The first time Dallas-born rapper Vanilla Ice’s one-hit-wonder “Ice Ice Baby” reached the airways was by mistake. A DJ in Atlanta had meant to play its A-Side counterpart, a cover of “Play that Funky Music.” But, what was done was done and afterward the request lines lit up. By November…
This year has taken far too much from us: lives, livelihoods and the ability to hug our loved ones, not to mention the shouted conversations with friends over the soothing noise of music at our favorite bar s. The last thing we need is to cede our chance to honor…
Last year, conservative influencer Bryson Gray launched a Twitter campaign called the #MAGACHALLENGE, in which President Donald Trump’s supporters showcase their musical chops (or lack thereof) by sharing videos of themselves spitting chauvinistic rap verses. This challenge generated so much steam that the president himself tweeted, “I will be announcing…
Trey Lewis’ song “Dicked Down in Dallas” — about an ex-girlfriend getting, well, dicked down in Dallas — is sitting at No. 3 on the iTunes chart. Yes, “Dicked Down in Dallas” is a real song with lyrics like, “Railed out in Raleigh, tag-teamed up in Tennessee, anal-ed in Austin,…
When Dallas native Taylor Crumpton received the opportunity to write about an album for a book series by New York Times-best selling author Shea Serrano, she knew she had to document Dallas’ influence on hip-hop. Serrano selected five journalists from a pool of applicants to each write a 3,000-word essay…
The opportunities for bands have been severely limited this past year because … do we really have to explain why at this point? It’s 2020. It’s what would happen if sadness broke the laws of quantum mechanics to become a measurable space in time. One annual showcase that hasn’t been…
When we talk about all the challenges 2020 has brought to livelihoods, few have faced bigger professional roadblocks than DJs. Takeout, delivery or curbside pickup doesn’t work for dance parties. Six feet of social distance channels a junior high dance, which was awkward enough the first time around. Virtual shows…
The holiday spirit is certainly in the air. Jaret and Kelly (Jaret Reddick from Bowling for Soup and Kelly Ogden of The Dollyrots) have released their new holiday song “Get this Christmas Right” along with a South Park-inspired video. The song captures all the fun and heart of Christmas with…
November was a quiet month for new music releases, but we did get a few surprise singles and albums from some of our favorite local acts. Country singer Bill Brimer’s debut album and Bobby Sessions popping up on Statik Selektah’s new album were just a couple of highlights during the…
What better time is there for us to celebrate the darkness than in 2020, the darkest year of them all? Halloween marked the release date of Dallas darkwave band SEVIT’s debut On the Edge of a Darker Place — an album that boldly declares the band’s place in the lineage…
North Texas natives Leon Bridges, Chris Harrison and Gary Patterson have joined forces to create a new fundraising effort to assist local residents in need. The effort was created by the Grammy award-winning musician, reality show host and football legend after the trio initially teamed up for a virtual fundraiser…
Streaming reigns in today’s music industry, and it’s for this reason that record labels are channeling their energy toward the one app that has somehow captured the spirit of Gen Z: TikTok. We’re well past explaining TikTok to our predominately millennial and Gen X audience, as we’ve done many times…
One of Dallas’s most beloved thrash metal bands, Power Trip, was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Metal Performance category. “Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe) – Live” from their 2020 release Live in Seattle: 05.28.2018 is being recognized just months after the tragic death of vocalist Riley Gale…
There’s an entire cottage industry of score composition for television shows and movies, and some of the best artists — such as Tangerine Dream, Wendy Carlos, Todd Rundgren and Giorgio Moroder — have become key players in this field. But there’s a world of difference between composing music to set…
There are many reasons Waffle House should be revered as a national icon and not just because it’s a cross-section of breakfast food and culture. Also, because of FEMA’s Waffle House Index and the fact that they’re open on Christmas Day because “some people don’t have a family, so they come…
Pandemic be damned, the self-acclaimed “Music’s Biggest Night” is making a return via livestream in 2021, and once again, North Texans have made the cut. The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be hosted by comedian and Daily Show host Trevor Noah on Jan. 31, “rain or shine, COVID-19 vaccine…
Although Austin claims to be the “Live Music Capital of The World,” Dallas has certainly carved out its spot in music history. Deep Ellum today may be an adult Disneyland full of dance clubs, retail shops and eateries with few live original music venues left, but once upon a time…
Local neo-soul outfit Bree & the Fellas’ sophomore album It Be Like That Sometimes…, released via State Fair Records, runs the gamut thematically from relationships to escapism to civil rights. Songwriter Breanna Parker weaves these themes together with her trademark conversational songwriting, each song feeling like a back-and-forth with the singer…
Out on Friday is Coping Mechanisms, the latest album from Grammy-nominated Tayla Parx. A follow-up to the Dallas-born rapper’s critically acclaimed 2019 debut We Need to Talk, the new album features singles “Residue” and “Dance Alone” — the latter was featured on Michelle Obama’s #BlackGirlMagic playlist. Out now is the…
On Nov. 4, news broke that former Uriah Heep keyboardist Ken Hensley died suddenly from a short illness at the age of 75. This came less than two months after the passing of the band’s drummer Lee Kerslake from cancer at 73. While it is technically true that Hensley was…
In a year that thwarted plans for veteran artists and new bands alike, Dallas’ Americana scene is as strong as ever. Here are the nominees for the 2020 Dallas Observer Music Awards’ Best Americana category. Nicholas Altobelli Perhaps one of the most prolific songwriters in Dallas, Nicholas Altobelli seems to…
You’d think that the first thing you’d get squared away before working on a David Bowie movie was, you know, his music. Apparently, that’s something that might have slipped the minds of the creative team behind Stardust. The upcoming film follows in the footsteps of successful recent musical biopics such…
