring concert but can’t wait for AC/DC to burn through town with a 500-foot-tall inflatable devil? Perhaps a change of gears in the form of Junior Brown will suit your tastes. No, the country legend doesn’t tour with pyrotechnics, but he does play his half guitar, half…
What’s a rapper to do when he opens a hip-hop concert to only eight people? In the case of Crossing Ellum’s King, he offers the small crowd free champagne in Styrofoam cups. Though a kind gesture, it was hardly necessary, as King’s charisma and delivery didn’t require a drop of…
Two years ago, you couldn’t turn a corner without running into a garage-rock band. Any group that came close to a “garage” description jumped on the bandwagon, but while those bands fell after the fad bottomed out, Memphis’ Lost Sounds remained hidden, and released three albums of what’s better described…
Call me a cheap bastard, but I usually have no qualms about illegally padding my music collection by downloading MP3s. Still, I’m not made of stone. When a ragingly good band finds its way into my hard drive, my guilt catches up, and my wallet comes flying out of my…
With this long-awaited box set of rarities, a ’90s underground rocker who died en route to musical greatness will finally be immortalized. But the similarities between Kurt Cobain and Mark Sandman end there: The Boston indie music legend took his cues not from Mudhoney and The Pixies but from the…
Yanni DiFranco, Megaforce Five and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, The Pink Bullets, Wombstone Pizza, The Kim Jong Illness. That’s not a list of code names for the next American military operation, but rather the bands that played the sixth installment of Rock Lottery. Confused? Here’s the summary: Last Saturday,…
