As great of a year as 2014 was for country music throughout North Texas, many of the headlines were dominated by veterans, both young and grizzled. While 2015 will surely see some fine albums from this area’s better time-tested honky-tonk talents, there are a handful of fresher names we’re particularly…
It’s been more than two decades since Warlock, the godfathers of Texas metal, dominated stages at places like Rascals, The Ritz and Tombstone Factory. But this year marked their return with a reunion show at Diamond Jim’s Saloon in August. Now, with a new CD in the works, the band…
Corey Adamson, aka RCA, is a true soldier of the ever bustling, forever hustling Dallas drum and bass scene. It’s a scene that is still going strong for well over a decade. His DC9 mix pays heavy tribute to the earliest jungle roots of drum and bass, a tastefully old…
Oh New Year’s Eve. The alcoholic in us all thinks of you as “amateur’s night,” all gaudy drunkenness and desperation. Why does it always happen like this? Well, New Year’s is inevitably a microcosm of our year past: We always head out with very high expectations and have them crushed…
2014 has been a pretty good year for Dallas music. It’s a bit of a cliche for the members of any music community to say their scene is “on the rise,” but around here it’s pretty hard to argue with. Bands have signed to labels, venues have opened, festivals have…
Understandably, life is a bit crazy for the fast-traveling members of Seryn right now. Even after driving for hours on end following a sold-out show in Telluride, Colorado on Sunday night, making the choice on where to have dinner Monday night wasn’t a completely easy one. Most of them wanted…
Every week, Free Man owner John Jay Myers and his band, the Free Loaders, play a gig at The Standard Pour, and every week he makes the same joke: “If you like what you hear, put $100 in the tip jar. If you don’t like what you hear, $20 will…
Radio, the long lasting delivery service of news, drama and music, keeps trudging along despite endless challenges from new services both physical and digital. And while it seems people are ready to write off the medium, in Dallas the sound waves are still going strong. (Look no further than the…
Lights All Night Dallas Convention Center Friday and Saturday, December 26 and 27, 2014 “The thing that has been most notable in the past two or three years is the decline of EDM” –DJ Earworm discussing his year end Year of Pop mix with Billboard And we watched with bemused…
Here at the Dallas Observer, we don’t have an incredible grasp of time travel – in fact, we still couldn’t explain the plot of Primer to save our lives. That being said, it’s still fun to feign premonition and guess which young movers and shakers are set to become breakout…
Well, what is your resolution? You don’t know yet? Get your house in order sirs and madams, it’s time to get ready for the New Year. Fortunately, even if you haven’t decided how to better yourself in 2015, there are at least plenty of ways to party this week. Spoon,…
The Christmas season is over. As is Hannakuh and Kwanzaa is just starting up. Shout out to all the people who are celebrating and celebrated their respective winter season holidays. The perennial party evening, New Years Eve is right around the corner, but before you hit that move, there’s a…
For most of the year DJ Santa Claus is better known for his infamous day job, but in his off time he plays secret gigs under fake names to the delight of many club and festival goers. The popularity of his mixes influences people’s listening habits every winter. Although he…
Improvisation is a bold tool of the trade that some live performers would just as soon leave to jazz musicians or comedy troupes. Abandoning rehearsal and preparation for spontaneity could expose one’s true creativity, or lack thereof. But Kenny Withrow, guitarist of North Texas’ prominent Grateful Dead tribute act, Forgotten…
Normally Christmas carols are sung by tuneless people in the street in the hope of getting some money. Well, not in this case. Denton’s Polyphonic Spree met up with our good friends at Globe Trek Productions for a Christmas party singalong to put you in the festive spirit. Even the…
And so it ended. Last night almost two decades of brotherhood came to a close at sold-out Dan’s Silverleaf amidst cheers, tears, smiles and hugs. It’s hard to sum up the importance of Centro-matic to Denton (and to North Texas as a whole), but I think the clearest indication is…
Happy holidays from DC9. The Christmas is this week, but if you don’t celebrate the holiday, that’s chill. We wish you well. There’s a lull in shows this week and you can thank Jesus and Santa for that mess, but lull doesn’t mean nothing. There’s still plenty of activities with…
When we come to the end of a year and look back at all the great things that happened in Dallas music, there are some easy ways to measure it all: Concerts, albums, songs, even music videos. And in some ways, those are the most obvious indicators of a successful…
Red Bull Sound Select Yearender With Anamanaguchi, Mystery Skulls and Wrestlers Trees, Dallas Thursday, December 18, 2014 It was damn cold Thursday night, but an intensely spirited crowd still came out and filled Trees for the second night of Red Bull Sound Select’s massive Yearender blowout. After hosting the first…
Big Bang With Erykah Badu and DJ Sober Beauty Bar, Dallas Thursday, December 18, 2014 Sometimes it seems as if everyone in Dallas is playing an endless game of “Six degrees of separation” from Erykah Badu. It’s more like two degrees, since it appears everybody has a friend’s cousin who…
“Music videos are dead!” Or so says the asshole who is too old to understand how the internet works. Yes, MTV is dead, but that does not mean that the backbone of its original format is dead. Sure, TRL is long gone, and no one spends millions on shoots anymore,…
On the docket this weekend is a trio of Centro-matic’s last shows at Dan’s Silverleaf. The final show is on Sunday with Daniel Markham and Patterson Hood opening. If you have some way too get tickets to these coveted and long sold-out shows, we suggest that night because it’s the…
