The Daffy, Mesmerizing Retro-Soul Surreality of Beyoncé’s Younger Sister

It’s awfully tempting to make rash, inflammatory statements about Solange Knowles; to contend, for example, that while big sister Beyoncé has the dazzling singles, the scorched-earth howl and the megawatt tabloid royalty, the elder Knowles has never concocted a full hour of music as singularly and bizarrely mesmerizing as her…

Denton Clubs Give DJ Nights a Chance

When it comes to dance floor-filled DJ nights in Denton, Hailey’s Club has handily kept the market cornered for the last couple of years—especially after DJ Nature left his weekly at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, taking The Party further south down Interstate 35 to Dallas. But in the last month,…

Vanilla Ice Apologizes For “Ice, Ice Baby”

OK, one last post for the day (for real this time): Dallas’ own Vanilla Ice has finally stepped up to the plate, by officially apologizing for “Ice Ice Baby”. No, seriously: Check it out in the clip above. Unfortunately, it appears to be part of some viral scheme with little…

Bonus MP3: Trebuchet — “Black Beard”

The Denton music scene certainly has its share of indie rock darlings, but not many would expect a prog metal band like Trebuchet to hail from the northern reaches of the Metroplex. Yet hail this quintet does–and best of all, they’re actually pretty good. And, this Friday at Hailey’s, Trebuchet–named…

Yeast By Sweet Beast Festival To Include Dallas-Area Experimental Acts

Inspired by Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable happenings, the Yeast By Sweet Beast festival features experimental/improvised music complemented by video art. YBSB precedes South By Southwest, March 14-16, at Salvage Vanguard Theatre and Plush in Austin.It also offers proof that the possibilities for spin-off festival names along SXSW’s lines are…

Night Moves: Spacemen and Mad Hatters Looking for a Good Time

Sons of Hermann Hall played host to the Lollipop Shoppe’s “Mad Hatter Tea Party” Friday night, in honor of the group’s five-year anniversary, and our nightlife crew of Ray and Peter Lek were on hand to document the fun. You can check out their shots in this slideshow.Later in the…

Gig Alert: Brightblack Morning Light at Good Records Tonight. For Free.

Totally meant to post something about this earlier today. Unfortunately, I totally forgot.Which makes for a perfect transition, actually: Tonight at Good Records, every stoner’s favorite psych/folk/soul project, Brightblack Morning Light, stops by the Greenville Avenue record shop for an in-store performance. Also on the bill: BBML’s tourmates and fellow…

Clearing Out the Mailroom: Tuesday, March 3, 2009

We’ve got quite a backlog of CDs we’ve never gotten around to, so we’re going to try to chip away at the pile with this regular feature. The plan: to take four or five at a time and play each CD for as long as I can stand it.People In…

Bonus MP3: The Kül — “We Can Live”

In last week’s paper, I reviewed The Kül’s new release Soul 4 Gold, a disc that blends a whole mishmash of funk, psychedelic and even stoner rock influences into a disc that, at various points throughout its listen, recalls Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Prince, Gnarls Barkley, TV On The Radio…

Six Locals Named As Finalists In International Songwriting Competition

Yep. An international songwriting competition quite cleverly named the International Songwriting Competition, in fact. Anyway, as the header implies, six locals made the cut to get a “finalist” nod from the ISC. Who? For what songs? In what categories? And, just for good measure, where are these people from? Funny…

Gig Alert: Richard Thompson Tonight at Lakewood Theater

Most of the time with guitar players, you either get the shredder or the songwriter. Either the guy (or gal) dances up the fretboard with little care for melody or he constructs perfect pop creations that are rarely technically dazzling. With Richard Thompson, you get both.The legendary British singer/songwriter/guitarist plays…

Even In The Face Of Pitchfork, St. Vincent Remains Adorable

Over on Pitchfork today, you can read an interview the site has posted with Dallas native Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent), whose upcoming disc we’re quite excited about ’round here. And, actually, it’s quite the lovefest of a piece: Interviewer Ryan Dombel calls Clark a “disturbingly gifted new talent” without…

Former Idol Contestant Jason Castro Releases First Single

Rockwall’s Jason Castro, of American Idol fame, releases his debut single today. And, sure enough, that’s the song, “Love Uncompromised” in the video above, performed by Castro and friend during an Idol wrap-up show on the TV Guide channel. Rumor has it he could be performing this track on tonight’s…