Okay, Illegal Downloads Probably Are Hurting The Music Industry

This would have surprised me no matter who had turned it up, but there was a special irony in learning that illegal music downloads “aren’t hurting the music industry” from a beleaguered print magazine’s free-news arm: Illegal downloads aren’t hurting the music industry, new study claims | ti.me/10371Ow (via @timeculture)—…

The Ten Must-See Concerts in DFW This Week: March 21 to 27

We’re changing it up here a bit, guys. For the past several months you’ve seen two blog posts outta me each week, breaking up the area’s best concerts into two separate blog posts: Freakin’ Weekday and Freakin’ Weekend. Starting today, you’ll get just one: Freakin’ Week; which is a go-to…

When Texas Was the Center of the Music Universe

This week’s cover story chronicles the 11 day stretch in early March when Texas becomes the center of the music universe. There were festivals in Denton and Austin and Dallas and Grand Prairie and on and on. We were at a lot of them, and in case you find tons…

A First Look at the New Bar in Deep Ellum, Three Links

Former bar LaGrange is quickly morphing into Deep Ellum’s newest addition, Three Links. The bar will be headed by three members of the Odd Fellows society: Scott Beggs, former La Grange manager, Oliver Peck, Elm Street Tattoo owner and acclaimed tattoo artist, and Kris Youmans, Tactics Productions owner and talent…

The 11 Busiest (and Buzziest) Days in Texas Music

On Sunday night in Deep Ellum, a band called Zechs Marquise headlined Spillover Fest. They played at Sandbar Cantina and Grill, out back on the “beach,” flanked by palm trees and on a stage made out of some kind of soft wood. Spillover — a festival curated by local promoting…

Eric Clapton at American Airlines Center, 3/19/13: Review

Last night, Eric Clapton and Dallas-born guitarist Doyle Bramhall II set fire to their Stratocasters’ fretboards. Their fingers slid across the neck, bending strings until they bled the blues. Feeding off a musical energy straight from the Crossroads, the talented guitarists empowered some of Clapton’s greatest hits with a musical…

David Bowie Tops the Dallas Independent Record Store Charts

This is not your everyday Billboard chart. Each week, we’ll tell you which bands are selling in the fine record shops in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where we consumers of music have impeccable taste. Consensus arose at Good Records and CD Source as David Bowie takes the lead in top…

The 13 Most Hardcore Ravers at Ultra: GIFs

Photo by Jacob KatelWelcome to Ravetopia Society got the best of ya? Go to Ultra Music Festival and leave the normal world behind. Here, you can feel free to get half naked, customize your brain, and put some neon in your life. Deep inside the endless well of bass, you…

The Five Best Concerts In Dallas This Week, March 18-21

Spooky Folk, Babar, New Science Projects, Peopleodeon, Cool Womb Wednesday, March 20, at J&J’s Pizza, Free They should rename this show “Musical Chairs of Denton.” In celebrating his 20-somethingth birthday, Chris Bryan of Peopleodeon has put together a hefty bill of bands, considering the mere three hours the five groups…

The Nine Worst Things About SXSW

This year, Dallas Observer music blog DC9 at Night and Houston Press music blog Rocks Off teamed up to bring you dispatches from the SXSW madness. Here are the nine worst things we saw. See also: -There’s an App to Get You Laid at SXSW, But You Absolutely Don’t Need…

The 12 Best Things About SXSW 2013

This year, Dallas Observer music blog DC9 at Night and Houston Press music blog Rocks Off teamed up to bring you only the greatest moments from last week’s SXSW madness. Here are the 12 best shows and moments we saw. See also: -There’s an App to Get You Laid at…

Pixies Reunion Rumors: Should You Be Worried Or Excited?

The Pixies’ first reunion produced one song–Kim Deal’s “Bam Thwok”–and a bunch of chances for people who were born between Surfer Rosa and Tromp le Monde to see them live for the first time, and was thus low-risk-enough to be almost universally popular. Now a possible Pixies re-reunion is on…