Girltalk, Busdriver, Daedelus

He ain’t hard. His clothes fit. He makes declarations such as “Kids, if you really want to annoy your parents, show an interest in the arts.” And his real name is Regan Farquhar. But don’t give Busdriver no guff. This Los Angeles rapper keeps an arc welder in his mouth…

Cadence Weapon, Final Fantasy

While every kid in the Montreal and Toronto indie-gentsia eye-rolled their way through the extended jerk-off that les Américains had over the Arcade Fire, other (and weirder) acts from the sticky web of Canada’s music scene were being groomed to fulfill the U.S. appetite for fresh cultural offerings. Among them,…

Lovie (CD Release), MC Router, Sunward, Golden Bear

There is no doubt that all future reviews and articles will somehow incorporate the “clever” remark “people will fall in love with Lovie.” The thing is, it’s true. This all-girl, oops, all-female band harkens to the day of the Go-Go’s and Veruca Salt, with aggressive guitars, head-bopping beats and vintage…

Deep Ellum Still Keeps It Real

Two pillars—one an old stalwart, one a new roustabout—of Deep Ellum were Q&A’d on local Web sites last week. The stalwart was Frank Campagna—the feisty proprietor of Kettle Art, the rebellious art space in the heart of the neighborhood—who was featured on Pegasusnews.com, and the roustabout was Chelsea Callahan—a local…

Booka Shade |Henrik Schwartz |Ricardo Villalobos

It used to be so easy for DJs. Refine a set over a couple of years, license the necessary tracks, mix them all together and voilà! Genres were born, scenes were codified and superstar DJs were crowned. Lately, though, the mix-CD landscape has shifted radically. It’s harder than ever to…

Ackermans to Light Up Dallas Obama Fundraiser

Poor David’s Pub just sent out word that it’s the site for the first Barack Obama Dallas fundraiser hosted by the North Texas Democrats. The only word as of now is that The Ackermans will be performing and they are hoping for a phone-in from the potential presidential candidate. So…

Saying Goodbye to Dallas Jazzer Marchel Ivery

Very, very sad news today, as Dallas has lost one of its greatest jazzers and finest people: Marchel Ivery. His wife confirms he died this morning at Presbyterian Hospital, just one day after checking in. He’d had a fever for two days and was diagnosed with pneumonia; he died around…

Video from 2007 DOMA

DC-9 photographer Jonathan Finley hit us up about a video he shot at this year’s Dallas Observer Music Awards. It follows Black Tie Dynasty, who we recently interviewed, around the August event. Those who were happy to see the BTD piece will enjoy this vid; those who weren’t so keen…

Win Smashing Pumpkins Tickets

We happen to have a pair of tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins show at Nokia on Saturday, Nov. 3. We love you guys, so we thought we’d share the wealth. I’m a Halloween nut, so we’re having a little Halloween-themed contest. Below is a picture, compliments of a DC-9 friend,…

Heard in Deep Ellum, Vol. I

What follows are several items we overheard whilst spending a good part of the pre-Halloween weekend trolling the streets in search of spirits, of both the goblet and goblin variety: “Dude, you know why I’m wearing this costume? Because I fucking hate emo, that’s why.” “Vietnam! Yeah! Vietnam!” “Have you…

Midlake Lauded in Spin

Big ups to the big man on the Observer campus, Robert Wilonsky, for pointing out that the November issue of Spin magazine, which hits newsstand tomorrow, has a meaty little review of Midlake’s recent Chicago show. The article’s author, Josh Modell, does a fine job of describing the Denton band’s…

Last Weekend: Life is Good Pumpkin Festival

Before the carving…A four-story tower of jack-o-lanterns loomed over Saturday night’s Life is God Pumpkin Festival. The New England-born clothing company joined forces with Central Dallas Ministries to bring 6,000 hand-carved faces to life, lighting the city with a ghostly red blaze. Smiling, frowning, laughing and crying, the lanterns sat…

Last Weekend: Voodoo, Beard, Dogs and Football

Once again, we’re helping you relive the weekend in an effort to make Monday that much more bearable. 1. Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans Crossing the state line was worth it this weekend to catch the killer bands on this festival’s bill. We particularly enjoyed seeing Mute Math’s (pictured)…

Good Friday: Beard-a-Fit, White Drugs, Whiskey Folk Ramblers

White Ghost Shivers, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Boxcar Bandits 9 p.m., Friday, October 26. The Aardvark, 2905 W. Berry St., Fort Worth. $10-$12. The only band with the word “Whiskey” in its name that’s worth a damn, the Whiskey Folk Ramblers make music that befits their moniker. Both rootsy and tootsy,…

Gay Odyssey with Lance Bass

Out of Sync, the new memoir from former ‘N Sync member, failed cosmonaut and gay American Lance Bass, comes out on October 23. (It’s surprisingly good.) Over the phone from New York – where he’s living while starring in Broadway musical Hairspray as Corny Collins — and speaking in a…

Last Night: Faces of DEF at Double Wide

Maybe it was the (finally) crisp autumn air or the fact that Faces of DEF was held at the Double Wide (decked in full Halloween splendor), but something in the atmosphere let me know that this show was worth coming out. At 10 p.m. it was still quiet as hip…

Photos: Hot Hot Heat at Granada

The indie popsters in Hot Hot Heat took over the Granada Theater stage Wednesday night. We were thoroughly impressed by the Canadian quartet and openers Bedouin Soundclash and De Novo Dahl. Our photographer Travis Awalt snapped pictures so you can feel like you were there. — Chelsea Ide…

Cheap Sugarland Tickets Tonight

OK, our bad. We may be about six hours late getting you cheap concert ticket info, but hey, you still have six more hours to take advantage of it. For you country music fans, AEG Live sent out word that today only, tickets for the CMT on Tour show with…

Enter the Weekly Laughcast

Welcome to the first-ever weekly installment of the Laughcast, your complete stand-up comedy forecast for the upcoming week. This week, a surprise gust of hilarity is blowing through Uptown and Oak Cliff, while a consistent cloud of funny persists in Tarrant County throughout the weekend. Sunday, there’s a 20 percent…

Halloween Best Bets

Welcome to the Halloween edition of And Another Thing. Why is it the Halloween edition? Because it’s back from the dead. Boo, motherfuckers! No, not really. It’s because, duh, there’s a graveyard full o’ Halloween shows to choose from, and we figured we’d start by giving you some choice picks…

Lance (Big Mouth) Bass

‘N Sync was so popular around the turn of the millennium that even I—jaded, posturing music critic—bought the band’s second album, No Strings Attached. It sold over a million copies the day it was released in March 2000, and I was swallowing a lot of LSD at the time. Though…