Good luck finding anything typical in Fishboy’s world. According to Little D, the sophomore album from his Denton lo-fi pop quartet, his world is made up of Christmas trees that come back to life, Game Boys that get lost at the beach and nonstop high-fives with his Chinese friends. Even…
My Chemical Romance had just finished the first song of its set–the catchy, sneering anthem of angst “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”–when limp bodies started floating to the front of the crowd and collapsing into the arms of security guards. “OK, OK, everybody, take three steps back,” lead singer Gerard…
How the heck does a musician get some press in Dallas? It’s not quite the million-dollar question–that’s the one about fame, groupies and Hummers full of cash–but for local bands, it’s a start. There’s no scientific answer. Sometimes, a band has an interesting story. Sometimes, a band’s unique music deserves…
Robes, say, can you see: Do you think the two-dozen-plus members of The Polyphonic Spree aren’t vibrant enough? Do you think rainbow-colored robes look downright drab? Then see the happiest band on Earth play at the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra’s Concert in the Garden series on Friday, where they’ll perform…
Say it with me: SOOF-yahn. Last year, you could still get away with mispronouncing the symphonic-folk songwriter’s first name; his previous two records, the sprawling Greetings From Michigan and the religious, banjo-filled Seven Swans, were gorgeous works that, in spite of critical praise, never received the nationwide attention they deserved…
Telling Sublime fans to not buy Look at All the Love We Found is an exercise in futility. Doesn’t matter if the tribute album is a bottom-scraping jumble of cover songs; fans would certainly light up a joint in response and express their love for Bradley Nowell fo’ evah, brah…
Crusty, one-time teen idol Paul Anka doesn’t deserve much credit for Rock Swings, a semi-successful marriage of modern pop-rock and swing. The big-band arrangements by Patrick Williams, Randy Kerber and John Clayton are such skillful re-creations of classic swing that they hardly require Anka’s participation. The highlight is “Smells Like…
Back from the grave is Mazinga Phaser, the band at the center of the late-’90s Denton space-rock vortex. On Friday, founder and local space-rock chieftain Mwanza Dover unveiled his “Mazinga Phaser II” project to commemorate the band’s 10-year anniversary. Spacey video graphics and droning feedback recalled old Melodica festivals, and…
On a Denton-filled night at Lowest Greenville’s Cavern, the welcoming committee must’ve skipped town. The double-booked show forced three out-of-town bands to cut their sets to ridiculously short times, and equipment trouble was so bad that Erik Thompson, lead singer of headliner Lo-Fi Chorus, was continually shocked by his microphone…
Mara Lee Miller’s voice is a wondrous instrument, combining the breathy beauty of Chan Marshall and Hope Sandoval with the childlike wonder of Joanna Newsom. After receiving her demo at a tour stop in Denton, singer-songwriter Damien Jurado was so impressed that he invited her to a Seattle studio to…
Perhaps it’s thanks to some high-profile collaborators, but southern Gothic singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt compels in a way he hasn’t in years on Gothic Bells, the latest in a long series of albums by the prolific Georgian. Producer John Chelew, who’s worked similar magic on records by Charlie Musselwhite and the…
The Majestic Theatre, a venue so classy we wouldn’t be surprised if it curtsied, pours some out for the homies this weekend when it welcomes the Powerballin’ Chingy and self-proclaimed thug Trick Daddy. Chingy, from St. Louis and proud of it, pimp-walked his way onto MTV a couple of years…
Bay Area psych-rock freakazoids Comets on Fire do a pretty good job of blowing up your skirt on record. Blue Cathedral, their 2004 Sub Pop release, careens from ’60s folk strumming to full-blown noise-core sine waving more quickly than you can pack a bowl of, well, whatever. But the band…
You’d be forgiven for pegging Sarah Sharp as an eccentric import. Odd time signatures, obscure arrangements and detailed scene descriptions make Fourth Person a good match for the European venues she traipsed through last month, but the soulful turns of her songs give her Austin address away. Jazzy romps like…
It’s a quarter past 9 at night, early by New York City concert standards, but headliner Spoon has already taken the stage at downtown’s Webster Hall. The band is fiddling with its instruments, raising and lowering mike stands, taking preliminary swigs of beer–all the standard pre-concert stuff. It’s not taking…
The Shenida Weave No-Lye Mixshow sounds like nothing on mainstream radio. Weave, the over-the-top persona of a “queer Georgia boy” in San Francisco, spins hot dance mixes from Gwen Stefani to Kaskade, and between cuts, he recounts everything from drunken escapades to news from Europe. “The Euro is a very…
Last Wednesday afternoon, 102.1 The Edge’s Jessie Jessup read the evening’s concert calendar, encouraging her audience to see local bands like Sorta and Chris Holt and touring bands like Aqueduct and Easy Action. I couldn’t help but laugh. This was week two of my three-week Edge binge, and I wondered:…
Long ‘View: Deep Ellum isn’t exactly known for lengthy life spans. New clubs like Indigo and Club Hush have closed down in the past few weeks, and the district’s been tarnished with a reputation that isn’t helping the remaining clubs. Thus, it’s not only good news but outright astounding that…
Foo Fighters first double-disc album sticks to the straight-and-narrow. Yeah, I know, big shockersinger-songwriter Dave Grohl has made a career out of delivering some of the most solid, if uninspiring, American pop-rock in the past decade, but In Your Honor is such a snoozer that it makes all other Foo…
The cover of this London quartet’s 2003 debut, Vehicles & Animals, depicts a stairway of trash spiraling toward heaven–an apt visual metaphor for the band’s colorful sound, which cobbles together elements from American and English alt-rock of the past decade. (“El Salvador,” Vehicles’ opener, badly lifts a verse from Avril…
Summer wouldn’t be summer without Fountains of Wayne. Sure, hot dogs would be just as carcinogenic, steering wheels would still sear flesh, young lovers would still get VD, and yet summer wouldn’t be quite as special without the finely observed details and lacerating hooks of those New Jersey troubadours. Famous…
Blessed with exquisite musical taste and an enviably large record collection, Four Tet (British producer Kieran Hebden) has maximized those assets over four increasingly accomplished albums while incidentally becoming the foremost proponent of “folktronica.” Four Tet’s mastery of the laptop and sampler culminates on Everything Ecstatic, a strange yet beguiling…
