Music

Rugged and shouty, the Savannah, Georgia, trio Black Tusk is bent on playing metal that plows blindly ahead instead of plodding atmospherically along. Years of demos and other self-released material led the way to 2008’s Passage Through Purgatory. A second album, Taste the Sin, out earlier this year, was recorded…

Perhaps you’ve heard Boston electro-pop quintet Passion Pit’s back-story: Two years ago, falsetto-voiced frontman Michael Angelakos—at the time, just a dude making tunes by himself in his bedroom—wrote a batch of fizzy love songs to give to his girlfriend as a Valentine’s Day present. Those songs ended up as last…

I’d like to think that, somewhere, the members of Smiling at the Ceiling are sitting in the sunlight, talking about days gone by. Because their latest self-titled EP is tailor-made for such activity—not only because it harkens back to 1970s-era yacht rock with its silky smooth lead guitar licks, but…

The untitled intro track of Pi on the Side—a trippy, echoing, swirling array of voices chanting “Thank you for ingesting me” over a distant shouted argument that eventually condenses to whirling psychedelic noise—is a jarring surprise from a band that previously seemed content to put out tight Minutemen-inspired punk-rock jams…

Paul Slavens, recording here as pslavens, seems to have multiple personalities. In fact, considering all his accomplishments in and around the world of music—frontman of the late great Ten Hands to KXT radio host to on-the-spot composer of comedic improvised songs at various local venues and more—he might have multiple…

Florene’s Homemade Extacy may be a dark, dense listen filled with savage industrial beats, ominous icy synths and echoing primal-scream vocals, but the album is exactly the intense, mind-blowing debut one hopes to see from a experimental electronic band known for its raw, energetic live shows. And it’s a full-length…

Many bands struggle with the task of writing a good hook. You know, that one part in the chorus that gets stuck in your head and refuses to leave. Fort Worth band The Orbans has no such problem. Their debut album, When We Were Wild, is so full of pop…

Shiny Around The Edge’s Michael Seman knows what he’s talking about: “I have a friend,” he says, “that always says, ‘In the city of Denton, people are into their music like other cities are into baseball.'” But one needn’t boast Seman’s Peter Gammons-like knowledge of Denton’s music history to see…

In theory, Clark Vogeler joined the Toadies at just the right time. It was 1996 when he got his invite—only a month after the breakup of his former, locally adored band, Funland. “It was a pretty perfect situation,” the guitarist says over the phone from his home in Los Angeles…

The name might not sound familiar, but her voice might ring a bell. After providing vocals and keyboard for the critically acclaimed Deadman and a short stint with local darlings Telegraph Canyon, Sherilyn Segrest decided it was time to play her own songs—songs written on piano, which channel Emmylou Harris…

…OK, one guy in Waco. But, still. “Effective marketing in action,” indeed…

Welcome to Staff Trax, the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music we’ve been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider it a chance for you readers to…

We’ve made it abundantly clear in the past: Fizzy Dino Pop? Right up our alley. But with Yuria Hashimoto, the Denton-based Avery Williamson’s co-conspirator in the band, stuck in Japan until August, the act’s progress on its upcoming, full-length debut for Waaga Records has been stalled. “[We] really can’t finish…

If you listened to the phenomenal Texas Love Triangle Mix created by Oak Cliff’s own DJ Tommy Boy for Vice UK when it was released back in May, you were no doubt captivated by the mix’s lead song, a cover of Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” offered up by one George Quartz…

When the British indie/new wave/minimalists, The xx released their debut album xx last year, the ripple that formed in the blogosphere was somewhat polarizing. But, love ’em or hate ’em, they’re bringing their turntables and Dieter’s Dance Party haircuts to the Granada Theater on Friday, October 8. Tickets are one…

Chances are, you’ve already heard a song by Dallas’ RIVETHEAD. You just may not have realized it. The local industrial/metal band’s music has been played by the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center for several years now–and, beyond that, RIVETHEAD’s songs have been featured on National Geographic’s Tools of…