Dallas Musicians Say Goodbye To Michael Jackson

Each aspect of Michael Jackson’s career—the production, his voice, his dancing, the videos—was revolutionary. Below, area musicians offer up their take on Jackson’s influence on their own careers. Juan “Play” Salinas (Play-N-Skillz) He was definitely an influence. I mean, I’ve got kid pictures of me with Michael Jackson jackets on…

Salvation and Victory In Michael Jackson’s Flings With Dallas

Michael Jackson’s Dallas ties are scant, save the obvious concert dates throughout a career cut short last week. But the most memorable of those stopovers celebrates its silver anniversary this upcoming July 13 through July 15: In the summer of 1984, Michael and his brothers reunited for the Victory Tour…

North of the Dial

Andrew Tinker’s new album It Takes the World was released a couple weeks back to little hubbub. Blame the fact that it’s pop music in an otherwise anti-pop town. Tinker does—especially because this isn’t the route he was necessarily trained to take. At age 15, Tinker was a founding member…

More Better

“Remember sixth grade?/Pencil fights and thumb wars and/Bikes? Yeah, well, I still do that shit.” That line, from “Sarah Silverman” off of P.O.S.’ 2004 debut, Ipecac Neat, keeps running through my head as I sit in Stef Alexander’s makeshift home studio. I’m watching a few of the six videos Alexander…

Less Is More

Less Than Jake has been around for 16 years—no small feat for any band, let alone one in the particular subgenre of ska-punk. But neither age nor the shifting popularity of genres has stopped the quintet from Gainesville, Florida—a group responsible for such memorable tracks as “Happy Days” and “Johnny…

Mind Warp

Dissing the Warped Tour and its primary audience is about as moot as criticizing Nickelodeon for catering to a younger audience. Fifteen years in, the Warped Tour still has a reputation for being a fairly priced, all-you-can-digest buffet of bands. From Underoath to Dance Gavin Dance to Bad Religion, there’s…

Neon Indian Details, Album Info Revealed

Maybe you’ve seen some of the to-do surrounding Neon Indian? Perhaps on another Dallas-based blog? They’ve got a pretty cool sun-drenched sound–kinda like the audio equivalent of the visuals in Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” video, only not as nightmarish and much poppier than that description would imply.Anyway, the “secretive” group’s…

Download: Symbolyc One’s Still Underrated, Vol. 1 Mixtape

Waco rapper/producer Symbolyc One of Strange Fruit Project is one of Texas’s most under-appreciated hip-hop talents, flying largely under the radar despite working with Erykah Badu, Little Brother and others. Seems he’s kinda embracing his place in life right now, though: Yesterday, S1 released a new mixtape, fittingly called Still…

After Sunday’s Warped Tour, How ‘Bout A Moons Over My Hammy?

After the Warped Tour stops through town on Sunday, a handful of the bands on the tour–Dance Gavin Dance, A Skylit Drive and Hit The Lights–will be stopping by Denny’s, because, hey, why not?According to the press release announcing the after-party, “These select bands will hang out with fans while…

Dada Co-Owner Ben Tapia: “We Haven’t Gotten Any Money All Month”

According to Club Dada co-owner Ben Tapia, last night’s visit from the TABC was “just standard protocol,” and came as the result of someone “tipping off the TABC,” claiming that the long-running club was going to be pouring drinks from unlabeled bottles as the result of financial difficulties, which Tapia…

Last Night: Boyz II Men, Eric Benet at Bass Hall

Boyz II Men, Eric BenetBass Performance HallJuly 1, 2009Better than: Um….getting my car towed? So…maybe Boyz II Men should have opened for Eric Benet, and not the other way around.Eric Benet, from the moment he walked on stage, had the crowd (a)roused with his forceful voice and charming interjections between…

DC9 in SPACE, Ep. 9: Damaged Good$

If you self-identify with the YouTube generation, you’ll find the video here. Devoted watchers will recall an inspired guest appearance on week seven’s Sarah Jaffe video (right around the three-minute mark), from the folks across the street at Lucky’s Tattoos. As Jaffe pointed out, they weren’t half-bad, and we decided…

Bonus MP3: Fate Lions — “Astronaut”

Local combo Fate Lions has been around since 2007 in various incarnations, evolving from a rather pedestrian alt-country outfit to far more pleasing new wave/pop unit. Led by songwriter and front man Jason Manriquez, the band has solidified enough to record a full-length debut, Good Enough For You, which hits…

VEGA Mixes It Up With Nicky Digital

VEGA’s Well Known Pleasures EP–you know, the one that was “soon-to-be-released” back in January–is supposed to be available online today from Vogue College Records, though I’ll be damned if I can figure out where to download it. Maybe VEGA mastermind Alan Palomo spent too much time working on his Pre…