This summer, when Wilco guitarist Nels Cline was asked by Paste magazine about how the band has evolved over the years, he responded by saying, “I think we’re having maybe more of a blast and enjoying each other’s playing and company more now than before.” In listening to Wilco (The…
The ugly truth behind this most recent tour from U2—named the 360-Degree tour, as it’s an in-the-round type set-up—is that the band, despite having played some three dozen shows already on this jaunt, has yet to make a profit. Ticket sales aren’t the culprit—rather it’s the massive stage setup, which…
City folk might describe their economic plight in terms of shuttered restaurants, dwindling sales numbers and shrinking retirement funds. But while he has lived in Dallas, Austin and even New York City, Texas songwriter Owen Temple documents the pawned guitars, crumbling factories and rusted towns of the “Broken Heart Land”…
There is an undeniable spiritual element to J. Tillman’s latest record, Year in the Kingdom. The album’s opener and title track tells of a man beginning a journey toward something larger, something beyond the physical dimension. Tillman’s soulful yet relaxed voice quivers over a chord progression that is dragged and…
Last year’s Lunglight introduced Portland’s The Shaky Hands to the world outside their hometown, complete with the Kill Rock Stars’ seal of approval. Most noticeable was the aptly named quartet’s loose, jittery take on guitar pop and frontman Nicholas Delffs’ trembling vocals, at times resembling a reverb-free Walkmen. With the…
Some Telegraph Canyon fans were visibly puzzled as they trickled into Good Records for the band’s recent album release show in Dallas. Some strange, other band was setting up its gear and instruments on the store’s green stage. No, this wasn’t Telegraph Canyon promoting its brilliant The Tide and The…
What Wavves’ Nathan Williams vividly renders on cassette and aluminum isn’t The Beach Boys’ carefree beachscape, with its bathing beauties, surfboard-wielding Adonises and pinks-on-the-line drag races. Last year’s Wavves (Fuck It Tapes) and this year’s Wavvves (Fat Possum) paint a decidedly grimmer, less idyllic picture: goth zombies everywhere, early 20-something…
So you’re a young man with star-studded dreams of Hollywood. What are you doing in drama school? There’s just no need: The Rap Institute of Acting offers a quick, inexpensive avenue into the world of television and movies. And, sure, while it’s true that a little pigmentation helps, even pale-faced…
If years from now people talk about the 2009 Austin City Limits Music Festival, they’ll, without a doubt, start with Saturday. That was the day on which the rains came crashing down on the festival-goers at Austin’s Zilker Park, creating an abrupt roundabout from Friday’s ideal conditions and setting the…
The weekend’s here, which is good news for anyone hoping to catch up on sleep and boost their immune systems so they don’t catch that darn H1N1 virus going around. And good news for music fans, too, as there’s enough rock going on to melt both your face and all…
Back in May, we told you about the greatness that is the weekly, Wednesday night, R.C. Williams-led Prophet Bar jam sessions, where local hip-hop and funk musicians gather to create beats on the fly, sometimes with the help of touring acts like Bun B and Raheem DeVaughn.Still haven’t ventured out…
Grapvine’s own The Rocket Summer–or pretty much the person we all have to thank for the success that all the mall-punk acts of the region have been having in recdent years–dropped some big news earlier this week, announcing two new records set for release in the near future. Later this…
The DIY space Phoenix Project has a busy weekend, with Saturday’s lineup of Big Fiction, Muhammadali, Leg Sweeper and The Sleepies followed by Sunday’s show with Dysrhythmia, Four Days To Burn, Waste Burai and Baring Teeth. But the capper is an early Halloween treat Sunday afternoon: a Zombie Walk from…
We’ve been geeking out about the upcoming Dinosaur Jr. and Built to Spill double-bill at the Granada for months now (four, to be specific), and now that it’s almost here, well, really, we can hardly contain ourselves–which, I promise, is meant to read far more honestly and less facetiously than…
Y’know what’s adorable? This video, made for the second single for from Q-Tip’s The Renaissance. Good timing, too, as we’re just over a month away from the new release from North Texas’ own Norah Jones.(Via.)…
David Bazan, Say HiDan’s Silverleaf, DentonOctober 8, 2009Better Than: trying to drive home in the rain. Even before the storm rolled in and David Bazan finally lumbered on stage at Dan’s Silverleaf, last night’s elbow-to-elbow capacity crowd had to know that it was in for an unforgettable night. After all,…
Surely, a good number of you are already aware of this–after all, it was announced in an ad in this week’s dead tree edition of DC9 (page 48 to be specific). But, then again, seeing as how few of our regular DC9 readers seem to realize that we produce some…
Your daily dose of national music news for Friday, October 9, 2009…U2 would like their own version of Rock Band, just like The Beatles. Would you get more points for preening like Bono?Do you want to be on the new Does It Offend You Yeah? album? All you need to…
Regular Parade of Flesh designer Von Dada created this week’s featured poster, which promotes Saturday’s lineup of A Place To Bury Strangers, Darker My Love and All The Saints at The Lounge On Elm Street. I don’t know exactly what’s going on here. Is she the survivor of some kind…
Today, we welcome back an old friend to the blog. That’s right: It’s the return of Aural Ambush, a feature we hope will be back and running regularly in these confines we call DC9. It’s been a while, though, so, for those who may have forgotten the concept, a quick…
In January, the first time I stumbled across Nathan Allen of Seryn , he was playing his guitar while walking on Fry Street. At the time, Allen said he was working on some solo-acoustic material. Well, as mentioned in this week’s North of the Dial, after adding several more members…
The guys in Denton’s Shaolin Death Squad have been together the better part of a decade, wearing those funny masks and dispensing their own brand of melodic, progressive metal and offbeat, Asian philosophy.Sure, it’s a mini Gwar rip-off–and also cheesy as hell–but I’d rather a metal band flash a little…
