Good Friday: Slobberbone, Shibboleth, Austin Brown Sounds, Cory Branan, PVC Street Gang, Chris Holt, Salim Nourallah, Mount Righteous, Teenage Cool Kids, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Oso Closo, Tesla, Gov’t Mule and Slider Pines

Let’s do this. First, as always, the shows we’ve already discussed.The biggest show tonight’s probably the first of Slobberbone’s two nights of reunions (this one at Dan’s Silverleaf). The O’s open. But there’s also the Don Cab show at RGRS, the Dr. John and Neville Brothers show at House of…

Echoes and Reverberations: No Blood For Ink

The autograph collectors of the world are an odd lot. When you’re a kid, the manic splat of a rock star or pro jock occasionally holds some measure of importance. The stalking, however, was more of a commitment than I was really willing to make. I just didn’t have it…

Denton Library Books Indie-Rock Exhibit

Feeling nostalgic for the good ol’ days of the Denton music scene, before the New York Times and Paste recognized the greatness of the Little D? The Emily Fowler branch of the Denton Public Library is displaying a collection of photos and memorabilia spanning 30 years of rock, alt-rock, indie-rock…

Poster Of The Week: Informant At Lone Star Country Club

This poster is so awesomely ridiculous I just had to share it. The “Lone Star Bar” mentioned on the flyer is actually Lone Star Country Club in Coppell, which books an odd combination of punk-rock bands for kids and country acts and singer-songwriters for those punks’ golf-loving parents. The design…

Picture Show: The O’s Outtakes

The O’s, profiled by Darryl Smyers in this week’s Observer, were good enough to roam all over a local miniature golf course for our photographer Steven Visneau.Of course, only one image made it into print, so for all you die-hard O’s fans — we’ve got more pictures from the shoot…

Bonus MP3: The Me-Thinks — “Permanent Krokus”

I was quite impressed with The Me-Thinks’ Make Mine A Double EP, as you can read in this week’s birdcage-liner version of DC9. One of the songs I mention is “Permanent Krokus,” which I think really captures the band’s ability to write catchy, rockin’ riffs as well as its refusal…

Bonus MP3: The Semifinals — “Yr Fists”

In my review of the debut EP from local rockers The Semifinals in this week’s print edition of the Observer, I applauded Andrew Strickland and crew’s efforts fuse cute Emo with some old-school post-punk a la Gang of Four–and the results are pretty damn cool. Here’s “Yr Fists,” the best…

Last Night: BrokeNCYDE and Drop Dead Gorgeous at The Max

BrokeNCYDE, Drop Dead GorgeousThe MaxFebruary 5, 2009Better Than: Traveling seamlessly along I-35 without any traffic or onlooker congestion, allowing for an early arrival and a front row spot for all four bands.   Well, the scene is still the place for local teens to be seen: A social outing for…

Last Night: The Killers at Nokia Theatre

The KillersNokia Theatre in Grand PrairieWednesday, February 4, 2009 Better than: That Southwest Airlines “Wanna get away?” commercial where the rapper yells “Thank you, Detroit!” and his hypeman leans in and whispers, “Detroit was last night…” After The Killers opened its set at the Nokia Theatre on Wednesday night with high-energy…

Black Tide Grows Up On Stage

It’s a little more than an hour after getting offstage at Leeds Academy in England, and Gabriel Garcia of Black Tide has just had a phone thrust in his face for an interview—this one. Perhaps he’s worn out from the show or burned-out on doing press. Either way, his responses…

In Which We Don’t Interview Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner—you may recognize the name from such TNT classics as Bull Durham, Waterworld, Dances With Wolves, Field of Dreams and The Untouchables—has been leading a double life. In one, he’s a successful actor. In the other, he’s a rootsy country musician who has been performing (often with singer-songwriter John…

Don Caballero, DD/MM/YY, Hawk vs. Dove, Magnets

One of the math-rock genre’s pioneers, Don Caballero formed in the early ’90s, picking up the torch from Slint. And, for almost a decade, this group of Pittsburgh instrumentalists led the charge into complex, rhythmic workouts characterized by sharp angles and hard edges that exchanged verse-chorus-verse for deep-seated edifices like…

Dr. John, The Neville Brothers

According to legend, he’s been a pimp, a dealer, a junkie and a convict who started out as an R&B session guitarist, but switched to the piano after a gunshot mangled the ring finger of his fret hand. Much of that is probably even true. But what is indisputable is…

Devotchka, Crooked Fingers

Devotchka first popped up on our radar with 2004’s How It Ends and its contributions to the Little Miss Sunshine soundtrack, but it was the high-energy gypsy folk smorgasbord of last year’s vastly underrated A Mad & Faithful Telling that finally made us big fans. Singer Nick Urata’s operatic tenor…

Loney Dear, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Sunnybrook

Emil Svanängen, leader of the indie/folk ensemble Loney Dear, isn’t afraid to tread softly. Hailing from the small city of Jonkoping, Sweden, Svanängen’s delicate pop has found an international audience by staying true to its original aesthetic: long on dreamy atmospherics, traditional rock mentality be damned. As Loney Dear, Svanängen…

How Much Music Can You See For Free In Denton?

north of the dial Like many folks in Denton, I just bought my textbooks, which, yes, has left me quite broke. Still, I managed to scrounge up $5.85 between my coin jar and the floorboard of my car last Thursday night, and with that money, I decided to find out:…

The O’s Prepare For Their Debut Release and Tour

Even though he’s suffering from an aggravated sciatic nerve that causes him pain when he sits, John Pedigo still has a giddy confidence that’s downright contagious. Pedigo, half of the alt-country duo The O’s, possesses a self-assurance and humor that stands firm even in the face of wincing pain. “Perhaps…