Some albums require a few listens before they sink in, but Get It On, the debut EP by Dallas’ Microphoner (the “I play all the instruments” moniker of Danny Malone), is the exact opposite. Jangly piano-pop rules this roost, replete with handclaps, mandolins and airy guitar riffs. Though poorly produced,…

Halloween officially began when Sparkle Pussy Barbie took the Club Clearview stage. Their bizarre, carnival-style take on Big Black’s industrial rock scared passers-by en route to the dance room next door, and those who stuck around quickly learned that Deathray Davies members Mike Middleton and Kevin Ingle brought nothing DRD-like…

Neko Case’s first live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, leans heavily upon its supporting cast. The semi-Canadian songstress often tours with only two extra players, making the full instrumentation on Tigers an unauthentic take on a typical Case show, but who’s complaining? Backing band the Sadies have an alt-country glory…

Midlake is a talkative group. The guys in this Denton band answer questions at length, cut up at all times and sound like the oldest gang of friends in the world. But there’s one exception: Their songwriter, lead singer Tim Smith, is glaringly quiet. For the short time he actually…

When I saw Pretty Girls Make Graves last March, the Seattle band looked dead. The then-recent loss of guitarist Nathan Thelen took a huge chunk out of the synth-driven post-punk group, as singer Andrea Zollo walked around the stage like she had lead in her shoes, and guitarist Jay Clark…

When Tahiti actually raps on his debut EP, The Birth of Whack, he sounds like a seasoned old-school pro. His delivery is tough, yet light; witty, yet straight-up. The Dallas MC spits syllables like a machine gun one second, only to goof off in laid-back fashion the next. Best are…

This Monday, my Smile wait will finally end. Ever since I discovered the beauty of Pet Sounds, I’ve been obsessed with the lost album that was to follow, and my rough recreation of the original Smile LP, made up of bootleg tapes, never really sated my hopes for the real…

Want to impress a naïve date in Dallas? Take her to a Lord Henry appearance and convince her you’re at a secret, unadvertised Strokes show. No hyperbole: LH copies the Strokes so blatantly they should mail royalty checks. Singer/guitarist Clinton Piper was a bit nasal with his Julian Casablancas impersonation,…

The first seconds of Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus could’ve gone so wrong: Banging guitar wails and gospel choir harmonies blast off at high volume as Nick Cave howls, “Get ready for love!” It reads like overblown VH1-ready fare, but after the boredom of Nocturama and the loss of founding…

The Gypsy Tea Room opted out of Friday night’s New Music Festival, choosing instead to feature three non-Dallas acts, and the gamble mostly paid off. Then again, a lineup this good isn’t exactly a “gamble.” North Carolina’s Rosebuds opened with an unexpected indie-rock recipe: three parts Britt Daniel and two…

The only thing I don’t mind about the annoying low-carb craze is the rise of Splenda. It’s a quick way to add punch to sweets without being too heavy. You could say I like Futureheads’ debut for the same reasons: Futureheads is crammed with sweet, poppy sounds that bounce off…

Feel like participating at a concert? If waving your hands in the air like you just don’t care sounds insufficient, see Mt. Eerie, who may very well drag you onstage and add you to the band’s choir. Mt. Eerie (formerly the Microphones) is really just Phil Elverum (formerly Phil Elvrum),…

Not a rock band, not a pop band, but not an orchestra, either: The Arcade Fire’s sprawling debut album, Funeral, wanders through too many genres to net a simple description, although “frickin’ amazing” might do the trick. In an era that expects buzz bands to add as many instruments as…

You don’t need to know about [DARYL] to figure out that the band’s latest album, Ohio, is something special. It’s a brave take on rock music whose dozens of instruments meld into sensible, glorious blasts rather than self-indulgent experiments. Lyrics reach for chaos, loss and hope with little strain, and…

Pregnant women get the weirdest cravings. One of our buddies was once sent out at three in the morning for a hollandaise run, while our own father kept nine flavors of ice cream handy at all times before we were born. But watch out if your laboring lady goes all-out…

It was nearly 10 years ago that Funland drummer Will Johnson first recorded under the moniker The Centro-matic Band, named as such because he played all the instruments on the songs. Centro-matic has since expanded into a four-piece and even seen a side project, but two years ago Johnson dropped…

Last year’s breakup of locals LCC broke my heart. Sure, any band’s split can be tough for its fans, but what cut me the deepest was the idea that a great album would never come out. See, LCC had debuted amazing songs in concert before calling it quits, and after…

The Beta Band broke up last month? Really? I could’ve sworn they were reborn as a better band, Menomena, whose debut album, I Am the Fun Blame Monster (self-released in 2003 but now being distributed nationally), is the kind of no-genre genius that would fit just as well in a…

Oil and water. Michael Jackson and children. Punk rock and popularity. They all mix badly, but no combination is worse than the watered-down punk rock that thrives at Hot Topic and TRL. The best punk sticks to the DIY ethos and requires a little digging to find, but that doesn’t…

Five mothers tuck in their kids at night, sneak out to bars and play garage-rock. Sounds like an Archie comic rip-off, but Frump really exists, and I had to see what the band sounded like. Too bad I stupidly overestimated their start time on Friday. When I walked into Bar…

I can already hear Gibby Haynes fans bitching about how his new band, His Problem, sounds nothing like The Butthole Surfers’ insane psychedelia of yore. It’s not that I don’t agree; I, too, miss the crazy days of Locust Abortion Technician. But come on. The Surfers lost their acid-drenched edge…