In a year when Kickstarter efforts have ballooned from humble requests to egocentric slaps in the face, the recording, funding and distribution of albums has taken on a different hue, as the chasm between what you can do “yourself” and what labels are offering gets wider and deeper. A few…
We decided to check back in with some of the people we interviewed this year for My First Show, and ask about favorite concerts, records, and most-wanted Christmas gifts. Bad Design’s Steven Altuna takes the cake for best answer for a Christmas wish. What was the best show you saw…
The end of 2012 is quickly approaching, and in honor of Dallas’ eventful year we’re asking all of our readers (who have smartphones) to send us their Instagrams. Send Instagram photos of your favorite events, places, people, bands, restaurants, art exhibits, after-hours spots, animals and basically anything that happened in…
Photo by Ian WitlenJarvis Cocker and Pulp aboard the S.S. Coachella.By Liz Tracy The S.S. Coachella set out to sea rather unceremoniously. There weren’t horns, not a streamer in sight, and no one smashed bottles against the body of the ship. But we’d all been aboard the Celebrity Silhouette for…
On December 7, in the diminishing dusk light of the parking lot across the street from Wells Fargo on University Drive in Denton, Richard Haskins sat alone in a red, 1984 four-door Mercedes. Wearing a black Misfits t-shirt, khaki cargo shorts and a pair of low-top black Converse, he looked…
Are you a musician? Is your group having issues? Ask Fan Landers! Critic Jessica Hopper has played in and managed bands, toured internationally, booked shows, produced records, worked as a publicist, and is the author of The Girls’ Guide to Rocking, a how-to for teen ladies. She is here to…
It was the night before Christmas Eve, 2009, high atop the W Hotel on the balcony of Ghostbar. I was looking out at the beautiful Dallas skyline with Hector Pina, who had just started deejaying under the name Hot$hot for local rapper AnonymousCulture. It was cold out, and the temperature…
Libertine’s 13th Annual Toy Drive Monday, December 17, at Libertine Bar/Single Wide, Donations accepted More than a dozen acts are slated to play this annual benefit show, now taking place at Libertine and Single Wide. The O’s, Ryan Thomas Becker, Grant Jones & the Pistol Grip Lassos, Cutter, J. Charles…
I attended the Oral Fixation “Cold Turkey” show at the MAC last Tuesday night, mainly because Observer copy editor and beer enthusiast Jesse Hughey was going to be reading, and he ended up getting some of the biggest laughs of the night, from a crowd that took in some pretty…
The Babies, Lonesome Ghost, Doom Ghost Bryan Street Tavern Saturday, December 15 I have this theory that there’s something about your teens and twenties that allows you to be able to disconnect from the world around you, this bit of youthful ignorance that allows us to step away from the…
Jeremy Turner, also known as “The Vintagemobile Guy,” has been selling ugly Christmas sweaters on his website, and out of his bright green school-bus-turned-vintagemobile. But that’s not all he has in store for the holidays. Turner teamed up with musician/producer Tim Frost this past Monday, and recorded Turner’s debut holiday…
And by struggle, we mean absolutely nail it…
By Katie Bain Acquiring drugs takes a lot of effort. You’ve got to source your connect, arrange an exchange, drive somewhere inconvenient or sketchy, and then have a vaguely uncomfortable interaction with a dealer before handing them your money. And the stuff you get might be bunk. It’s a crapshoot…
10. The Idea of Beautiful, Rapsody The black mamba of super producer 9th Wonder’s Jamla Records team reached a new pinnacle in her career, and in her evolution as an artist this year. Sprinkled with collaborations from Big Remo, BJ the Chicago Kid and Childish Gambino, Rapsody takes us on…
The Babies Saturday, December 15, at Bryan Street Tavern, $8/$10 Formed in 2009, when Woods bassist Kevin Morby and Vivian Girls guitarist Cassie Ramone met at a party in Brooklyn, The Babies started making noise in 2010 with “Meet Me in the City,” a gloriously energetic trip that features some…
It was Fourth of July weekend in Austin, 2011, the near-constant pop-tat-tat-tat-pop of fireworks in my neighborhood no doubt masking the sound of my driver’s side window being smashed. I had just moved into a new place, and my backseat and trunk were full of CDs that I had no…
Turbo Fruits put on a very memorable set a few months ago at Bryan Street Tavern, and the Nashville group returns tomorrow with PVC Street Gang, Sealion and Savage and the Big Beat at Dada. Frontman Jonas Stein remembers that show, along with other musical firsts. Was guitar the first…
On August 31, Todd Gautreau, the brains behind excellent area dream-pop act Crushed Stars, took to the band’s Facebook page to sound off on a topic that’s turned into a national debate among artists, record labels, music consumers and various streaming services, specifically and most notably Spotify. Gautreau, who’s received…
Austin multi-instrumentalist Ralph White has been playing shows in Fort Worth on a pretty regular basis, and he does so again this Thursday at Fred’s Texas Cafe, but follows it up with a Dallas gig at Smoke & Mirrors Gallery, with D.H. Phillips and Warren Jackson Hearne. White is still…
Spune Productions offers at least six reasons to forget about the commercialism of the holidays and go out to see a show. Biographies, a band that seemingly came out of nowhere in the last three months and have been filling every Denton venue they play, will be featured early in…
Formed in 2009, when Woods bassist Kevin Morby and Vivian Girls guitarist Cassie Ramone met at a party in Brooklyn, The Babies started making noise in 2010 with “Meet Me in the City,” a gloriously energetic trip that features some of the best dueling vocals this side of a Lee…
Fort Worth jam-punk-folk collective KatsuK is fronted by the Ian Anderson-esque Daniel KatsuK, former frontman of the indispensable Spoonfed Tribe back in the late ’90s and early aughts. Shortly after the Tribe disbanded, he moved to Colorado, but returned to North Texas in 2008 to form his critically acclaimed new…
