The other day a press release landed in my inbox announcing the Dallas appearance of Montreal trio Plants and Animals, who are touring in support of their new album, The End of That. It turns out this is the trio’s third full-length release, and they’ve opened for bands like The…
Since it is fest season, Allen’s getting in on the act with its first blues festival, and the lineup is packing some serious heat. The Robert Cray Band is a must-see for fans of Southern blues, as is Texas saint Jimmie Vaughan. Funk-soul powerhouse Robert Randolph & the Family Band,…
With lyricist and frontman Andrew Savage now in New York City, focusing his musical efforts on Fergus & Geronimo and Parquet Courts, Teenage Cool Kids return to Denton for what is being billed as the band’s “last Denton show.” For the unfamiliar, the act recorded two of the best local…
If you regularly go to LaGrange, Single Wide or Double Wide, you’ve seen a member of the quintet Dead Flowers. Earlier in the year, frontman Corey Howe was the opening act for The Revival Tour’s stop at Trees, playing alongside Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan, Alkaline Trio’s Dan Andriano, and…
M83Granada TheaterSunday, May 20There was a lot of walking involved to see M83 perform their second show of a two-night stand at the Granada Theater. A long walk from the distant parking space. A long walk around the venue trying to find a place to stand (nearly impossible). A walk…
Wildflower! Festival Galatyn Park Friday, May 18 The modern music festival exists as three very distinct types: The mega-fests put on by corporations, which bring together some of the world’s biggest acts and are able to cut huge checks so bands can reunite (ACL, Coachella); the righteous upstarts that bring…
Rubber Gloves 15th Anniversary Rubber Gloves Saturday, May 19 Ah, Rubber Gloves. I’ve been going to shows there since 2000, and it still has the most disgusting bathroom in all the land. But it’s also home to some of my favorite memories, from the packed chaos of a Riverboat Gamblers…
Drake Gexa Energy Pavilion Wednesday, May 16 Q: How Many Writers Does It Take To Review a Drake Concert? In the span of Drake’s set last night, I felt alternately excited, flummoxed and bored, which is sort of the trajectory of the first month or so of a doomed relationship,…
Todd Barry isn’t a musician by trade, but he’s alive at a time when music and comedy have become increasingly compatible, and the line between music and stand-up venues has been erased. Parade of Flesh has started the trend locally, bringing Barry to the historic Deep Ellum venue, followed by…
I’m sure even Yann Tiersen is tired of being known as “that guy who did the soundtrack to Amelie.” Beyond that film, the French composer and multi-instrumentalist has a vast catalog that stretches back to the mid-’90s, and his ear for intricately wound sounds permeates his latest album, Skyline, which…
This year marks the 20th year for Richardson’s Wildflower! Art & Music Festival, and lineups from fests past have always offered something from every decade and genre. A couple artists stand out this year: Friday has ’70s funk icons Chic, St. Louis rapper Nelly and Motown legends The Commodores. Saturday’s…
Pour some out for Denton’s revered venue, which is now almost old enough to drive, even though it started smoking and drinking when it was, like, seven. Slobberbone, Chris Flemmons, Dove Hunter, Pinkish Black, Year of the Bear, Occult Detective Club, Akkolyte, Bad Design, Code Talkers and Banos y Banos…
Does it take balls to title your album Balls? Elizabeth Cook has them. The Florida-bred country singer-songwriter’s 2007 Rodney Crowell-produced album even has a song titled “Sometimes It Takes Balls to Be a Woman,” just so you know where she’s coming from. 2010’s Welder got a little more personal, but…
Spiritualized Granada Theater Tuesday, May 15 Life is particularly becoming on Jason Pierce. When Spiritualized took the stage shortly before 9 p.m. at the Granada Theater, Pierce and his two-member gospel “choir” were clothed in pure white, while the rest of the band wore black. Looking remarkably fit and without…
We praised Menkena when their debut album, With You I’ll Travel, came out last year. But the lineup has changed since then, and now features prominent members of The Polyphonic Spree, The Demigs and The Felons. In advance of their free show at The Foundry on Saturday with Fort Worth’s…
Jane’s Addiction, The Duke Spirit McFarlin Auditorium Thursday, May 10 Last night’s show was definitely a situation where the venue didn’t seem right for the band and its audience. Jane’s Addiction put on a great 85-minute performance, but McFarlin Auditorium is not a good venue for a rock show, and…
The most grueling part of American Idiot, the Broadway musical based on Green Day’s album of the same name, is the opening number, “American Idiot.” It’s an overplayed song, and the dance sequence makes you think you’re in for something that resembles High School Musical. From there, things drastically improve…
Hard to believe it’s been nearly three decades since Perry Farrell first unleashed his tortured wail on the innocent masses. Along with the androgynously hunky Dave Navarro, Farrell has disbanded and reunited Jane’s Addiction a handful of times over that lengthy span. And each time the guys get back together,…
If you currently have a pulse, there’s something in Grupo Fantasma’s Latin funk oeuvre that will move you. The Austin big band has backed Prince, won a Grammy for 2010’s El Existential, and singer/multi-instrumentalist Adrian Quesada still manages to find time for side projects such as Brownout, Ocote Soul Sounds…
Though 2009’s Balf Quarry was the last proper album Connecticut duo Magik Markers put out, you can’t necessarily quantify the group by their recorded output. They’ve released many albums, 7-inches and CD-Rs in the last decade, but live is where you want to hear their harsh free-wave jams. Witnessing singer/guitarist…
Fort Worth guitarist Darrin Kobetich released his latest opus, The Longest Winter, earlier this year. It’s a wild 27-song mix of Middle Eastern, blues and ambient reveries, as Kobetich seamlessly transitions between guitar, banjo, mandolin, djembe, dobro and more. They’re not so much traditional “songs” as experiments in style and…
Her feud with Ashton Kutcher aside, Longview’s own Miranda Lambert has had no problem getting her share of the spotlight — that happens when your first two albums are called Kerosene and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Last year saw the country singer release her fourth album, Four the Record, as well as…
