What—did you think we were just gonna ignore the Observer’s never-ending quest to keep the Toadies together, forever, please for the love of god? Damn, you’d think the Toadies were our Mommy and Daddy, and that we’d just die if they stayed apart, and we’d have to go to some…
Every day we’ll be brining you a new podcast live from Austin, filled with live audio, artist interviews and some reports from real-life journalists. We’ve got a couple podcasts in the can thus far, featuring conversations about bands our colleagues are excited to see. We even threw in a few…
Me: Do you hate doing this? Sandra Bernhard: No, not at all, of course not. If I don’t do this people don’t know I’m coming, and it becomes counterproductive to my work. I’m a quarter of the way through an awkward phone interview with Bernhard, a woman whose persona is…
When bands and relationships mix, there’s usually a divorce lawyer lurking behind the drum riser. Consider the romantic dysfunction that made Fleetwood Mac everyone’s favorite arena-rock soap opera of the late ’70s. What about the “I’m leaving you, what time is Thursday’s gig?” dynamics of the White Stripes and Quasi?…
In preparation for indie songster/professional whistler Andrew Bird’s upcoming show at the Gypsy Tea Room, we sat down for a listen through Bird’s new album, Armchair Apocrypha. What follows are excerpts of the accompanying selected song-by-song Instant Messenger conversation—a lively discussion of Bird’s clever wordplay, instrumental prowess (Bird is a…
Gym Class Heroes, “Cupid’s Chokehold,” from As Cruel as School Children Of course the MySpace generation was eventually going to want its own fluffy, unthreatening rap group, but that doesn’t make this awkward, rhythmless plod any easier to take. It’s all pretty dire: the sproinging bass, the ineffectual DJ scratches,…
It’s not surprising that Nashville native Cortney Tidwell wants nothing more than to hold a lover in a “silent city.” Music City’s legacy of mainstream country has its flip side: a dream landscape of countrypolitan psychedelia, cool guitars, and the eternal wisdom of Hee-Haw and Jim Nabors, all dressed in…
After the Arcade Fire took leave of hanging with David Bowie but before they hunkered down to record the much-awaited follow-up to Funeral, they listened to some serious Springsteen. Maybe it wasn’t always Nebraska, but that classic had to have been the album of choice, let’s say, seven of every…
Before Public Enemy moved into the realms of action figures and VH1, they were cutting-edge for two primary reasons: subversive, political lyrics and edgy, envelope-pushing beats. In more recent years, Def Jux’s artists had been doing the same thing, but they seem more interested in collaborations now. Beat patriarch DJ…
Overheard conversation. Guy describes seeing Explosions in the Sky live. Guy: I was kind of disappointed, because they were just improvising it all. Girl stares blankly. Guy: I mean, I thought their music was more thought-out than that. Girl: So? I’m with the girl. Whether EITS painstakingly craft each composition…
The promotion materials for this Dallas band declare them to be “the masters of doom metal,” and though such claims are certainly difficult to verify, one can say that these two reissues from the late ’80s represent a well-hidden underbelly of local debauchery. Formed by John Perez of Rotting Corpse…
East Dallas resident Darryl Lee Rush is the kind of gritty and straightforward songwriter that gives country music a chance to escape its seemingly endless fixation with bodacious blondes and mullet-addled super patriots. Instead of the slick gloss of contemporary Nashville or the big hat/no brains bravado of the likes…
In the increasingly complicated zoology of indie rock, the tracks of artistic San Francisco outfit Deerhoof remain easy to spot, but difficult to follow. At times resembling playful finger-painting, at others, emotive and abstract expressionism, the trio’s latest album, Friend Opportunity, like The Runners Four and Milk Man before it,…
Acknowledged as much for his production and mixing skills as for his own recordings, Ramble John “RJ” Krohn deftly incorporates the working class ethic of his Ohio upbringing into his unique brand of hip-hop and ambient rap. Dubbed RJD2 by a friend, Krohn has collaborated with several acclaimed indie rappers…
A true musical nomad, the random tangents and musings of Neil Michael Hagerty have led to more than a few puzzled looks and general WTFs over the years. After spending the past two decades fronting two of most cacophonous and engaging rock ‘n’ roll outfits, first with Pussy Galore and…
We here at the Dallas Observer think you’ve all been slacking. Sure, it’s easy to be a music fan when all that entails is dropping a few PBRs at the Double Wide, but what happens when it’s time to put your pickled cerebellum to the test? What follows is our…
In 2003, Richard Thompson was No. 19 on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 100 guitar players of all time, right between John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and James Burton, Elvis Presley’s bandleader. “I think that’s pretty good company,” says Thompson from his home in Los Angeles…
You don’t have to have supernatural powers to sense which direction the industry is headed. With that sentiment in mind, we’ve put together a brand-new feature called On the Download. Each month, we’ll sort through the riffraff of the digital universe and provide you with links to the best in…
Although his recent output includes a relatively good acting performance in Alpha Dog and the hilarious “Dick in a Box” spoof on Saturday Night Live (the song itself does not differ significantly from the middling, phony rhythm and blues on his proper releases), former boy-toy Justin Timberlake has as storied…
Literary Triumph: Seven different people pitch a book on Weezer’s Pinkerton to the 33 1/3 series. Yeah, whatever, as long as you leave room for Hysteria and Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em. TV Party: The tortured “gotcha” syntax of American Idol elimination meetings. The ol’ “I’m very sorry to tell…
Is there a peppier performer than the Apples’ Robert Schneider? Although he’s never achieved the sort of commercial breakthrough that’s long seemed his due, this former Denver resident remains upbeat and ready for anything, as he proved on a January episode of The Colbert Report by enthusiastically belting out an…
Sharing the same West Texas roots that birthed Buddy Holly, Joe Ely helped kick-start the so-called outlaw country movement and has influenced its direction ever since. More than 30 years ago, he was part of the region’s first supergroup, the Flatlanders, and he was there with Tex-Mex stars Los Super…
