Reached by phone at home in Brooklyn a few days after returning from a European tour, Marc Ribot peppers his conversation with yawns. “I don’t know why they call me!” the extravagantly talented Ribot says laughingly when asked how he has ended up contributing his guitar skills to so many…
If there were ever a time for a skyrocketing band that’s recently tasted the fruits of newfound stardom to take a breather and not provide a full-force performance, it might have been during a short, windswept midday festival set. After The Joy Formidable proffered an empowered, aggressive show at early…
Ever since peer-to-peer services like Napster first began cropping up, music industry professionals have trumpeted warnings about how file-sharing was not only directly harming musicians, but how it would ultimately lead to the collapse of the record industry. Beyond the legal issues arising from the music piracy aspects of P2P…
I’m still trying to pull myself together and deal with this piece of news, but I wanted to say hello, Dallas. I’m finally in you. Still trying to find some tear-away pants — they’re just so drafty in the winter. Anyway, I’m the new music editor for the Dallas Observer…
It’s not inconceivable to figure that curious folks of the next few decades will look into the music and movements that surged just beneath the surface of the glossy mainstream in this millennium’s first decade. Those would-be students of music history won’t have to dig through too many virtual copies…
If you’re searching iTunes for Christmas music, because who isn’t at this time of year (avoids eye contact with office Hanukkah observers), it won’t take long before you run across North Texas’ Folk Angel and their new album Comfort & Joy. Less than two weeks after its November 15 release,…
There are weeks when the show announcements are about as flimsy as a wet persimmon. Fortunately, this is not one of them. For starters, Grimes is coming to town. Her last performance was a brilliant showing at Gorilla Vs. Bear Fest, in which she wooed the audience with her mix…
Guy Cramer is (another) one of those restless local musicians who seem to jump from project to project, always looking for the perfect fit. Thankfully, The County Fringe may finally be the project that Cramer has been looking for. And all it took was working with his wife. Image that…
Well, damn, if tomorrow isn’t the first day of December. With Black Friday under our belts, we are in full-blown holiday mode. And, according to the Polyphonic Spree, “It’s Christmas.”That’s the name of the band’s new Christmas single, which earned its release today on the Good Records Recordings label, where…
Last Night: Wilco, Nick Lowe The Music Hall at Fair Park November 29th, 2011 Better than: seeing Wilco at the UNT auditorium There was an emphasis on the noisier side of Wilco last night, and that was completely fine with the mostly-full Music Hall at Fair Park. The band, still…
Most all of us know the deal when it comes to new music from a famous, old school rock artist: It’s a waiting game. A waiting game daunted with a lot of vague answers, and sometimes pretty flaky behavior. Some would say this is due to the pace set by…
Mary J. Blige has always struck me as a more well-balanced and humble singer than her contemporaries. Instead of overpowering the music with diva crescendos, Mary lets the music flow with her. This anti-diva approach is the reason she’s abided twenty-plus years and two generations of boisterous divas from Whitney…
Last year’s Lights All Night New Year’s Eve music festival was a massive hit, thanks to headliners Ghostland Observatory. And, as we mentioned this summer when the festival announced its return, this years is going to be much bigger. Thanks mostly to the bulked up bill — Ghostland Observatory will…
Yesterday, we posted a piece about the new video for Bon Iver’s “Hinnom, TX,” in which we predicted that his 2011 self titled sophomore album would end up toward the top of year-end lists. But really, it’s a no-brainer. The album is brilliant.And, just like that, Paste, the first major…
Until the recent “reunification” of [DARYL], if you’ve seen Dave Wilson at a show, he’s either running sound for it or he’s shooting it with his camera. Wilson, someone who’s toured with national acts as a soundman and has been a freelance photographer (even for this here establishment), has been…
It’s been a busy year for Dallas stonegaze three-piece True Widow, who have recently returned from a tour in Europe.With the release of two records this year, As High As the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth and I.N.O., the band has been inched…
There is only a month left in the year, and it’s looking like Bon Iver’s self titled sophomore album is pretty secure toward the top of our year-end lists. And, as Time reports, a re-release of the album tomorrow will be accompanied by 10 short films, one for every song,…
Over the years, there have been a multitude of gimmicks employed by bands to get people to listen to the music. Some stop traffic on a busy freeway and perform atop a truck, some give out free CDs at shows in exchange for an email address, and in the case…
The mall punk scene is still going strong here in Dallas, and Saturday, December 10, marks the fourth annual Unsilent Night Music Festival, put on by ZH Entertainment and Third String Productions. Anyone who has been to any of these mall punk shows in recent years knows that they are…
At 62, singer/songwriter Nick Lowe can justifiably claim to have just about seen it all. From his days fronting the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz in the ’70s to his heralded production work for Elvis Costello to his fascinating, recent solo efforts, Lowe has always maintained a remarkable commitment to…
A lot of people are home for Thanksgiving nursing food hangovers and hanging out with family, which explains why most of this weekend’s shows are from local acts. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some big shows happening this weekend, like the one from Dallas’ own Demi Lovato tomorrow at Verizon…
This week’s poster comes to us from artist Scott Spooner, who sends us a quirky take on a Christmas party.Spune Productions throws some great parties year-round, and the poster for their Christmas party, which will take place on Sunday, December 11, at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton, manages to capture the…
