Weekend Roundup: Vans Warped Tour, Much?

Well, if we’re talking about the music scene last weekend then we’re talking about the Vans Warped Tour. So, instead of trying to scrounge up a bunch of cover bands and also-rans, we here at Weekend Roundup thought we’d give you a taste of what was going on over at…

Poster of the Week: Kaboom!

We always appreciate it when visual artists and musicians collaborate, whether it’s by putting on a big event, holding a concert in a gallery or museum, or complementing live music with interesting visuals. But we don’t want to overlook the smaller ways in which visual artists and musicians work together,…

DOMA XX: Best Cover/Tribute Act Nominees

With our DOMA ballot online and ripe for your votin’, we figured we’d give you some help: a daily breakdown of each category’s nominees. Best Cover/Tribute Act – Hard Night’s Day – The King Bucks – Holy Diver – Black and Blue – Boys Named Sue Like the Best Song…

Chart News: Lovato, Simpson Rock Billboard‘s Hot 100

Interesting stuff, if only as an eyebrow-raiser, since I’m fairly certain that no one who reads this blog is actually interested in listening to these songs, but it should be noted that Dallas’ own Jessica Simpson and Demi Lovato are respectively sitting at Nos. 65 and 9 on this week’s…

Giveaway: Two Pairs Of Warped Tour Passes

So maybe this is coming a little bit late in the game since the Warped Tour events over at Superpages.com Center are already well underway, but it’s gonna be going on all day anyway, so whatever: We’ve got two pairs of passes to the shindig to give away. Email me…

Rock On

There’s a reason Centro-matic has such a rock-solid reputation ’round these parts, and the Denton-based rock band proudly showcased that reason on Saturday night. Playing before an enthusiastic crowd packed onto the Granada Theater’s floor, the lauded area four-piece act blitzed through an 80-minute set that was being taped for…

North of the Dial

Early last year, Doug Burr finished a suite of Psalms arrangements and decided to record them in a building that had intrigued him for years. The 130-year old, five-story structure was the original site of Trinity University and has a vaulting auditorium with rough limestone walls that give off a…

The Halftime Report

It’s hard to believe that 2008 is already more than halfway over. No need to lament about the New Year’s resolutions that you thought you’d keep; six months from now we’ll all be holiday shopping (again) and reading year-end top-10 lists about the best albums of the year. And since…

Not So Fast

Huffing and puffing, Casey Wescott, keyboardist for Seattle’s Fleet Foxes, makes it to the phone just minutes after sound check. Judging by his lack of breath, preparing for a show in Glasgow, Scotland, appears to be quite the job. Winded and apologetic, Wescott is eager to talk about his band…

Corporate Affairs

Sports teams have, for some time now, willingly pimped their reputation out to anybody for a buck—cough, American Airlines Center, cough—and now, it seems, rock stars are lining up to show they’re just as big a group of whores (just in case you didn’t think so to begin with). It…

Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós’s latest is positively festooned with danger signs: first album to be mainly recorded outside its home base of Iceland; first to feature a track sung in English; and the first co-produced by a big-shot dial-twister (Flood, of Depeche Mode fame). Somehow, though, this series of seemingly suspect compromises…

Scott Johnson

This debut from Cleburne rapper Scott “the only cracker better than Ritz” Johnson showcases the work of a skilled lyricist, but its bloated 23 tracks (intro, outro, tiresome skits, plus a hidden track) will give your stereo’s “next” button a workout. Kicking off the disc is the chorus-free “The Truth,”…

David Banner

When a rapper like David Banner decides to name an upcoming album The Greatest Story Ever Told, you’re not gonna split hairs with the dude—at least not to his face. Like the mortal whose fury turned him into television’s Incredible Hulk, this bulky Banner also uses his temper to fuel…

Dethklok, Chimaira, Soilent Green

Dethklok started out as a joke and became the biggest death-metal band in the history of Billboard’s album chart. The show from which the band launched, Cartoon Network’s Metalocalypse, premiered in 2006 with a simple but esoteric premise: What if the planet’s most popular band was an extreme-metal group that…

The Brothers Unconnected (of Sun City Girls)

As tripped out as Curt and Cris Kirkwood were in the early ’80s, when the Meat Puppets were still a crazed psychedelic thrash-spazz band, there was another pair of brothers in Phoenix who were even weirder and ultimately more musically multidimensional. Sun City Girls’ Alan Bishop (singer-bassist) and Richard Bishop…

N.E.R.D.

N.E.R.D.’s third album is the compact-disc equivalent of an ad campaign trying to appeal to the Red Bull/BlackBerry generation. “We gotta make it passionate,” you can almost hear Pharrell telling the guys in the studio. “And retro! And political! You know, some really fucked-up crazy awesome nuts shit!” And so…

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Sharon Little

Music’s certainly seen its share of odd-couple collaborators, from David Bowie and Bing Crosby to Nick Cave and Kylie Minogue. But no pairing has felt so strangely natural—or been quite so successful—as the one of Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and bluegrass icon Alison Krauss. Having met while performing together…

DOMA XX: Best Song Nominees…

With our DOMA ballot online and ripe for your votin’, we figured we’d give you some help: a daily breakdown of each category’s nominees. Best Song – “Slow Southern Home” by Doug Burr – “Julianne” by The Crash That Took Me – “Parking Lot Nights” by Ghosthustler – “Maths” by…

DOMA XX Best Song Nominees: “Slow Southern Home” by Doug Burr

The opening–and perhaps crowning–jewel on Burr’s Best Album-nominated On Promenade, “Slow Southern Home” is all about setting the scene for Burr’s storytelling. And, yeah, it works. To the point where you think you’re sitting on your front porch when you listen. Check it out after the jump. –Pete Freedman…