By now, if you were at all interested in “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott–either as a fan of Pantera and/or Damageplan, or simply from a newshound’s perspective–you’ve no doubt read something about the guitar hero’s public memorial at the Arlington Convention Center on December 14. I’ve read some of those stories, too…
It feels real nice to deliver the news that a veteran band that has influenced hundreds of acts during its tenure has released its final album, and that the album sounds every bit as good as the records it was releasing 10 years ago. Luna’s Rendezvous, its swan song (the…
Remembered as much for being a vital part of Wilco as for being unceremoniously dumped by Jeff Tweedy in the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Jay Bennett has gone from feast to famine as quickly as anyone in recent memory. The Beloved Enemy, his second solo effort…
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…
If anyone else had recorded Speak, critics would regard the album as a credible hybrid of electro-throb, rocker-chick attitude and Top 40 ear candy. But because it’s recorded by Lindsay Lohan–she of the Disneyfied acting résumé, habitual tabloid appearances and barely legal status–many will dismiss it as nothing more than…
“Two parts wimpy, one part atmospheric, a little dash of pastoral imagery…all that crap.” That’s how smart-aleck front man Dean Wareham describes Galaxie 500’s sound to an interviewer after a terrific 1990 in-studio performance taped for British television–one of the more engaging moments on this hit-or-miss two-DVD, four-hour visual documentary…
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 nearly 6 p.m. outside The Clubhouse–Dallas’ premier all-nude strip joint–and just in time for their nightly broadcast, two newscasters speak into their cameras: “Tonight a community gathers outside a local club to mourn the loss of metal legend ‘Dimebag’ Darrell Abbott…” It’s a solemn note for a character known…
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…
The shooting that occurred in Columbus, Ohio, last week isn’t as shocking as it is sickening. Ever since Lee Harvey Oswald took aim from a musty downtown book depository, modern society has been all too familiar with the effect of one man and his gun. Twenty-four years to the day…
For the record: Congratulations to Brave Combo, who received their sixth Grammy nomination in the Best Polka category for their new album Let’s Kiss. Their 25th anniversary album, Let’s Kiss contains such chestnuts as a polka version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” and the band’s indelible take on…
When you consider that he’s titled previous albums God’s Son and Nastradamus, it’s not terribly surprising to find that the latest by New York rapper Nas is a double disc called Street’s Disciple whose cover features the MC proudly occupying Jesus’ seat at a modestly bling-crusted Last Supper. Once you…
There is a great but untrue story of pre-Clash Joe Strummer going into a bar and spotting Graham Parker. Strummer says he saw the Sex Pistols a week before. Asked what he thought of the band, Strummer replies, “Whole new thing, man.” Hearing Devotchka provides the same exhilarating rush of…
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…
The only real thrill of Under Blackpool Lights, the Detroit blues-garage act’s first DVD, is getting a closer-than-normal look at the freaky faces Jack White makes when he’s singing. Over the course of these 26 tunes, filmed on a typically grainy stock at Blackpool’s cavernous Empress Ballroom, the singer-guitarist scowls,…
A month ago, the upcoming release of the new Wu-Tang Clan live DVD offered a glimmer of hope that the group might come back together. With the recent death of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, it instead exists as, quite possibly, the last piece of Wu-Tang Clan product we’ll ever see. Shot…
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,…
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…
Personally, I’d like an iPod mini. One of those cute suckers, just $249 and the perfect gift from any aspiring local artist wanting to “get ahead.” (I prefer pink, by the way.) And yet, we can’t all afford such luxurious gifts for our favorite little music lover. Some of you…
Last weekend, I joined MySpace. It wasn’t easy. For weeks people had been telling me about the Web site, the latest trendy wasteland for college kids and computer nerds, but I’d resisted joining–part Internet cynicism, part contrarian nature, the same portion of me that refuses to watch The Sopranos. And…
If you haven’t been watching The Battle for Ozzfest–and unless your Monday night is as lame as mine, I assume you haven’t been–here’s an update: We’re seven episodes into the season, and Dallas’ Marc Serrano of A Dozen Furies is still going strong. The good news is that of the…
Gwen Stefani’s obsession with material wealth borders on the pathological on Love, Angel, Music, Baby, the No Doubt front woman’s solo debut: She has her “million-dollar contract,” she wants to “clean out Vivienne Westwood in my Galliano gown,” she’s “luxurious like Egyptian cotton.” This is tiresome rhetoric, particularly from someone…
