For this week’s paper version of DC-9, I interviewed the National’s frontman Matt Berninger. Now, it’s no surprise that an experienced lyricist like himself would offer up good answers, but Berninger wins for Best Answers Off the Top of One’s Head (like, ever) and, possibly, Most Eloquent Interview 2007. Unfortunately,…
The Cure has rescheduled its Dallas tour date at American Airlines Center to June 6, 2008. If you’re already snagged tickets, thinking you’d see them in 2007, the venue will be honoring your tickets at the show next year. Those who feel a little cheated for having to wait almost…
Swedish metal band Arch Enemy is known for having a female lead singer who growls like a dude. Or so I thought. Walking into the band’s Thursday night show at the House of Blues in downtown Dallas, a bald-headed 20-something man told me, “Don’t bother. There’s some chick on stage,…
Tonight, the Pleasant Grove boys continue with their Thursday night residence gigs at the Double Wide under the moniker of Pleasant Grove Preservation Society. Joining them is JD Whittenburg and the Observer’s own Noah W. Bailey with his band The Naptime Shake (which includes two current and one former member…
Welcome to DC-9 at Night, the Dallas Observer’s new music blog. A little background about our raison d’etre: We began this endeavor by asking ourselves the following question: Why does Dallas need yet another contribution to the already overloaded music bloggery that exists concerning our fair burg? Our answer? Well,…
We might as well give up the dream right now: There’s no way any of us could ever be cooler than Marc Bolan. Even in our skinniest purple girl jeans and best ironic hairdo, compared to Bolan, we might as well be bovine public school teachers wearing dresses from the…
This Is incredibly weird: It turns out the fellow who accidentally shot popular local musician Carter Albrecht once worked here at the Dallas Observer. Will “Smokey” Logg, himself a blues musician, worked in the Observer circulation department for about five years, according to current circ director Carlos Garcia. More oddities:…
Known for his chiseled physique, countless tattoos and blustery personality, singer/actor/writer Henry Rollins is a surprisingly painless interview. Speaking from his Los Angeles office prior to the start of yet another spoken-word tour, Rollins is polite and easygoing as he recalls his days fronting the legendary Black Flag, his noted…
Ataris main man Kristopher Roe may have named his band in a bout of videogame nostalgia, but there’s nothing bloopy about the music he makes. It’s dream-pop with fuzzy, melodic guitars and a sweetly crooning falsetto served straight up. Unfortunately for Roe’s celebrity dreams, it’s a sound made far more…
Sometimes it’s not so much the music as the spirit behind it. When it comes to the North Carolina band Bourbon Crow, the spirit is all about, well, spirits. Not the ghostly kind, unless you count the fact that Crow channels the voice and attitude of country’s long dead musical…
Two shows into The National’s tour supporting their fourth full-length release, this year’s acclaimed Boxer, Matt Berninger is energetic and excited despite a burgeoning cold. In preparation for the upcoming Granada and Austin City Limits performances, the master lyricist gives insight into his writing process, influences and playing live. And,…
How twee is too twee? If you listen to “Stereo (Mono Mono),” the second song on The Brunettes’ new album, Structure and Cosmetics, you may have your answer. Whereas some might be mildly amused or charmed by the kitschy pillow talk found at the beginning of this track, others will…
Dunno if it’s the fairly recent full moon, the shifting seasons or that freaky transformer explosion that happened a few days after Labor Day, but something is in the air, friends, and the wack factor is high. There’s no better evidence than the citywide musical lineup for the next seven…
The Pipettes made critical hearts swoon last year by reviving the ’60s-girl-group aesthetic. But the Gore Gore Girls have been working that angle for nigh on a decade now, only liberally slathered with heavy doses of Dee-troit pound ‘n’ sludge instead of Spectorian shimmer. This summer’s Bloodshot Records release, Get…
Pat Sullivan may have left Oneida behind to form Oakley Hall, but he didn’t abandon their garage-psych experimentation, only recast it in Americana. The result is something like Blue Cheer mugging Jerry Garcia in the bathroom while Crazy Horse watches the door. It’s twang that’s not afraid to get its…
U.K. music scribes have always been addicted to hype, but the genuflection over the British quartet is a bit too breathless, even by their standards. The chart-topping Arctic Monkeys couldn’t live up to the praise heaped on them if they were fronted by Jesus and Mohammed. So it’s hardly shocking…
Sojourner is composed of three individually titled collections, one EP, a DVD, a poster and a small medallion that can be carried around by fans as a sort of heartland St. Christopher’s medal. Of the four discs, Nashville Moon is the most polished and the best representation of the full-band…
Legend says that blues great Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil at the crossroads in exchange for ungodly musical skill. Dax Riggs, former singer/guitarist of indie-rock duo Dead Boy and the Elephantmen, seems to have had a similar meeting with Satan before recording this album. “Have mercy on…
Eisley brothers….and sisters: Entertainment Weekly gave Tyler’s family supergroup Eisley a big thumbs up a couple weeks back. Music journo Andy Greenwald gave the group’s second disc, Combinations, a B+, noting, among other things, that the “towheaded Texans” are “unlike stereotypical family bands,” as “their music is neither pathologically cheery…
My first taste of all the Dallas music I had missed in the eight years I was away from Texas came in the form of Carter Albrecht’s piano playing. Girl on Top’s Andrea Grimes was kind enough when I moved back to Dallas almost a year ago to make me…
Well, we guess that’s the sort of stuff that can happen when you let your kids wander off to Los Angeles—they come back with all sorts of crazy notions in their heads. Like, get this, singer-songwriter and former Dallas Observer employee Sara Radle actually wants you to believe that not…
While we’re a touch confused as to why a Dallas music blog run by a guy who no longer lives in Dallas has any say in the matter, we’re glad to know that the grand tradition of the Dallas Observer Music Awards Losers (DOMAL?) show lives on. Know why? ‘Cause…
