Music

Over the last decade or so, a prominent trend in gig poster design has been the retro-modern, minimalist approach, as seen attached to a lot of indie-rock and post-alternative groups. Classified by modernist tendencies and a focus on basic forms versus details, I’ll admit, as much as I love that…

Since 2006, Denton-based artist Bryce Isbell’s been steadily self-releasing experimental recordings–51 full-length albums and EPs worth of self-released material to date (according to this Facebook page). His first release, Downstairs Room, consisted of a single 45-minute-long freak-folk track that Isbell describes as “experimental electro-acoustic.” Sounds like fun, right? Well, even…

It’s an intimate lineup tonight at The Hydrant in Denton for Spune’s folk-themed, Thanksgiving-inspired affair. (And, oh yeah, a reminder: Thanksgiving is a week from today.) Indeed, this lineup is quite the homey one, featuring Minnesota Americana artiste Charlie Parr, DFW-based folk hero Doug Burr, and, one of our latest…

Detroit-based Deastro, born Randolph Chabot, like everyone else these days, revels in an electronic realm. But let’s not write off his electro-pop tunes completely. Rather, they’re rather catchy–lush, too, in a dream-pop sorta way. Kinda like Owl City, maybe, if Owl City were a more original, more dance-inspired, less emo-oriented…

In this week’s paper, Tom Murphy extols the virtues of Champaign, Illinois, indie pop outfit Headlights. Says Murphy:Headlights writes upbeat melodies that are so catchy it’s often easy to miss the rich layers of sound and textures that go into each song. Continue reading…Check out the above video for “Cherry…

Norah Jones popped up on The Colbert Report last night, as promised, and talked to Colbert about the supposed change in direction of her new album The Fall, one Robert really couldn’t find too much of in his review of this disc in this week’s paper. Stream ahead to the…

When the critically acclaimed dream-pop band Absinthe Blind broke up in 2003, four of its members started a band called Orphans that would ultimately become Headlights. Under its current moniker, the foursome largely departed from the drifty, melancholy sounds of its previous project. Retaining the glittery grandeur that made Absinthe’s…

It’s pretty common knowledge that Jersey-born singer-songwriter Pete Yorn dated Winona Ryder back in the day. And while he somehow managed to avoid the full brunt of the infamous Winona Curse—under which so many of the musician dudes she dates have watched their careers crumble (see Soul Asylum’s Dave Pirner,…

On the new Eyedea & Abilities record, By the Throat, Eyedea (born Michael Larsen) and DJ Abilities (Gregory Keltgen) are dedicated to making their own musical heaven. Never ones for the saccharine, Eyedea & Abilities have couched their stories of love, anger and survival in dark guitars, fuzzy and distorted…

Fort Worth’s Collin Herring continues to battle his personal demons on his subdued but excellent fourth album, Ocho. It’s by far the most retrospective and daring of the (still) young singer-songwriter’s career, containing eight textured narratives concerning addiction and recovery. Past Life Crashing, Herring’s 2008 release, also dealt with these…

Sleep Whale’s debut full-length, Houseboat, smacks of an uncanny maturity that seems far beyond most acts’ first full-length offerings. From the album’s electro-acoustic opener “Green Echo” to folk-gaze gem “Sleep Reprise” through the positively space-age sounds of “Still Drumming” and “Giant Wings,” Joel North and Bruce Blay skillfully weave cello,…

Those proclaiming this album the Booker T. grad’s “departure” have clearly listened to their Norah Jones solely whilst sipping frappucinos between penning fan fiction in a Starbucks. Missed her giddy honky-tonk detour, The Little Willies, did you? Or El Madmo, her smirky, smart-ass punk-pop time-kill? Or “Sinkin’ Soon” off 2007’s…

Last Saturday night, at Hailey’s Club in Denton, The Slow Burners celebrated the release of the band’s debut full-length, This Is Where We Fight. And in doing so, the band blazed through every one of the album’s tracks, from toe-tappers like “Think of Me” to, what the band really excels…

Neko Case seizes one’s imagination with a voice so arresting, escape’s all but impossible. And while her rich, smoky alto has long reaped new listeners with its knee-eviscerating power, time’s sharpened her lyrical edge as well. Case’s sketch of girls from different sides of fate’s tracks, “Margaret vs. Pauline,” the…

The Life of the World to Come’s “Psalms 40:2,” in which a gang of human highway flares break into a Missouri chapel and leave it in ruin, is not the first song about B&Es that The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle has written. That honor probably goes to 1995’s “The Recognition…

Before we (and the rest of the world) start counting down our favorite albums, songs and trends of 2009, let’s get this out of the way right now: Far as electronic music is concerned, it’s been a banner year. Critically, look no further than buzz bands like Passion Pit and…

Maynard James Keenan wants to make it perfectly clear that his latest project isn’t a grab for any sort of brass ring. “People will say to me, ‘You should get back to doing Tool and A Perfect Circle, but I know you’re probably just going for the money with Puscifer,'”…

Besides the great (but unheralded) Volebeats, Detroit hasn’t exactly become known as a haven for Americana music. Frontier Ruckus hopes to change that.Formed in 2003 by Matthew Milia and David Winston Jones, the band didn’t get around to releasing a proper debut until 2008. The Orion Songbook proved to be…

I dare you: Find an artist who’s earned a greater percentage of straight-up adoring pieces profiles than Neko Case has. It’s kind of crazy, actually. Seems anytime a critic sets his or her sights on Case, all rational thought goes out the window. It’s understandable, though. I mean, you’ve heard…