This week’s mixtape brings the focus onto scene vet Josh Kynd. As a DJ, producer, promoter, label owner and vinyl retailer, he has been a cornerstone of the Dallas scene for two decades. Along with his partners Jason Ramirez and Johnny Leake, he runs the Our House Collective, which has…
Some say he was larger than life, a legend who always stood up for the underdog. He was the type of legend who’d walk into a club in some random city, join a local band on stage and play for 15 minutes as if he were just another member. With…
It’s late on a Thursday evening in early November, and as the setting sun fills the sky, an old gray sedan glides down Interstate 35. Tiny Texas towns whisk by: Abbot, Milford and, home of the oh-so-famous kolache heaven Czech Stop, West. Get lost scrolling through your favorite social media…
In just a few more days, it all happens: The 26th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards. This coming Saturday, we’ll round up more than 60 of our favorite bands from North Texas and cram them all into venues around Deep Ellum for the Chevy Music Showcase North Texas Presents the…
One of the most challenging periods in the development of any musician is known as “the plateau.” It’s when the musician’s initial approach to his instrument leads to a dead end, a dearth of inspiration and progression that can be extremely frustrating. Some musicians get so fed up during the…
Oftentimes when we feature an artist on the ongoing Globe Trek Productions busking series, it’s someone who’s local or whom at least has ties to Texas. That could mean local rapper Blue, the Misfit, or it could mean Austin-based singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves. But sometimes, as with our most recent episode…
Tonight the Kessler Theater plays host to small bit of North Texas music history as Centro-matic embark on their last together as a band. As things stand, it’s set to be their final appearance in Dallas, and for the Kessler’s artistic director Jeffrey Liles it’s an important occasion, a bit…
Crown & Harp 18th Anniversary Party Lower Greenville, Dallas Sunday, November 30, 2014 In Dallas, catching shows with stacked bills is normally confined to the few hallowed blocks of Deep Ellum. Rich in history and deep with its repertoire of club venues, Deep Ellum is the cornerstone of live music…
Lana Del Rey and Courtney Love go way back. All the way back, in fact, to that time that LDR did her cover of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” and Love tweeted, “You know the song is about my Vagina, right?” Well, apparently such are the things that lasting friendships are…
With the 26th annual Dallas Observer Music Awards just around the corner — in fact, the band showcase happens this Saturday night all around Deep Ellum — we’ve been spending the past several weeks highlighting some of the nominees for this year’s awards. And when we say that these artists…
FKA twigs With Boots Trees, Dallas Friday, November 28, 2014 Some see FKA twigs as the savior of R&B. At the very least, some kind of futurist shape of the genre. Others see her as simply a revamp of trip hop, an anachronistic innovation come full circle. And at least…
We hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Now it’s time to usher in the Christmas season, which will certainty be shoved down your throat for the next four weeks. This can be annoying, but let it be known: If you don’t like Christmas music you’re just fighting things…
Wait a minute, what are you doing on the Internet today? Shouldn’t you still be staying as far away from rest of the world as possible? Oh, right, it’s Black Friday. So the whole family thing is kind of already out the window again, isn’t it. In that case, there…
FKA Twigs With Boots, 8 p.m., Friday, November 28, at Trees, 2709 Elm St., 214-741-1122 or treesdallas.com, Sold out. Whether you think she’s the next art-pop game-changer or simply a trip-hop vestige, FKA Twigs is one of the most-discussed artists of the year. Twigs followed 2013’s breakout EP2 with the…
If you spend much time at Crown & Harp these days, chances are you tend to associate the place with Moody Fuqua. He’s there pretty well every night, and while his job is technically general manager and talent buyer, you can often catch him slinging drinks behind the bar. Over…
Jason Vasilas has been mixing it up on the decks under the alias JV for almost a decade and a half. With over 20 releases, all on vinyl, JV is another local vet with a significant body of work, but who is known and played mostly far outside of the…
This week is all about family. It’s great, really. Sure, there are always pitfalls to getting together with all the relatives, be it the in-laws or even just the immediate family. There’s always those nightmarish “debates” about sex and politics, and if not then there’s a lot of awkward silence…
Street Arabs can seem like a deceptively simple band at first glance. If they are onstage and you just watch them long enough to buy a drink and go back out to the patio, their music could strike you as loud and raw, played by five scruffy looking guys who…
Is the suburban dream already over? For festival organizers in Plano, it’s certainly become much more of a long shot. After only its first year, the Suburbia Music Festival, held last May at Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve, has lost the support of festival organizer LiveNation. It’s a blow…
Going to a hockey game is fun for a lot of reasons: The breakneck pace of the game, the physical game play, the fights, the goals and the music. Let’s face it: Hockey has always had a bit of a leg up on the other North American sports for music…
Brass Tacks is a new barbershop in the heart of the Bishop Arts District that people actually enjoy waiting in. Grab a stool or relax in one of the ridiculously comfortable chairs, have a hot or cold beverage and watch a fun ’90s film on the TV, something like Desperado…
There is something almost magnetic about a good sad song. According to science, that irresistible attraction to songs that make us a little teary eyed comes from our brains’ penchant for nostalgia. When we hear sad songs, we think of better times, and in turn actually end up happier than…
