Music

Nowhere in music will one find a band as artfully odd as The Residents. Hailing from San Francisco (by way of Louisiana) and cloaked in anonymity, the band has produced a massive number of avant-garde recordings dating back to the late 1960s. Primarily known for such ’70s masterworks as Eskimo,…

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has already taken home a Grammy in his native country, and thanks to his growing appeal among a high-brow, NPR-listening crowd, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before he wins one stateside. Lerche released his first “mature” pop album, Faces Down, in 2001…

Like a healthy tan or acting natural, Ohio trio Times New Viking is an oxymoron. The group is abrasive yet warm, chaotic but crisp, sweet and sour. It’s Modern Lovers consulting Swell Maps while pursued by Dinosaur Jr. TNV couch innocent, straightforward melody within ragged structures sturdy as a condemned…

Mark Growden creates the kind of rich, evocative, cabaret-noir-Americana that thousands of Tom Waits imitators would give their porkpie hats to be able to write. And as if that weren’t enough to make them jealous, Growden’s backing band includes guitarist Myles Boisen, upright bassist Seth Ford-Young and trumpeter Chris Grady—all…

One of the wonders of modern music is how there are always emerging new artists capable of using the familiar building blocks of chords, melodies and instrumentation to re-imagine old tropes in exciting new ways. To that end, no, San Francisco’s Girls hasn’t reinvented indie pop; the group simply draws…

For someone with a history of depression, Exene Cervenka sounds positively bubbly. And why shouldn’t she? Currently on tour supporting her terrific new solo effort, Somewhere Gone, the frontwoman for legendary Los Angeles punk rock band X is receiving the best critical reception of her lengthy career. Having blazed a…

For an album featuring a pasty white dude draped in a cat blanket and wrestling belt on the cover, Perilous Hits showcases a perverse and unexpectedly valiant effort. And, thus, the mystery is just how much irony is intended. I mean, is it a problem when “Shit or get off…

“It’s a party at a Rodeo, man!” Big J shouted over Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” during last week’s Back to School Bash at Rockin Rodeo. The crowd went wild. Wild. And, honestly, there’s nothing quite like seeing a dance floor packed with a couple hundred folks dancing in…

“The Cloud is coming to steal my music collection!” It sounds like a bad horror movie, and yet it might be true. The common way to listen to music has changed relatively slowly over the years, from records to CDs to downloadable files, the last format being one we were…

If there were ever an album that suffered from an identity crisis, The Slack’s album The Deep End would certainly be a fine candidate. It’s not so much that the album is all over the map stylistically, but instead of sounding like a great album by a local band, it…

More than once I’ve seen Spoon’s seventh album mentioned with some Radiohead reference—a friend even liked it to In Rainbows, insisting Transference likewise takes some getting used to but, boy, does it warm up in a hurry. And, yes, now that you mention it, “Before Destruction” is awful cold to…

There’s nothing exciting—and certainly nothing glamorous—about the studio in which Midlake recorded its third full-length album, The Courage of Others. Hidden in an office building just a short, two-block walk up North Locust Street from the Courthouse-on-the-Square that serves as Denton’s historic center, the studio, from the outside at least,…

Saturday night marks the EP release show for the very promising Dallas-based four-piece Maleveller. Playing the Double Wide alongside fellow heavy Dallas acts True Widow and Big Fiction–in a show brought to you by Parade of Flesh–this is a gig that we can pretty much a guarantee will rock your…

The last crop we heard from Denton alternative rock band Exit 380 was the 2008 album Mr. and Mrs, Alexander Stone, a perplexing but ultimately satisfying concept record that even earned the band some hardware in the Fort Worth Weekly music awards.For its follow-up, the four-piece led by intense front…

Fans of Americana and country have a nice choice of singer/songwriters to choose from this evening.Hailing out of Tulsa, Jon Wolfe has the looks to be easily dismissed as (yet) another Garth Brooks wannabe. But don’t let the big black hat and tight fitting jeans fool you. Wolfe has a…

DJs Woody Rosen, Micah B and Richard Thomas spun classic House music to celebrate DJ Big Snax’s birthday last Friday night, and our nightlife photo crew was there to shoot the rare dance party at the Windmill Lounge.Next up, they caught Infected Mushroom at the Lizard Lounge on Saturday night,…

Tonight’s long-standing Tuesday show at Ozona will be a bittersweet one for the Section 8 Comedy Troupe, as it will be Dave Little’s last with the group after nearly eight years.The Noted Regional Comic says he still loves the guys in the group, but that he is ready to move…

It’s a big day for Daniel Hunter, nee PlayRadioPlay! and currently of the Analog Rebellion moniker. Today, after all, is the day his Analog Rebellion debut, Ancient Electrons, earns its release. But it’s also the day in which he’s purging himself of any and all PlayRadioPlay! material. See, in addition…