I love Christmas. It’s awesome. Baby magic-types being born, giant trees in your living room, socks full of socks brought to you by an old man stranger — what’s not to like? Welp, there’s just this one thing: the thing that sucks about Christmas is that people keep writing songs…
If there isn’t a passage in some physics textbook that uses crowd surfing as a metaphor for chaos theory, then physicists are missing out on a perfect lesson. So many disciplines can applied in the dynamic system: inertia, gravity and ass support. See also: The People of Unsilent Night 2012…
By Dan Moore Psy’s “Gangnam Style” is now the most-viewed YouTube video ever, which means it’s been watched more than 830 million times. That means that the single biggest pop culture event of 2012–the video you’re most likely to talk about with your grandma at Christmas–was, as I predicted back…
Brendon Smalls is the creator of the animated series Home Movies and Metalocalypse, and the driving force behind the most successful animated death metal band in the history of metal, Dethklok. He’s an amazing guitarist who graduated from Berklee College of Music. His band has two of the highest-rated death…
Back in 2006, The Long Winters released Putting the Days to Bed, one of that year’s best efforts, but various personal issues resulted in frontman John Roderick taking an extended leave of absence. Since then, he’s appeared as a sideman on efforts by Death Cab for Cutie and Nada Surf,…
Bettye LaVette, Bobby Patterson Thursday, November 29, at The Kessler Theater, $25-$35 Bettye LaVette’s 1965 single “Let Me Down Easy” was the song that should have put the Detroit singer in the ranks of the Supremes and Marvin Gaye. LaVette’s fame came later in life, however, namely as she’s re-emerged…
If there were a String Band Hero video game, it’s highly likely the music of Nashville’s Old Crow Medicine Show would be prominent in the list of song options. Best known for “Wagon Wheel,” the song that’s as responsible for today’s youthful lust for all things banjo as any other…
Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, aka “Johnny Football,” is a 19-year-old phenom on the verge of winning a Heisman, who has managed to revitalize the A&M brand. Aggie superfan Lisa Vasquez Roper of Houston is really into that, and decided to do her own special cover of chaste 1962 hit…
Rush American Airlines Center Wednesday, November 28 Last night at the American Airlines Center, which was filmed for a future DVD release, Canadian trio Rush took some bold chances by not playing a predictable set. They gave staples like “Limelight,” “Working Man” and “Freewill” a rest. Matter of fact, the…
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…
Carry Me Back, Old Crow Medicine Show’s comeback record after a yearlong hiatus, is also a return to the raw, freewheeling style of their early days. The former New York City subway buskers are at their best when they’re telling a story that may bear the sound of the old…
Bettye LaVette’s 1965 single “Let Me Down Easy” was the song that should have put the Detroit singer in the ranks of the Supremes and Marvin Gaye. LaVette’s fame came later in life, however, namely as she’s re-emerged in the last decade or so. Her 2005 covers album, I’ve Got…
Dethklok is the world’s most violent metal band. In fact, the band’s music is so savage, fans have to sign “pain waivers” just to enter the concert venue, or suffer the wrath of the Klokateers, the band’s loyal servants. Nathan Explosion (vocals), Skwisgaar Skwigelf (lead guitar), Toki Wartooth (rhythm guitar),…
Home by Hovercraft were nominated in our Best None of the Above category in this year’s Observer music awards, and this reminds us why. The group’s new musical, On the Eve, tells the trippy tale of Marie Antoinette, time travel and hot air balloons. One description paints it thusly: “With…
Texas Theatre’s been racking up some impressive DJ nights, including their latest monthly venture, Ladies Stay Crazy, which I encourage ladies to attend and get crazy at. Saturday night, however, Gabe Mendoza and special guest DJ Jake Schrock provide you with a psych/soul/proto-punk soundtrack. When good musical taste is involved,…
If you try to remember the late fall of 1992, all you see is smoke. Smoke smoldering from the rubble of post-riot L.A. Smoke sepulchral from the barrels of freshly fired AKs. Smoke swirling from the Zig-Zags of anyone able to purchase the bomb, the real sticky-icky, the chronic. All…
Sigur Rós Monday, April 8, at Verizon Theatre, $42.75 In a follow-up to their run of summer festivals, Sigur Rós have announced their largest North American tour to date, set to kick off next spring. Although the Icelandic band put out its most ambient-leaning album, Valtari, earlier this year, the…
Evan Chronister is a local music enthusiast, a masterful mix CD maker, and an avid blogger. He can talk your ear off about seeing legendary bands in their prime, but his first show is something he’s never forgotten: Rush. In honor of Rush playing the American Airlines Center tonight, we…
Metroplex country singerNate Kipp, who had a song on our top 10 local country songs of 2011 list, is in a giving mood this season. While he readies his follow up to last year’s great The Holding Pattern, he decided to write his first original Christmas song. “I’ve wanted to…
I will tune in to almost any television show, no matter how terrible or how outside of my interests, if it has something to do with Dallas. Usually this means production is set here and I can spend the hour going, “Hey, they are in downtown!” Or, “That’s not Dallas,…
When we caught up with the Relatives last March, they were about to play the opening weekend of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, a pretty significant moment for the West Dallas group. They performed older songs, and then they performed a new song, one that unfurled in heavy waves of…
This Saturday, December 1, Dada hosts quite the rumble/ramble, with an all-local bill featuring Telegraph Canyon, the Southern Renaissance, Dylan LeBlanc, Lincoln Durham, Quaker City Night Hawks and Hanna Barbarians. A nice show to welcome in some of this colder weather, though this 75-degrees-in-late-November thing has been pretty great/probably not…
