Schoolboy Q The Door Saturday, June 30 On a night defined by sweat and hype, Schoolboy Q showed that sometimes you can be too good. Taking the stage after a litany of local artists, Q stalked the stage and effortlessly shifted gears between songs, taking control of style after style,…
This night unfolds sort of like a local map of heaviness. Headlining the night is Oak Cliff duo Akkolyte, who just returned from a short U.S. tour and will no doubt lay down a spring-loaded set of charred, primal thrash. Fort Worth duo Pinkish Black, on the other hand, slow…
It’s a very interesting social experiment, watching grown-ups reduced to their teenage selves, swooning and beaming at their former teen idols. Such will certainly be the case when New Edition hit the Verizon Theatre. Ronnie DeVoe, Johnny Gill, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant and Bobby Brown are back with…
Class is in session, as young L.A. rapper Schoolboy Q makes his way to The Door, touring behind second album Habits & Contradictions, which follows up debut Setbacks. He’s finally escaping the shadow of guest verses and owning his flow. He won’t be alone, either — check out the stellar…
With the inaugural session of Girls Rock Dallas about a month away, seems like they should go ahead and throw a pool party. They’re taking over FOE for the day, and in addition to live performances from lady-centric bands Zappos, Skating Polly, Static Mind and Faded Grace, there will be…
Willie Nelson’s 39th annual Fourth of July picnic returns to Fort Worth, with some of his closest friends in tow: Ray Wylie Hubbard, Stoney LaRue, Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Asleep at the Wheel, Deadman, Jamey Johnson and more. If you’ve never seen Nelson (it’s OK, we won’t…
You might have seen Nikki McKibbin in the national media these days, recalling her time with Rodney King on Celebrity Rehab 2, but she’s still singing around the DFW area in two bands: No Rest for the Wicked and Love Stricken Demise. The latter has a new EP, Psychotrip, and…
Lower Dens Dada Sunday, June 24 Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom, Jana Hunter’s 2005 debut, felt of another era, sharp and striking yet spare, Hunter’s voice the spiritual guide behind her acoustic guitar. It also felt like a skeleton that needed some flesh hung on it, as did her follow-up…
For the $100 you spent at Coldplay, here is what you could have done Friday night: Dinner and live music from the food trucks on Main Street: $7 Cold IPA at Double Wide before the crowds hit: $4 plus tip RTB2, Sealion and the Whiskey Folk Ramblers at LaGrange: $8…
El-P, Killer Mike, Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire, Despot The Granada Theater Thursday, June 21 See more in our slideshow Listening to the recorded works of El-P, it’s easy to get the feeling you’re dealing with a robot who has somehow discovered the emotional razor wire that is living a human life…
Van Halen, Kool & The Gang American Airlines Center Wednesday, June 20 See also: The five worst and five most underrated Van Halen songs You have to hand it to Diamond Dave. Sure, he can’t hit all those high notes like back in the day, but he gave it the…
You’ve got to love a band with a song titled “Are Those Fucking Beers Ice Cold Yet?” Indiana trio Waxeater’s 2010 LP, Sleeper, was a sloppy, screaming backhand of punk and hardcore, and established that three chords played loud and fast never quite goes out of style, and neither does…
If Loudon Wainwright’s 1973 novelty hit, “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road,” is all you know about this talented singer/songwriter, you need to make your way to Oak Cliff for this show. Wainwright’s folk songs (and there are a lot of them) can be funny as hell or…
Houston’s Linus Pauling Quartet recently showed up on Lee Jackson in Space, the tribute album for late Texas music writer Lee Jackson, but the quintet arrives in Dallas on the heels of their first album in five years, Bag of Hammers. Their herb-assisted psych excursions have long been the foundation…
Texas’ own Jana Hunter gave us goosebumps with her 2005 solo debut, Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom, but it wasn’t until she moved to Baltimore a few years later and formed Lower Dens that she seemed more comfortable in front of the mic and behind an electric guitar. Nootropics, the…
There are no surprises on ZZ Top’s new Rick Rubin-produced EP, Texicali. It sounds exactly like a ZZ Top album. That’s not oversimplifying: After 40 years as a band, they’ve created their own brand and absorbed a die-hard fanbase. I’ll probably get run out of Texas for saying the EP…
Seattle’s Beat Connection pay Dallas a visit tonight on the heels of their 12-song debut, The Palace Garden. We talked with members Reed Juenger and Jarred Katz a few weeks ago about the first time they bought a CD, the first time they toured, and what they expect from their…
Neeks, Night Game Cult El Sibil Saturday, June 16 Often, when there are six people on stage at a hip-hop show, you’re in trouble. You get some limp attempts at verses, some blunted flow, too many stoned rappers bumping into each other. Neeks, who performed at Oak Cliff art space…
See also: 20 shots from LMFAO at American Airlines Center At least 57* opening acts preceded LMFAO’s RedFoo and SkyBlu at the American Airlines Center on Friday night. They brought with them a live band (shocking, right?), a DJ, the show-stealing Quest Crew dancers, several scantily clad female booty-shakers, a…
The Weeknd House of Blues Friday, June 15 Let me get the technicalities out of the way: Abel Tesfaye sounded incredible on Friday night. The full band only enhanced The Weeknd’s drippy-druggy tracks and brought a new dimension to his sound. Updated arrangements added a sonic weight to The Weeknd’s…
Look at those “do-ers” over at the Texas Theatre: They landed a page in The New York Times a couple of weeks ago, and now they’re putting on their first-ever film festival. You can check out the screening schedule at oakclifffilmfestival.com, which includes a Saturday night music video competition at…
Abel Tesfaye, better known as The Weeknd, has been mysteriously brewing since he started recording and uploading songs to YouTube in 2010. Drake gets a lot of credit as the tipping point for his popularity, but I’d argue The Weeknd’s trilogy of free releases — House of Balloons, Thursday and…
