Somewhere between the naked beauty of Low and the gut-wrenching intensity of the Swans lies Shiny Around the Edges, a husband and wife duo from Denton that likes its songs wrapped in an ear-bending sheath of finely-combed feedback. If the material off their fine Secrets of the Double Blind CD-R…
Bill Monroe might scowl at it, but the rise of newgrass (the instrumental and stylistic tenets of bluegrass mixed with modernist touches) still remains true to the spiritual mountain-music root. Its leading purveyors are the maturing and blossoming Nickel Creek, the Dixie Chicks on Home and the aptly-named Greencards–two Aussies…
There’s no doubt that Edie Brickell’s dreamy lyrics and shy yet versatile voice tended to overshadow the other talented New Bohemians during the band’s late-’80s heyday. Nowadays, with Edie holed-up with her family on the East Coast, the rest of the band manages to keep quite busy. Percussionist/drummer John Bush…
Mike Love, the only original Beach Boy in the group touring under the band’s moniker, would be better named Mike Hate. He recently sued Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson for using the band’s sound and songs in his solo re-creation of the legendary Smile album, the irony of which would…
With their 1998 debut, the boys and girls of Nashville Pussy declared Let Them Eat Pussy. Seven years later, they’re still all about the muff. Their latest album, Get Some!, opens with the holler, “Well, all right, who wants some pussy?” The quartet’s two superhot, supercrass female members, guitarist Ruyter…
Leave it to a Texan to blast away the stylistic strictures of spinning, mixing and scratching and to do so with a Lone Star twist. Appearing as part of a long national tour with Of Montreal, Grand Buffet and MGMT, DJ Jester–aka The Filipino Fist, aka Mike Pendon–sees just about…
Slowly, people are trickling into the Cavern, sporting requisite hipster wear in all its various forms, from punk chic to whatever’s on the mannequins over at Urban Outfitters. It’s Thursday night, and they are, or will very soon be, hard at play. Forty miles west, at KTVT-Channel 11 in Fort…
Eric Elterman would have brought Oceanographer’s new CD tonight, but he got mugged last week. The band’s violist and synth player, Elterman was on the sidewalk outside the bar we’re sitting at now, a railroad pub in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Clem’s. Some dudes took his wallet, which meant he had…
Which of the following is an omen of the impending apocalypse? A) The Sex Pistols playing Dallas’ Longhorn Ballroom, once the home of Bob Wills, in 1978. B) The re-formed Sex Pistols playing the Trump Marina Casino during their 2003 tour. C) The Sex Pistols Experience– a tribute band that…
[Backstage. The five members of Aerosmith sit at a deli table, each with a small plate of healthy snacks. A cooler of bottled water and sodas rests by STEVEN TYLER, and a nearby monitor shows LENNY KRAVITZ playing his last encore.] JOE PERRY: Anybody know what the Dow closed at…
People, I am royally pissed about Deep Ellum right now. I become angrier every time I read and re-read a page from last weeks Dallas Observer. Its like a car wreckI cant help but repeatedly look at the page and feel an overwhelming mix of shock, hopelessness and frustration. Im…
Hitch a ride: For the past five years, local country fans who wanted a little kick in their boots but thought Ryan Adams was a pussy had a rallying cry for their favorite brand of whiskey-fueled music: “Speedtrucker, motherfucker!” The local country quartet is known for a two-step that keeps…
Geek rock, whether by über-nerds like Weezer or more abstract purveyors of insignificant detail like Pavement, has rarely transcended the jab that it’s music for and by losers, soundtracks for the dateless–in the end, guy music. The Willis seems fine with that. The five Wisconsin natives who make up this…
Ten years ago, Oak Cliff resident Stuart Sikes had a hand in Cat Power’s breakout album, though technically, his engineering work on What Would the Community Think was relatively hands-off. He did the most with the least, ensuring that spare arrangements, low, rumbling guitar lines and strokes of feedback anchored…
Orlando’s DJ Baby Anne delivers the breaks end of Assault & Battery, and her fixation on deep, winding Miami bass results in a slightly harder product than Jen Lasher’s electro half. The squealing laser-tag bursts of Product 01’s “I Like It Now” are sandwiched between Anne’s own “Freaks Groove” and…
Howard Greynolds, owner of Overcoat Recordings, is an indie rock dream weaver. Last year he brought us the Iron and Wine/Calexico collaboration In the Reins, and now he’s decided to gift us with an entire record of covers by Bonnie “Prince” Billy (aka Will Oldham, he of the beard-folk and…
As rock had the Velvet Underground–way ahead of the curve, persevering till the world caught up–jazz had trumpeter Miles Davis. To the great dismay of his followers, Davis jettisoned his bebop-rooted approach and, inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and avant composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, went electric, that classic swing supplanted…
Regression can be so soothing. Since local children’s show Peppermint Place went off the air in 1996, anyone who saw Mr. Peppermint and Muffin is now old enough to enjoy the nostalgia that the sight of Jerry Haynes in his peppermint suit with his worn-down carpet of a puppet would…
Back in ’99, the Damnations were that year’s shiny new model when they debuted with Half Mad Moon, a spunky set of truly alternative country with a rock-grrl kick. Since then, the Austin foursome led by sisters Deb Kelly and Amy Boone have matured and settled into their sweet spot…
Joy Division’s Ian Curtis was such a morbidly intense vocalist and personality, it seemed he always had one foot in the grave, even before he hung himself on the eve of the band’s first U.S. tour. You can’t exactly say the same thing about Baboon lead singer Andrew Huffstetler, though…
Every few months, Spune Productions throws some great “welcome to the music scene” shows that are perfect for local newbies. But it’s one thing to get a varied smattering of the best in local pop-rock in one sitting, with bands such as the Deathray Davies, [DARYL], The Angelus, The Hourly…
When DJ Pedro Sanchez comes cruising into Club One on his “Sledgehammer” bike Friday night, I wonder if he’ll have any sweet turntable skills in tow. Really, is this a shameless money grab by Efren Ramirez to cash in on his role as Napoleon Dynamite’s socially retarded sidekick? When the…
